New Conure owner in Dubai

[KobeJaxon]

Hello everyone.

just to introduce myself my names Jordan and my wife is Jana and we have just brought home a baby Conure over here in Dubai, it is a Red Factor Pineapple. i have owned parrots in the past but they were both rescue birds so I've never owned a baby but they were big birds so i know how to handle parrots pretty well.

now before i get smashed by experienced owners telling me its a very bad idea to buy a unweened baby i will admit this is a mistake on my behalf. my brother is a experienced parrot owner who has had many different species over the years and he always buys unweened babies and he told me there nice and easy and bond with you better... after reading a lot more i realize he was talking out his arse.

So long story short over here in Dubai things work a little differently you don't have lovely home bred babies from breeders that will give you all the help in the world.. birds are literally caged up in tiny cages with 10-15 birds per cage and they shop guys don't speak much English at all.

when we went to see the Conures there was only 2 left (quite rare here from what ive seen or there just sold instantly) there was a turquoise green cheek and a Red factor pineapple conure available which both were approximately 5-6 weeks old (i say approximately because the shop didn't know the exact date)

The guy in the shop was actually one of the better ones and he showed me how to handfeed the baby before we left the shop (looked very easy)

he/she is now home and is in a small box with some bedding the shop gave me and seems to be very happy.. I've tried to do as much research as possible on how much we can handle the baby at this age etc because i don't want to stress it out but also my kids are in love with it already as you can imagine.

here's a few things ive done so far and i hope its right..

last night 9pm was time for first feed according to the shop guy which didn't go very well i did as he did and supported the head and opened the mouth with my thumb.. started putting in the food on the left side (conures side) and the baby just kept shaking its head as if to say no thanks.. i managed to feed it around 5ml which is half of what the shop guy told me to do.

this morning was a little different id say i managed around 6-7ml and the baby was taking it a lot better from what i could tell,, head bobbing up and down etc and the crop started bulging out which i assumed meant it was full.

the baby hasn't made a single sound since i got it home.. i was expecting it to cry etc. it seems to want to get out ofo the box today now its light so i made a polystyrene floor inside the cage i bought and put a blanket down and put her/him in there so it has more room to walk about and explore. (again im not sure if this is right?)

i really hope i don't get too much abuse on here regarding me taking in an unweeded baby, i tried calling the shop to ask if they could take it back for 2-3 weeks and il come and pick it up once weened but as you can imagine that was a laughable no.

 

[LaManuka]

Welcome to the forums to you Jordan and Jana, and your baby conure! No wonder your kids are in love already, he's very cute!

It would seem however that you have a bird who really is a bit too young to have been sold. Baby conures should not be sold until they have been eating solid adult food independently for a minimum of two weeks, which is your bird's case would be around the age of 13 to 14 weeks of age or more. Even then, some can regress and go back to begging for handfeeding.

Unfortunately the practice of selling unweaned baby birds occurs virtually everywhere in the world, and it can result in heartbreak - even experienced bird breeders can and do lose babies. Some sellers will tell you things like “finishing off hand-feeding is easy”, (it’s not), or “hand-feeding will help you bond better with your bird" (it won’t). I hope some of our members with hands-on experience will weigh in soon with some practical help for you, but the following link may provide you with some insight as to how to feed in the meantime...

http://www.parrotforums.com/breeding-raising-parrots/74363-so-you-bought-unweaned-baby.html

I also recommend you enlist the support of a certified avian vet, it's always good to have any new bird checked for general wellness soon after purchase anyway. There are several listed in the UAE, you can find them by using the following link...

https://www.aav.org/

Thank you for reaching out for help and i wish you and your baby all the very best!

 

[KobeJaxon]

Welcome to the forums to you Jordan and Jana, and your baby conure! No wonder your kids are in love already, he's very cute!

