bald baby and has discoloring inside lower beak

[justanotherletlover]

This is my birds first clutch. I have let them parent raise them, and i have been handling them for about a week now. I'm concerned about the two little males. The female is the oldest, and she is really getting her feathers in. However, the two younger males appear to be feathering differently. They both have large bald spots on their heads. I am concerned that this is the result of aggression from the parents or the older sibling, however I have never seen that occur. Also the oldest male appears to have something in his lower beak, for the past 2 days. His crop appears to be emptying correctly, but I am concerned what it is and wonder if I should try to remove it.

[enborgle]

Yikes, I'm sorry, I'm not sure what might be causing those difficulties. Hopefully one of our really experienced breeders will see this and will be able to help you troubleshoot.

[ParrotletsRock]

I know over in the budgie forum they have talked about food lodged in a babied beak can cause it to grow deformed as the beak is still quite malleable when they are so young.. They recommend using a sharpened match stick to gently flick it out. Are there any breeders near you that could come look at it?? Or maybe call the vet and ask what you should do.

[justanotherletlover]

I was able to scrape out whatever it was. It appeared to be food that had just dried in his beak. He seemed a lot more active when I checked on him an hour later. I bet it was irritating having that gunk stuck there. I'm going to be watching him closely to make sure he is eating properly. what is the normal weight of a baby between 3 - 5 weeks? Also, the baby boys still have bald heads, but are feathering out everywhere else.

[MyLittleBirdie]

Your baby parrotlets have bald spots due to the parent(s) plucking them. Not their older sibling. It is possible the father did this to the male babies because when babies are left in the nest too long and the males are ready to mate again with the female, they can try to hurt the babies, and sometimes even kill them.

Do not worry though. They look funny now, but the feathers will grow back in. It will take a few more weeks, but you will see pin feathers begin to grow in those bald spots.

Glad you were able to get the stuck food out of the baby's beak. ;)

This is my birds first clutch. I have let them parent raise them, and i have been handling them for about a week now. I'm concerned about the two little males. The female is the oldest, and she is really getting her feathers in. However, the two younger males appear to be feathering differently. They both have large bald spots on their heads. I am concerned that this is the result of aggression from the parents or the older sibling, however I have never seen that occur. Also the oldest male appears to have something in his lower beak, for the past 2 days. His crop appears to be emptying correctly, but I am concerned what it is and wonder if I should try to remove it.

[justanotherletlover]

Thank you for the information MyLittleBirdie, I think the bald spots are cute, they look like monks or little old men, but I was concerned about longer term damage.

Now that I think about it, I think it may be the female, Cici. When I originally got Cici, she used to have a real plucking problem. She would pluck all the feathers out of her chest and only in the past 3 months has her feathers grown back in and the plucking stopped.

[justanotherletlover]

Well they are all about 5 -6 weeks old now, eating solid food. The boys are still bald, but I can see the feathers coming in and the female lost a little feathers (saw mom doing the plucking), but she is getting those back too. See my album for pictures of everyone if they don't post here. I have the female for sale and will have one of the males shortly.

[Jinx n Noodle]

Ah, the poor little buggers. But they do look good otherwise:)

[justanotherletlover]

Thank you, they are great. I sold the female today, she found a good home with a lady who was a previous owner of a Parrotlet. I still have one of the little boys for sale. He's quite a lover and curious about everything. His favorite thing is to fall asleep in my hand. :) So Cute!