My new BABY!

[Falconeer]

Lot of you know what recently happened.

I've been in touch with most of the ol'timers here getting all the help I could.

 

I am loving feeding my grey baby (I named him Dennis). I am getting the sexing kit this week.

HE is a very curious little fellow at 9 weeks. He will be 10 this Friday. I have learnt a lot of new things about babies since I got him.

When I picked him out of the 8 chicks the store had, I got him cause of the way he acted when he saw me. I knew he wanted to come to me.

 

I hand feed him. I took some training at a vet on doing that. And also confirmed my technique with the store and one other vet. Just wanted to be sure, not meaning to distrust my first vet.

 

I have a few questions that might seem silly now:

 

1. when do babies recognize their parents (or us humans) Human babies do that around 3-6 months of age right? So what about birds?

 

2. He loves to bite my fingers and nails. And he applies pressure. I just pull back and reach to touch his beak or head-scratch him. HE does not mind. I saw a spray for birds with feather plucking issues. It just makes the feathers taste bad so the bird eventually leave them alone... I just had an idea, what if I spary it on my fingers and let him bite for a while? I know nasty idea, but just wanted to check on the safety of the chemicals... It is an Italian made chemical.

 

3. How do you massage the crop when empty? Just rub it? top to bottom direction?

 

4. He had his first corn today. He LOVED it... Was later on fighting with me to get into my plate to reach it!! CUTE!!

 

5. I've figured a way to have birds try new foods... JUST HEAT THEM FOR ABOUT 5 SECONDS IN A MICROWAVE. The warmth makes them feel it is good or something. Cold corn was rejected... warm corn was welcome.

 

6. THIS IS TOO LONG NOW - Sorry!

[zandische]

Falconeer -

 

Congrats on your new baby! I brought home Athena at 14 weeks and although the breeder said she was fully weaned, she really needed another 2 months before she was interested in real food and not the baby formula. I was very cautious about hand feeding because I was so scared of hurting her, but we made it through eventually

 

1 - Although I don't have any quantitative evidence to offer, I'm pretty sure it's easier than you may think. The first time I met Athena at 12 weeks old, she practically leaped into my arms. Like you, she went right to me. I then came back to visit her a day later and I thought it would be prudent if I tried to recreate a similar environment to the day before - same smells, same colors, etc, just so I could make sure she didn't forget me. This, I thought, had proved to work, because once again she was my little darling. Then a week later I went to visit her just before picking her up and I forgot to do those things. I got to the breeder and thought she might not recognize me, but as soon as she saw me she got excited and hopped right on over to see me (she couldn't quite perch yet, so they had her in a plastic baby pool where she could waddle around without falling). I've read that in the wild, Greys live in very close proximity to each other, even during breeding, and that they thrive on constant contact with their flock. There have also been numerous reports and some studies about their seemingly supernatural "empathy." So in my mind, it stands to reason that smell and sound would play a key factor in recognition, and certainly your role as the "parent bird" right now means recognizing you is all important to their survival, but I think it more likely they initially learn to recognize each other by their various personality traits, and that's what really nails it down for them. But of course, that's just my opinion based on my experiences with my bird. Someone else might have a much more scientific answer

 

 