It would seem however that you have a bird who really is a bit too young to have been sold. Baby conures should not be sold until they have been eating solid adult food independently for a minimum of two weeks, which is your bird's case would be around the age of 13 to 14 weeks of age or more. Even then, some can regress and go back to begging for handfeeding.

Unfortunately the practice of selling unweaned baby birds occurs virtually everywhere in the world, and it can result in heartbreak - even experienced bird breeders can and do lose babies. Some sellers will tell you things like “finishing off hand-feeding is easy”, (it’s not), or “hand-feeding will help you bond better with your bird" (it won’t). I hope some of our members with hands-on experience will weigh in soon with some practical help for you, but the following link may provide you with some insight as to how to feed in the meantime...

http://www.parrotforums.com/breeding-raising-parrots/74363-so-you-bought-unweaned-baby.html

I also recommend you enlist the support of a certified avian vet, it's always good to have any new bird checked for general wellness soon after purchase anyway. There are several listed in the UAE, you can find them by using the following link...

https://www.aav.org/

Thank you for reaching out for help and i wish you and your baby all the very best!

Thanks for the speedy reply! i forgot to mention that i took him/her to the vet on the way home from the shop that was the first thing i done and the vet said it was in perfect health.

weight is at 71g which apparently is perfect for his/her size.

i have already read that post regarding buying a unweened baby and this post is what made me call the shop to have the parrot taken back. thing is they offered to take the baby back with no refund but i know they will just sell it on within a few hours (conures sell so quick here) and it will most likely go to an owner that hasnt a clue ATALL. not saying im experienced by any means but i would say i have a much better chance at this than a first time parrot owner :S The shop conditions were awful also i realyl dont think i could take the poor guy back there to be sold off.

 

[LaManuka]

Oh I totally agree with you about some sellers and breeders out there! My sweet (for now!) little lorikeet Lilly was born and raised in horrible conditions too, so bad in fact that I almost backed out of the deal, but in the end I just couldn't bear to leave her behind!

It's great that you have already had your baby wellness-checked too, and that he's been given a clean bill of health. The period of weaning is a very precarious one in a young bird's life so don't hesitate to call on your vet for further support during this time because if things go wrong they can deteriorate very rapidly.

I think your baby is better off with you too, and I'm very happy you are all here! I hope you will let us know when you've come up with a name, and keep us updated

 

[KobeJaxon]

Just finished 2nd feeding for today (crop was fully empty beforehand)

i made the mixture 1 degree hotter this time and it went alot better than this morning he/she smashed 80% of the 10ml of babyfood and the crop was lovely and full. i think it was also easier because he/she is getting used to me a little bit? i didnt have to open the beak it just grabbed hold of the syringe and started bobbing and flapping his/her wings

after teh feed i put it back in the little box but it seemed to not like it at all and was trying to get out so i put it back in the bottom of the cage with the fleece blanket which it seems to enjoy burying itself inside it (27 degrees C in the room so maybe a litle bit cold for him/her. problem is we have to have the AC on or it will be too hot.. the petshop was really cold inside which im guessing is not good at all for the birds.

 

[noodles123]

Be SUPER careful with temperature and sterilization/ cross-contamination (temperature needs to be VERY specific and if you touch a surface, like the fridge handle and then the formula, you have just introduced a lot of dangerous bacteria to it unless the handle was immaculate)--Bird safe cleaners only.... You are right about what you said about your brother lol, but at least you found this site etc-- lot's of people on here with good info! I hope things get easier.

In addition to the link above, here is another
https://hari.ca/hari/research-facil...cine-pediatrics-housing-feeding-baby-parrots/
https://theparrotuniversity.com/arthandfeeding2

 

[ChocolateChipCookiez]

Welcome to you, your family and your new conure!

S/he is an absoloute beauty. Do let us know what you name him/her!

I completely agree about bird sellers keeping birds in terrible conditions. My brother's bird was brought from a terrible place as a baby and we got a bird from that same place in July who recently died.

