Too young, right?

[Wingnut]

I was talking to a customer yesterday at a petstore and she needed help with a new lovebird she had. I of course love any excuse to talk about birds with someone! She had a happy hut in her hand saying that the lovie kept trying to crawl into it's water dish and almost hung itself several times so she thought maybe getting the hut would deter it. Now having a bit of experience with an aggressive, nesty hen I said it may not be a good idea if her lovie was a girl. I then asked how old it was and she said 6 weeks! She showed me a pic on her phone and sure enough it was a fluffy looking fledgling with a blackened beak and some patchy feathers. I raised my concern about how young the bird was and that it could regress, make sure it was eating, lots of millet available, etc....She wasn't concerned, she said they have had it for 24 hrs and had picked it up the day before. She was confident that if it's pooping it's eating.... although she hadn't seen it eat yet, but she hadn't been around much.

I tried the best to give the woman as much advice as I could, but I don't think it sunk in. She was planning on getting it's wings clipped the next day. I was hoping that meant she was taking to a vet but alas she said she was getting done at another petstore for $5 bucks. Six weeks old sounds a bit young to even get wings clipped to me, the baby has barely had a chance to develop it's chest muscles.

Anyway, I told her everything I could think of...she ended up leaving with lots of millet. I told her that the happy hut might be ok for a baby that young to cuddle in to feel secure, but she may need to take it away in a bit before sexual maturity. She decided to hold off on it for now. This poor bird was just taken from all it's clutch mates, it wasn't hand-fed either so it's not used to people at all. Sounded to me like she got it from someone that just decided to breed their birds, not as breeder or a petstore.
So am I being over-concerned about the age thing? I haven't had my lovie long and she's an adult...but I have been around the parrotlet forums for a long time and have seen a lot of people get birds too young that have regressed and passed away. Any thoughts?

[starwynde]

Your concerns are not unfounded, and it's people like that woman and whomever she got the baby from that I would like to smack up the side of the head and ask what the heck they are thinking! >:

At six weeks, a baby is still relying on some meals from mom and dad, although starting to eat more and more on his or her own. When they are moved from their nest mates, like you mentioned, they sometimes regress and require hand feeding until they are comfortable with their surroundings again. Unless this woman is prepared to take care of a baby, and it doesn't sounds like that's what she's expecting, the little lovie has a rough few weeks ahead of him.

And yes, you are also correct about clipping the wings. If she does it now, there is a good chance the bird will never fly, period. The phrase "use it or lose it" comes to mind, and if the muscles are not developed, they will atrophy. Top it off by having it done at the pet store opens up a can of worms as well. Most of the "groomers" don't have any formal training with dogs and cats (aside from a quick training session by the head groomer), let alone birds, and they can do more harm than good if they clip the wrong feathers, clip them too short or damage any of the blood feathers.

I'm sick to my stomach thinking about what might happen to this little bird... :(