New baby parakeets, somewhat urgent question! Post #4!

[pearsjd]

Well, a couple weeks back our pair of parakeets decided to start up a little family... And now we have 3 biddies.

The first two are about a week old, the third is only a couple days. The first one already has his/her little eyes open though, thought they weren't supposed to do that until they were ten days?
Anyways, everyone seems healthy and happy. Their mom, Spudgie, is taking good care of them, although their father's care leaves a lot to be desired.

Spudgie is semi tamed; will sit on fingers, eat millet from hands, etc.
Fidget, their father, on the other hand is crazy, just never settled. He was a rescue we found dumped in a busy parking lot, with a note saying free bird. Some people.

My main question is when to start taming the babies, and/or how?
I have Googled and read like a mad man, and it seems everyone has a different idea as to where and how to start!


Any other general advice would be greatly appreciated as well!

 

[FireTigeris]

Based on what you read... I'd start as early as possible (early as you found), if I was stressing the parents or chicks stop-

Now hand reared" and "hand raised" and "Hand tamed" are different- its easier to hand tame after they are weaned from ma and pa -otherwise its lots of feeding and work for you- (I might have these backwards)

Hand rared- never left with parents, possibly incubator hatched- fed and fully dependent on a human form hatch till fledged
Hand raised - left with parents but exposed early and often to humans, week or rejected chicks finished to fledgling by humans
Hand tamed- not overly interacted with till fledged (no human feedings even for week or rejected)- then taught humans are nice.

Keet breeders usually use a mix of strategies depending on the ultimate worth of their stock to them.

Some want only the strong to survive to adult hood and breeding or do not want non parrenting birds to breed (Hand Tame method).

Some want every chick to survive and know the breeders are bad at chick rearing (Hand rared)

Some only step in if necessary and then place those bids out to 'adoptive/non breeding' parents instead of 'for sale' and make sure to be very interactive with their birds. (Hand raised)

Each method has pros and cons. Depends on you.

 

[RiverOtter]

If Spudgie (what a cute name!) doesn't get upset, start very gently handling them from the time their eyes open. Love them, snuggle them, scritch those itchy pin feathers, keep them warm and put them back in 10 minutes. Do this several times a day. You can increase the time as they get older, you can also offer them soft treats. But go ahead and let the parents do the main feeding and all.

This will give you some really sweet, friendly babies.

 

[pearsjd]

Thank you both so much for your answers!


I am having a bit of what I think could be a problem. Well, there was one egg left, and it hatched today. The baby is really tiny and being squished and rolled around by the three larger ones. It's only about 1/4 the size of one of the bigger ones. It's not making much noise, or moving like the others did. I don't know if it's getting food.

I am a sissy, should I intervene some how? When? Help!

 

[FireTigeris]

DO you WANT to feed it every couple hours till its weaned?

If so help out, if not let nature happen- this is normal for many birds, the older siblings in some types will 'remove' the extra hatchlings when strong enough... the thought being if the first couple eggs don't hatc the last one or two should keep the breeding season from being a complete waste.

Are you the kind of person that thinks all critters even weak ones should survive or are you more a survival of the fittest type?

 

[pearsjd]

Scrap that, we are going to give it a shot.
After all he hatched on his own, at least for the most part. I'm hoping he's just a late bloomer.
I have low expectations, but we'll give it a shot.

Thank you again FireTigeris.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

I've had many last borns not make it with out helping. Good luck!!

 

[pearsjd]

Well, if anyone's wondering; he's doing fine this morning. Is eating well, peeping when he has an issue.


We have been handling the other chicks, Spudgie doesn't mind at all. And they are just starting to get adorable. Little squinty eyes and fuzzy butts!