Caring for Baby Lovebird?

Well now that the argueing is over....
lol
I thickened it a bit at the last feeding it its lasted longer, thanks :)
and why won't a normal thermomiter work??

Cause at boiling point it would bust your thermometer! That's why food grade was suggested!!!
 
Not only will it break, many of them don't even go to the correct temp. The candy and meat thermometers do, and are made to hold up under such heat. I agree with going to someone locally! Make sure you don't make it to thick, I always say the consistency of thin gravy is perfect.
 
Hand-feeding takes a LOT of time because it has to be done frequently. However, I think, it could be okay. When I was young my mom and I hand-fed baby mockingbirds that had fallen out of their nests. It was pretty frequent. We always took them with us when we went places (while they were tiny, anyways) so we could feed them. When they began to eat on their own we didn't have to do that. We didn't have a set schedule with them, but we fed them when they asked for food, and until they were full.

For the record, we eventually released them (gradually) and they became completely wild again. :-)
 
I took over hand feeding my jenday Alex when he was on 3 feeds a day, morning noon and night. But, I was taught how to handfeed over the course of a few weeks by his breeder, and only took him as she was ill and had to be hospitalised. Wanting to hand-rear your own birds is not a bad thing like we seem to make it out to be, but attempting it without knowing what to do is. You should have been taught how to by the breeder, not given a 'crash course' when you took the chick. If you are unsure of how to do things now, she has not taught you properly.

In all honesty you should ask a local breeder to raise this chick for you, some will do it for a minimal fee. You've bought a life without the necessary training to ensure it flourishes. I'm not saying you can't do it, but it's time to learn NOW and FAST if you want to do this. So, as you've said your not willing to transfer the chick to someone with more experience, lets get down to business. Everyone here has already given you very sound advice, so I'll throw in my own experience.

Are you using a spoon or syringe? If using a syringe do you know how to feed with it? You can easily asphyxiate the chick by accidentally getting food in it's windpipe and as a result, lungs. If you can't get a breeder to teach you how in person, your next best bet is to youtube up some videos and watch how it it done. It's no where near as good as having someone show you and supervise you doing it to correct you where you go wrong, but, it will have to suffice. I used a spoon as I was not comfortable with a syringe, but Alex had (and still has) a much larger and therefore easier to spoon feed beak, then a baby lovebird.

You are going to need a thermometer, formula needs to be the correct temp, especially at this age! Too low and your risking bacterial infections in the crop, too high and you will burn the chicks crop killing it. It's a very precise range. Like everyone said, candy thermometers, meat thermometers or sometimes you can find digital thermometers designed for use in heating milk for children that may work, that is what I used.

Next is heating the formula itself. Avoid a microwave, you are just asking for trouble, and at least if using boiled water you know it is sterile. Their are different methods of mixing it up. I personally would boil the kettle, mix the boiled water with the formula to the desired consistency (a yoghurt like thickness worked best for me and Alex) and stir it while waiting for it to cool to the desired temp. Once it was at feeding temp, stir it thoroughly to make sure their are no lumps and the heat is distributed evenly, and feed immediately. You can sit the container with the formula in it in another bowl of warm water to keep the temp stable longer.

Your going to need to learn what a full and empty crop looks like. Sometimes it can be half full, sometimes less. Here's a CAG with a full crop for an idea.

Bird,%20196.jpg


The big round bit is a nice full crop.

Also research signs of slow crop and bacterial infections so you can pick up on them FAST if they show up.


A chick at this age needs to be in a brooder IMHO. It should NOT have been pulled from the nest if it was not to be placed in a brooder. If you can post some photos so we can see how feathered he is and how far along developmental wise, it would help.

I would be personally feeding this chick whenever it is hungry at this stage. It's crop is emptying so fast because it is trying to keep itself warm, using all the energy in the food to try to do so. Feeding it once every 12 hours is nowhere near enough! Alex was on 3 feeds a day when I got him at 9 weeks! From what I hear, you should let the chicks crop empty out once a day to prevent bacterial infections, but let the others confirm/deny that.

Basicly, if you really want to do this, research NOW and get the right stuff and doing this right NOW or otherwise you're going to have a dead chick like almost everyone else who trys to "wing it" through hand rearing a bird. I'm wishing you the best of luck, and hoping you can do it, but you need to do it right, or not at all and get this bird to someone who will.
 
