We find that more and more people want to rear birds by hand or are persuaded to do so, at the time of purchase, by breeders capable of hand-rearing un-weaned chicks.

 

Yet this practice is far from being a hobby. It requires experience and an ability to rise to the occasion of guiding the bird to a stage where it is properly weaned and independent.

 

We felt it useful to briefly present the obligations and difficulties involved in this technique.

1- Specific and expensive equipment!

Hand-rearing a bird from birth requires a quality incubator with a heating and ventilation system equipped with electronically regulated humidity sensitive to 1/10th of a degree (Celsius). This type of equipment costs several hundred euros.

 

A breeder must also possess an electronic scale precise to +/- 2 grams (at a minimum because a deviation of 2 grams represents 10% of the birth weight of an African Grey Parrot).

 

 

2 - Perfect hygiene!

Hygiene is crucial and the instruments must be disinfected after each use. The incubator must be cleaned while ensuring that the chick doesn’t endure any temperature changes in the process.

 

 

3 – Round-the-clock availability!

At birth, the feeding takes place between 05:00 and 23:00. With each feeding, time must be factored in to prepare the food paste, weigh the bird, feed it, and clean the chick and its “nest” after the feeding.

 

The chick should be weighed every day and a weight trend for each bird should be established. The number of meals will diminish over the course of weeks and only starting in the 12th week will the bird start to feed itself. However, it will still not yet be completely independent.

 

 

4 – A specific diet!

The food given to this baby is either a "personal" mix or a paste sold by a well-known manufacturer. In 2002, the quality of industrial pastes surpassed that of personal mixes for at least 3 reasons:

 

a) Their composition is known (% proteins, % lipids, % carbohydrates);

b) Quality control ensures the replication of the product;

c) With just one bird to feed, producing a personal mix is just creating an additional hassle!

 

However, it is important to recognise that high-quality commercial pastes are expensive.

 

 

5 - Experience required!

Hand rearing is a skill learned on the job (the best teacher is someone with experience).

 

Books are valuable but they do not impart skill and nothing replaces the eye and observation that comes with practice. Weight trends published in books and on the Internet are good indicators of the desired results for a given species. However, if a mistake is made in feeding a baby bird and in the absence of a quick and tailored response, death can follow in 24 to 48 hours. These trends are only guides and each species, even each bird, is different in its growth needs.

 

It is also important to mention a practice more or less common among some breeders to sell un-weaned birds (that is, less than 4 months). At this age, the risk of making feeding mistakes is great, yet to increase the chances of a sale, some sellers advise only two meals per day (because an amateur buyer with a job or any other professional activity will only be able to feed his bird in the morning and evening). Under such conditions, the baby bird will receive twice the volume of what should be spread out over at least four feedings.

 

This unacceptable practice does not respond to the needs of the bird but rather those of the amateur breeder. For example, no one would dare place a new-born baby in the hands of a nurse who could only give it two bottles per day!!!

Out of respect for life, you should only agree to purchase weaned and independent birds. To learn more, see our page Hand rearing: a general primer.

 

Lastly, towards the 12th week, the young parrot enters a so-called "weaning period" during which feeding is problematic and it even loses weight. At this time, only the "helping hand" of an experienced breeder can help the baby bird make it through this difficult phase.

 

Everyone has a role to play!

 

The breeder’s is to ensure the bird is properly and fully weaned

 

… and the owner’s is to pamper its bird for several decades.