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Posted by phgaia on August 17, 2002 at 18:31:35:
In Reply to: Weight For 17 Wk. Harlequin Macaw? posted by PHPiaffe on August 16, 2002 at 22:26:47:
It is very difficult to give you an absolute answer as this is based on several overall factors.There are some excellent charts in a book titled The Large Macaws. Your avian vet probably has a copy. He should be very pudgy right about now and at 1000 grams plus, he probably is good weight but some Harlequins are VERY large and this may actually be too thin. Your avian vet is the best person to ask as hopefully, they have been tracking your birds weight during this time. It is perfectly normal for him to lose quite a bit of weight during the fledging stage but it is very important to weigh him every day. The charts can give you a better idea of how you are doing. How much he loses will greatly depend on diet and how much exercise he is getting. In addition to weighing, you need to feel his keel bone. If he starts to get too sharp, he is losing too much weight. I strongly encourage you to continue to hand feed this bird until it absolutely refuses all hand feeding, even if you are only feeding 20 or 30 CCs once a day. In the wild it is common for parent birds to continue to feed their offspring from last year's clutch while feeding new chicks from this year so you can see that weaning a macaw can be a long, drawn out process. When I weaned my Scarlet, we were still handfeeding 50 CCs once a day at 11 months.
Good luck with your macaw. They are fabulous pets and I wish you a long and happy life with this bird.
Best regards,
Pets Host Gaia
:Hi Hi...
:I was just wondering what the proper weight range for a 17 week old Harlequin (mutt) macaw on 2-3 feedings a day should be. We offer him 3, if he eats them all, great, if not, we offer more food at the next feeding. At the moment he's taking 120 at breakfast, from 60 to 180 at lunch, and again 60 to 120 at dinner, eating some pellet (zupreem) and monkey biscuits, and then some large hookbill seed at night. I'm sure he's healthy (weighed in at 1033 this morning) but he's been losing a LITTLE weight, and i just wanted to make sure that was b/c he's getting ready to fledge and what ratios are normal.
:
:(oh, we're feeding formula at 100 to 102 degrees, just fyi)
:Thanks!
:Jamie