I have some questions on hand feeding baby birds.?

Question

First off, my birds are Zebra Finches. I know it's not very common for someone to hand feed Zebra Finches, but I brought home my pair about a week ago, and my little brother was absolutely thrilled and he wanted to know if he could hold them. So I figure why not? The female laid her first egg either last night or this morning, so I figure, now is the time to figure out if hand feeding is a bad idea or not. First off, I won't be horribly disappointed if my attempts to make them trust humans is all for nothing. But my main question is this: If I hand feed them, does that mean it has to be ALL me, or do the parents still pitch in? I work full time at a pet store and go to school, so I can't take on the full job of raising them. Second question, how old should they be when I start hand feeding them? ..You know, I have a lot of questions. Maybe if someone could just tell me what to do, how to do it, how often, etc, that would be great. Thanks.

Answer 1

hiya, you really should leave their parents to feed them. I work at a rescue and in the summer we see lots of baby sparrows. We only hand feed them because they have no parents to do it for them. If you start handling them too much, then the parent birds are bound to abandon the babies, which means it will probably become a full time job.

Also, from experience, us humans cannot teach the bird how to fly very well, the parents can do this and most likely will. I say just leave them to get on with their job, the way nature intended.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Hi there. First establish whether the eggs are fertile. Candling them involves shining a bright light through the eggs.If you see what looks like a network of red veins then the egg is fertile. Be careful because these eggs are fragile. If left alone, one can avoid oils on the skin of the fingers that can potentially clog the porous eggs which in turn would prevent the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide leading to ashixiation and death. (Now that is a long sentence!!!). The female will incubate the eggs after the last one is laid. They will hatch in about 12 days. Let the parents feed them. Finches being small have a very fast metabolism and require feedings every 1-2 hours around the clock. Hand feeding formula and hand feeding is very tricky involving the right temperature, feeling the crop for its fullness and avoiding burning the crop and aspiration in which formula can easily enter the lungs which is fatal. Personally, I have let the parents do the job and handled the offspring with clean hands at 2 weeks of age. If you take the chicks away, this may encourage the parents to start a new family. Proper nutrition of the parents is essential especially for the female and chicks. Be sure your finches are eating a good quality pellet food, 10% seed and 10% fruits and veggies excluding avocado and chocolate. Add chopped hard cooked egg with the crumbled shell 4 times a week for the extra protein and calcium needed.Co- feeding with the parents may lead to problems of over feeding or the parents losing interest in the chicks. Nature is the best course when raising chicks. I hope your eggs are fertile and have a tweet year.

Answer 3

Absolutely leave it to the adults.

Feeding a larger bird is very hard. I have hand fed cockatiels, severe macaws and african greys. It's no easy task as the food has to be the right temp, fed into the mouth at a precise angle so it goes into the crop, certain consistency and amount. It's not worth you stepping in if you don't have to.

I lost a tiel due to not feeding correctly, a long time ago. It was sooo sad, like he was choking, and it wasn't at feeding time. So sad.

If you just have to try it, go to the pet store and ask them to let you help feed a bird, for the experience.