Help with new baby Alexandrine parrot

[Bugsy]

I got a baby Alexandrine parrot today.It is around 1.5-2 months old.The shopkeeper told me to handfeed it smashed boiled lentils 3 times a day,once around 8am in the morning ,once around 1.30 pm in noon and once around 6 pm in the evening according to my time zone.
1.Is that enough and do I need to feed it anything else?
2.It is around 1 am at night and I hear the birdmaking soft sounds.Is it hungry or is it crying for some reason.I did not feed him after 6pm in the evening as the shopkeeper suggested
3.Till what age do I need to handfeed him
4.Should I get him some chewing wood toys now


Also I would be happy to receive any other tips related to my baby bird.I am a 1st time bird owner.Thanks in advance

 

[Laurasea]

Hi welcome!
It's Superbowl Sunday here in the states!! You'll probably get more replies tomorrow!
Is the baby weaned? I'm not sure what age they weaned. But if not weaned you can search for the thread, So you got an unweaned baby. At the top of each species forums there ate sticky threads highlighted in blue, read those, and I would even read the ones from other parrot species, lots of info works on any species. Some things are specific to the type of birds. I Know we have tips on bonding too.
If your baby isn't weaned , you will keep feeding it by hand till it starts weaning itself. At the same time you always have health seed mix, and pellets available. Off fresh veggies twice daily, remove after a couple of hours. Try playing with the food to improve interest in trying new things. Offer fruit twice a week. There ate lists here on safe food, or an internet search will turn up safe foods list. Never any onions, never any Avacado, never any garlic.
You can offer cooked oatmeal, and scrambled eggs a few times a week, or a small amount of cooked wholeweat pasta plain once in awhile too.oys of leafy greens like romaine lettuce, some of the other types of lettaces, just not iceberg as it's not nutritious. Green beans, peas, squash, radish, pumpkin all good.
Never to early to offer toys and things to chew.
Again welcome!
No I don't think just lentils is a good diet. Where in this big world are you located?
Start offering the veggies today, sometimes cooking them makes them eat better, sometimes how you chop them, or leave them whole and raw. Offer lots if different ways. Bell pepperd seeds and all are well liked by most birds, as well as hot red chilli peppers seeds and all, birds don't taste hot spice, and they really like them. People also make bird breaf with veggies in it.

 

[noodles123]

WOAH...you dove straight into the deep-end of the pool....I don't know about hand-feeding, but I do know about birds. You will need to focus on hand-feeding for now, as that is a major undertaking...

Here are some thoughts I posted for someone who was considering adopting a bird--I know you already have, but it can't hurt....This excerpt was for a Macaw, but minus the parts on costs, it applies to all parrots (except for birds like eclectus who have weird dietary needs). I pasted it below:

"Other thoughts for a 1st time owner:
You will need to establish a set bedtime for either bird, which means being home to cover them at night and waking up to uncover them in the morning. They need 10-14 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Baby birds are 100% sweeter than adults and their personalities and preferences change significantly at puberty. Many bad habits that people start with babies (like stroking and cuddling/playing in blankets etc) can create complete hormonal monsters as adults. A bird should only ever be petted on its head or neck and it should never be given access to shadowy/dark spaces (huts, tents, boxes, tubes, under furniture etc)

Also, all of your cleaning routines will have to change, as you cannot use any chemical cleaners in the same house with a bird unless they are certified avian safe (e.g., F10 SC), or some natural cleaners, such as unheated vinegar+water, water+grapefruit seed extract, baking soda+ water etc....NO bleach, no ammonia, no lysol (the list goes on). Aerosols, perfumes, scented lotions, paints, polishes, stains, solvents, glues (hot or other), candles (scented or non), scented oils, air fresheners, carpet cleaners, bug sprays, flea baths, smoke of any kind, vaping, potpourri, burning food.butter/oil etc are all absolutely unsafe for bird's very sensitive respiratory systems.

Most things that you wouldn't even consider kill birds. This includes Teflon/PFOA/PTFE (hidden inside of metal appliances that heat up and on/in cookware/sow cookers etc. It is seriously hidden in many many places (space-heaters, curling irons, blow dryers, air fryers, rice cookers, electric blankets, microwave popcorn bags, fabrics (including ironing board covers), irons, griddles, humidifiers etc etc etc. The only way to know if a product contains Teflon/PFOA/PTFE is to call and expect to wait a few days for a response. You will need to give the customer service agent the full names and abbreviations of each (Teflon is a common brand, but the chemicals are PTFE/PFOA) You cannot detect it visually and walls/floors/doors do not protect a bird from the fumes released when heated. If getting a bird, you may not use it in the same house....It takes as little as 5 minutes of exposure to kill a bird and there is no cure for PTFE/PFOA/Teflon poisoning... So, when visiting people's homes, if you plan to bring your bird or have someone sit your bird, they will have to follow all of these rules as well.

