handfeeeding 4weeks old lovebirds

[tanyab]

Hello

Its been awhile since ive been on. During the last 5weeks my mother has been in a coma and i was told she only had days to live...in that time during this her lovebirds have had eggs and now have hatched around 4weeks ago.but my mother has pulled through and now been moved to a diff. hosp still in icu but she is awake and my step dad will be bringing the babys to me tomorrow to hand feed.my mother will most likly be in the hosp. for another month or so.she is doing lots better but still in icu on a breathing mach.ok..im asking for help with these babys...i dont know much about them but she already have them sold to a pet store that will not handfeed them.so, im asking for help on feeding and ect....thanks so much

 

 

also jackson is doing GREAT!!!hes the love of my life. hes trying to talk..loves to play on the floor or follow me in diff rooms. but he dont like showers anymore..so, that a fight with him.but his great...tanya

[Dave007]

 

Go here and there's lots of videos concerning the feeding of lovebirds.

[tanyab]

Thanks Dave..my moms babies are not like that...They are 4 weeks and after the second feeding they started to purk up.Become more active but not nothing like thoses babies.i feed them today some and im feeding every 4 hours .still not sure on how much to give them..they are so much smaller then the babies on the vedio.My mom is very sick and still in the hosp and the mother bird has been feeding them...

[Dave007]

If the parent bird is feeding the babies, let it stay like that. Let her do her job. Just make sure that she has access to whatever she's feeding them. Many times, parent birds abandon the chicks. She hasn't.

Chicks who are fed by parents for a long time turn out to be stronger, than chicks who've been strictly hand fed by people.

Edited October 21, 2010 by Dave007

[Azzie]

I agree with Dave. Why remove these babies from their parents when you are not sure at all what you are doing with regards to hand rearing them?

 

Hand rearing birds is not something to be taken lightly, as small mistakes can kill a bird quickly, so it's not something for a novice in my opinion.

 

Dave, once baby birds have been removed from parents, is it possible to return them to the nest to get the parents to take over again, or will they be rejected?

[Dave007]

Assie

 

That's a hard question to answer. If the parents are constantly feeding the chicks, they're also providing that parent's *mark and smell that will distinquish that clutch from another clutch of the exact same age birds. Now when a human takes over, that person put's it's *human. mark, touch and smell* on the chicks.

It's really an individual thing. Some may take them back and many others won't. The only exception is when chicks have to be taken out for an extremely short time and immediately put back in---10 to 20 min. But in that situation, there needs to be other chicks in the clutch when that's done. A parent buird doesn't count the amount of chicks in a clutch.

[tanyab]

ok The parents have stoped feeding the babies. My mom is sick so she cant and plus that shes never handfeed a bird before...I have handfeed serval birds in the past. so I kinda do know what i am doing.I just dont know much about lovebirds. But if the parents are not feeding them then who will??I dont take handfeed likly i do know that a bird can die very easy where being handfeed.I didnt just go take the babies from there parents bc i thought i should. I took them bc i didnt want the parents to kill them or not feed them.Thanks for the help

[Dave007]

Tanya

 

This will show you what to do

 

http://www.avianweb.com/lovebirdchicks.html