Baby Cockatiels for Handfeeding & Taming

[Man_of_Steel]

Another love project of sir egay! nice one!

[Blackhawk]

bro ask lng ko. how often man ni cya i feed s isa ka day bro?? ingun ani n stage bro galmunon p kaau ni?

From the net (http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww62e.htm):

Handfeeding

There is much to know about the actual handfeeding process. How to hold the chick, the begging response, how often to feed and how much as the chick grows, how to judge a full or empty crop, using a brooder, monitoring the chick and much more. The next article will go into the details. However, an overview is presented here.

You want to pull your chicks for handfeeding, however you aren't sure when would be the best time. Normally I pull my own chicks at ten days old. When pulling chicks, I already have the baby brooder set up, warm, and waiting to receive the chicks from the nest.

The very best time to pull chicks is between two and three weeks of age, especially if you are very new to handfeeding. In order to thrive, chicks need to be fed when their crops are empty. Delaying feeding for too long a period may cause problems with the chick's liver. The crop must empty completely once in every twenty-four hour period. The hours between midnight and 6am are a good time to allow this too happen. A chick with food still in its crop after the six hour fast needs to be treated for slow or sour crop. Taking a look at the husbandry practices may help to find the cause of the problem. Formula or environmental temperatures that are too cold will cause the crop to slow down. A chilled or cold chick will experience problems with slow crop.

As chicks grow, they can take more food at each feeding. Cockatiel parents feed the chicks an abundant amount of food and keep the crops stuffed. They will have stretched the crop sufficiently at three weeks of age, making it easier for you to feed the chicks. An older chick will do better with a thicker formula. At the start the formula is the consistency of a creamed soup as you get to the fifth week the formula is the consistency of a soft yogurt. Beyond the sixth week the formula is the consistency of cake batter.

Over time, the number of feedings per day will decrease, while the thickness of the formula increases. This assures that the chick is receiving adequate nutrition as it grows and needs more volume and a greater percentage of solids in the diet.

Hand fed tiel chicks grow quickly. You will find that they have grown from one feeding to the next. It is an awesome experience to watch the tiny blind and naked chick grow into a beautiful handsome tiel who is still a baby at ten weeks old. Growth rates will vary amongst the chicks and is dependent on the genetics of the parents. Some tiels have tiny bone structures and are not as heavy as other tiels of their same age.

I have taken the averages of my cockatiel chicks' weights starting at 7 days. This is a general guideline not a strict chart from which you can't deviate. Please remember that these weights are based on my own chicks and taken from my personal records. They are not etched in stone. My tiels are on the large size. For those with smaller parents, the weights of the chicks vary with the genetic history of the parents, depending on the breeder, whether the cockatiel is pet quality or show quality, or the overall health of the parents and chicks.

Tiel Weights

7 days - 37 grams
14 days - 50-65 grams
21 days - 70-84 grams
28 days - 85-99 grams
35 days - 92-110 grams
42 days - 90-105 grams
49 days - 88-100 grams
56 days - 95-120 grams (weaning weights)

Keeping good records will help you to identify any problems you may be having with the chicks. Most of my chicks fledge at three weeks of age. This means that they are already doing solo flights at 21 days of age. It is not unusual for chicks to lose some weight before their first flight. They will cut back on the amount of food they are eating in order to slim down for flying. This is instinctive with chicks who want to lose some of the baby fat so that they will be more aero-dynamic.

Many inexperienced handfeeders are fooled at this time thinking that the chick is weaning. I've found that the chicks' appetites return around the sixth week when they begin to eat again. As a handfeeder it is important that you maintain the nutrition that is needed by the chick. This may mean with the fledging diet that you must feed less volume more often. I like my chicks to receive 20-30cc/ml of food each day. At this time I feed 5cc at each feeding and try to feed 4-5 times in a day depending upon the needs of the chick.

Handfeeding from Day One

Handfeeding day one chicks is more complicated due to the small size of the chick. There is more danger of aspirating a chick that is so small. Aspiration means that the food goes into the chick's lungs rather than into the crop. When this happens the chick dies.

Another problem encountered with day one chicks is that we are unable to provide the same bacteria, immunities, and enzymes that the parent birds give their chicks. Chicks are born with sterile guts and need good bacteria to colonize the digestive tract. Bacteria is important for digestion. Without it, the chick is unable to properly digest the formula given to him. Even more important is that the handfeeder provide good gram positive bacteria to colonize the chick's gut. Cockatiel chicks at hatch have a non functional immune system. The immune system remains immature until the tiel chick is three months old. The gram positive bacteria helps to fight off gram negative bacteria which would make the chick sick.

When handfeeding day one chicks you need to feed every one and a half to two hours around a twenty-four hour clock. It is important to feed as soon as the crop is empty. Since chicks may have crops that empty quickly, this is a very exhausting to the handfeeder. When undertaking feeding day one chicks its a good idea to have help. This allows for both to have a couple hours of sleep each day.

