Some of my babies I'm hand feeding right now!

[MikeyTN]

Seems like a hard job man! I want to breed lovebirds one day but I'm kinda scared now haha. :52:

I've done it for over 16 years so I'm pretty used to it but I don't like it when they all fly towards me. I'll have some on my head, some on my shoulder, some hanging off my shirt, some on my arm, and some hanging on the back of my shirt. That's what happened before when I was doing large amounts. When I open the cage they all push their way through and I didn't want to shut the door on anyone's head and such so they all make their way out one by one....

 

[thekarens]

Now that would be a video to see

 

[MikeyTN]

They are just adorable and look like a LOT of work. Do they make a lot of noise? do they beg like wild birds outside, fluttering their wings and opening their mouths? I've never seen baby parrots before with my own eyes, only pictures and videos. But it looks like you will be busy for a while lol

They cry like no tomorrow every time they see me or hear me. So I try to avoid them cause after awhile they get to you. To keep my sanity I stay down stairs as I keep the babies upstairs. It's when they fledge is when it gets to me the most cause they go crazy during feeding time. I like them at this stage and after weaning. During weaning time is very stressful!!!!

 

[MikeyTN]

here is an excellent video about crop feeding, it also shows how to properly hold a bird....which I just learned, and will come in very useful!!....this is really good!....from VetaFarm....

Those are very helpful videos!!! But I learn how to crop feed long ago as I used to do that but now days I no longer crop feed unless I have to.

 

[crimson]

here is an excellent video about crop feeding, it also shows how to properly hold a bird....which I just learned, and will come in very useful!!....this is really good!....from VetaFarm....

Those are very helpful videos!!! But I learn how to crop feed long ago as I used to do that but now days I no longer crop feed unless I have to.

so when you drain the crop, it's the reverse, right?

gosh, I have never crop fed ever, I'd be afraid of making a mistake, and it's game over!

I loved how to 'properly' hold a bird....wow!, I've seen vets to it all the time, but now I know the secret....

I think I'll practice on one of my nice birds first, before I attempt the mean ones....now where is Tundra?....hmmmmm, ha ha.

 

[kq_fan]

They are so cute! Awwww

 

[SpotsandSally]

Mikey, if you don't like them so much during weaning and fledging and stuff why don't you leave them with the parents? Just curious.

I love the white one, lol. She just trumps everyone else and is like DADDDDDYYYY

 

[MikeyTN]

here is an excellent video about crop feeding, it also shows how to properly hold a bird....which I just learned, and will come in very useful!!....this is really good!....from VetaFarm....

Those are very helpful videos!!! But I learn how to crop feed long ago as I used to do that but now days I no longer crop feed unless I have to.

so when you drain the crop, it's the reverse, right?

gosh, I have never crop fed ever, I'd be afraid of making a mistake, and it's game over!

I loved how to 'properly' hold a bird....wow!, I've seen vets to it all the time, but now I know the secret....

I think I'll practice on one of my nice birds first, before I attempt the mean ones....now where is Tundra?....hmmmmm, ha ha.

When you flush you have to either use warm water or a mixture of something depending on why your flushing. Then you rub the crop sac then suck out the soup mix. But some items don't come out easy so the way I do it is fill the crop with warm water then rub the crop sac then turn the baby head downwards then press on the crop sac then they would vomit everything out. It is the sure way you remove all the nasty contents as you would repeat the process but be sure to clean the nostrils right away so have a paper towel handy. This needs to be done diligently so I wouldn't advice it if you haven't done it before cause you can aspirate them if you don't know what your doing.

 

[MikeyTN]

Mikey, if you don't like them so much during weaning and fledging and stuff why don't you leave them with the parents? Just curious.

I love the white one, lol. She just trumps everyone else and is like DADDDDDYYYY

It is easier to tame them especially when there's multiple chicks. It's almost impossible to find them a home if they are not handfed tamed. Yes you can play with them as chicks to tame them that way but trust me when there's multiple it is not that simple. Any breeder will tell you weaning/fledgling time is very stressful cause you think the adult birds can be demanding, you haven't dealt with a whining baby wanting food and cry every time they see you. It may get to me but I love them regardless cause by spending everyday and multiple times per day feeding them and watch them grow up, you get attached. When I lost EggBert last time I cried for days.