From my experience, baby birds are usually a bit scared/nervous when first pulled from the nest and don't make much noise or willingly eat on the first feeding. I suspect that your little conure will begin begging for food with a day or so. You seem to be doing everything else right (I think).
I do have a couple questions;
How frequently do you feed him?
What temperature is the food? (should be between 40C and 41C)

And again, s/he's very cute.

 

[KobeJaxon]

Welcome to you, your family and your new conure!

S/he is an absoloute beauty. Do let us know what you name him/her!

I completely agree about bird sellers keeping birds in terrible conditions. My brother's bird was brought from a terrible place as a baby and we got a bird from that same place in July who recently died.

From my experience, baby birds are usually a bit scared/nervous when first pulled from the nest and don't make much noise or willingly eat on the first feeding. I suspect that your little conure will begin begging for food with a day or so. You seem to be doing everything else right (I think).
I do have a couple questions;
How frequently do you feed him?
What temperature is the food? (should be between 40C and 41C)

And again, s/he's very cute.

Thanks for your reply..

the shop said to feed KEVIN (wifes decided its a boy) 3 times a day.. i fed him at 8am and second feeding was at 2pm and the third and final feed will be at around 8-9pm depending on how long his crop takes to empty.

temperature of the food was around 39-40C on first feed which didnt go too well so i upped it to 42C (this temp was taken in the kitchen around 30 seconds to a minute before it was fed so id imagine it went down by 1 deg)

my main question now is about the amount of handling at this age.. i see videos on utube of 5 week old conures being played with on the floor on a towel etc.. Kevin has basically just cuddled up in the blanket and slept all day. i got him out and had him sit on my lap for an hour which he again just fell asleep lol. i think he likes me scratching the back of his head though.. either likes it or hates it as his eyes pin and the lil feather on top of his head go up and the head spins sideways

 

[ChocolateChipCookiez]

Kevin sound like a great name for the little guy!

3 feeding a day sounds good enough for his age. I fed Kookie 3 times a day when he was around that age.

As for handling, when Kookie was young I simply let him cuddle into my hands while I spoke to him so that he would get used to my voice. And judging by Kevin's body language (or what you described), I'd say he likes the scrtiches!

 

[Laurasea]

Hello Jordan, Janna, and bsby burd,
Welcone to the fkrum.
You are getting great advice.

You need to have a kitchen grsm scale, you need a food digital thermometer, and a way to check the environment temp of your home made brooder.
Temp is everything st this age, tgey can't regulate their body temp, the food and the baby temp have a huge impact on digestiin abd crop empty time, to cold of food snd baby will rot the food inside of them to hot will burn the crop..
In my next post I will copy paste info given by a member to someone else but it will help you

 

[Laurasea]

By EllenD

Since you've hand-fed other baby parrots before you probably have a better understanding/eduction than most people who come here asking these types of questions, but just to make sure and to save you from any serious issues, heartache, or tragedy that often happens when people take-on hand-feeding such a young baby parrot, I'm going to quickly run-down the most important and NON-OPTIONAL bullet-points that you must follow to a tee or your baby will become sick and suffer potentially fatal health problems:

#1.) The hand-feeding formula that you feed your baby Senegal must ALWAYS be between 104 degrees F and 110 degrees F, and must stay in that temperature range throughout the feeding. One degree colder and your baby can suffer fungal/yeast infections in their Crop and throughout their GI Tract, and this can cause Slow-Crop and Crop-Stasis. Even 1 degree hotter and it will cause burns on your bird's crop that usually cause severe infection and require surgery to remove the burnt portion of the Crop...So you must use a digital cooking/candy thermometer that has a metal probe you can place in the formula and keep in the formula throughout each hand-feeding. If the formula needs to be re-heated because it drops below 104 degrees F, do not microwave the already mixed formula because it will develop "hot pockets" that will burn your bird's Crop no matter how well you mix it; instead just microwave water or unflavored Pedialyte, whichever you're using to mix the formula, and then add it slowly to the already mixed formula...

