Hi everyone.

Haven't been around in a while, been running into all sorts of problems.

First a storm rolled through and a tree branch crushed my aviary, so Ive been looking to

find a temporary solution. I also purchased my first house which has given me no time left to look after the birds, not to mention zero success at breeding last season so........

 

But i have 2 chicks so far this time (2 better than last time) however the hen is a newbie and seems to have forgotten that she needs to feed her chick (or the cock has im not sure)

 

Its about 3 weeks roughy (i didnt write down the date silly me) and its pin feathers are just breaking now. I have successfully fed it twice today and it has been happily chirping in its sleep in between feeds. I knocked up a quick little birdy puch which i can wear around my neck so i can take it with me (I cannot leave it at home because 1. Im never there anymore and 2. the cats are crafty)

 

I have my snake's old heat mat ready for tonight for when it gets chilly and plan to feed it once more before i go to bed.

Im just wondering if anyone can give me some handy tips or some extra advice to help in my success. This is my first time hand rearing

Hi Maddy, sorry about your bad luck. Hope your up and running again now. As chick has been fed twice successfully I'd say you are doing okay. I haven't hand reared either but at 3 weeks or so it should be nearly ready to start eating a bit on it's own. It will call for food I'm sure. I hope the snake isn't around or it might make a snack of chick, instead of kitty's trying. I'd keep offering it hand rearing mix until it starts to refuse the mix in favour of seed etc.

Hi Maddy sounds like things are going fine just make sure his crop is empty before each feed or at least overnight.

Also I stick to only feeding 10% of the chicks body weight so if your chick weighs 40 grams then give it 4 mils of formula then you can be sure you are not over feeding which is a big cause of crop malfunction as it can overstretch the muscle.

 

Cheers Jenny

Good info Jenny, I'm making note of that as well in case the need arises. cheers Robyn

That would be great info to add to the FAQ for breeding... (the part about 10% of their body weight.)

 

I'm guessing 40gms was a number you pulled from the air? Please tell me that chicks don't weight that much. Poor little Twitter was only 27 gms when we went to the vet last week. Now I have to get my scale out!

 

Diana

Hi everyone, just an update:

 

The baby has been dubbed Harri (still not sure if it is a boy or girl) and its doing well. Onto day 3 and feeding is pretty smooth. Has a feed early morning (about 6:30) then it is usually begging for food again in a few hours so i give a little snack off a spoon. Then there is another feed at lunchtime and dinner with a snack in between if he's begging for it. The crop empties completely each night so he is calling for food early morning again.

 

It eats well both off of a spoon and out of a syringe. I use the spoon for the snack and just let him decide when he's had enough. For the main feeds I use the syringe and boy does he know what it looks like already...it has quite the pair of lungs. I find i get more in with the syringe so i use that until he loses interest and/or he has a nice full crop. Then he has a little budgie doze for a bit to sleep it off.

 

I'm going to get the pair of scales out today to weigh him as i just read its a good way to keep a progress record.

 

I also have a question about weaning. Do i start mixing seed into the hand rearing formula to get him used to it? I heard about crumbles, is that like chick starter?

Hi Maddy, sorry to hear about the aviary but congrats on the new house.

 

Sounds like Harri is doing great. Is he kept in something that you could put seed in the bottom and let him/her have a peck around, he might start to learn how to crack it. It might take a bit longer to learn being on its own but I put seed in my nest boxes when the chicks are about 3 weeks old.

Good idea Nadene I'll do that. He pecks along the bottom of the nest box and chews the wood shavings so it might help to put something edible in there for him haha

 

He's getting cheeky, he has learnt how to look out of the holes in the side of the nest to see where i am. If he spots me walking past (I take him to work) then he starts to call out for food...despite having a full crop haha

 

This is going to be one spoilt bird.

 

I also got my scales working today and weighed him. He weighed in at 39 grams

Sounds like he's doing great. Good job, trouble is, when they become so special it will be hard to put him back in aviary.

I agree with Nadene, I also add seed when first chick is around 2-3 weeks they all then start to forage around and learn to crack seed in their own time.