Hand feeding budgies gone wrong

[yellowbudgie]

We have 3 budgies that were newly hatched from the incubator.

Initially they were being hand fed okay but for some reason they all slowly became weaker.

Due to the weakened feeding response and (probably mostly) the lack of experience they did not survive.

Any suggestions on what we did wrong? Is it super challenging to hand feed budgies from day 1?

We don't have a dedicated brooder and so they were kept in the incubator with slightly lowered temperature. they don't chirp as much or as loud starting from the second day, I think.

I am pretty sure they aspirated during the last feeding... We are so sad.

Any suggestions or thoughts? Thanks.

 

[Zoohtasim]

We have 3 budgies that were newly hatched from the incubator.

Initially they were being hand fed okay but for some reason they all slowly became weaker.

Due to the weakened feeding response and (probably mostly) the lack of experience they did not survive.

Any suggestions on what we did wrong? Is it super challenging to hand feed budgies from day 1?

We don't have a dedicated brooder and so they were kept in the incubator with slightly lowered temperature. they don't chirp as much or as loud starting from the second day, I think.

I am pretty sure they aspirated during the last feeding... We are so sad.

Any suggestions or thoughts? Thanks.

It is EXTREMELY difficult to handfeed baby budgies from day 1. I heavily discourage anyone voluntarily handfeed baby budgies for fun or hatch them in a incubator as momma knows best and even budgie keepers like me who have had budgies for 6-7 years fear handfeeding. Baby budgies being extremely fragile, need extreme care. Things that could've gone wrong -
1. Wrong formula as their food
2. Wrong consistency of the food
3. Too hot or too cold food
4. Spoilt food

Can you specify how much colder was their living place than the normal temp for baby budgies? That could be a prime reason.

Anyways, soo sorry for your loss, fly high naked pinky beings

 

[SilverBirds]

Baby birds (that are non poultry) are EXTREMELY hard to care for. @Zoohtasim gave you very good information. What were you feeding the to begin with?

Very sorry for your losses.

 

[yellowbudgie]

Thank you both for the input. They are invaluable!!

I had the incubator set to 99F and after they hatched and 24 hours later I dropped them to 97F.

The humidity was also very difficult to control inside the incubator especially after each opening for feeding. I think humidity was around 60% once closed.

This is the formula we used:
Tropican Hand-Feeding Formula - 400 g (0.88 lb) https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MSX9K9M/

It was also difficult to maintain the mixed formula temperature, eventhoguh we tried to aim at 105F. Often by the time it's in the spoon it's already too cold (I am guessing). Consistency was also challenging and I am thinking maybe they were dehydrated. I am hearing electrolytes mixed with formula are also needed for the first few days?

Once again thank you all very much for the inputs and support!!

 

[Zoohtasim]

Thank you both for the input. They are invaluable!!

I had the incubator set to 99F and after they hatched and 24 hours later I dropped them to 97F.

The humidity was also very difficult to control inside the incubator especially after each opening for feeding. I think humidity was around 60% once closed.

This is the formula we used:
Tropican Hand-Feeding Formula - 400 g (0.88 lb) https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MSX9K9M/

It was also difficult to maintain the mixed formula temperature, eventhoguh we tried to aim at 105F. Often by the time it's in the spoon it's already too cold (I am guessing). Consistency was also challenging and I am thinking maybe they were dehydrated. I am hearing electrolytes mixed with formula are also needed for the first few days?

Once again thank you all very much for the inputs and support!!

I think cold (temp of place + temp of food) altogether killed your younglings

 

[RiverOtter]

I'm going to be blunt - what you did wrong was hatching budgies in an incubator and trying to hand-feed them from day one. It's almost impossible, you have better odds winning the lottery. I have hand-fed more baby birds than I can count, and I would never, ever voluntarily take on hand-feeding one from day one - before I did that, it would have to be a much bigger species, an already hatched baby who's life was in danger, and no chance of fostering it with another set of parents. It's THAT hard.
What was the goal? If it was friendly, handfed babies, leave them in the nest box. You can gently (if it doesn't stress the parents) handle them at 2 weeks, and sometimes daily handling and a bit of supplemental feeding is enough to achieve that goal. If you really need to pull them, wait until they're 3 weeks old, and raise the little pincushions then. Which, in tiny birds, is still hard, but not impossible, like it is with newborns.

 

[Zoohtasim]

I'm going to be blunt - what you did wrong was hatching budgies in an incubator and trying to hand-feed them from day one. It's almost impossible, you have better odds winning the lottery. I have hand-fed more baby birds than I can count, and I would never, ever voluntarily take on hand-feeding one from day one - before I did that, it would have to be a much bigger species, an already hatched baby who's life was in danger, and no chance of fostering it with another set of parents. It's THAT hard.
What was the goal? If it was friendly, handfed babies, leave them in the nest box. You can gently (if it doesn't stress the parents) handle them at 2 weeks, and sometimes daily handling and a bit of supplemental feeding is enough to achieve that goal. If you really need to pull them, wait until they're 3 weeks old, and raise the little pincushions then. Which, in tiny birds, is still hard, but not impossible, like it is with newborns.

Exactly