Baby parrotlet (2-3 months)

jousze

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Aug 7, 2018
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Blue fronted amazon, lutin cockatiel, agapornis fischer...
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So I contacted some breeders because I wanted a little parrotlet to raise by hand. I did this already with my cockatiels and I had to give them the food with a syringe or a spoon. Well, so I wanted to have a parrotlet and to do the same with him/her, and a breeder told me: “we sell our birds when they are 2-3 months old and they eat alone”.
Okay, until here everything was alright.
Then I thought that my cockatiels where treating me as their parents and never scared because I was feeding them since they were baby’s (they had just some feathers)
So my question is: getting a parrotlet at the age of 2-3 months old and already eating alone, will it be the same as my cockatiels or is he gonna be scared or something? I really wanted a baby one to be good with him since the first day.
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EDIT:
One more thing, do you think that buying 2 parrotlets is a bad idea? I would put them in different cages but, would they scream more than if it was just 1? Like would they shout to each other? It is because I live in an apartment so I don’t want so much noise.


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itzjbean

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Hello and thanks for posting.

The parrotlets at that age 2-3 months and eating alone are what breeders call 'weaned'. It is common practice and much more responsible to get a baby when it is eating on its own so that you don't have to worry about keeping it warm or feeding it incorrectly.

Is your concern that getting a weaned bird won't like you as much because you aren't feeding it? This is not true, in fact I just got my new cockatiel almost 3 weeks ago and he was eating on his own, but we have a very close bond already! You don't need to worry about the bid not liking you, in fact when you do end up hand feeding a baby usually prefer to leave their parents (you) just as they do in the wild. So having a baby that young is not as beneficial as you may think. We have several breeders on the forum here who can tell you the same thing.

To answer your other question, yes it would not be good to get two parrotlets at once. They will likely only want to be with each other and be indifferent towards you. Getting one at a time ensures that you can bond with it one on one. But you can sure get another one in the future after you've had one for a while and have developed a bond with it.

Remember that all birds make noise, especially at dawn and dusk. Even the smallest birds make noise, so just keep that in mind that some noise is normal.
 
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jousze

jousze

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Hello and thanks for posting.

The parrotlets at that age 2-3 months and eating alone are what breeders call 'weaned'. It is common practice and much more responsible to get a baby when it is eating on its own so that you don't have to worry about keeping it warm or feeding it incorrectly.

Is your concern that getting a weaned bird won't like you as much because you aren't feeding it? This is not true, in fact I just got my new cockatiel almost 3 weeks ago and he was eating on his own, but we have a very close bond already! You don't need to worry about the bid not liking you, in fact when you do end up hand feeding a baby usually prefer to leave their parents (you) just as they do in the wild. So having a baby that young is not as beneficial as you may think. We have several breeders on the forum here who can tell you the same thing.

To answer your other question, yes it would not be good to get two parrotlets at once. They will likely only want to be with each other and be indifferent towards you. Getting one at a time ensures that you can bond with it one on one. But you can sure get another one in the future after you've had one for a while and have developed a bond with it.

Remember that all birds make noise, especially at dawn and dusk. Even the smallest birds make noise, so just keep that in mind that some noise is normal.



Thank you itzjbean! So then getting the bird at the age of 2-3 months he will still liking me the same or even more than if I have had him when he was like 3 weeks? And do they fly when they are 2-3 months? I’ve never thought about that lol. And are the weaned parrots hand fed or are they fed by their parents??
Okay then, just 1 parrotlet!!


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itzjbean

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A baby raised by its parents is generally much more frightened of people and will be more skittish, scared and will try to get away from you.

A bird that has been hand raised is generally pulled from the parent's nest at around 2-3 weeks old and kept warm in a brooder, fed by an experienced breeder and of course handled by humans from that time to when it gets to you so it will be very accepting of hands and people.

Try searching for a breeder that raises hand fed babies as they will be much calmer, tamer and more affectionate to you. If you get a parent raised bird, it it more likely to end up preferring the company of other birds than to people.

Yes, they will be able to fly at this age. Some breeders clip their wings (mine did) just so the bird can't get very far from you (mine can only flutter a few feet to the ground) but in time they will grow out their wings and be able to fly better and further.
 

Inger

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Hi! My parrotlet, Bumble, came home with me when she was 7 weeks old, fully weaned and flying. How your baby reacts to you will depend a lot on how the breeder interacts with them. My breeder hand feeds AND TAMES her babies (with the help of her whole family), and weans them onto fresh foods, so I brought home a little princess who loves me and eats everything I give her and is smart , sassy, and happy. Some breeders just hand-feed them so they don’t have as much human interaction; those babies may take longer to bond with you.