 

[SpotsandSally]

Mikey, if you don't like them so much during weaning and fledging and stuff why don't you leave them with the parents? Just curious.

I love the white one, lol. She just trumps everyone else and is like DADDDDDYYYY

Any breeder will tell you weaning/fledgling time is very stressful cause you think the adult birds can be demanding, you haven't dealt with a whining baby wanting food and cry every time they see you.

LOL.
Ever try to hand raise a goat?
Mom rejected him from birth.

I can imagine birds being annoying, but having a 10lb baby jump on your lap (not soft paws - hard hooves) stomach, uh try and CLIMB ON YOUR HEAD and screech at the top of its lungs daily.... I know the pain.
He was still ADORABLE though. Just... That.... Screaming.....

That's why I will NEVER hand raise a goat unless needed. Technically he was just bottle fed, he still lived with the goats, but his mama would try and KILL him if she saw him. She didnt do that with the other does baby's - just him. Ugh. I would have to hog tie her just so he could have some real goats milk (and then we supplemented with formula).

 

[MikeyTN]

Awwwwwwww....he's sooooo cute!!!! I've bottle fed baby bunnies before. OMG was that a task. Very tiring.....then I had to wean her off the bottle, I bottle fed her from day one as her momma had no milk. She was like a puppy dog follow us everywhere. Unfortunately I had to give up on bunnies as I developed a bad allergy towards bunnies as they make me super ill being around them.

 

[Lintini]

awwww I miss helping my mom raise tiels! how cute!! baby bunnies??!!omgggg

 

[SpotsandSally]

Wow, bunnies! That sounds fun. Were they bad at taking to the bottle or? I've hand raised a pigeon before.. Uuuugh... Every. 2 hours. And this was at the time I was going to a SUPER fun summer camp where I was going to learn all about chemistry and stuff. Argh. 2 hours is much for sleeping ya know! Sadly he didnt make it. But we do have a different pigeon I think was hand raised.. He doesn't court females, he just attacks everyone and thing. He'll coo and them, bowing down, then attack. This isn't a 'I love you' coo, it's a 'I hate you get the #3|| away from me. NOW." Just trying to pet him results in getting peck by a long, thin, SHARP beak. Ouch. I need to get a video though. He's not at all scared of humans. Adorable.

And yes, the goaty was adorable. His mom was a plain brown, and his dad was a roan blue with some brown and white on him. Didnt realize the babies would be so stinking cute! One was a fawn & white buck, who sadly didnt make it. White muscle disease. Could've been avoided, but due to our ignorance he suffered then there was Cheetoh, the bottle buck, and his sister, who looked just like him,but the white band around her stomach was a complete band. On Cheetoh it wasn't. Only 2/3 of white.

 

[MikeyTN]

Lintini, Yea it was sooooo much work bottle feeding baby bunnies and it's NOT easy keeping them alive either. I was getting up by the hour around the clock bottle feeding at the beginning.

SpotsandSally, Yes I had to deal with one day old chick before many times. It's by the hour around the clock until 3 days old then every 2 hours around the clock until 5 days old then 4 hrs until 7 days old then it gets easier after that....Last time with little EggBert that was malnourished I was getting 1 hr of sleep every night then off to work 12hr shift then back home do it again. I switched his day feeding during night feeding, so during the day is like at night for him and during night is like day. Unfortunately he passed away cause he ate bunch of wood chips one day, he was just starting to feather out and growing bigger. It broke my heart.....And it happened the day after I post about him on here, I was waiting to see how he does for me and he did great so I decided to post about him. I seriously think I jinxed myself and I cried for days.....

 

[SpotsandSally]

Ok so I coded everything. Sorry it's a bit long. I got nostalgic and decided to share a bunch... Like too much, LOL.
This is Copper, our blue heeler/red heeler mix. he was always a husky boy. He got hit by a car and the @$$#0|3$left him for dead on the side of the road. i miss him.
Copper!
Copper with one of the ferrets we used to own. they sere SO cute, but killed my pigeon and after that i kinda hated them....
Ok, last copper pic. HE WAS SO CUTE THOUGH
This is glacier, our blue heeler. We got her when she was 6 weeks old because her mother started hating all of her puppies, LOL. I don't really blame her - this dog may look sweet, but she'll rip off your arm (in a nice, loving, bratty way)
This is 'Pipsqueak'. He was born with a disease called white muscle disease. It is caused from a lack of selenium. If we had given Sass - the mother - selenium gel sooner, he might've lived he only lived for like 24 hours. Sweet little boy
More Pipsqueak
This is Chugiak (named after the town we got him in), our wether. He was bought as a companion for Sass. OMG, never seen such a skiddish goat! Yet 2 minutes after moving to the house (because of he didnt follow sass, he'd be screaming his lungs out) he was the calmest goat EVER and you
Could actually PET him
This is Chito snuggled up with a poult
I had like 5 poults out and they ALL snuggled with him. Adorable beyond reason.
So this was my friends baby's goat actually, but we had been boarding her goat and she gave birth at our place. She's an alpine. Her name was moonshine. I wasn't there when the goat gave birth, and we guess that she was in the birth canal too long, suffered lack of oxygen, and became paralyzed in back legs. While she was doing great, she'd never lead a full life, so we put her down
Moonshines mom, Ciela
Kenai, Moonshines sister at birth. Kenai looked *exactly* like Cielas last buck (now wether) Chumlee. His name was actually Chum, but he was so darn stupid we named him Chumlee after Chumlee on the pawn show. And when Chumlee saw his mom (he and Chugiak had been living separately at this point) he tried to nurse! Year and a half old baby, NURSING. He'd empty her out and starve his sisters!
Juneau, Moonshines other sister, at birth.
Moonshine trying to stand
This is what happens when you have FIVE baby goats who LOVE you. Think parrots are bad? LOL
Not the best pic, but that's Sass, the mom, Chito, the one with the incomplete band on the right, and his sister, the one with a complete band. She was never as friendly, but understandable.
Chito curled up in a ball... being born takes a lot of work ya know!
]I think Sass would argue giving birth is harder... It was so cute, whenever she saw her babies her eyes would just be wide open and she looked so happy and proud
And Chugiak, the fatty. We were keeping them in the un-used dining room that happened to have a book shelf - guess who liked eating books...





Edit;; just saw your post
Yep, bunnies just don't do good on a bottle. But curious - mothers only feed twice a day - day and night - MAYBE 3 times a day. Why was the feeding around the clock ? Just curious, I've never had to bottle any bunnies and don't wish to, either

 

[lisascannell]

OMG that goat is so cute!

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

Very very cute!!

 

[crimson]

Those are very helpful videos!!! But I learn how to crop feed long ago as I used to do that but now days I no longer crop feed unless I have to.

so when you drain the crop, it's the reverse, right?

gosh, I have never crop fed ever, I'd be afraid of making a mistake, and it's game over!

I loved how to 'properly' hold a bird....wow!, I've seen vets to it all the time, but now I know the secret....

I think I'll practice on one of my nice birds first, before I attempt the mean ones....now where is Tundra?....hmmmmm, ha ha.

When you flush you have to either use warm water or a mixture of something depending on why your flushing. Then you rub the crop sac then suck out the soup mix. But some items don't come out easy so the way I do it is fill the crop with warm water then rub the crop sac then turn the baby head downwards then press on the crop sac then they would vomit everything out. It is the sure way you remove all the nasty contents as you would repeat the process but be sure to clean the nostrils right away so have a paper towel handy. This needs to be done diligently so I wouldn't advice it if you haven't done it before cause you can aspirate them if you don't know what your doing.

well that sounds to darn scary for me to even think about....hopefully I'll never have the issue your dealing with

 

[MikeyTN]

SpotsandSally, ain't no way I'll have all those goats getting in my lap.....lol

Crimson, don't blame you....it's not fun to do but when trying to save their life you just have to....