Unweaned babies a trend these days?

[Brodie]

I had this exact same conversation with a big breeder in Australia the other day. We are sick of having people come to us because they have done it wrong and don't know what to do because they brought an unweaned bird. I will always help them for the birds sake, but that doesn't mean I will forgive the breeders for selling them unweaned. These breeders are only worried about the money, the amount of people they are selling them to that have no experience or don't even have the time to take on what they are is ridiculous. Yeah, I'm not saying some dont know what there doing, but honestly that's not a risk I would be willing to take. Not one of my birds will be gong unweaned ever. I bread them, I feed them. Till the day there ready to go. That's it, that's now it should be done. You buy a bird when its weaned.

 

[thekarens]

I know for a fact its not a myth babies are closer to the people who hand feed them. At least for babies in my case. I think people wanting birds especially bigger birds should hand rear their birds if they feel safe and comfortable doing it. But I alao dont think people who arent home all day or have a spiuse home all day should take on the task because somebody always needs to be with the baby the four months.

That is a myth. It's like saying if you adopt a child you can't be as close to it as a biological child. If a person can't form a close bond with a bird weaned by someone else then the problem is with the person, not the bird.

Breeders have no business selling unweaned birds unless they know for a fact the buyer has the knowledge and skills needed for hand rearing a chick.

 

[Sterling1113]

I had this exact same conversation with a big breeder in Australia the other day. We are sick of having people come to us because they have done it wrong and don't know what to do because they brought an unweaned bird. I will always help them for the birds sake, but that doesn't mean I will forgive the breeders for selling them unweaned. These breeders are only worried about the money, the amount of people they are selling them to that have no experience or don't even have the time to take on what they are is ridiculous. Yeah, I'm not saying some dont know what there doing, but honestly that's not a risk I would be willing to take. Not one of my birds will be gong unweaned ever. I bread them, I feed them. Till the day there ready to go. That's it, that's now it should be done. You buy a bird when its weaned.

I agree 100%.
If you ask me, the only 'stronger' emotion that is there with hand-rearing yourself, is the heart ache and turmoil you go through when you do something wrong that is so minor yet enough to take the life of your baby that you were so excited to bring home.
Plus, by waiting for the bird to be weaned, it gives a chance for any underlying problems the baby may have been born with to surface. What if your 8 week old baby dies, because of a heart condition, but you didn't get a necropsy and assumed you did something wrong? That's just mourning and guilt that isn't needed, and not to mention the $$$ you just spent on a 'healthy' baby.
I've never hand reared any of my birds, and we are all bonded just fine. In fact I'm the 2nd or 3rd home to all of my birds.

 

[Terry57]

I know for a fact its not a myth babies are closer to the people who hand feed them. At least for babies in my case. I think people wanting birds especially bigger birds should hand rear their birds if they feel safe and comfortable doing it. But I alao dont think people who arent home all day or have a spiuse home all day should take on the task because somebody always needs to be with the baby the four months.

I disagree completely with this. Most of my birds are older rescues, and they are every bit as bonded to me as the birds I had years ago that I hand fed.
Even though I handfed years ago, I would never do it now since it has been so many years since I have and in my opinion it is simply not worth the risk to the baby.

 

[Allee]

I have also noticed a trend in hand feeding in the last few months. I've seen advertisements pushing the bonding experience and the lower price for the bird. Sadly, I've seen a high number of posts on other forums from people who have bought the baby, have it home, and are desperate to just save the birds life, at that point the breeder who sold them the bird is refusing their calls. I hope it isn't the norm, but selling these babies to inexperienced new owners seems to be setting the baby birds up for disaster. I think it's disgusting.
I know there is a world of difference between dogs and birds but we searched for months before we chose a breeder to purchase our Golden Retriever from. The breeder insisted on keeping her a full three weeks longer than the norm, our puppy spent those extra three weeks playing with her litter mates and becoming a well adjusted, confident, happy puppy. I think any animal's first few months effects it's personality for life.
Three of my parrots were re-homed, I have no idea if they were hand fed, I haven't had a problem bonding with any of them. Let me clarify that, one of those birds tried her best to kill me every chance she got for the first few months, I'm pleased to say we now have a very strong bond. I would love to know if she was hand fed or maybe fed hands.

 

[thekarens]

Fed hands.....LOL!

