Hi guys, I've got a little bit of a problem... okay, so Blacky and Caspar (two of my budgies - go figure) have four babies at the moment. The fourth one to hatch is four days old and hatched a week later than its siblings. Anyway, Blacky isn't feeding it for some reason and even though its three days old it looks like its just hatched (that is, in size). As far as I can tell its only had three feeds, all coming from me... So I took it out this morning and am planning to hand raise it (not that I really have the time but I suppose Ill have to make time) I was just wondering how I should change its diet as it gets older, because I know the mummy bird would change whats in the food she gives as the chick gets older. Ive got a budgie raising formula, I think its similar to egg and biscuit mix which its eating at the moment. Should I be crushing up seed to mix in with it or chop up greens as well? Ive never done this before so dont really know what to do...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

-Shann

I hope this helps this was an article in our FAQ section that talks about handfeeding.

 

Handrearing Budgies

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Budgerigar Breeding

 

Feeding Chicks from newly hatched. The first feed of the day for three days should be a quality yoghurt with a high live organism count. Next feed a mixture of the suggested amounts of Hand rearing food and pre-boiled water heated to about 50deg C. allow the prepared mixture to stand for 2 minutes to absorb all the water. Remix and if too thick reheat and add a little water to make the desired constancy. Bring the prepared food to 35deg C and feed with a spoon or syringe fill the crop full, taking care not to introduce food to the windpipe.

 

Feed prepared Hand rearing food 4 to 6 times daily when the chicks are very young reducing to 3 to 4 feeds per day as the chick gets older. Feed small amounts frequently and allow the crop to empty completely at least once each day. Thoroughly clean utensils before each food preparation. Food must be prepared fresh for each meal. Discard all uneaten food.

 

Growth of Chicks. Weigh chicks at the same time each day. Daily weight gain will fluctuate but on average healthy chicks should gain from 10% to 20% of their body weight each day. Weight loss could indicate the onset of disease but often means the chick is not getting enough food. Healthy chicks that do not gain weight may need more solids in the mix, more food at each feed or more feed per day.

 

Weaning chicks. Provide adult type food to chicks once they are fully feathered or begin to resist being hand fed. To wean onto Pellets or crumbles, reduce the number of feeds and offer some moistened pellets in a dish. Once the chick starts eating the moist pellets, stop hand feeding and offer only dry pellets. Chicks will naturally lose some weight during weaning*i.e. Budgies should also learn how to crack and eat seed. Stat with a soft seed, such as millet and when they have mastered that start to introduce ordinary budgerigar mixes.

 

# Probotics. Some parrot hand rearing products either include Probotics in their formula or recommend the use of a probotic product. Probotics are live bacteria feed supplements that may have a beneficial effect on a birds intestinal microbial populations. Most probotics contain several strains of bacteria, none of which has been demonstrated to be normal intestinal inhabitants of parrots. Commercial probotic suppliments are expensive to use and have short expiry dates. A quality yoghurt that contains live Acidophillus and Biffidus bacteria produces a similar result and is considerably cheaper to use.

 

This information has come from Passwell Hand Rearing Product.

 

The mix for growing chicks differs from product to product. All ways read the recommendations on the packet and use accordingly.

 

# I personally use a Probotic with my birds and will continue to do so.

 

 

Last update: 2007-04-17 16:49

Author: Contributed by Daz

I think Elly has it all covered there!!!!

If you cant get good quality hand rearing mix- use Farex (baby rice cereal- baby section at the supermarket) mixed up withwarm/hot water and one of the baby fruit/ vegie jars of puree. I have raised many on this stuff.

If you can, i would leave it with the mum and bubs until it's fluffy all over. Otherwise you'll have a hard job keeping it nice and warm. Just feed it every 3-4 hours, one or no feeds overnight should be okay. I had to do this with the youngest of 5 recently. It took a couple of days of me feeding the bub for mum to take over. Same might happen with you.

Thanks guys but unfortunately the little guy died overnight, I put it back with Blacky to keep it warm and fed it at about 2am this morning and it seemed fine, and this morning i checked on it and she'd kicked it out of the box and it was dead... Thanks anyway for the advice.

-Shann

Im so sorry

sorry to hear this

nature knows best maybe the mom knew it was sick from the beginning we will never know but now the little one is flying free with no pain at Rainbow Bridge