Pet Taxi for Parrot Brooder???

[featherfanatic]

Hello! While my Green cheek babies are still hatching, I'm brainstorming different ideas for a brooder. I have a small dog pet taxi that I use for my adult birds. Could I use an under-the-tank reptile heater directly on the bottom, or would it melt the plastic? The plastic is definitely thicker and stronger than a normal tote, but I am still worried. The pet taxi seems like a good idea to me because it maintain decent ventilation and a dark environment. Would this work? Thank you for reading!

 

[Owlet]

Why not leave them with the parents?

 

[featherfanatic]

I'm planning on handfeeding them at ~2.5 weeks and onward.

 

[SilverSage]

You need to be able to adjust the heat at LEAST by one degree increments but u like to be able to do it by tenths of degrees. I doubt the method you are suggesting would allow that.


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[ParrotGenie]

I pretty much used a cooler. Removed the top and made a custom vented top and also to mount a custom PID temperature controller I built and what I used to make my brooder. You also need a couple fans as well to cool it and vent it. As far as heat use a couple of heat tubes and blower to heat whole cooler evenly.

If you go radiant heat with tube lamps you have to reflex heat and use blower to heat cooler evenly. Other lamps will heat the birds only and won't be able to use temperature controller as thermistor won't read correctly. You have to be pretty close to actual temperature. I may built another one soon. So may do a separate thread on it and parts and material needed.

 

[ParrotGenie]

You need to be able to adjust the heat at LEAST by one degree increments but u like to be able to do it by tenths of degrees. I doubt the method you are suggesting would allow that.


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It won't, you need a PID controller and to heat and vent correctly evenly.

 

[ParrotGenie]

I'm planning on handfeeding them at ~2.5 weeks and onward.

As far a handfeeding it a lot of work as at first you have to feed every 2 hour till Pin feathers begin to erupt then every 3 hours and then to 5 hours after 4 weeks and then 2 to 3 times a day when start to develop flight feathers by this age and are now called fledglings. When they also start foraging (searching for food) themselves by this age. Then you can start the weaning process.

Depends on species and ETC. You have to have to keep correct temperature of room/brooder and relative humidity is important as well about 50% and also keep formula not to cool around 102° - 106°F (39° - 41°C). Use a thermometer. Food that is too hot will cause severe burns to the crop. Food that is too cold will not be accepted or digested well. You have to mix fresh every feeding, as food kept for the next feeding is an ideal place for harmful bacteria and yeast to grow and give correct amount of formula per feed and gradually increased. Chicks older than one or two days should have food with 70 - 75% liquid.

A lot more to it, but just to give you a idea what you are in for if you never raised a chick before? If you have then disregard.

 

[featherfanatic]

Thank you for all of the advice! I will definitely look in to the different kinds of brooders!

 

[ChristaNL]

Just leave them with the parents. They will be just as tame when you just finish the weaning process with them after they leave the nest naturally.


(So glad this b#llsh!t is illegal now overhere: no more 'death by amateurs' who think they can do a better job than the parents when there is absolutely no reason for it. And less psycologically scarring for the ones that actually do survive the manhandling.)

 

[ParrotGenie]

Just leave them with the parents. They will be just as tame when you just finish the weaning process with them after they leave the nest naturally.


(So glad this b#llsh!t is illegal now overhere: no more 'death by amateurs' who think they can do a better job than the parents when there is absolutely no reason for it. And less psycologically scarring for the ones that actually do survive the manhandling.)

The other main issue is and reason not recommend, beside the time and work involve is? Hand-reared parrots of either sex may see humans as both potential mates and competitors. During the breeding season, and sometimes year-round, such birds can be very aggressive towards “mates” that do not respond appropriately (“appropriately” in parrot terms, that is!) and people who are viewed as competing for their “mate’s” attention. " Hence why you get a lot of parrots as they mature that are next to impossible to handle during mating season and severely bite people, or turn against owner." The good breeders let the parents raise them and just handle them for 30 minutes daily when they hit about 5 weeks old.

