My 13 week African Grey

[Fel]

Hello, I'm new to the forum and looking for some advice regarding my 13 week old African Grey, Parsley.

I picked her up from the breeder at the weekend 4 weeks earlier than I had intended. :eek: I got a phone call from the breeder on Friday evening saying there had been a death in the family and she needed to go to Manchester and make funeral arrangements. She has been hand rearing it (with teaspoon). She showed me how to do it and how hot it needed to be etc while I was there. (Parsley still has an evening feed before bed) I'm confident I have got the hang of it albeit I kinda feel like I have been chucked in the deep end a bit.

 

She told me to give him his formula feed at about 10:15pm before he goes to bed and that he usually wakes up at 5am.

I have never owned a Grey before but I have read a lot about them in order to prepare myself for bringing Parsley home and I thought they required about 12hrs sleep a night? 10:15 - 5pm is about 7 hours. Should I give her formula feed earlier earlier than 10:15pm or not??

 

I have tried to call the breeder to ask but she's not answering her phone. She had been also weaning her on sunflower hearts and peanuts which I've been told isn't good for AG's - I'm slowly introducing chop to her with some success, she's been enjoying eating the different types of AG friendly veggies. I've also been introducing ZuPreem Natural (crushed up small - kinda like 1/2 pea sized) in with her hearts with a view to getting her off them as a staple and on to the Zupreem instead.

 

I have no idea if I'm doing things right or not. I guess I could be worrying over nothing but I also think you can never be too careful when you have a whole living creature that's reliant on you. She's pooing regular, drinking regular and eating regular. I give her lots of love and attention - I work from home so that bit is a doddle, like I say I just feel a bit overwhelmed and need advice on the above.

 

I know I've rambled on a bit, I just wanted to give as much info as possible. Please, please tell me if I'm not doing something I should be. I don't mind that at all I need to know that I'm doing my level best for her.

Thank you!

[Inara]

Hi Fel, and welcome! Wow you really did get tossed into the deep end. I have never reared a baby bird before so my own suggestion is that you read read read the posts in our nursery and health threads. Also, it would be a good idea to phone an avian veterinarian and ask some questions. A phone call usually doesn't cost anything and will help you feel more secure about what you are doing.

 

 

We have many memers who are very familiar with hand raising greybies and hopefully one or more will chime in soon.

[Timbersmom]

I haven't had any "baby experience" either so am not much help. Hopefully more experienced people (like Dave007) will chime in when they see this. I'm commenting to help bring your post back up to the top! Good luck and God bless

[neoow]

I picked Alfie up when he was 11 weeks old and I was still feeding him from a spoon as well as giving him other (solid) foods. Sunflower seeds and peanuts aren't great on their own and should be fed in a limited amount, not as the main offering. You're doing the right thing by introducing her to other foods whilst she's still young. Some of it will get flung all over the walls in disdain, but she's probably more willing to try things at this age than she will be later on.