Baby wwight gain question- Hope this is the right thread loc

Peachykeen · Post by **Peachykeen** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:10 pm

My babies are now between 18-25 days old. I was wondering since this is my first clutch how well they are doing. I couldn't find any kind of progress chart to reference. So I was wondering if any of you kept notes on you babies- if this was about the right weight. They have not lost but have not gained in 2 days and I am just checking things out.

18 days 70 grams
22 days 90 grams
23 days 100 grams
25 days 110 grams

They look healthy and I feed them still on 5-6 times a day because we are using the spoon and although I am making a educated guess on how much food they are taking at each feeding I am not 100% - it is between 7-10 cc. The crop will not hold more than that. I don't want to over fill.... so I don't mind the extra feeding. I am using the schedule as more of a guideline than a rule. Their crops are empty or just about at each feeding so I don't feel like I am over feeding.

Let me know if those weight sound right. Thanks! At least next year I will have notes to look back on as a reference.

Peach

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 4:54 am

The weights seem about right. You gotta understand that genetics also play a role in the weight progression of your IRNs. Some birds are naturally bigger and heavier than others. The weight range for mature healthy IRNs range from 110 grams to as high as 150 grams.

The concerns of overfeeding has its grey areas as I've seen parent birds feed their young until their crops are bursting at the seams... and they grow up to be healthy birds.

Peachykeen · Post by **Peachykeen** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 5:26 am

I noticed there must be something different with each mutation. My lutino's crop is larger than the others. The others have a tight more petite crop. This just may be my babies- but I was not surprised that you said there was a difference.

Well, this is good news. I felt they looked good and weight seemed ok.

They are growing up so fast! One is such a goober.... he strikes at you like he feels he is a big bad bird. He doesn't do it all the time... just every now and again. It's kinda cute actually.

Thank you Jay! BTW my Turq Male and Green female have produced a blue a yellow and 2 greens. I wonder what the likely hood of them having such a diverse clutch is again. Let me know if you have any thoughts.

Peach

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 6:45 am

Peachykeen wrote:Thank you Jay! BTW my Turq Male and Green female have produced a blue a yellow and 2 greens. I wonder what the likely hood of them having such a diverse clutch is again. Let me know if you have any thoughts.

Because the male is TurquoiseBlue/Lutino and the hen is Green/Blue (based on their visual color and offspring they produced so far), these pair can also throw Creaminos, Albinos and Turquoise.