Plus such parrots are often poor breeders, failing to choose proper nesting sites or to feed their chicks appropriately. Some a lot of people don't even consider. I use to breed Cockatiels when younger.

It best just to let parent raise then at least as far as being fed and care for, even if they screw it up when younger and they end up killing the babies first time around? They usually get it the second time around. This is why most say wait around 18 months, or 2 years of age before letting them breed. They are less likely to screw it up and have health related issues.

Let the babies parrots be fed and cared for by their parents but then handled them on a daily basis as well. This is the ideal compromise between hand and parent-rearing. Fifteen to thirty minutes of handling daily, beginning when the chicks are 4-5 weeks old, has been shown to produce relatively tame birds.

The only reason I learned to hand raise at a young age when I was a kid was my first blue streaked lory was sold to us by a shady breeder that didn't fully complete the weaning process. So I had to do it and then a few Cockatiels that were rejected by parents over the years and my current male Cockatiel as he had a crop infection which they assume could be Cancer and original breeder was going to put him down. I had him now for about a year and 100% healthy.

 

[Flboy]

Just leave them with the parents. They will be just as tame when you just finish the weaning process with them after they leave the nest naturally.


(So glad this b#llsh!t is illegal now overhere: no more 'death by amateurs' who think they can do a better job than the parents when there is absolutely no reason for it. And less psycologically scarring for the ones that actually do survive the manhandling.)

The other main issue is and reason not recommend, beside the time and work involve is? Hand-reared parrots of either sex may see humans as both potential mates and competitors. During the breeding season, and sometimes year-round, such birds can be very aggressive towards “mates” that do not respond appropriately (“appropriately” in parrot terms, that is!) and people who are viewed as competing for their “mate’s” attention. " Hence why you get a lot of parrots as they mature that are next to impossible to handle during mating season and severely bite people, or turn against owner." The good breeders let the parents raise them and just handle them for 30 minutes daily when they hit about 5 weeks old.

Plus such parrots are often poor breeders, failing to choose proper nesting sites or to feed their chicks appropriately. Some a lot of people don't even consider. I use to breed Cockatiels when younger.

It best just to let parent raise then at least as far as being fed and care for, even if they screw it up when younger and they end up killing the babies first time around? They usually get it the second time around. This is why most say wait around 18 months, or 2 years of age before letting them breed. They are less likely to screw it up and have health related issues.

Let the babies parrots be fed and cared for by their parents but then handled them on a daily basis as well. This is the ideal compromise between hand and parent-rearing. Fifteen to thirty minutes of handling daily, beginning when the chicks are 4-5 weeks old, has been shown to produce relatively tame birds.

The only reason I learned to hand raise at a young age when I was a kid was my first blue streaked lory was sold to us by a shady breeder that didn't fully complete the weaning process. So I had to do it and then a few Cockatiels that were rejected by parents over the years and my current male Cockatiel as he had a crop infection which they assume could be Cancer and original breeder was going to put him down. I had him now for about a year and 100% healthy.

A lot of words to say, taking them away from their nest screws them up!

 

[featherfanatic]

Thank you for the advice! I should've added more information; the dad (Brazil) is 4, mom (Zealand) is 3 (years old), they were handraised as chicks and are VERY territorial of their nest box, if I get near it, Brazil will make it a point to lash out at me through the bars. Even with the parents being this aggresive, is daily handling still a viable option? I am keeping at least one of the babies, and would prefer a companion, not "relatively tame". Also, this is their second clutch, the first of which had all three chicks die at about a week old. And I do have previous handfeeding experience. If daily handling while being raised by the parents is still an option, I am very open to different things!

