2.5 month old green cheek question

[JanEgeland]

Hi everyone, as some of you may know i recently purchased a pineapple Conure which is 2 and a half months old and still needs to be hand fed. I have read that when you purchase a new bird you should always leave them in their cage for about a week for them to get used to their surroundings, should I be doing the same for the birds that I hand feed? Or should I only let him out of the cage when I’m feeding him.
Thank you in advance.

 

[LordTriggs]

take them back to the breeder! It's not your job to handfeed them, that's literally the breeder's job. Take them back there, demand the breeder actually do what you're paying for and wait for your bird to be weaned before bringing them home.

Not sure where you're from but bear in mind that in Europe selling an unweaned bird is 100% illegal, and it is so for a reason

 

[ChristaNL]

Just take him out.
At least you will have better controll on how you feed the little one.
It is very difficult to do it propperly without the extra handicap of a cage anyway.



Why did you buy an unweaned bird in the first place?
The parents do a far superior job and there are *so* many things that can go wrong, even when the person handrearing is not an amateur.


The advice you will read most is: return it to the breeder till it is fully weaned.
Apart from feeding accidents (burning with and chooking them on the food) chances are the bird will not get fed enough often enough, too cold a meal that will mess up their digestion etc.etc. and it will suffer for the rest of its life.


Like malnutrition in children ...
We have done this study with war-survivors (we had "only" a short one here, part of the WWII) , with maximum a year or two of semi-starvation at the most -- and we can still tell after 60-ish years of peace and some prosperity and good healthcare what people were in it, by all kinds of physical problems that are unique to kids being deprived of enough food for only a small period in their life!
The same goes for birds.



So you are probably gloriously messing up that bird, I am sorry to say.

 

[JanEgeland]

I’ve had experience with weaning birds in the past as my previous cockatiels did breed and they kind of rejected the little guy so I was forced to hand feed him, in the end I didn’t have time to attend to the birds needs so I sold them, selling unweaned birds isn’t illegal here. I also hand fed my African grey who’s about 5 now. I’ve never had any trouble with weaning, it’s just that I’ve never purchased a 2 month old bird, they’ve always been like 2 or 3 weeks old, I don’t know how he’s been fed in the past, I’ve purchased the breeders formula as I had done with my African grey, I’ve also asked for the breeders feeding schedule, everything seems to be going fine.

 

[EllenD]

Any breeder who sells an unweaned baby doesn't care about their birds, only about making money and moving the babies out as quickly as possible...And I'm a 20-year breeder saying this...It's upsetting, because you are not a breeder, you have gotten lucky with your prior birds, and you could still very well aspirate this baby, burn their crop, cause a yeast infection, cause crop stasis/slow crop, or a host of other issues. And that isn't your fault, as you're not supposed to know what you're doing...It's just very upsetting to scrupulous breeders and bird owners...

The whole "don't touch your bird for the first week" thing is not good advice; yes new birds have to settle-in to their new homes, but they also need affection and love and handling, especially if they're hand-raised. And a baby that young cannot go from being hand-fed by it's breeder every day, all day long, to being moved to a new home with a new person and being suddenly ignored. So no, please do not make an effort to ignore him, as it's just bad advice and a "myth" that has been spread over the internet, just like "touching eggs will make the parents abandon them", same thing, a myth...

 

[JanEgeland]

I haven’t ignored him at all, as soon as I read the “myth” I posted this. The bird is very affectionate and we seem to be getting on very well, he was very scared for the first 2 or so days but he now seems to be getting on fine. He has started flying which I think is a good sign. I will be taking him to the vet very soon as I have not been able to as of yet, he shows no signs of illness and seems to be very active, I just want to make sure. Thank you for your advice.

 

[JanEgeland]

I’ve also added a piece of rubber to the “needle” for lack of a better word, which sends a signal to the bird that he’s about to be fed and I’m hoping that could stop aspiration, which it has done in the past.