Hand Feeding Babies

[Merlee]

I was at the Howard Voren's website and watched a video about hand feeding 1 day old chicks. I was concerned about how he was picking up a baby by its head to straighten out the crop before feeding with a syringe. I was scared watching it thinking the baby would be injured from this type of handling. Do a lot of people do this?

I have read many times that it's difficult to hand feed a baby and to allow the professionals to wean a bird. Would somebody explain why when it looks so easy.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Let's start here: http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/19049-hazards-buying-unweaned-baby.html

I have NEVER handfed a one day old chick, nor do I ever want to.

Breeders make it look so easy because many of them have been doing it for YEARS. They got the routine down pat, and know what to watch out for.

* Utensils should be kept scrupulously clean at all times.
* Chicks should be weighed regularly on accurate gram scale
* Temperature must be right
* Consistency must be right
* You have to watch for proper crop emptying
* You must know what bedding to avoid

....those are just some from the top of my (blonde) head.

 

[Merlee]

People are going to do it anyway to save money. I know somebody who got a bird and it was not quite completely weaned, but finished it herself and the bird is fine. I have heard about comfort feeding so does that make a difference too?

 

[JerseyWendy]

I can't and won't say how I feel about people who do it and have NO clue about handfeeding a baby bird.

I'm afraid I'd get myself banned if I openly said how I feel about that. :54:

 

[Merlee]

Please let me explain why I am asking all these questions. I have been watching the videos on Howard Voren's website and can't ask him directly so I come here. I wouldn't do this myself because I am inexperienced and afraid of killing a chick out of ignorance. Just the idea of handling a baby scares me. I would be afraid of breaking it. lol.

 

[henpecked]

I wouldn't say handfeeding is difficult. But you do need to know what your doing. Howard is feeding chicks almost year round and all day long. heck he wrote the book, "Parrots,handfeeding and nursery management". I haven't watched those videos but i'm sure there's many subtleties you don't notice. he's a no nonsense type of guy and extremely smart, after 40 yrs and many thousands of babies, he's got it down pat. BTW his nursery and grow out rooms are cleaner than most hospitals, the only time i can go in them is when there are no chicks. He spares no expense when building them and keeping them sterile.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Here is a video. It's pretty long, and I'm only 1/4th through watching it.

I see her do several things already I personally would NOT do and have never done.

Have a look, and see if you can guess what that is.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfWF7TQx1Ek]Baby Parrot Handfeeding Time - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Merlee]

If this thread is going to start such controversy, then please delete it. I just wanted to educate myself about this topic. To be told not to do something, of course, I want to know why not? lol.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Perhaps we can turn this into an informational thread instead.

 

[Merlee]

Excellent idea! I am afraid to towel my birds at home to trim nails so dealing with babies scare me even more. lol.

From watching the video, I noticed she "shot gunned" the food. How would she know how much to give each one and not over fill? That is what I would be afraid of doing.

 

[Merlee]

I wouldn't say handfeeding is difficult. But you do need to know what your doing. Howard is feeding chicks almost year round and all day long. heck he wrote the book, "Parrots,handfeeding and nursery management". I haven't watched those videos but i'm sure there's many subtleties you don't notice. he's a no nonsense type of guy and extremely smart, after 40 yrs and many thousands of babies, he's got it down pat. BTW his nursery and grow out rooms are cleaner than most hospitals, the only time i can go in them is when there are no chicks. He spares no expense when building them and keeping them sterile.

While watching the videos, I noticed how big his hands were compared to the size of the babies. I also noticed he could differentiate between the babies without any labeling. They looked the same to me.

 

[JerseyWendy]

When my GF taught me how to hand feed, she was pretty anal about it.

I would weigh my birds BEFORE each feeding and then AFTER. Why? Because some birds ARE messy feeders, so even though my syringe would hold 30cc (for example), that didn't mean they'd actually get the full 30cc, some would be on the towel, some on them. :54:

When feeding more than 1 chick, I NEVER used the same syringe. I would have 2 prefilled syringes, sitting in the appropriately heated water, so while I would feed one chick, the second syringe with formula wouldn't get too cold. They DO cool off rather quickly.

 

[Merlee]

Interesting you would say that Wendy, because I think Voren used the same syringe on more than one chick. I'll have to go back later and rewatch the video.

What else did the lady do wrong?

 

[JerseyWendy]

I'm sure that most (if not all) large scale breeders use the same syringe because they are THEIR birds, and ideally they are all in perfect health.

The most I ever fed at the same time were 3 Amazons chicks from the same clutch. And because I am so super careful (they weren't my chicks), I erred on the safe side with everything.