 

[EllenD]

Hand-Feeding the babie has absolutely NOTHING to do with their tameness, it's the daily, regular interaction and handling by humans. So you are WAY BETTER OFF to allow the parents to feed them and just block-off the nest-box each day when the parents both leave to eat/drink with a piece of cardboard, then handle them, talk to them, etc, for 15 minutes a day (until they are much larger) and put them back in...If you've never ever hand-raised/fed baby parrots and don't even know how to make a proper Brooder, then I highly advise against you attempting it unless you have to if the parents reject a baby...No disrespect meant, but there are so many different temperatures you have to keep exact and know when to change, and so many little details that you don't know if you haven't been taught/mentored that will cause an issue...Hate to see you aspirate a baby and kill it, or cause a horrible fungal infection in their crops because your ambient temperature and/or formula temperature is off by even a degree...

If you do decide to pull them you must wait until each chick is at least 2 weeks old, and no older than 3 weeks old (DO NOT PULL THEM SOONER)...The chicks must be kept at an ambient temperature of 95 degrees in their Brooker up until all of their down-feathers come in, and then after all their down-feathers come-in but before their outer, mature feathers come in they must be kept around 80-85 degrees. And no, a pet-taxi with those holes and a reptile mat will not work...A reptile heating mat will not get nearly hot enough nor can you control the heat level, so no, it cannot work...

TO MAKE A HOMEMADE BROODER: You need a good, solid cardboard box, a digital ambient thermometer that you can put in the back-end of the box (hot end) to monitor the temperature down to the tenth of a degree, a large towel to cover the back-end of the box, and then an ELECTRIC HEATING-PAD WITH AN ADJUSTIBLE TEMPERATURE. You put the back-half of the cardboard box over the heating pad, put the digital ambient thermometer in the back-half of the box, and then cover the back-half of the box with a towel to lock-in the heat...See, you need it to be 95 degrees F until all of their down-feathers come in, and then adjust it down to 80-85 degrees F once their down-feathers all come in but until their outer feathers come in. IF YOU DON'T THEY WILL DEVELOP YEAST INFECTIONS ALMOST INSTANTLY IN THEIR CROPS AND WON'T PROPERLY DIGEST THEIR FOOD. The front-half of the box is the "Cool half" and is not on top of the heating-pad, nor covered. Then fill the bottom of the box with a half-inch to an inch off bedding/nesting material, the shredded paper bedding like "Carefresh" is best. This is a must to preven Splay-Legs and must be changed daily and kept deep enough (same as inside the nestbox with the parents).

That's the Brooder Temperature requirements, but you also MUST have a digital cooking/candy thermometer with a metal probe to always keep in the formula while you're feeding them, because the formula temperature MUST ALWAYS BE NO LOWER THAN 104 Degrees F AND NO HIGHER THAN 110 DEGREES F!!! Only one degree cooler and they will develop Fungal Infections and Slow-Crop/Crop Stasis, only one degree hotter and you will burn their crops. So the digital cooking/candy thermometer must remain in the formula while you're feeding them, and if the temperature of the formula drops below 104 degrees F you must put them back in the Brooder while you go and re-heat water to add to the formula until it's again between 104-110 degrees F...Not optional at all!!!

Also, you are aware that since you have to pull the chicks from the nestbox between the ages of 2-3 weeks old in order for them to be healthy enough to leave their mother but not too old to properly accept the hand-feeding formula, that you will have to feed the chicks once every 2-3 hour INCLUDING OVERNIGHT until they are at least 4 weeks old, right? Baby chicks cannot go without eating every 2-3 hour until they are at least 4 week old, which is the very first time they can go an entire 6 hours for you to sleep overnight. So you must set an alarm every night to go off every 2 hours so you can feed them until they hit 4 weeks-old, then you can let them go 6 hour overnight, and feed them every 3-4 hours. If you don't do this they will die of starvation/dehydration...Another reason to let the parents feed them while you hand-tame them every day and put them back in the nest-box...

None of this stuff is optional, this is very basic parrot hand-raising/feeding info, there's a ton more that I haven't mentioned yet....But this is the bare needs to keep them alive...