2 - I'd vote no on the bad-tasting spray, for a couple of reasons. One, he's probably just testing out that baby beak and doesn't understand that your fingers aren't chewable, so it's easy to correct that behavior simply by changing YOUR behavior. In a month or so he's going to realize those fingers can do amazing things - like give tons of great head scratches. But if he learns early to associate a bad taste with your fingers, he may decide to reject your fingers altogether, and that could lead to other problems. Secondly, since feather plucking isn't usually something found in babies, I'd be very cautious about him ingesting any kind of chemical designed to prevent it in older birds. I'd be cautious about giving my bird any kind of chemical anyway, but particuarly so in this case -it's possible his body may not be able to handle the ingredients in the spray at this age. My suggestion is that if he bites your fingers, either change your tactic a bit (instead of rubbing his belly, rub behind his head where he can't get you etc), distract his attention, or offer him a toy to chew on instead and contnue with whatever you were trying to do. Definitely don't allow him to continue chewing on you though. Remember that at this stage everything he is going to learn in life he learns from you, so it's important to show him all the things he CAN do (like chew on toys.) If he does something he's not supposed to do, instead of giving him a consequence for doing it (like the spray), show him that it's not ok with a gentle "No" and then point his attention back to what he SHOULD do - which is chewing on toys again. Then reinforce this good behavior with excitement, praise and love. He will figure it out very quickly that chewing on fingers makes you stern and reserved, whereas chewing on toys makes you laugh and pay attention to him. Anyhow, I'm certainly no expert so that's just another opinion from the peanut gallery, but overall the spray just seems like a potentially bad idea.

 

Good luck with Dennis and keep us posted about him!<br><br>Post edited by: zandische, at: 2008/03/18 00:02

[lovemyGreys]

Hi Fal, im sure your baby already recognises your smell & voice,you have taken over the parental role & he see you as his parent

I personally wouldnt use a spray to distract him nibbling your fingers,i would just be consistent & tell him no, he will learn in time,

 

why would you massage an empty crop,i would had thought you would only need to massage the crop if your baby had sour crop/crop impaction or slow crop !

 

Babies like warm food,mashed sweet potatoes etc,just make sure when you use microwave be sure to check for hotspots in the food,offer plenty of different varieties of food now as Dennis is showing intrest

[spookyhurst]

Pictures! We need pictures !

[judygram]

Well said Spooky, we do need pictures of Dennis.

 

And who you calling ol'timers, certainly not me, I definitely don't fit that description:whistle: :laugh:

 

Your grey will recognize you right off the bat, it don't take long for them to see and hear that you are the one.

 

Don't use any kind of deterrent on your fingers, you can teach her to not bite later.:sick:

 

Why would you want to massage the crop when empty, take my advice, forgetaboutit.:lol:

 

Just like us we like a lot of foods warm or hot and they are no different, and corn is a favorite.

 

Why do I get the idea that you are adoring your little one and loving the handfeeding, can't figure that one out:whistle:

[BMustee]

Congrats on the new baby...I'm so happy for you!!! Baby greys learn who you are very quick...esp. when you are the person feeding them. I'm sure Dennis already knows who you are! The finger nipping is normal for a hand feeding baby, they seem to think food will come out of fingers or something. All I did was kept my fingers out of beaks reach. I wouldn't use a "deterant" because you do want your baby to like hands and finers for scratches and the nasty taist may make him not like fingers at all. I've never hear of needing to massage an empty crop. All you need to do is make sure you don't over fill or over heat the food and burn it. A healthy crop will empty without any help so I wouldn't worry about it. Elmo loved corn when he was little. I would try giving Dennis apple sause (cold or room temp), grapes, bluebarries, pitted cherries...all that good stuff.

 

POST PICS SOON!!!!

[Falconeer]

I'm gonna go shopping for infant food today. Specially Apple sauce.

 

The Cerelac infant formula I bought as an emergency for Dennis can go to my Neice who wsa born last week! :woohoo:

 

Dennis has developed a taste for corn and chic peas (Garbanzo beans)but when given a choice, he picks the corn.

 

YEah, I'm gonna let him munch all he wants on my fingers. H'll soon learn there is no juice/milk comming out of them.

 

NOW HOW DO I POST PICS? I HATE ASKING THIS BEING AN ENGINEER MYSELF:silly:

[judygram]

Falconeer wrote:

NOW HOW DO I POST PICS? I HATE ASKING THIS BEING AN ENGINEER MYSELF:silly:

 

You engineers are all alike, here try this link....:whistle:

 

http://www.greyforums.net/faqs/how-do-i-post-photos.html