Birds hide illness as well, which means that you need to take them to the vet before major symptoms show up (it is like a science...) This means watching their poop and behavior constantly and researching the most minuscule signs of illness.

Furthermore, birds can spread disease without showing symptoms (many of which are deadly and testing for these diseases is difficult, as a negative test can be produced by a contagious bird..plus, most people don't test birds for things like PBFD or PDD until they see symptoms). This means that boarding your bird or exposing your bird to other birds (or even their dust) poses risks to your bird, as well as the others. 2 of the most deadly viruses (PDD and PBFD) can be carried by birds with negative test results and they are spread by feather dust, poop, mother-egg and saliva. The PBFD virus can survive in air-ducts etc and infect birds years later. I say this because buying toys from a store that houses birds poses a risk if you cannot wash them, as does boarding your bird or arranging bird play-dates. If you handle another bird, you should not even wear those same clothes when handling your bird unless you are 500% sure that they have been repeatedly tested for viruses and that they do not frequently get exposed to other birds (as incubation time for some can be as little as a few weeks and as long as 10 years).

Birds cannot safely chew on most woods or metals (even though they need to chew on wood to stay healthy, it has to be the right type). Copper, zinc and lead toxicity is very dangerous and many items within your home (such as money, jewelry etc contain these metals). Wood from a hardware store is also unsafe for birds, as certain woods are poisonous. I mention this because Macaws are basically beavers with wings so it would be tempting to find cheap sources of wood...All lumber/plywood has been pressure-washed and treated with chemicals to prevent insects and increase shelf life. Ply-wood etc and hardware store wood is not bird safe. Furniture and other wooden things around your home can contain toxic wood and chemical stains. Branches from your yard are likely unsafe as well, as they absorb chemicals for pesticides, insecticides and road run-off and can carry parasites and bacteria. They can be used if you are certain that the wood itself is non-toxic and if you can verify that the tree was never treated with any sort of insecticide, pesticide or growing in a place near a road where chemicals or winter salt from the roads could have been absorbed into it. If all of this checks out, then you will need to wash/scrub them (without using chemicals) and bake them in your oven at 250 F for about an hour in order to kill the potential viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi that inhabit cut wood.

When selecting pre-mixed foods for your parrot, get one without sunflower seeds (only ok for occasional treats in extreme moderation), peanuts (they harbor a fungus in or out of the shell) and no corn (filler/junk). Your parrot will need a mix of pellets and a few healthy seeds."

 

[SilverSage]

Ok this is a DEADLY SITUATION for your baby! Usually when people come on here saying what you are the baby is already almost dead. Sounds like yours isn’t.

I’m on the road and only have a couple of seconds; I don’t know how to link another thread from here, can someone please share the thread called “so you bought an unweaned baby”??? This guy needs it ASAP!!!


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[Laurasea]

Best I can do
Today I spent several hours trying to help someone save a baby bird they had purchased unweaned. The baby died; they are usually almost dead by the time the new owner realizes something is wrong, not because the owner doesn’t care but because they are not educated about what to look for or prepared to handle the disasters that almost always arise when the inexperienced bird lover brings home a baby who is still hand feeding. So let’s get one thing clear; YOU SHOULD NOT BUY UNWEANED PARROT CHICKS!

-The bird will NOT bond to you better, in fact it often DAMAGES THE BONDING PROCESS.

-It is NOT cheaper; what you “save” on the original fee you will spend in formula and other supplies and that’s assuming you don’t spend hundreds or thousands of dollars at the vet trying to save your new baby because you made mistakes an experienced hand feeder never would have made.

-It is NOT easy or simple. Sure, in theory it all makes sense, but there are a hundred nuances and details that can spell disaster if you ignore them. And ask yourself: why is the seller so eager to sell the bird so young? So that YOU get to shoulder all the risk, work, and expense that is involved with raising that baby.

- It is NOT ETHICAL! Some people live in countries where the only way to get a parrot is to buy an unweaned baby or a poached bird, or worse; an unweaned poached baby. However, the majority of my readers live in places like the United States, Canada, and Australia. For those people with ACCESS to ethically and lovingly raised parrots to KNOWINGLY CHOOSE TO PAY SOMEONE TO TORTURE PARROTS TO DEATH (yes, that’s what selling unweaned babies to inexperienced people amounts to) is completely inexcusable.