A note of caution: parrotlets are tiny and cute but they have big giant attitudes, think they’re the size of a macaw (or maybe a Rottweiler!), and they can be very nippy. If you’re used to the sweet disposition of a cockatiel, parrotlets might be kind of a shock. Also rumor has it that if they aren’t handled for more than a few days, they will untame very quickly. I am not planning to find out out for myself; Bumble comes out to play every day. So make sure you know what you’re in for before you take the plunge!

The upside is they’re the cutest birds ever and they are relatively quiet-the can’t scream. They can put up a fuss but they’re good apartment birds.

Make sure to keep us posted!!


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EllenD

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Aug 20, 2016
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Itzjbean nailed it...It's totally irresponsible for a breeder to sell a baby bird that is not fully-weaned to someone so that they can hand-feed them when they are not professionals. Most of the time, in-fact, probably 90% of the time, when people buy a baby bird that is not fully-weaned and attempt to hand-feed the baby themselves, the baby either ends-up not weaning properly and develops severe neurological issues due to not weaning properly and at their own pace, or they die from either aspiration of formula into their lungs, an infection in their GI Tract due to improper formula or ambient temperature, crop-stasis, etc. So please, do not EVER attempt to buy a baby bird that is not fully weaned...

To answer your questions, first of all, "weaned" simply means that the bird (or dog, cat, etc.) is no longer eating any food from it's parents or whomever is feeding it, and is totally eating solid food on it's own. So ALL birds are "weaned", that has nothing to do with whether they are hand-raised or parent-raised.

Hand-raised baby birds are pulled from their parents between 2-3 weeks old, housed inside of a Brooder until their feathers grow in, and are fed hand-feeding formula on a strict schedule by their breeder. They no longer have contact with their parent-birds after being pulled. When you buy a baby that was hand-raised by it's breeder it's typically very tame, and will allow you to handle it right away, will step-up for you, etc. So if you're going to buy a baby bird, then yes, you want to buy a baby bird that was hand-raised by it's breeder, and that has fully-weaned and no longer needs to be fed formula at all.

A parent-raised bird is totally fed and housed/kept warm by it's parent birds, and is not fed at all by the breeder. Now this doesn't necessarily mean that the bird will not be just as tame as the hand-raised baby will be. What responsible, really good bird breeders who parent-raise their babies do is each day, from the time the babies are between 2-3 weeks old, they pull each baby out of the next-box when both parents exit the box to go and eat, drink, etc., they block-off the nest-box so that the parents can't get back into it, and they hold/handle/pet/cuddle each baby for a good 15 minutes or more at least once every single day. They touch them all over, talk to them softly, etc., just like they would if they were hand-raising them, they really are hand-raising them, they just aren't feeding them...****And this results in the babies being just as tame as babies who are actually fed by the breeder from a syringe...AS ITZJBEAN STATED, actually "feeding" a baby bird has no bearing whatsoever on the bird's tameness at all. Not one bit. What determines the tameness of a baby bird is the interaction with humans/touching by humans that the baby gets during it's first weeks of life up until the point that they fully-fledge and wean.

And yes, baby birds start to fledge (fly) before they fully-wean, so by the time the baby is fully weaned and eating on it's own, it has fully-fledged and knows how to fly...This is important, because breeders should never, ever clip a baby's wings before they fully-fledge, as this can result in the bird never being able to fly or fly properly.

So the bottom line is that unless you have a ton of experience, education, and ideally you've been mentored by an experienced bird-breeder on how to properly hand-feed and properly and gradually "abundance-wean" baby birds, you absolutely should never, ever, ever bring home a baby bird that is not fully-weaned and eating only pellets, seeds, veggies, etc. completely on it's own. It's too risky, there are a million things that can and do go wrong and if you don't know exactly what to do on the spot the babies will die quickly. And not only that, but until the babies are 5 weeks old you cannot let them go all night without feeding them every 2-3 hours, so that means you can't sleep for more than 2-3 hours at a clip...And for what? Nothing. Feeding a baby bird by hand will not "create a stronger bond' between you and the bird, as stated it can actually do the exact opposite.

Think of it this way: When a baby bird is hand-fed by it's breeder, and then after it fully weans it goes to it's new home with it's new owners, the baby bird bonds closely with it's new owner/owners, it creates a bond with that person or people who are caring for it, spending time with it, etc. It's totally forgotten about it's breeder who hand-fed it, right? Yeah, it's the same concept as a baby bird leaving the nest after it weans. Birds don't live with their parents for life, they are raised by mom and then they leave and live their own lives, just like puppies or kittens. So you're actually much better off (and safer) by buying only a baby bird who was hand-raised by a breeder, who is already fully-weaned, eating totally on it's own, and who you can just start bonding with, training, and enjoying as soon as you bring it home.
 
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jousze

jousze

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Thanks all 3 of you! I’ll ask my breeder if he hand raise them himself or if he leave their parents do it. I will buy it if it’s hand raised by the breeder and that’s all! About being different than cockatiels I know, I’ve had lovebirds too and they are way different as well, they have a lot more character.
Thanks.!


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