How do i hand raise a lovebird.?

Question

i work at a pet store and the love birds there are laying eggs.

the eggs are good and everything but the petstore does not want the hassle of raising them so they tell me to throw them out.

howevver i want to hand feed the babies when they hatch.

can anyone tell me the details of doing this and what it will involve?

im not looking for anyone to tell me taht its only for experienced breeders b/c there is no one that wants to raise them and i jsut want to save a couple of the baby birds.

Answer 1

hello,

First of all if the pet store don't want to take care of them they better separate the male from the female. I have Lovebirds and as soon as the babies eat on their own they will be separated. I just had 4 new babies in June. They are getting pretty now with their new feathers Mickie and Minnie had a baby last year and I have her in a separate cage. They sell food at the pet store that you mix with water and it has to be a certain temperature. that is how you hand feed them. You have to mix it. If you have a vet in your area that deals with birds also it would be good to ask them on what to do and how to go about it to make sure. They have a crop under their neck that they hold the food to digest. If the food is too hot they can burn. You just have to be careful. I am surprised that they would do that with eggs of the birds. That is a sin. Good luck. It just takes time to feed them.

Answer 2

Handfeeding is NOT for the inexperienced. PLUS do you realize you have to feed them on a schedule not unlike a HUMAN baby? Round the clock? And you have to warm the handfeeding formula -- and if you do it wrong and get it too hot, you'll KILL the baby. There are a hundred different things that could go wrong if you have no idea what you're doing.

It's not just taking an eyedropper full of oatmeal and dribbling it into the bird's mouth.

If they don't want to let the parent birds raise their own babies, they should NOT be selling birds to begin with.

I know it sounds harsh, but destroy the eggs. You'll just end up killing the birds anyway.

Answer 3

Lovebirds are usually left with the parents for the first 1-3 weeks before being "pulled" and hand fed.

Hand feeding is not something to take on lightly, it is a VERY time consuming and often stressful experience.

When the eggs first hatch the chicks need fed hourly for the first few days, after a while you can feed them every 3-4 hours. It takes weeks before they can skip the feeding in the middle of the night and only feed during the day.

Chicks are fed a formula using a syringe usually. The formula has to be the right temperature or you will burn their crops and cause them to die or if it isn't warm enough it will take too much energy for the bird to heat the formula up enough for their bodies to process it and they will starve to death.

If you aren't careful you can cause the chick to inhale the food (this can be done while feeding or if their full crop is pressed up against) and cause the bird to die from mold spores growing in the food in their lungs.

While the chicks are feathering out they have to be kept in an incubator, this can be either an expensive store bought one or you can make one using the plastic "reptile" carriers and heat lights. They have to be kept from drafts and they have to be kept cleaned up after frequently.

If they aren't kept in soft enough substrate they can end up splayed legged, if you have the wrong substrate you can end up with them eating it and getting sick and possibly dieing.

It is best to either ask the pet store owners to allow the parents to feed the chicks until they are old enough to be on their own and to handle them often as they feather out (as the parents will allow, this can get you bit though) and taking your chances on getting a "tamed" pet that way or have someone show you how to feed the chicks in person after they are pulled from the parents. Once they are pulled they will die if you change your mind and decide it is too much work---it is much more humane to keep the eggs from hatching than to allow the chicks to starve to death.

Answer 4

good on you for wanting the responsibility i would image it will be hard work so good on you if you work in a pet store why don't the owner's know how you would think if they own a pet store they should know this if not try another pet store or even try the animal refuge is there no books that can help you