At this point a lot of you may be thinking “Boy, she is being really harsh, she should really tone it down, that’s not very professional…” Well guess what? I’M ANGRY! Why? DEAD BABY BIRDS TICK ME OFF! They break my heart, they make my blood boil. The poor owner of the bird who died today did everything he knew how to do! Everything he was told to do! He thought he knew what he was doing, he thought everything was going fine, until suddenly it wasn’t. And he didn’t have the equipment, knowledge, or other resources to save his bird. So if you want your back patted and to be congratulated for buying an unweaned baby, this is not the place for that. But if you have realized that you may be in over your head and you want someone to help you keep your new best friend alive, THAT I will do my best to help with. So let’s get down to it.

1) TEMPERATURE IS EVERYTHING! Temperature is the most important part of raising a healthy baby parrot; the temperature of the formula and the temperature of the living environment.

-Formula MUST be between 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) and 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius). Any cooler and not only will your baby likely reject the formula, but his body will be unable to digest it properly leading to malnutrition. In some cases the food, not being digested, can even begin to spoil inside the body and from there you quickly see a spiral into bacterial infections that can kill within a few hours of the first symptoms. If the formula is too hot you risk internal burns. Unlike human babies, parrot chicks may not initially show signs of discomfort if the formula is too hot; they may swallow an entire feeding only to have their throats and crops severely burned to the point of being life-threatening. Even if the birds don’t kill the bird outright they open them up to nasty infections that can kill very quickly, often before the new owner can even notice symptoms.

-The living environment temperature depends on how many chicks, how old, etc, but the baby needs to be kept warm enough for their body to function normally as if a mother bird was constantly brooding him. For a baby that is not fully feathered this us usually between 96 degrees Fahrenheit (35.6 degrees Celsius) and 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37.2 degrees Celsius). If the baby is standing upright, panting, and holding the wings out from the body he is too hot. If a group of babies is piled on top of each other, they are too cold. You want a temperature where babies can sleep comfortably without needing to crowd together or stand up and pant. It is more difficult with a single baby, so lean toward too warm rather than too cold. Start at the high end and only turn it down if the baby seems too warm. Remember, the baby should have clutch mates and/or parents to snuggle with and alone in your home he cannot regulate his own body temperature. If he isn’t kept warm enough his organs cannot function properly and you open him up to many complications such as slow crop leading to bacterial and fungal infections and rapid death.

2) TIMING MATTERS! It is important that your baby be fed often enough. Generally speaking (and this is VERY GENERAL, different species have different needs) babies who don’t have a full covering of feathers yet should be fed about every 4 hours during the day, and can go 8 hours over night after about 3-4 weeks. Once they have that covering of feathers they can start going 6-7 hours between daytime feedings. Trying to cram too much food into the crop does stretch it an enable the baby to take more food at a time but can lead to problems with sour crop, crop stasis, etc all leading to (can you guess?) bacterial and fungal infections that can kill your baby overnight. Going too long between feedings can also have a negative impact on the psychological development of the little guy.

3) FORCE WEANING IS CRUEL! Force Weaning is when you reduce the amount of formula you are feeding and make the baby fill up on solid foods. Sounds normal, but is actually very damaging and contributes to all sorts of emotionally damaged behaviors like biting, screaming, plucking, phobias, cage aggression… the list goes on. The proper and humane method of weaning a baby parrot is Abundance Weaning. This method is simple: You keep offering the formula until the baby decides HE doesn’t want it anymore for at least 5 days in a row. Guess what? Knowing that the formula is coming actually gives the baby is very firm foundation from which he can venture forth and explore. Just because the baby has started trying solid foods does not at all mean he is ready to lose the formula. Keep offering it until the baby decides he doesn’t want it.

4) EARLY CLIPPING IS DANGEROUS! I’m not going to get into the pros and cons of clipping an adult bird but it is VITAL to the physical and mental development of young parrots that they be allowed to LEARN TO FLY. And I don’t mean “get their first few flights” I mean they need to become FLYING EXPERTS. Yes, it is scary for you to watch them crash, but this is the appropriate age where their minds and bodies are prepared for and eager to learn these skills. Even if you plan to clip your bird they NEED this time to gain crucial mental skills such as how to react to new things, how to avoid danger, etc. Not to mention they need to learn the skill of flying DOWN. That’s another heartbreaking situation I get asked to help with a lot. So many escaped parrots WANT TO COME HOME but can’t because they never learned the complex skill of flying downward. But that is a whole different topic. Another reason it is absolutely crucial to allow baby birds to keep their flight feathers is for balance. The crop is right there on the front of their body and if they are crashing to the ground on it because their flights are clipped, they can force themselves to vomit and aspirate. On that note, “play time” should be before feedings, not after, for the exact same reason; you don’t want to be bumping a full crop.

