KatherineI
New member
Okay, so it's been forever and a day since I've handfed and despite my work with rescue (I'll be honest, that was over a decade ago), I had never heard of handfeeding a bird when you first bring it into your home, no matter the age. However, I have noticed that it seems to be something a lot of members here promote.
So my question is this; Is handfeeding an older bird that's recently been added to your family, to encouraged to help them learn to trust and bond with their new owner(s)?
I never did this with Loki, and we had several difficult months with him (to the point where my Husband was already talking about rehoming the poor thing - but I told him that it wasn't an option EVER!! And now, just a few months later, Loki is acting exactly like a GCC should). Sugar comes home on Monday, but she already knows us and seems to trust us. We have been visiting her several times a week since the end of March, so that she got to know us in an environment that was already familiar to her. When I walk in, she starts calling to me as soon as she hears my voice, if she hasn't seen me yet. If she see's me, she immediately comes to the front of her cage to be let out. When my Husband goes without me, she looks for me for a good 10-15 minutes before she settles in with him (she likes him too, but she's definitely going to be a Mama's girl
). She pretty much ignores anyone else, even when we aren't there.
So I'm guess what other's opinions are for us in regards to the feeding. It's not like she's being shipped to us, or that she's only seen us once or twice; we've already established a relationship with her, it's just that now she'll be living with us and seeing us daily, instead of for a few hours a day a few times a week. I really want to make this transition easy on her, which is why we've been doing it this way, since we're her second home. Little thing has been through a lot in her 10months
So my question is this; Is handfeeding an older bird that's recently been added to your family, to encouraged to help them learn to trust and bond with their new owner(s)?
I never did this with Loki, and we had several difficult months with him (to the point where my Husband was already talking about rehoming the poor thing - but I told him that it wasn't an option EVER!! And now, just a few months later, Loki is acting exactly like a GCC should). Sugar comes home on Monday, but she already knows us and seems to trust us. We have been visiting her several times a week since the end of March, so that she got to know us in an environment that was already familiar to her. When I walk in, she starts calling to me as soon as she hears my voice, if she hasn't seen me yet. If she see's me, she immediately comes to the front of her cage to be let out. When my Husband goes without me, she looks for me for a good 10-15 minutes before she settles in with him (she likes him too, but she's definitely going to be a Mama's girl
). She pretty much ignores anyone else, even when we aren't there.So I'm guess what other's opinions are for us in regards to the feeding. It's not like she's being shipped to us, or that she's only seen us once or twice; we've already established a relationship with her, it's just that now she'll be living with us and seeing us daily, instead of for a few hours a day a few times a week. I really want to make this transition easy on her, which is why we've been doing it this way, since we're her second home. Little thing has been through a lot in her 10months