 

[yann]

here in singapore…the younger they are the higher the price they fetch~ once they are weaned the price can drop by at least a 100, with the exceptions of african greys that are sold as "talking" adults and can thus fetch higher prices.

when i got my first fid, ollie was about 7 weeks old and we were given a 5 minute crash course on how to hand feed, paid up and that was it. but that was before i knew anything about parrots and was ignorant of the dangers associated with it.

It is sadly, common practice here because of many shops/breeders trying to rid themselves of the tedious task of hand feeding and therefore promoting the myth that getting a baby is a MUST if you want a fid that can bond to you.

Most new to parrots(like i once was) will believe that getting an unweaned fid is the way to go since it is quite logical to think that only babies bond to owners

 

[RavensGryf]

Most new to parrots(like i once was) will believe that getting an unweaned fid is the way to go since it is quite logical to think that only babies bond to owners

That's why they say it to unsuspecting consumers. It "seems" logical. It's EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD I think who does this!

 

[thekarens]

I think you'll find that probably 99% of the parrot community disagrees with you.

I can't think of one reputable and well known breeder in the community who would agree with that and they should know.

 

[Dinosrawr]

To me, that's like saying a human child will bond better to the person that bottle or breast feeds them. Nourishment is incredibly important for any animal, but they don't create bonds based off of who feeds them when they are young, rather it's the experiences they have as they age and develop. Multiple strangers could feed the same bird and the bird could probably care less, so long as it was receiving food when it was hungry and didn't feel threatened.

Day-to-day interactions create that bond. If it were the case, every bird sent away from a breeder would be miserable and experience huge difficulties bonding to new family members and likely experience depression from separation if that bond were so significant. Especially considering how emotional they are. To me, training and being with each other creates a stronger bond than hand feeding ever could.

That aside, the breeder I got Shiko from will not, under any circumstances, give an unweaned baby to anyone, and she highly values her reputation. I would like to believe that it's not as common anymore, but maybe it's more along the lines that people are becoming more educated on the dangers and are refusing to purchase unweaned babies. I think education on the matter is key, though.

 

[Frumpydumple]

I love how we all get along we though we disagree but I truly believe hand feeding your own baby gives you and that bird a stronger bond.

I don't agree with this at all.

Like almost everyone else, I completely disagree with buying unweaned birds. It is so easy for things to go wrong even if you are experienced with hand feeding. I know how difficult it is to wait for a baby bird to be fully weaned, but it is worth the wait no matter how long it takes.

It would be horrible to lose a baby bird because something went wrong when you were feeding it.

All my birds and my mother's birds have always been fully weaned before we brought them home and they have all bonded to us without any problems.

I got my four year old Green Cheek Conure at five months old from a bad "breeder" after she had just been taken out of an aviary and she was not tame, but now four years later, she loves me and she is so tame I can put her on her back in my hand, take her outside and let people touch her. When I first got her I couldn't even go near her. I'm not even sure if she was actually hand reared but she is tame, very sweet and she is bonded to me. Even parent reared aviary birds can become sweet, affectionate pets with time and training.

My mother's Sun Conure was a rehome we brought from someone (not a breeder) at twelve months old (we were told he was twelve months, but he isn't banded, so who knows) we are guessing he is two now and he LOVES my mother, they are inseparable and she brought him when he was at least twelve months, he could even be twenty or older, but he has still bonded strongly to my mother.

I just brought home a baby (over three months old) Blue Crowned Conure last week and it is crazy how tame he is. I can do anything with him. He likes to sleep on his back in my arms. I left him a few weeks with the breeder for him to be completely weaned and I didn't like waiting, but it was better than buying him unweaned and risking his life. And the breeder wouldn't sell him unweaned even if I wanted to hand rear him myself. (Which I would never do)

I hate seeing people selling unweaned birds, it makes me very angry because the birds they are selling could get very sick or die because of people buying birds when they are not experienced with hand feeding, but these "breeders" just want the money, they don't care about the birds they're selling.

You honestly don't need to hand rear a bird yourself to form a strong bond. It makes no difference at all.

 

[getwozzy]

I love how we all get along we though we disagree but I truly believe hand feeding your own baby gives you and that bird a stronger bond.

I also disagree with this.

Our galah came home at 6.5 months old and she's bonded pretty strongly to me- and I don't think anyone should ever buy an unweaned baby unless they have the experience and knowledge to do it correctly. Even if you have confidence doing it after a breeder shows you and let's you practice (if that), how is an inexperienced person going to know what to do when something's gone wrong? Or how to tell if something's wrong in the first place? Way to much at stake IMHO.

