stretched crops return to normal?

A friend has had a small problem where after the eggs hatched the male escaped form the aivary leaving the female to raise the 2 young on her own. It was only noticed today that maybe she has been overfeeding the chicks as the crops were half empty but still stretched. They have been removed for handraising and we are hoping that with little feeds often (only when the crop is empty) their crops may return to normal. Has anyone encountered this? Any other ideas?

Mel.

 

A cockatiel can easily raise 2 chicks without human intervention how old are the babies.

I only ever suggest handfeeding if its absolutley needed as it is not easy and once you pull them to start handfeeding they need to be kept in a brooder to keep them warm they will need to be fed around the clock.

Has your friend hand raised birds before?
Aslong as the food is digesting and nothing is being left in the crop then allow her to feed them the crop does stretch when they have been fed and as they get older it looks kinda saggy when the crop is empty.

Mike

 

Hi Mike,
The crops have returned to normal. The bubs, in question are at 3weeks old and we have both had the joy of handraising babies from 3 weeks. It took a couple of days for the crops to go back to normal. My 3 babies are at 6 weeks for the youngest and have almost weaned themselves.

 

Hi glad to hear all is well and babies are doing well.

One of my pair of tiels has laid 4 eggs so far 3 out of the 4 are fertile so hopefully they will hatch around the 28th of march i cant wait.

What colours are your tiels i have cinnamons and normal greys.

Mike