#2.) At 3 weeks old your baby Senegal should have most of it's down feathers but very little to no outer feathers...I don't know if you have a real, proper Brooder that you are keeping your baby in, but if not then you need to at a minimum make a "homemade' Brooder that will keep the amibient temperature your baby is kept in within the correct temperature ranges...If the ambient temperature your baby bird is kept in is too cool they will develop the same fungal/yeast infections and problems as they do when the formula is too cold....If your baby bird does not yet have ALL of their down-feathers yet and still has bare skin exposed, then they MUST be kept in an ambient temperature between 90-95 degrees F at all times except for when you take them out for a hand-feeding or a short handling. Once all of their down feathers are in and there is no more bare skin exposed, but they still don't have all of their outer feathers grown in fully, their ambient temperature must always be between 75-80 degrees F. For a baby Senegal Parrot, who normally wean between the ages of 10 weeks old and 13 weeks old, they should be able to be transferred from their Brooder and into their first "Weaning" or "Starter" Cage around the age of 6-7 weeks old.

To Make a Handmade Brooder: All you need is a cardboard box that is large enough to have a front half and a back half with two different temperature zones, but not too large a box. You need an electric heating-pad that has an adjustible temperature, which will sit underneath the back-half of the box at all times. You'll also need an ambient thermometer that you can place/hang/stick in the back-half of the box, and this is what you will look at to make sure that the back-half of the box is always within the correct temperature range. Then you cover the back-half of the box with a towel or blanket to lock-in the heat in the back-half of the box, leaving the front half of the box uncovered and off of the heating-pad. Once you get this all set-up, turn on the heating-pad to low or medium and cover the back-half of the box, and wait for about 30 minutes for the temperature to reach it's max, and if it's not withint the correct temperature range then you turn it up a setting and wait another 30 minutes. Make sure you have a good, accurate ambient thermometer, the best and cheapest ones being the Accurite digital thermometers that you can just sit in the back of the box and that you can buy at any Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, etc. for around $10-$15 (same for the digital cooking/candy thermometer with the metal probe, Walmart sells them for around $15 in the cooking gadget section)...Leave the front half of the box uncovered and off of the heating-pad so that your baby bird can go to the front of the box if they get too warm...Once your baby is around 6 weeks old or so, or when he/she has all of their outer feathers grow-in and no down-feathers are exposed, then you can move your bird into their Weaning/Starter Cage.

#3.) As far as the hand-feedings go, at only 3 weeks old your baby Senegal MUST be fed every 2-3 hours INCLUDING OVERNIGHT! They cannot go 6-8 hours overnight without being fed every 2-3 hours until they are between 4-5 weeks old. So you unfortuantely have to set an alarm for every 2 hours and get up every 2 hours, check his/her crop, and if it's just about empty at 2 hours then that's the interval that you'll feed them at for the next week. If his/her crop is not almost empty at 2 hours, then check it again at 3 hours and it should be almost empty, and that will be your feeding interval...

During the daytime and during the night until he/she is at least 4 weeks old (before they can go a full 6-8 hours overnight without being fed), their Crop should be almost empty when you give them their next hand=feeding, but won't be completely empty. The only time their Crop will be completely empty between feedings will be at their first morning feeding at 4 weeks, when they can go a full 6-8 hours without being fed...At only 3 weeks old they cannot go any longer than 3 hours maximum without being fed 24 hours a day, and that's why their Crop will never be completely empty at any time of a hand-feeding...Again, at 4 weeks old he/she will be able to go overnight for 6 hours or so without a hand-feeding, and their Crop will be completely empty first thing in the morning when you give them their first hand-feeding of the day; otherwise, during the rest of the day their Crop will be almost empty between hand-feedings, but not quite.

