First time breeder help!

[Angiee]

Hi guys, i’ve been searching around for parrot forums to discuss certain things with them instead of assuming answers.
My parents and I have loved different variety of parrots, so we all decided we’d tackle raising one from the start. So we will be the first people he/she sees, and they will get to know us and only us (obviously except the various family members or friends that would stop by). We don’t intend to sell, just for our own house pet.

So here is the million dollar question, what are good tips I can take for this? My parents and I have also done some research before hand though (haven’t started because we’re not 100% confident yet), like the amount of days for different breeds, temperature with humidity, type of incubator, the process after they hatch, the procedure of weaning, and a few other things so were not completely oblivious to the fact
But because I’ve never done it before I’d really love some helpful tips to be prepared for while going through this journey. We were looking to possibly hand raise a green wing macaw.
But the one thing I’m afraid of is how in order to actually retrieve the eggs to incubate if I don’t already have the macaws.
Would really love any help from any and all breeders that have been in the game for awhile!

 

[brighterdaysaviary]

Why a macaw? Have you owned a bird before?

Raising a macaw from birth to being fully weaned will take 5-6 months.

It is extremely extremely risky to raise a baby from the egg to an adult. Even the experienced breeders don't try it. And honestly, if you have no actual hands-on experience (reading about it isnt good enough) something will go wrong. Are you ready to spend hundreds even thousands of dollars on vet bills and not even having a guarantee if the baby makes it?

Are you ready to be hand-feeding the baby every 1-2 hour for the first few weeks and then every 2-3 hours, 3-4 hours etc?

Count on not leaving your house unless its a quick trip to the store during this time, no vacations, no long outings, no social life pretty much. Your life will revolve around the baby.

You'll get pretty much no sleep and you'll be in constant paranoia.

This just scratches the surface. You will be spending a ton of money, time, etc and it is extremely risky and there is no guarantee the baby will be alive at the end of it. You will be spending much less if you just buy a baby from a reputable ethical breeder.

Also, I would like to say raising a baby from birth and counting on the baby to bond with you is a bad idea. The bird will you see you as their mother and when the bird reaches sexual maturity it may not want to be with you anymore as the bird has to find a "mate" and wants to detach from you the "mother".

Overall I say this is a very very bad idea. Please consider adopting a bird or buying from a reputable breeder.

I also want to say macaws are expensive to care for, destructive, messy, loud, and need constant attention.

I mean honestly pretty much every species of birds are. Some more than the others.

 

[Flboy]

Also—- Parrot eggs for sale is 100% scam! And, assuming the impossible happened, you got an egg, it hatched, you successfully raised the little guy. Next? If you are viewed as the parront, the fledged parrot may now reject you to become an independent adult!

 

[LordTriggs]

I did write out a very long point on this (which I shall re-write later today) BUT I will put a very concise list of minor points to think of before rushing into what I will bluntly (no offense intended) IDIOTIC venture.

Bird egg sellers are scams, you will get no egg.

buying a parrot egg is almost certainly illegal globally and is 100% confirmed illegal in Europe

this will costs thousands of dollars on top of what you will pay for a macaw and will be no different/worse than getting one from a good breeder.

you will almost certainly psychologically (and possibly physically) damage your macaw resulting in them being in a simple word dangerous and terrified of the world around them

Vets will almost certainly refuse to see to the bird without CITES documents or the bird could be seized and taken away from you without those legal documents (I'm not 100% on the rulings regarding this) but you will almost certainly end up with heavy complications regarding legality by doing this.

To be the only people this macaw knows leads to a very complicated problem. What if you have to give them to someone else? For whatever reason, money, illness, death? (remember macaws can live to their 80's so will almost certainly outlive you) That Macaw then doesn't understand what a different person is an mutilates themselves out of frustration and attacks their new owner. What if you suddenly walk in with a new friend? That macaw will almost certainly attack and gravely injure that person because they aren't socialized which macaws need to not be dangerous to anyone who isn't you.

Honestly drop the idea, it's everything but good. They wont bond stronger or any of that nonsense, if you want a well rounded bird, go to a rescue and find one who is a little older so they've been through their initial hormone period. Love them and work with their quirks and give them the second chance they deserve.

The fact every other place you have spoken about this has unanimously said not to do it should tell you what you need to know.

 

[itzjbean]

If you are looking to get a fertile egg, incubate, hatch, feed and raise the baby until weaning, you will likely only face heartbreak.

