Handrearing
Handrearing baby birds is a very enjoyable and rewarding experience. It is also a huge commitment, one that many people may underestimate. Once you decide to pull chicks from a nest, that's it...there's no going back. You're now responsible for those babies in every way. It doesn't matter if you're tired, sick, got plans with friends, work, whatever...they must be fed. In the early stages, depending on what age the chicks are, you may be feeding them every three hours.
We like to pull our chicks at pin feather stage, this is around two weeks of age for most species. At this age they have received good gut flora from the parents, giving them a healthy start on life. Depending on the season and how many chicks are in the clutch, the need for a brooder is minimised. We use plastic tubs with ventilation holes (see photo), as these are easy to clean and promote good hygiene. The chicks take quicker to the spoon, the younger they are, so two weeks works well for us. We feel that any later than two weeks and the birds just don't turn out as well for companions. The process from two weeks until weaning age is rather lengthy (feels like forever!), so the babies receive plenty of handling during this time. Our whole family takes part in feeding, playing with and socialising the babies as much as we can, this way they don't become attached to one person. There is so much more information regarding handrearing but I'll try and keep this page down to the basics. Having an abandonded chick and being forced to handraise from hatch, hydration, crop tubing etc, is a whole different ball game and would take pages and pages to cover properly. If you need more info regarding those topics or any questions regarding handraising we can definitely help, just ask.
Brooding
Chicks taken for handraising; depending on the age, season and quantity of chicks; will generally require a brooder of some description. In warmer months we sometimes skip the brooder and use a tub with ventilation. This is for chicks that are starting to feather and in a clutch of three or more.
Brooders need not be expensive. There are many home made brooders that work perfectly. The type we use is basically a large tub designed and constructed by my father-in-law (see photo). It has a two light globe system as a heat source and a small fan for even temperature distribution. A simple, electronic temperature control module can be purchased from reptile supply stores or on ebay. This has a temperature probe that can be fixed inside the brooder box. The heat source (globes) are also plugged into the control module, it senses the temperature and switches the globes on or off accordingly. A decent quality module can be set to the desired temperature with a high and low alarm also adjustable. The desired temperature for most species at pin-feather stage is 28 ~ 31 degrees Celcius. After the body becomes mostly covered with feathers, a temperature of around 26 will do the job. You can use these temperatures as a guideline. If, after visual inspection, you find the chicks shivering and all huddled up toward the heatsource, maybe the temperature is too cold. If they appear sprawled out and panting...you guessed it, too hot. I also like to place a small dish of water inside the brooder, this helps to raise the humidity and stop the chicks becoming too dry.
Plastic tub used for brooding ................. A simple electric brooder
Feeding Equipment
Hygiene plays an important part in successful chick raising. All instruments can be kept in a container of Milton baby bottle steriliser solution and rinsed well before each use. For chicks less than two weeks old, a heat source will be required whilst feeding. We use a small desk style lamp positioned over the chick. This throws enough warmth to stop them losing body temperature whilst out of the brooder. We still use the good old spoon or spoon/syringe fitting. Paper towel and toilet paper is on hand because what goes in, must come out! I always wash hands thoroughly before and after each feeding, and apply an antibacterial hand sanitiser. A temperature probe is a must to ensure the correct feeding temperature. I like to lay everything out in an orderly manner before I reach for a chick. See the photo of my layout below, everything is within easy reach. We still use the good old bent spoon method to feed our companion babies. It is slow and can be messy. It also means more time is needed during feeding and clean up of the chick, in our opinion, the end result is a much better pet. When someone comes to take a look at our babies, it's great to see them get swamped with friendly birds as soon as the door to the cage is opened.
Handraising layout...ready to go! .......... Good quality digital kitchen scales
Formulas and Temperature
We have tried and tested a number of formulas, including our own recipe and most work well. Click on "Our Formula" for an ingredients list if you want make up your own handrearing formula. These days formulas are getting better and cheaper so we find it just as easy to buy ready to go stuff, plus I've burnt out two blenders already! The correct temperature is very important and makes all the difference when feeding baby birds. We have invited people to watch their bird being handfed, and also have a go themselves. Most are suprised at how hot the formula is. We find that too cold and they just won't eat properly. Obviously too hot and you risk burning the sensitive areas and the crop. The back of the wrist test might do the job but why guess? We use a cheap digital temperature probe. After the mix is ready and placed in the warmer, a little stir and a quick probe will tell me I'm right to go without the risk of burning. The temperature we use for all baby birds is around the 40 degrees celcius mark. A fluctuation between 37 and 43 is acceptable. You will see in the above photo, we use a Kambrook chocolate warmer that we purchased from Bing Lee. It has two temperature settings. As luck would have it, the number one setting keeps the mix at exactly 40 degrees and it comes with a stainless steel pot and stirrer. I'm sure who ever designed it, is a bird breeder!
Weighing and Charting
I have a set of digital kitchen scales (see photo) permanently on the handraising table. The weight of a chick tells you so many things. I have past charts and documented information to compare with. The information such as age, weight and amount consumed, can tell you of a problem before it arises. I record the time and I.D of the chick, plonk him straight on the scales and enter the number. After he has been fed well, I re-weigh. This tells me how many mls he has fed using a scale of one millilitre of food to the gram of weight. I record this number and move on to the next chick. Over the days you can see the gains between different chicks and also cross reference your previous data. The natural process performed by parent birds is to stuff the chicks nice and full. By using weights and knowing how much was fed during previous feeds, you can re-create this crop stretching process and increase quantities steadily. You will also know when your babies are approaching peak adult weight and also watch a drop off in weight as they begin to wean. A simple chart containing columns for date, I.D, time, weight before feed, weight after feed and quantity fed will give you all the information you need to spot a possible problem and give you a future reference.
Pin-Feather Stage.................................A Baby Cockatiel On The Spoon.
