Love Birds Hatching - Raiseing by hand... help...

[texascowboy1979]

Ok, So my better half had a pair of love birds... but some how they worked together and the male escaped... So We were left with the female and 4 eggs... after a day, the female began to break the eggs, I took the last 3 eggs from her and stuck them in the incubator.... they are starting to hatch today.. one is already out of the egg... What do I do now? How do we feed them... what do we feed them...

everything I found says we should hand feed the chicks when they are 10 days... How do I get them to 10 days? I dont want them to die.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[darkfur]

nope you be handfeeding them from day 1, since mama is out of the picture. 10 days is when you take them away from mama if you were going to handfeed them from that stage to get a tame baby.
Go to a large petshop or a vet and get yourself a container of handrearing mix. I use one called Kaytee Exact for my tiels. It should have detailed instructions on it but the guts of it is, you weigh your baby. Then you make up the mix according to the instructions and feed the baby about 10% of its own bodyweight. You can use a syringe or a bent spoon. http://www.cockatielcottage.net/breeding2.html has some pointers at the bottom of the page (sorry being a tiel person I don't have a lovebird site for you). It's best if you can find someone to show you how, the petshop or vet may have someone experienced in handfeeding to show you. You will be gently dispensing the formula into the RIGHT HAND SIDE (v. important) - your left - of the bird's beak and it should swallow it in a bobbing/pumping action. www.birdsnways.com would be a great place to find help there maybe someone in your area willing to show you how. Be aware that for the first couple of weeks you will be getting up all hours of the night to feed the babies (every couple of hours for the first days). Sleep deprivation is in your future!
It's important you figure this out soon, maybe you will end up handing the babies to someone else to raise, but you do have a day or so leeway as they have a tummy full of yolk when they hatch and don't need feeding right away.

 

[texascowboy1979]

Thanks... Ill head to get the handrearing mix 1st thing tomorrow.

 

[jojo@rolling acres farm]

I agree with the previous post - except for one thing. I would not wait very long to feed at all. I would be more worried about the the babies dehydrating as opposed to starving. Although by the time you get the hand feeding formulas in them I think they'll be pretty hungry too. At first, it will only take a drop or two. You'll be up all night every night for at least the first 10 days. Hand fed babies grow much slower than parent raised birds. Good Luck, keep us posted.

 

[BeckyBird]

I found this link...... http://www.belleecorcefarms.com/ARTICLE_DayOne_HandFeeding.html

I have handfed lots of baby birds over the years, but I've never handfed a young parrot from day 1. I've fed cockatiels and budgies, but they were at least several days old. It was nice of you to save the eggs, and I wish you all the best of luck with the babies. You are trying your best to help them, and that's all that matters!