In the video the lady doing the hand feeding inserted the syringe into the wrong side of the beak (I saw it twice) on one of the Meyers.

Lastly, I think she fed the little Jendays a little bit too rapidly. :11:

You asked about comfort feeding earlier. I think that's a good idea if you used either a bent spoon or a little plastic or paper cup.

 

[MikeyTN]

Yes most breeders use the same syringe due to multiple babies to feed and they're all from the same breeder anyways. I do that myself...hard to keep up with multiple syringes when you have many at a time. I don't do as many now at a time but still like this time I'm doing 10 babies along with two older ones not weaned yet. I've been doing this for years now so I'm pretty used to handfeeding with a breeze.

 

[Kinny]

When you get used to raising baby birds you learn to be fast and gentle at the same time. Everything becomes second nature to you. As others have said its not necessarily hard to handraise baby birds, everything just has to be perfect. Even the most experienced hand raisers have baby birds die, they are just so small and frail.

I've had friends over before whilst I'm feeding some babies, and they say i make it look like the easiest thing ever to do. When i explained every detail about how everything just has to be perfect temp, sanitized etc. then they realised its not about being easy or hard, you just have to be very gentle, careful and know what you're doing. ^^

I never pick my birds up by their heads, but sometimes a baby bird will fold its neck up so i gently take hold of the head and slowly stretch the neck out a little, then feed him. But yes, again, gentleness is key.

Also, i use tube syringes (tube is soft silicone type material). After each baby is fed, i cuddle with each particular bird for 3-5 minutes so it gets that comfort. I gave used the same syringe for multiple babies before, however I've had boiling salt water, and just pure boiled water nearby where after each bird is fed i wash and clean it. But separate syringes is best.

 

[Kinny]

I wouldn't say handfeeding is difficult. But you do need to know what your doing. Howard is feeding chicks almost year round and all day long. heck he wrote the book, "Parrots,handfeeding and nursery management". I haven't watched those videos but i'm sure there's many subtleties you don't notice. he's a no nonsense type of guy and extremely smart, after 40 yrs and many thousands of babies, he's got it down pat. BTW his nursery and grow out rooms are cleaner than most hospitals, the only time i can go in them is when there are no chicks. He spares no expense when building them and keeping them sterile.

While watching the videos, I noticed how big his hands were compared to the size of the babies. I also noticed he could differentiate between the babies without any labeling. They looked the same to me.

When you're hand raising all the time, you learn to pick up slight differences in character, noise, looks, behaviour, eyes, and sometimes even the way they sit/stand. ^^

 

[MonicaMc]

I' not a hand feeder or breeder, and I'm not necessarily sure there is a right way to hand feed chicks. I have heard of people inserting the syringe on either side of the chicks mouth without problems, and one hand feeder even inserting the syringed from the front of the mouth and never having deformed beaks. Their reasoning for feeding that way is because of the way the parents would naturally feed the chicks.

Casey, my cockatiel, was hand raised from day one, but I didn't get her until she was 5 months old. Well, I didn't know about her until she was already home! Of my other birds that were hand raised, I don't know how they were raised at all.



Generally speaking, it's recommended to leave the chicks with the parents for a minimum of 2-3 weeks. Hand feeding day one chicks is *NOT* an easy task and requires feeding around the clock every 2-3 hours. You wont be getting any sleep. It's easier for chicks to digest formula than it is to digest whatever food the parents have been eating, so formula goes through their digestive track a lot faster. If left with their parents, it helps them get some beneficial bacteria into their systems which can help keep them healthy.


Some thing you need to worry about when hand feeding....

*Crop burn
*Overfeeding
*Underfeeding (and consequently, overstretched crop)
*Slow crop
*Sour crop
*Yeast infections
*Aspiration
*Crop impaction
*Cold chicks
*Overheated chicks
*Dehydrated chicks
etc



IMO, hand feeding is extremely easy to do! And it makes mistakes that much easier to do!

I've heard of a story of a man who bought an unweaned chick and was told to check the temperature of the formula by putting it on his wrist. The guy had *NO* feeling in his wrist, and burned the crop of his chick. A burned crop can easily break open and food will leak out of the crop.

Another man thought "hand feeding" meant feeding chicks seeds by hand. He had an unweaned baby that didn't know how to eat seeds just yet...

If you are squeamish, please don't view these links. If you can handle it... here are photos of hand feeding gone wrong as well as photos of chicks in distress. (various ailments and issues that arise)
crop burn damage
Babies In Trouble Photos by Mousebirds-and-more | Photobucket