As far as how much formula you should give them during each hand-feeding, I never really go by a "set amount" based on their age as some breeders do...I always go by the size and feeling of their Crop, which you need to always be looking at and feeling lightily with the pad of your finger. At the end of all hand-feedings, their Crop should look very large and round, and when you feel it very gently with your finger (don't ever push on the Crop, just lightly run your finger over it), it should feel like a very full balloon that still has a little bit of 'give" to it. It should not feel tight, if it does then you are feeding them too much formula. And you cannot expect them to stop their feeding-response at the correct time; usually they do actually stop eating and stop their feeding-response and start rejecting the syringe close to the correct time, but not necessarily...YOU CAN NEVER, EVER TRY TO FORCE MORE FORMULA INTO THEM, WHEN THEY'RE DONE THEY'RE DONE, BUT YOU CAN STOP GIVING THEM ANY MORE FORMULA BEFORE THEIR FEEDING-RESPONSE STOPS AND BEFORE THEY THINK THEY ARE DONE, BASED ON THE SIZE AND FEEL OF THEIR CROP.

It's extremely important that you fully "Abundance-Wean" your Senegal, which means that you allow HIM/HER to make the decision when a hand-feeding is removed, and when the amount of formula in each hand-feeding is reduced. If YOU make the decision to remove a hand-feeding each day, or to reduce the amount of formula in each hand-feeding, this is called "Force-Weaning" your baby bird, and it usually results in severe, life-long Neurological and Behavioral issues, as well as serious and sometimes life-threatening physical medical problems...So allow your bird to tell you when a feeding will be rejected or the amount of formula per feeding will be reduced.

Typically the amount of formula they eat per hand-feeding and the number of hand-feedings per day will stay the same until a Senegal Parrot is between 5-6 weeks old, at which time he'll start eating more and more solid food, thus eating less formula. I would typically start putting millet-sprays inside of the Brooder at the age of 4 weeks-old, so that they start learning what solid-food is and will start picking at it and eventually eating it. At 5 weeks old I place a bowl of either pellets of seeds, whichever you are planning on weaning him onto as his daily "staple" food, inside of the Brooder, and once they start eating a good amount of the pellets or seed-mix (or both if you like), then they'll start to Abundance-Wean themselves. At the point where you move them into their Weaning/Starter Cage (when their outer feathers grow-in and no down-feathers are exposed, around 6 weeks old or so), then you're going to also start giving them a bowl of fresh Veggies, dark leaafy Greens, and a very small portion of Fruit every day as well, so that they'll learn what they are and to eat them.

Eventually you'll get to the point that they'll be eating a hand-feeding first thing in the morning and just before bed, and they'll be eating their pellets/seed-mix and fresh Veggies and Greens throughout the day...Then around the time they fully-Fledge, they'll eliminate the morning hand-feeding, and will basically be fully Abundance-Weaned, for a Senegal this will happen between 11-13 weeks old. They will typically continue to beg for a hand-feeding at night just before bed even after they are fully Abundance-Weaned, and this is called a "Comfort-Feeding", and it can continue for a week or two after they actually fully-wean. This is normal, it's not that they're hungry, it's just a comfort thing...

 

[Laurasea]

Also if you can find you might want to get a radiant heat panel made for birds, Amazon sells one called the sweeter heater. The smallest size if fine and it puts out a lot of heat so be careful how you use, abd make sure chick can move away and, don't enclose the area . It's burd safe but it does put out a lot of radiant heat, its not a light. Sorry can't figure out how to link
But you could check chicken supply farm supply companies locally to as tgey hsve to hsve a wau to keep chicjs warm...people manage without , but i hsve one mysekf just for when Temps get chilly, or a burd gets sick , or even because of the chill of AC ive used it for 20 years.