Theirs a reason we get so aggressive about this, we see it all the time.

But my add on to the previous post is ensure you calibrate your thermometer correctly. Birds can be lost through an inaccurate temp reading.
 
Is feeding with a spoon alot safer?Because I think he could eat with a spoon fine and I hear alot of things about feeding with a syringe that make me really nervous to feed him.
 
Is feeding with a spoon alot safer?Because I think he could eat with a spoon fine and I hear alot of things about feeding with a syringe that make me really nervous to feed him.

Spoon is safer yes! If you don't feed it proper with a syringe you can kill the baby.

Amber, I've been using microwave for years. As long as you can get it to the boiling point it is fine. I didn't just raise one chick, I've raised hundreds. Being careful on how you do it is all it counts so it really isn't asking for trouble using a microwave!
 
Oh wow I fed him with a baby spoon and it was sooo much easier! Thank you so much lol I hated feeding with a syringe and now I know its safer and it was actually alot less messy for me.
 
oh hes sooo cute!!!! i cant take it with his little tail and big eyes XD
 
oh hes sooo cute!!!! i cant take it with his little tail and big eyes XD


I know! lol and hes sooo active and exploring everything.Even though I hate having to get up multiple times a night, seeing his little adorable self makes it worth it :)
 
I think your making yourself more tired from feeding then you should. At his age I don't even feed that many times. If your afraid he's not eating enough, feed at 6am, 12pm, 6pm, and midnight. You can feed more then just 1-2cc at a time. My tiels at that stage is eating past 30cc per meal. I never fed past midnight ever even with Lovebird chicks. The only time I feed around the clock is if the parents abandoned them when they hatch. Some breeders don't even do that and feed just during the day. I fed them around the clock to ensure survival when they're so young. At your stage it really isn't necessary. Beautiful baby, good luck!
 
In my opinion that bird is not 2 1/2 weeks... try closer to 4. Here are pictures of Lovebirds at just over 2 weeks. You should be following the amount guide on that website I sent over. You can measure it in the syringe if you want, then use the spoon to feed it.

yellow1.jpg
 
In my opinion that bird is not 2 1/2 weeks... try closer to 4. Here are pictures of Lovebirds at just over 2 weeks. You should be following the amount guide on that website I sent over. You can measure it in the syringe if you want, then use the spoon to feed it.

yellow1.jpg

Yeah I was kinda wondering if he was older than 2 1/2 weeks cause hes so active and all.And yeah I keep it in the syringe and just put small ammounts on the spoon as I feed it.
But that site you showed me, the person said they feed like 10 and 11 hours sometimes and im scared to do that because he seems so hungry when I go to feed him after like 3 and 1/2 hours and his crop is pretty flat.And also I feed him 6 ccs and his crop is I think full then because its pretty hard(Not like really hard but, I think how a crops supposed to feel when its full).
 
Beautiful .. thanks for sharing ~~ ^^
 
The site I showed has a chart per age, I've never heard her say to feed 11-12 hours. It's every 4-6 hours at the beginning, and it spreads out as they age. I would follow the chart for a 4 week old baby. >>
3-4 weeks
6:30 am, 12:00 pm, 6:00 pm, 10:00 pm
Thin
6 - 12 cc's
3-4 weeks
I start to offer them Millet and Weaning food.
 
Amber, I've been using microwave for years. As long as you can get it to the boiling point it is fine. I didn't just raise one chick, I've raised hundreds. Being careful on how you do it is all it counts so it really isn't asking for trouble using a microwave!

Oh, I'm not dissing the microwave altogether, I'm just saying that if it's his first time he should use an alternate method like I did for safetys sake, too easy to burn a crop with a hot spot IMHO. I'm pretty sure you'd have the experience to tell if your microwaved food was right or not after that many chicks! But, better safe then sorry for those of us with less experience, no? :)

Oh wow I fed him with a baby spoon and it was sooo much easier! Thank you so much lol I hated feeding with a syringe and now I know its safer and it was actually alot less messy for me.