Ok folks! That is by no means a guide to a well rounded parrot, but it should at least help you hopefully keep your baby alive. If you see ANY signs of illness such as lethargy, difficulty breathing, refusal to eat, disorientation, dull eyes, nasal discharge, failure to empty crop, etc, contact an Avian Vet immediately. You should have one on speed dial now.
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I don't like to think about where I would be if that little budgie had never fluttered into my life.

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[Scott]

Welcome to the forums, Bugsy! Your very young Alexandrine requires specialized feeding and care. Please read the thread recommended by "SilverSage!!" Laurasea was kind enough to reproduce the first post, here is the entire thread: http://www.parrotforums.com/breeding-raising-parrots/74363-so-you-bought-unweaned-baby.html

 

[Laurasea]

Welcome to the forums, Bugsy! Your very young Alexandrine requires specialized feeding and care. Please read the thread recommended by "SilverSage!!" Laurasea was kind enough to reproduce the first post, here is the entire thread: http://www.parrotforums.com/breeding-raising-parrots/74363-so-you-bought-unweaned-baby.html

I'm glad you found us, we have great expert members like Silversage, that will help! How's the baby today???

 

[Allee]

We welcome you, Bugsy. Glad you found us. Please let us know how your baby Alexandrine is doing.

 

[EllenD]

Oh my, this is not good at all...

Do you have access to baby bird handfeeding formula? Because "smashed lentils" will not at all sustain your baby, and he will not grow or develop properly and will die from malnutrition. You must feed him a commercial hand-feeding formula like Kaytee Exact, Roudybush, etc. And it must be mixed up new with water at every feeding, as it grows bacteria immediately once it's mixed...

As Laura posted, the reason most baby birds die in this situation is because the owner has no idea about how important the temperature of the handfeeding formula is (must be always between 104 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit, one degree cooler and they will develop a fungal infection, one degree hotter and they will burn their crop), as well as the ambient temperature the bird is kept in...You don't have a proper Brooder to house it in, but if he still doesn't have all of his down feathers showing yet then he must live in an ambient temperature around 95 degrees Fahrenheit...If he has all of his down feathers but not all of his mature, outer feathers yet then he must be in an ambient temperature around 80-85 degrees Fahrenheit. Otherwise he will not be able to digest his formula and will develop a fungal infection and crop-stasis...You must have a digital kitchen/cooking thermometer to keep in the formula at all times...This is not optional.

*****I'm most worried about what you are feeding him, he is not going to grow properly and is absolutely going to be undernourished and malnourished already eating only smashed lentils. This is another reason baby birds die when sold to someone before they are fully weaned. You must find a commercially-sold baby bird handfeeding formula immediately, order it online if you have to, but lentils are not going to sustain him...

 

[Laurasea]

I hope this baby is ok! And we hear back from you....

 

[Betrisher]

Could everyone do me a favour please?

Just re-read this thread and see how intimidating it must be to a newbie.

He asked four simple questions which could have been answered equally simply:

1.Is that enough and do I need to feed it anything else?
No, that diet is not likely to help your bird. Please check out our dietary forum for info, or ask one of our members for direct advice.

2.It is around 1 am at night and I hear the birdmaking soft sounds.Is it hungry or is it crying for some reason.I did not feed him after 6pm in the evening as the shopkeeper suggested
Lentils is not a good diet for a baby bird. Your shopkeeper is either ignorant or insane (only joking, but your baby needs much more than lentils to keep him alive).

3.Till what age do I need to handfeed him.
I don't know - have never done it - but I'm sure another member will chip in with some help.

4.Should I get him some chewing wood toys now
Oh yes! Alexes just love to chew and it's good for him to do it!

Instead, the poor bloke got hit with a barrage of information and was assured by numerous members that his bird will imminently die, pretty much no matter what he does. Instead of sending him an encapsulated encylopaedia of everything he needs to know, it might have been nice to address the pressing question: what to feed his baby and how often. Everything else could have waited until he asked for it.

He might or might not come back (bird may be deceased already), but please show some thought for new people who are feeling their way. Not everyone is studious. Not everyone can cope with all that info in one fell swoop. In fact, there are plenty of people who are simply not able to read such large slabs of info and would abandon it before gaining any use from it.

Sorry to harp on and on about this, but we really need to be more considerate of our newbies, don't you think?