New kakariki breeder needing a lot of help please

[Kakarikilover2021]

Hi and thanks for accepting me to group . I am breeding my pair of kakariki inside my home in a large cage . I placed nest box in last week and she is are already laying eggs however I do have a couple of questions since I plan on hand rearing them .
1. Can I start my hand feeding at 2 - 3 weeks old rather than from birth ?
2. Must I remove the chicks from the cage where parents are and place the nest box inside another empty cage once I have started the hand rearing ?Or can I return them to nest box in parents cage once they're fed ?
3. If she lays multiple eggs over a period of time how do people keep track of each chick age/weight and feeding etc if they're all in together and look the same ? And tips?

Thank you and I apologise with all the questions any help or advice would be very much appreciated .
Regards
Kakarikilover2021

 

[LaManuka]

Good morning Kakarikilover2021, welcome to the Forums!

I do not, unfortunately, have any breeding or hand-rearing experience myself, but while you are waiting for some input from someone who does, may I refer you to the "stickies" that are highlighted at the beginning of the "Breeding/Raising Parrots" sub-forum, which were written by our members who are very knowledgeable on the subject. You will find there is a wealth of practical information that will be of assistance to you going forward.

Breeding/Raising Parrots - Parrot Forum - Parrot Owner's Community

Other members will weigh in a little later with some more specifics for you, but in the meantime the above sub-forum is a good place to start. I wish you the very best of luck with your babies!

 

[Saash]

Welcome Kakariki

I am not sure how many breeders are on thus forum. I am not a breeder, and my experience has only been with raising my eclectus.

Do you have hand raising experience? In all the research I've done to raise Pickles (I feel like I spent enough hours to almost have a degree), It seems that getting the eggs is the easy part.

For a beginner, it will be best to let the mom do her thing from days 1-21, before you step in the first time. This will give your chicks the best possible start with the best immunity support and nutrition - unless, of course, the mom is not a good mom and kills her own babies (seems to happen a lot).

Having the right setup is crucial. Do research and get all the incubators, sterilizers, formula etc right away. You may not need them this month, but if you do you have them ready!

Some parrots tolerate taking the chicks for human interaction and returning them for feeding. Try that first.

I would suggest you try whatever you do, with only one or two, and see what happens. Do not attempt hand raising 8 at once, and risk the whole brood if you get it wrong.

 

[Saash]

http://www.parrotforums.com/eclectus/88488-newbie.html

There are quite a few links in my newby thread which you will find really useful for hand feeding.

 

[Kakarikilover2021]

Thanks guys

 

[Noahs_Birds]

1. Can I start my hand feeding at 2 - 3 weeks old rather than from birth ?

- I would say you could take them out at 2 weeks, depending on if they'll readily take food when you're handrearing them. Otherwise if they won't take food while being handreared return them to the nest immediately and then next time take young at out 1 week of age (I'm not really sure on the age stages of Kakariki development)

2. Must I remove the chicks from the cage where parents are and place the nest box inside another empty cage once I have started the hand rearing ?Or can I return them to nest box in parents cage once they're fed ?

- You need a proper brooder box if you are going to bring them inside as otherwise they will freeze and die. I personally wouldn't try that method of feeding them and returning to the parents as it disturbs the parents and they could abandon and the babies get cold and die, plus also posing risks of overfeeding as well

3. If she lays multiple eggs over a period of time how do people keep track of each chick age/weight and feeding etc if they're all in together and look the same ? And tips?

- Write on the egg using either a pencil or pen with the details. They will only lay their eggs within a few day period (4 eggs on average but can lay up to 9 on occasions but not very many will be fertile) , if a parrot does continuously lays eggs that means your hen has a serious egg laying disorder and the eggs will not be fertile.

 

[Kakarikilover2021]

Thanks a million for the advice