I have handfed a clutch of budgies before but while they were in the nest...I used to give each of the chicks one or two feedings each day, so they got used to the parents and me. Some people say to handle them for 15 minutes each day...It still makes them timid. I want them tame as can be.

 

 

I have a 10 gallon aquarium and I was planing on hand feeding at the end of this week sometime until weaning which would be at the end of March.

 

I know I would need a heat pad, thermometer, towel, a certain humidity level and time.

 

 

I just wanted to know if anyone has some experience with hand feeding out of the nest? What temperature should the aquarium be at? What sort of humidity would I need....

I have handreared lots off different types of birds from Budgies to African Greys and Cockatoos.

 

This is what I did. I took two babies out of the nest at 10 days and handreared them. I left the other two in the nest but took them out between feeds, kept them inside and spent about 1/2 hour in total handling them every day. Whenever their crops were 2/3 empty, I'd put them back with the parents. They used to stay overnight with the parents too. I didn't handle the handreared ones unless it was to clean their box or take them out to feed them.

 

I kept all the budgies together in the same box when the others were out of the nest between feeds.

 

The two that were handled between feeds were completely tame. The handreared ones weren't very tame at all.

 

I believe with budgies you can completely tame them by handling alone. I don't think handrearing is necessary in order to have a tame budgie.

 

On the other hand the bigger birds, in my experience, need to be handreared. You can tame them by handling alone but it requires a lot of patience and effort.

Oh okay, thanks for the help!