 

[MikeyTN]

I love how we all get along we though we disagree but I truly believe hand feeding your own baby gives you and that bird a stronger bond.

I will have to disagree with this as well!!! From raising chicks for years, most babies will leave me the moment someone they want to be with comes along. They leave me instantly and don't even look back.

BUT some babies do stick with me since I was the one that raised them. There's one we've kept since she was a baby. She'll fly to me and sit with me ever since she learned how to fly. But she'll sit with my partner as well but not anyone else since she doesn't know them.

 

[Terry57]

I feel so alone now I don't know who to turn to I don't know who to talk to I feel like everybody's against me.

Please do not think everyone is against you just because we disagree.
This topic is brings out passionate responses in everyone.
We are so passionate because we do not want people with no experience to feel that they have to handfeed a baby in order to have a stronger bond with it.

 

[ShaunaR]

I am reading these posts with interest since our baby caique isn't fully weaned and we are possibly being asked to take her this weekend. Are there not "degrees " of weaning? Both my husband and I are nurses yet neither of us have parrot experience. I am wondering if its possible that even babies who are considered by one person to be weaned could very well be considered unweaned by another? Does every species wean at different times? Doesn't every individual bird wean at differing rates? I assumed that our baby may have some hiccups in accepting food from us regardless of being fully weaned so I have been preparing myself for that by researching products like Harrison's mash. I hear what you are saying about all of the things that can go wrong. We know a whole lot about tending to human babies and still very serious things can go wrong. I am glad I will be better educated in terms of what to ask when discussing this with our breeder and I can see now its not a great idea. Thanks everyone for the discussion as it has helped me very much!

 

[thekarens]

No weaning is very clear. It means the bird is no longer being fed by the parent and eats fully on its own.

Now some birds (cockatoos are famous for this) will regress when they are placed in a new home and you might need to offer them formula on a spoon or warm mash.

 

[RavensGryf]

I just hate to see how so many breeders out there either want the customer to finish weaning OR what is still bad, is that many breeders will also push the baby out onto the customer THE VERY MOMENT the bird seems weaned. It's all about money and time for the breeder, not giving the customer the best (that they're paying for).

As Karen said, some species tend to regress easier than others when in a new home, but since the time this topic has come up before, I have spoken with a couple well known expert breeders AND avian vets... And it is not true that every bird regresses. I have personally NOT had that happen in about 6 birds I bought as weaned juveniles. Maybe the species had something to do with it, as well as the fact they were REALLY way past weaning. Weeks or a month past. It makes a difference.

Shauna, I would really make sure you get what you expected - a fully weaned baby. After all, with your busy careers, the top dollar you're probably paying for the baby? You deserve it to be completely READY to take home

 

[JerseyWendy]

I feel so alone now I don't know who to turn to I don't know who to talk to I feel like everybody's against me.

Wow, sarcasm at its finest.

 

[lucy1]

It is illegal to sell an unweaned bird here in the uk. Does that mean none of us have bonded to our babies properly? Rubbish. It means we're less likely to have our baby die on us through inexperience of such a complicated and delicate process.

My macaw was fully weaned for 2 weeks before his breeder would let me collect him, and then only because they were local and gave me a number I could contact them 24/7 if there were any issues or regression.

My OWA was an adult rehome and we had an incredible bond formed from much stronger stuff than feeding him baby gloop... IMO, If the only way you can bond with your bird is by needing it to be so dependent on you at such a young and vulnerable age, you're not heading for a long and happy life with your bird.

 

[Birdman666]

Baby birds are fragile things. Inexperienced hand feeders kill them about 50% of the time!!! THAT'S RIGHT!!! THE FATALITY STATS ARE AT 50% DUE TO HANDFEEDING MISTAKES!!!

They finally made it illegal in California to sell unweaned babies to inexperienced hand feeders, a law I would like to see enforced and extended.

There are so many baby birds, especially baby big macs, who die because of mistakes made by people who just don't have the knowledge of the damage they are doing...

I had three burned crop baby big macs die in my arms once... And a very remorseful "bonded" person, who didn't know enough to check for hot spots...

Parrots bond just fine with the person who works with them. You don't have to hand feed them to get that. This is a myth that has killed a lot of birds... and we need to get the word out and de-bunk it!!!

This is PURE CRAP-OLA!!!