There are people out there that have your same exact idea - raise a baby from an egg, and people do sell them. BUT.... they are all scams. As a business, a breeder can stand to make much more money raising the baby and weaning it and then selling for a higher profit. Any 'fertile egg' prices you see will always be much lower than the actual weaned baby, why is that? That's how they get people to buy them. What happens is, you either receive no egg, or eggs that will never hatch. They are never fertile. The only way people do this is between trusted breeder friends, even then its so risky with transport and all.

I just got my new baby bird from a trusted breeder. He was flown to me in an airplane and he is the sweetest, tamest bird I have ever met. If you get a weaned baby (depending on species, my cockatiel is almost 4 months old and still very young) but he is very cuddly and bonded to me already. I know it would be fun to have a baby from hatch, but it's much safer (and less stressful) to get a baby when they're eating on their own already and know how to climb around a cage, play with toys and step up.

Breeding is not easy and I have bred cockatiels. Even with a smaller, prolific species, things go wrong. A chick is very delicate and it needs experienced hands to thrive. Though experiencing the miracle of life is magical, if you don't actually have experience raising a newborn chick, it will likely pass away from your inexperience. We have seen it happen on this forum unfortunately -- give this thread a read. So you bought an unweaned baby..

I am not saying this to scare you, but it is just a reality for many people who think the same thing as you, want to raise a baby and then don't realize they need to make the formula runnier when they're newborns, or what temperature to keep formula at, what to do when the crop won't empty, what to do to prevent splayed legs, etc.

The best way to get experience is to find a local breeder in our area and ask to watch them and learn the process of hatching to weaning. You will find it is a long process and it takes hundreds of dollars in equipment and supplies, as well as knowledge of how to wean a baby to eat on his own, perch, play with toys and learn how to be a bid.

I really hope you reconsider getting a baby in an egg and instead choose to get a weaned baby through a breeder.

 

[EllenD]

Your title is "First Time Breeder Help", but what you are talking about doing is not "breeding" at all, not in any way my friend.

As a long-time breeder and hand-raiser, as are Itzjbean and others above, I can tell you that we would never, ever purposely intend to hand-feed a baby bird for the first 2-3 weeks after it hatches. Not ever. For one, the chances of it surviving are slim to none, and that's with tons of hand-feeding experience. With none, you are setting yourself for a major heartbreak...Plus, during the first 2-3 weeks of life the baby bird gets much-needed nutrition from it's mother's crop that helps to build it's immune system, so you're robbing them of that...But again, it sadly wouldn't matter because the likelihood of the baby living past a few weeks old is slim to none, and I'd hate to see that happen to you or anyone else..or the baby bird.

Again, there is absolutely nothing that doing what you are intending on doing will accomplish as far as you "bonding" with a bird. That bird will still bond with whomever it wants to bond with, and if you act entirely as it's "mother", this usually backfires terribly...And I just want to point-out to you that there are many people who come onto this forum because they have done their "research" for a long, long time about hand-raising/hand-feeding baby parrots, and then they have gone and purchased an Unweaned baby parrot from an unscrupulous breeder, and either the baby is now terribly sick from any number of issues created by them not ever-having hand-fed or hand-raised a baby bird before, or from them not knowing anything at all about how to properly "Abundance-Wean" the baby, if they even get to that stage...I'd guess that 95% of these cases end in the death of the baby before the weaning process even begins...And those are people who are bringing home a 3-4 week old baby, not a brand-new hatchling...

I'll wrap this up now...For the sake of you, your family, and the baby bird, please do the responsible thing (this is not the responsible thing) and either spend a good long time mentoring with a breeder and be properly taught how to hand-raise/hand-feed and abundance-wean a baby bird before you even attempt anything like this (and again, "fertile eggs for sale" are all scams by the way), or just spend your research time finding out exactly what species of parrot you want to add to your family...If it's a GreenWing Macaw that's great, but again, be a responsible parrot owner and only bring-home a fully abundance-weaned baby...If you can find a breeder local to you, they'll most-likely allow you to help them feed/raise/wean your baby if you're buying it from them..do it this way, the right way, with guidance and a professional, not only because your way is accomplishing nothing at all and serves no earthly purpose, but because it's the right thing to do for the bird...

 

[Angiee]

Thank you everyone for the VERY VERY helpful information

 

[GaleriaGila]

Thank you, everyone, for the helpful and caring advice!
And thank YOU, Angiee, for listening!

 

[Inger]

Angiee, I hope that when you do safely and responsibly bring your new friend home, you’ll still be here to tell us all about it!


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