Handfeeding, how to?

[Ainon]

I have some wuestions about handfeeding since I realised that I know very little about it (I'm not going to handfeed any birds myself!)

Someone who can tell me the basics or tips me on some article about the subject?

The things I wonder most about is.
*How do you keep the babies? Is there any difference depending on the chicks age?
*Do you feed the chicks differently depending on what species it is? More or less often? How often do you feed for example a budgie and how often an amazonparrot?
*Do you give different kinds of formula depending on the chicks species?
*How long is it best to leave the chick with the parrents before taking them? Is there any negative effects of leaving the chicks with the parents for some time instead of taking them directly or as an egg?
*What do you use to feed small birds like budgies/parrotlets, a bent spoon has to be enormus for suck a little beak?

thanks

[Monica]

*How do you keep the babies? Is there any difference depending on the chicks age?
The younger the chick, the warmer it needs to be, as well as humid. Most are normally kept in a brooder, or a makeshift brooder, with towls, maybe a container, etc.

*Do you feed the chicks differently depending on what species it is? More or less often? How often do you feed for example a budgie and how often an amazon parrot?
As for each species, they can all have different feeding responces... such as the quakers, so rightly named cause they quake when they want to be fed. Eclectus seem to have no feeding responce, etc...

As for how often do you feed, generally speaking it's the same for every species of bird per growth rate/age of the bird (as in, 8 week old budgie is technically speaking the same age as a 12 week old amazon, or a 16 week old macaw, if generally speaking they wean at those ages).


*Do you give different kinds of formula depending on the chicks species?
Most species of parrots can be fed the same handfeeding food... Although they do make high fat handfeeding formula for birds, such as macaws, who need more fat in their diet, as well as lory specific handfeeding formulas.

*How long is it best to leave the chick with the parrents before taking them? Is there any negative effects of leaving the chicks with the parents for some time instead of taking them directly or as an egg?
If you plan on handfeeding, leave the chicks with the parents for at least 2-3 weeks minimum. If the parents don't attack the chicks, then there's no harm in LEAVING them with the parents... actually, the chicks learn from their parents how to be a bird... But depending on species this could make taming them as adults much harder, less they were taken out and socialized or handfed and got some imprint on humans...

As for taking them as an egg and handraising them... Well, they wouldn't get the beneficial flora from their parents... It's often from 'crop milk', something that the parents body creates to help in the digestion of foods. And would be more imprinted on humans than birds... My first cockatiel, Casey, was handraised from day one, and she is the sweetest tiel of them all! She has her buddy, Noel, but she still enjoys coming to me to demand scritches!

*What do you use to feed small birds like budgies/parrotlets, a bent spoon has to be enormus for suck a little beak?
For the smaller birds, pippets and syringes are used to feed them...

[Samm]

If you contact a breeder in your area, maybe he would show you how its done, and could answer any questions you have.

[Lola Plus 10]

Monica prettymuch summed it up, as for syringes, they can be very dangerous for a novice breeder to use. If you can find a baby spoon and bend up the edges just so its almost funnel like so the tip is small enough to go in their little mouths use that that way they can take from you and reject if its to hot rather then having it be shot into their mouth :) its just safer.

[Ainon]

Thanks Monica for a great answer!