I'm glad it was easier for you! Many breeders prefer it as it is a more natural way to feed the bird (similar to how the parents do), and unless you force feed them, nearly impossible to choke them with it. I used a teaspoon with the sides bent up like a mothers beak (you can buy these ready made at pet stores, already gauged to different sized birds) to help guide the food to Alex's mouth, like this one.

feeding_spoon_SMALL.jpg


The only downside is you can't really measure how much they are eating, but as long as they have a nice full crop at the end (they stop eating when full) I wouldn't be too concerned about recording exact amounts taken. You can get spoons which have a syringe where the handle is, so you can empty food onto the spoon as you go, and these also enable you to record roughly how much is being eaten (provided they are not getting it everywhere!) like this one

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(Heres hoping the pic works) I've never tried one before though, so I can't say how good they are! Heres a link if not. Vetafarm Ezy Feeder Large

And like others have said, thankfully he is not a 2 week old chick! I think you can manage to do this, he looks about feathered enough to be out of the brooder (in my limited experience anyway, leave that to the others to confirm/deny!), though I would most defiantly be keeping him in a warm, draught free area until all those feathers are in! Follow the feeding instructions the others gave (Feed every 6 hours), they sound reasonable for a chick this age ;) (Alex was not much further along developmentally when I got him, species differences aside)

I feel MUCH better seeing photos of him and knowing he's not a naked chick that should be in a brooder. I think you can do it. Just remember what's been said, get the food to the right temp (get that thermometer if you haven't already!) and be pedantic about keeping everything used to feed sterile to stop any infections. He (She?) is adorable! :D
 
I'd also start offering adult foods. He may not eat them, probably only play with them for awhile, but he needs to become familiar with them and start to get the taste for them. I'm not sure what a adult lovebird diet should be, but I would start familiarising him with fruit and veg and pellets and seeds. He should also always have fresh water available. I'd make sure it was shallow enough at his age so if he falls in he can't harm himself, but he should have it there so he can get extra fluids if he needs them, you don't want to accidentally dehydrate him after all.

I like the idea Iolani had of measuring it in the syringe then feeding it via spoon.

Good luck and keep us posted! This is also a good time to mention finding an avian vet in your area in case he ever needs to go (or you ever have an emergency situation!) as your regular vet, while an expert in most mammals (dogs cats etc) generally have very little experience or knowledge of birds, and are not really the best options should they ever need treatment. Just something to keep in mind for your little guys ongoing health and wellbeing over the oncoming years. :)
 
I think it was totally wrong for a so-called breeder to sell a baby like that to someone who didn't know how to hand feed. I'm not blaming you at all, I'm blaming the breeder. What I would do is go to a vet's office or a pet store who deals with birds (and knows what they're doing) and see if someone can show you in person what to do and how to do it.
That's how I learned to hand feed my eclectus when I got him. The only reason I got him so young was because there were issues with the health of the owner and a lot of us got together and took in the babies. As soon as I got him, a friend who knows how to handfeed and has a bunch of parrots, showed me what to do.
Good luck to you and your new baby. I love the pics. He is sooooo cute!!!
 
Amber, im a girl just so you know lol

and yeah I measure the formula with a syringe and then put it on the spoon.

Is universal blend seeds okay?I feed them to my adult lovebird and its got all kinds of tiny seeds and also sunflower seeds.I bought him some Zupreem weaning food that I soak in hot water to make them soggy but he doesnt seem to like them.I feed him vegetables and he seems interested in them some but he mostly just plays with them.I also have a millet in there with him all the time and he plays with that some too.

And yes I know about a vet near me....Last year My lovebird had blood spots all in her cage and we had to call an emergency vet but she talked us through it on the phone and it ended up being that she pulled a tail feather out and the shoot or whatever connected to her vanes didn't come out and we had to put it out.Well, my sister pulled it out anywas haha Shes worked at a vet for like 15 years so I trust her more with that stuff.

I need advice though.I'm going to Disney next weekend and I could leave Rio(baby lovebird) with my sister but she really doesnt want to watch him and feed him so I'd like to take him with me...The only problem I have is the night I go into Djsney i'll be gone around 11 to 12 hours....Is there any way I could leave him that long?Like put multiple things in there that he'll eat if he gets hungry or something??
 

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