Hi all, We bought our Green cheek (male) and pineapple green cheek (female) about 3 years ago now and this is the first year they have had babies. They've laid eggs before but wanted nothing to do with them. This year they laid about 6 eggs (first one about 24th August)and we have 5 beautiful babies(first baby born 17 September). We have left them in the nest with mum and dad and have left them to raise them. We now have 3 starting to gets feathers and tails, 1 is a little smaller and just started getting some feathers and the last one that looks like it was born only recently.
Since we have never had baby birds before we don't know a lot.
I'm wondering when they will start coming out of their nest or when we can start interacting with them? Mum and dad are both very protective of them and don't like it when anyone is in their cage or nest box.
Any advice would be good.
Congratulations, they are sooooo cute.
I was told that hand tamed or hand raised baby bird are hand held gently as early as on the 20th days of their lives. I heard that the owner distract their parents before smuggling out the babies. As in the attached photo this is Emerald being weighted every day. The goal was to monitor that her weight increased everyday. (If not, then baby formula kaytee/ Exact can be fed to help)
While they are with you, in a neutral zone, THAT their parents can't see...........keep warm, no windy spot, place in a small basket for leaning against, give them head scratch and talk to them.
Your flock is diffinitely big enough to be handle. My Emerald was handle by professionals at a much younger days as the photo shows. Close monitoring is important at this stage. Smallest one can be given extra feeding. Checking that each individual is able to stand and walk a short distance of 10-15cm. If not, vet visit will be needed, feet problems need immediate attention. My avian also suggested hand feeding, kaytee/Exact, in Syringe. Just to make it easy to give medicine, should the need arises.
Let them get used to you touching their WINGS and feet too. For the purpose of harness training in the future. Simple commands such as step up, good boy, potty training can also commence while you are at it. Fresh fruits that you will be feeding them, can also be introduced at this time. Not to feed them, just have them lying around for familiarity to smell and looks purposes before weaning time.
Also let them perch on your fingers, if they stand firm, let them learn to flap their wings as you slowly move your hands up and down. Making sure that each of them are in good health. The muscles for all parts develop at this stage so we want them to practice all movements. This includes daily exercises such as wing flapping and stair climbing practices.
So, I was told.
Keep us posted, this is so exciting
