Baby Conure feeding questions.

[conureking1]

Hello. I have begun to hand feed a small sun conure chick (1 3/4 weeks old) since its parents for some reason killed its older 2 week sibling. I do not know why, but its left me heart broken. So I decided to hand feed the remaining chick.

Well, I went to visit a friends friend who has been a conure breeder for years and she showed me the basics of hand feeding. Pretty easy I think! So hand feeding I began.

But when I feed the chick the amount its supposed to eat (according to directions), it seems to want more. The chick just keeps on chirping and chirping, looking for more food. And the crop seems to be full (to me). Should I give it a bit more than directed till it stops chirping? Or should I be very strict with the directions?

The directions also say to feed the chick 4 times a day. The chick is about 14 days old. But after 1-2 hours after its been fed, it cries for food. And i know it wants food because when i get close to remove the dirty towels in the bottom of the aquarium, the chick has its mouth open and when it touches my hand, it's head begins to bobble up and down and flap its wings. Again, should I stay strict with the feeding schedule? Or feed a bit more?

One last thing, I have been with the mama conure since it started weaning. We were very close. But then I recently started to work and i began to have less time to spend with her. So then I decided to get her a "female" companion that turned out to be male and that is where it became papa conure. Haha. Well, I thought I had lost our friendship now that she had someone else and babies. But now that she and papa conure have no nest nor babies, mama conure seems to want to be with me and want my attention. I thought she would never be friendly to me ever again since she bonded with papa conure. Is this possible??? Or should I expect a surprise bite from her??


Sorry for the long reading.

 

[MikeyTN]

First of all, not trying to be mean, but you really should of thought of all this before starting!

Even when birds are paired up, they can still be handled if you handle them often, it sometimes depends on the individual birds on how they will react to you handling them once again.

You feed the amount your supposed to then check on the baby often to see how the crop is emptying during the period until the next feeding. You should always allow the crop to fully empty before feeding again. If all the timing and emptying is correct, then follow your schedule and the amount. They will always cry for you to feed more every time they see you, that's the way it goes. You must not feed in between time if the crop isn't empty, you just have to walk away otherwise they will cry to you none stop.

 

[conureking1]

I understand. It was not my intentions to breed them. Its chilly here in northern Minnesota, so I bought a small soft, cuddling blanket/hut thing that is for conures to go in and keep warm and cuddle in. Its not that good for a nest. But the mama conure layed 2 eggs in there. I did not want to remove them because people say it might encourage them to lay more if the eggs are removed. That was before I found out papa conure was a male. I left the eggs there till she would get bored of them. I also checked for bad spoiled eggs which there were none. Then the eggs hatched, and that is when I found out papa conure was a male.

 

[MikeyTN]

Ok, that's what happened....At least you've removed that hut so they won't be going at it again for now....How's the hand feeding going so far? Have you check the crop in between feedings?