It's recommended to handfeed day ones around the clock until they are five to seven days old or have gained enough weight to go longer without being handfed. This depends on the capacity of the crop to hold more food and if the handfeeder has slowly stretched the crop to increase the amount of food the crop will hold. It is not recommended that novices attempt to handfeed day one chicks because of the many problems that can be encountered. Overstretching the crop is a major problem and if the crop is filled beyond its normal capacity can result in a loss of muscle tone. Obviously handfeeding day ones is best left to the professional breeder who has the handfeeding experience necessary to do the job with a successful outcome.

Problems which may ocurr during handfeeding

One sign of trouble when handfeeding is that the chicks appear not to gain any weight. This can be due to a malabsorption problem, stunting, or failure to thrive. Many times a factor which is part of the trouble is that the chick is mildly to severely dehydrated. Fluids given by your avian veterinarian may make the difference in life or death for the chick. Sometimes the problems are so serious there is nothing that can be done to help a chick that is hatched with liver and kidney syndrome. Often the only indication that this is a problem is that the crop stops emptying.

Another sign of trouble is splayed legs in the chicks. This is when the leg juts out from the hip. There is thought to be multiple causes for this problem, one being a hen that is sitting too tight on her chicks. Another that the bedding in the nestbox is too slippery and doesn't give the chick the firm footing needed to keep his legs under him. A calcium deficiency is thought to play a role in the development of splayed legs. It is important to remember that the embryo receives calcium from the egg shell while it is developing inside. Feeding the hen a calcium rich diet not only helps keep her healthy but also assures that the chick will have the calcium he needs as a developing embryo.

Other problems associated with handfeeding will be included in the next article.

When do tiel chicks wean?

One thing that any parent wants for their young is to see them independent and thriving in their lives. Tiel chicks are born dependent on their parents for every need. As handfeeders we worry about when the chick will wean. And are afraid that we will have the only tiel chick who remains wanting to be handfed at five years of age. Please believe when I say this - cockatiel chicks are the most stubbornly independent of any species of parrot. When they are completely weaned it is not likely that you will never be able to get a syringe back into their beaks.

So what are the signs that the chick is weaning. One sign is that they are begging less to be fed and eating more of the diet that is being put in front of them on a daily basis. Another is although they beg, whine, and cry to be handfed, when the syringe is placed in their mouth they take 1-2cc and go off to play. It is quite normal for a chick to lose some weight at weaning. A weight loss of more than ten percent is not normal and the chick should be evaluated by an avian veterinarian.

Weaning is a process. Each chick is a unique individual and no one can say that this chick will wean at this time. It is more important that weaning not be forced, but the chick be allowed to tell you when it is ready to be independent. Independent eating can be recognized by the chick's ability to eat enough food to maintain his body weight from day to day. I recommend enjoying the time spent handfeeding and weaning the chick. You will find that they grow up quickly and become independent intelligent winged creatures sooner than you expected or wanted. Hopefully you will have raised healthy happy cockatiels and you have received much satisfaction in the experience of raising your chicks.

[Blackhawk]

Another love project of sir egay! nice one!

Kumusta na Man_of_Steel? How's your breeding? Daghan na kang birds? Thanks.

[Man_of_Steel]

Kumusta na Man_of_Steel? How's your breeding? Daghan na kang birds? Thanks.

Happy Easter Sir! Ok lang ko just log on here sa thread na.busy sa work 4 ds past months ky out of town permi ang assignments.Ok lng ang mga birds sir medyo nidaghan npud despite my absence.Ikaw murag daghan2 imo breeding dah.I'll pay a visit lang unya sa imong aviary.

[Blackhawk]

Happy Easter Sir! Ok lang ko just log on here sa thread na.busy sa work 4 ds past months ky out of town permi ang assignments.Ok lng ang mga birds sir medyo nidaghan npud despite my absence.Ikaw murag daghan2 imo breeding dah.I'll pay a visit lang unya sa imong aviary.

Sir, please visit the Cebu Avian Society (Bird Lovers of Cebu) Thread in Pet Discussions...
I already have a number of clutches from my Double Dark Factor Violet Dominant Heavy Pied Personata which is one of my project... Hope my other project; pure Back-to-Back Black Cheek will soon produce squabs...

[Blackhawk]

For Sale: Baby Cockatiels for handfeeding and taming

Breed = Cockatiel
Mutation = Normal Cinnamon (1 left) /Normal Grey (2 left)
Gender = Too young to tell
Age = about weeks
Parent #1 = Heavy Pied (c) x Emerald (h)
Parent #2 = Emerald (c) x Heavy Pied (h)
Price = P600/chick
Aviary = Bacayan
Contact Person = Egay
Contact number = 09286360133
RFS = need to break the pairing and condition them before swapping their hens to make them back-to-back pairs to produce emerald and heavy pieds

Only 1 baby tiel available

[Blackhawk]

Up for the remaining baby tiel...

[Blackhawk]

still available... 1 baby tiel...

[lawrence_tbs]

unsa nga mutation ang still available?

[Windy_Mar]

still available... 1 baby tiel...

Sir Egay wala pa diay na halin ang isa..heheh ako to nakapalit sa isa...
up for this kung wala mo palit ako nlng mu tiwas ana...hehe