bittybite
New member
- Oct 8, 2021
- 4
- 6
- Parrots
- Dodo - Green Cheek Conure (hatched 18 August 2021)
Bolo - Pineapple Conure (hatched 20 August 2021)
Hi everyone, I've just gotten my babies for 12 days - first-time bird nanny!
They're hatched from my sister's birds and they've now weaned off Kaytee Exact hand-feeding formula. The weaning process came quite naturally: they were fed 4 times a day at my sister's and ate about 5ml each time. In the first few days at my place, they started eating more (7-8ml) and feeding time stretched, became 3 meals a day, so I supplemented with little pellets provided by my sister (breeder says it's 'breeder pellets') in case they got hungry. By the end of last week (their 1st week at my place), I was feeding them the formula twice a day in a little dish in their cages (no more hand-feeding). As soon as I saw 2 days ago that they've stopped eating what's in the bowl and finished their pallets, I've stopped giving formula totally and started them on little bits of fruits.
Dodo and Bolo have their own cages (50x50) next to each other (about 30cm apart though), and have some toys in the cages. I think in the beginning they were not familiar with the environment or maybe just very excited to see someone, and they'd start chirping or getting on the doors to get us to let them out. However, I'm the only one at home in the day with them and I can't handle both birds at the same time, so I've only been taking one out in the morning, and the other in the afternoon.
They're quite well-adjusted to bedtimes (I think their guinea pig neighbours shushed them when they started making some noise at the beginning when we turned off the lights, now all good.), cuddle/play time with me (I work from home, so they each have about 2 hours at my work desk.), and they have another play time together in the evenings when their real owners (my son and daughter) come home from work/school (yeah, I'm really just the nanny/granny).
They've now learned some tricks too: "kiss" - touching their beaks to my nose, '"up" - getting up on my offered hand, "stay" - staying where I left them (so far for 5 minutes, not even getting up until I call their names), "ouch" - stop nibbling whatever it is, "(clap clap) come" - flying to offered hand. They're real smart!
I'm not sure if routine is a thing with bird (and training), but somehow it's worked for my babies. I'm going to start looking up 'grown-up' pallets and maybe giving nuts as a treat, and bath time soon. Sorry for the long post, looking forward to any advice you all provide!
They're hatched from my sister's birds and they've now weaned off Kaytee Exact hand-feeding formula. The weaning process came quite naturally: they were fed 4 times a day at my sister's and ate about 5ml each time. In the first few days at my place, they started eating more (7-8ml) and feeding time stretched, became 3 meals a day, so I supplemented with little pellets provided by my sister (breeder says it's 'breeder pellets') in case they got hungry. By the end of last week (their 1st week at my place), I was feeding them the formula twice a day in a little dish in their cages (no more hand-feeding). As soon as I saw 2 days ago that they've stopped eating what's in the bowl and finished their pallets, I've stopped giving formula totally and started them on little bits of fruits.
Dodo and Bolo have their own cages (50x50) next to each other (about 30cm apart though), and have some toys in the cages. I think in the beginning they were not familiar with the environment or maybe just very excited to see someone, and they'd start chirping or getting on the doors to get us to let them out. However, I'm the only one at home in the day with them and I can't handle both birds at the same time, so I've only been taking one out in the morning, and the other in the afternoon.
They're quite well-adjusted to bedtimes (I think their guinea pig neighbours shushed them when they started making some noise at the beginning when we turned off the lights, now all good.), cuddle/play time with me (I work from home, so they each have about 2 hours at my work desk.), and they have another play time together in the evenings when their real owners (my son and daughter) come home from work/school (yeah, I'm really just the nanny/granny).
They've now learned some tricks too: "kiss" - touching their beaks to my nose, '"up" - getting up on my offered hand, "stay" - staying where I left them (so far for 5 minutes, not even getting up until I call their names), "ouch" - stop nibbling whatever it is, "(clap clap) come" - flying to offered hand. They're real smart!
I'm not sure if routine is a thing with bird (and training), but somehow it's worked for my babies. I'm going to start looking up 'grown-up' pallets and maybe giving nuts as a treat, and bath time soon. Sorry for the long post, looking forward to any advice you all provide!
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