 

[KobeJaxon]

Also if you can find you might want to get a radiant heat panel made for birds, Amazon sells one called the sweeter heater. The smallest size if fine and it puts out a lot of heat so be careful how you use, abd make sure chick can move away and, don't enclose the area . It's burd safe but it does put out a lot of radiant heat, its not a light. Sorry can't figure out how to link
But you could check chicken supply farm supply companies locally to as tgey hsve to hsve a wau to keep chicjs warm...people manage without , but i hsve one mysekf just for when Temps get chilly, or a burd gets sick , or even because of the chill of AC ive used it for 20 years.

thanks for your replies.

i was given a box from the shop that i kept kevin in but after 1 day he was really really not happy inside it and was trying to climb out and kept falling onto his back.. i put him into the bottom of the cage with a fleece blanket (changed everytime he poops) and he loves it he snuggles into the blanket and pulls the top over him so its like a little cave and then comes outside im guessing when he gets too warm?

i tried putting him in the box again this morning after reading these posts but he went spastic and was chirping non stop trying to get out? as much as i want to follow all the advice on the forum i also have to go by what the bird is telling me also surely? he was kept in a very cold room from birth because of the AC here in dubai. i have a thermostat inside his cage and its sat at around 27C outside in the center and its at around 30-32C inside the blanket.

 

[wrench13]

Congrats at the new additon. The folks here will never steer you wrong on good solid information.

 

[KobeJaxon]

UPDATE:

so i made my own little brooder and he loves it but hes always up the end which is outside and it trying to get out onto me (im sat in my office next to the brooder)

also.. i think it may be a little early but i put some fruit blend pellets on the floor so it could play with them to start getting used to it and he absolutley loves it.. been chewing on them for the past 30 mins non stop and is eating them!

i am a little worried that hes too young for solid food???? will it be a danger??

how much of the dry food should be eaten before i start to miss out the midday handfeed??

 

[KobeJaxon]

Too early?? help please

Good morning everyone

this morning Kevin ate really well and his crop was full from the handfeed. around 10am (3 hours after feed) i put some fruitblend pellets on the floor of this brooder so he could play with them and he is smashing them.. he is eaten maybe 5 or 6 so far but just keeps chewing and eating.

I'm worried its going to hurt or damage his crop as its still solid food???? i wasn't expecting him to eat the pellets i was expecting him to maybe pick them up and spit them out.

His crop is looking around half full now hes eaten them so im not sure if i should take them out because hes too young for solid food or skip a feed in afternoon? please help

 

[ChocolateChipCookiez]

Re: Too early?? help please

I don't think that it would harm his crop. It sounds like he's beginning to wean. I don't know when conure's usually wean but a quick google search said 8-10 weeks. He could be an early weaner.

I wouldn't worry about the pellets harming him. You could dip the pellets in water so that it'll be easier for him to eat it but you'd have to remove the pellets much quicker than if they were dry.

 

[wrench13]

You let him decide when to stop any hand feeding. He will just refuse some of a given feeding or maybe all of it, and thats OK as long as his weight is always climbing. You should have a cheap kitchen weighing scale , and a t-stand to fit on it, so you can track his weight, which is a primary way to evaluate your parrots health, even when he is older. At this point in his development you should be weighing every day, same time every day, and do it in the morning after he has had his big morning poop (which they all do), that way you can see his true weight and see any negative movement.

Let him decide, that is called abundance weaning. Sounds like he is off to a great start with you, your doing a lot of research and sking good questions.

 

[KobeJaxon]

You let him decide when to stop any hand feeding. He will just refuse some of a given feeding or maybe all of it, and thats OK as long as his weight is always climbing. You should have a cheap kitchen weighing scale , and a t-stand to fit on it, so you can track his weight, which is a primary way to evaluate your parrots health, even when he is older. At this point in his development you should be weighing every day, same time every day, and do it in the morning after he has had his big morning poop (which they all do), that way you can see his true weight and see any negative movement.

Let him decide, that is called abundance weaning. Sounds like he is off to a great start with you, your doing a lot of research and sking good questions.

Thanks for the reply!

I have some digital kitchen scales but i was weighing him after a feed which now makes no sence since your comment so i will weigh him tomorrow morning before feed and start a record :57: