What to feed a baby African Grey Parrot?

[TurtleMcTurtleson]

So I'm planning on incubating an African Grey egg, but I simply can't find a good formula to feed a hatchling, anyone with experience that can help me out? c:

Also, what temp. should I keep a hatchling at?

Thanks in advance C;

 

[itzjbean]

You will not be needing the formula because the parrot egg will never hatch!

Parrot egg sales are ALL SCAMS. Unless you know the breeder personally (and 99% would NEVER give out a parrot egg so fragile and would stand to make much more money raising baby themselves then selling it) or own the parent birds yourself, which is unlikely, unfortunately you are not the first to have this idea of buying an egg and raising from day one....unfortunately you will be very disappointed when your egg you bought was not even fertile to begin with!

If you pay for an egg, you amy get one, but it will never hatch and you will have lost hundreds of dollars.

Do more research, buy a weaned baby from a breeder who knows what they are doing, it is going to be more expensive, but hey, at least you get an actual bird.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Welcome, and...

YIPES! Please don't... it's an enormously complex thing to do!
This wonderful thread (by one of our premier members)may offer you just a hint.
http://www.parrotforums.com/breeding-raising-parrots/74363-so-you-bought-unweaned-baby.html


Also, the selling of "fertile" eggs is a frequent scam.

I don't mean to be pushy, but... please don't.

 

[TurtleMcTurtleson]

Thank you! I very much appreciate it, saved me from wasting money lol. I'll probably go back to finding someone selling a lovebird or a cockatiel, thanks again c:

 

[ParrotGenie]

Most breeder are not going to sell a parrot egg? They can make a lot more raising the baby themselves, or having the parent birds do it for them. Those are just scammers trying to make a quick buck, due to high price of a weaned baby, they figure some would buy into the eggs as a cheaper alternative knowing they never hatch as they are not even fertile to begin with. Then blame it on the person that bought the egg? It just a scam. AVOID AT ALL COST!!

Plus you need a lot of experience for hatching a fertilized egg, as you have to have right humidity levels bird eggs need to be kept at at different stages and ways to regulate it. Temperature requirements throughout the egg incubation process and is different to the different bird species, Incubation Times, weighting the egg and ETC.

That not even getting into after the egg hatch, now you have to raise the baby? A unweaned parrot is very hard to raise and will likely have behavior issues, if you get it wrong. I raised chicks and not easy. Formula has to be correct temperature, or will get rejected, timing also critical. You better like heat as well and environment temperature is super critical, then they can get to hot putting wings out. It just take a lot and a lot of time. I had to raise my baby blue streaked lory, but had the time as was young and not working at the time. Thankfully she live about 29 years before passing on and was one of my best companion.

 

[ParrotGenie]

Thank you! I very much appreciate it, saved me from wasting money lol. I'll probably go back to finding someone selling a lovebird or a cockatiel, thanks again c:

Cockatiels are nice and very social birds. If you really want a African Grey, go to a rescue and rehome a bird instead, you don't need to get a baby. They live a pretty long time and a older bird will adapt and bond as well. I say volunteer at a decent Rescue, or a good breeder for some time, then at least you can see other bird species as well and interact with them before making a long term commitment. I see this a lot at rescues you have volunteers that wanted a Macaw, or Cockatoo and then go with a completely different species of bird they liked more.

I wasn't planing on a Cockatoo at first before I meet Baby the umbrella Cockatoo. I work at a place and she pick me and I bonded to her. I originally was thinking about adopting a African Grey.

 

[EllenD]

Oh my, I'm glad that Itzjbean saved you hundreds of dollars, lol...I've not EVER in 39 years of parrot breeding and owning seen anyone actually buy a fertile parrot egg from anyone or anywhere, let alone a "viable" fertile egg...Any parrot eggs you see online for sale are complete scams, all the websites that look "legit" are all scams and are actually being shut-down now as they are found...What I have seen are several people throughout the years buying parrot eggs from what were supposedly "reputable breeders", and they are in-fact fertile eggs, and when they are candled they are definitely fertile...HOWEVER, the scam is that these are ALWAYS fertile eggs that were laid by their breeders and never hatched, and are at least 30 days-old...That's the scam whenever any parrot breeder sells someone a fertile egg, they are definitely fertile eggs, or they were at one time...They wait until their breeders lay on the clutch (the average incubation period for most species is around 30 days give or take), then they wait another week after the last fertile egg that was laid has hatched to make sure that any remaining fertile eggs that were laid are dead and not going to hatch, THEN they advertise them as being for sale and being fertile...And the trick is that they WERE fertile, so when the buyer candles them they look like they are fertile...When in reality they were fertile eggs that were laid, but they died long ago. Usually they put them in the fridge until they find a buyer, then they warm them back-up to room temp and sell them...I've seen this done many, many, many times...And only an experienced parrot-breeder is going to be able to candle a fertile egg and be able to know that it's dead by looking at the "air space" at the top of the egg...So that's how they get people like you, who just want to raise their own baby parrots from an egg and bond with them...It's terrible...

****Which brings me to the more important advice that you need to have Turtle:*****

Please, please, please do not EVER buy any baby parrot/bird that is not already fully-weaned onto solid food!!! Please, don't do it!!! It will only end for you in heartbreak!!!

See, the thing of that whole "buying a fertile parrot egg" is that even if you would happen to find an actual fertile, viable parrot egg, there is absolutely NO WAY that the baby would survive past 2 weeks old with you, because you have absolutely no hand-raising/hand-feeding experience, and 99.9% of the time when someone buys a baby parrot/bird who needs to be hand-fed formula and they have no idea what they are doing, the baby dies of either #1) Aspiration Pneumonia (90% of the time or higher),
#2) Fungal and/or Bacterial Infections from not being housed at the correct ambient temperature or having the hand-feeding formula being fed at the correct temperature range, and then #3) Just because they are unweaned, baby birds and they often die anyway.

Breeding parrots is not easy, it's not something that anyone can just go and do after reading-up on the internet or in books. That's not how it works. And the most difficult part is properly hand-raising them and hand-feeding them. And if you want to learn how to properly hand-feed/hand-raise baby parrots, the ONLY way to learn properly is to mentor with an experienced breeder or with a bird shop/pet shop that breeds their own birds in-house. Hand-Feeding baby parrots is an art, it's an actual technique that is taught and learned, and not from reading in a book or online. And hand-feeding/hand-raising baby parrots that are not weaned yet is just like anything else, there are so many things that can and do go wrong, and unless you're experienced, educated, and trained, and you have all of the different medications, supplements, supplies, and equipment and you know what to do and when to do it when something goes wrong, they die. And these are things that you only learn by doing it with someone who is very experienced and that you can pick-up all the little tips from. Like all of the supplies that you need to keep on-hand for the many common health/medical issues that pop-up out of nowhere with unweaned baby birds, they are things that you would NEVER even consider having to have or use, such as Alka Seltzer tablets, Apple Cider Vinegar, Probiotic powder, Digestive Enzyme powders, etc...Would you have known to have any of these things on-hand and what you needed them for? Probably not...And that's only a fraction of the supplements, medications, and equipment you have to have...

****And here's the other thing Turtle...There are NO experienced parrot-breeders that would EVER remove a baby chick from the nest-box and away from the parent birds to start hand-raising until they are AT LEAST 2 WEEKS-OLD!!! Experienced parrot-breeders NEVER, EVER, EVER even dare to start hand-raising/hand-feeding a baby parrot that is younger than 2 weeks-old, they MUST stay with their parents until they are at least 2 weeks-old, and no older than 3 weeks old. So that's the age-range where all experienced, reputable breeders remove their chicks from the nest-box and take them away from the parents: "No younger than 2 weeks-old and no older than 3 weeks-old... This is because 99.999% of the time when a baby chick is removed from the parents before they are at least 2 weeks-old and hand-fed by even the most experienced, skilled hand-feeder, they die; Usually they die instantly, in your hands, from Aspirating formula into their lungs...At that age when this happens, they literally die within seconds of inhaling the formula...OR if they don't die instantly from aspirating formula into their lungs, they die from horrible and sudden Fungal/Yeast infections in their Crops and throughout their GI Tracts...So you can see why even if you would happen to win the lottery and buy a parrot egg that was both fertile and viable, and if by some miracle of God the egg actually hatched, the baby would most-likely die within the first week or two of you trying to hand-feed it and care for it.

***The other thing is that during a baby bird's first 2 weeks of life, they establish their Immune Systems by being fed valuable "Crop Milk" from their parents feeding them. It's not actually "milk", as parrots are not mammals and don't produce milk, but it's called "Crop Milk" because the liquid/semi-solid food that the parents feed their babies during their first 2 weeks of life contains all the Antibodies that the babies need to build their Immune Systems...So whenever someone removes baby birds from their parents before they are at least 2 weeks old, the babies often die from Infections because their Immune Systems are never established...

**Regardless of the whole "egg" thing, I hope that you take the time to read what I've written here, because unfortunately there are many, many unscrupulous, unethical,
irresponsible parrot-breeders out there that have no problem selling people unweaned baby parrots, and probably 60-70% of the time they die before they even fledge or wean, and 90% or more of the time they develop severe and life-long Neurological issues because they are not properly raised and/or weaned, and this results in the babies never developing mentally/psychologically/behaviorally the way they need to,
and then you end-up with a very, very sick little parrot that usually dies young, and during what life it does live it behaves/acts like a perpetual 1 year-old human baby, constantly begging for formula for the rest of it's life, never being able to fly, constantly screaming and crying 24 hours a day, sometimes becoming severely aggressive to the point they cannot ever be held or even step-up on a finger/hand due to biting, constantly falling-over and having no balance, constantly developing Infections, and contracting serious Avian Viral Diseases...and finally dying young. It's not the fault of the person who buys an unweaned baby parrot because they don't know any better, and usually these terrible breeders will tell them that hand-feeding/hand-raising a baby parrot "Is easy"...It's totally the fault of these irresponsible breeders who only care about making as much of a profit as they can, and the younger they sell baby birds, the less money they spend and the more room they open-up to breed more babies...

****PLEASE TURTLE, HEED OUR WARNINGS AND ONLY BUY A FULLY-WEANED BABY PARROT THAT IS ALREADY EATING ONLY SOLID FOOD AND DOES NOT REQUIRE ANY FORMULA-FEEDINGS, FROM A RESPONSIBLE BREEDER!

 

[EllenD]

By the way Turtle, here's something else for you to consider and think about...And as a long-time parrot breeder myself, I absolutely believe that this is 100% the truth...There are so many misconceptions, misinformation, and flat-out lies out there regarding parrots and keeping them as pets that it's hard to know what is the truth and what is fiction...All I can tell you is that anything that anyone from THIS FORUM tells you is solely based on nothing but our own, personal experiences with parrots, whether it be from us owning parrots, breeding parrots, hand-raising or hand-feeding parrots, and in a lot of cases from people who have had professional educations and training...

****It's not the "hand-feeding" that tames a baby bird; The largest misconception that people have is that "Hand-Feeding a baby bird will create a much closer, deeper bond between you and the bird"...That's nothing but a total bunch of BS, and there is absolutely no truth to it at all...If there was any truth to this, then no bird would ever bond with anyone but the breeder who hand-fed them!!! That's not how birds work, it's not "hand-feeding" them that deepens your bond to your baby...People develop the closest, deepest bonds to their parrots by spending tons and tons of time with them every single day and showing them love...That's it. Hand-feeding the bird as a baby has nothing to do with it at all, and actually myself and a lot of other experienced parrot breeders believe that being the person who hand-feeds a baby bird actually does the exact opposite, it weakens your relationship with the baby bird, because baby birds innately and naturally always leave their parents in the wild! Parrots are "Flock-Animals", and after they fully-wean and fledge they're gone! They leave their parents to go and find their own flocks and their owner mates. So being the person who hand-feeds a baby bird isn't going to "strengthen your bond" with a baby parrot, it's going to make the bird naturally think that you're their parent who they are going to eventually leave...So being the person who first brings the baby parrot home from their breeder or "parent" is going to be the first step in forming an ultra-strong, close, deep bond with your baby bird...

So please, regardless of what species of parrot you decide to bring into your life and your family, please make sure that it is fully-weaned onto solid food and that it will not at all require you to feed it any hand-feeding formula at all...