Page 596 - Hand rearing birds second

Wild Parrots 597

Figure 39.2 Feeding with a steel feeding needle while chicks perch. Note that no handling is needed.

cases: usually the larger the bird, the later the weaning. At this stage, the birds will have been out-
side for several weeks. For the benefit of the feeder, it is advisable to train the birds to line up along
a single perch for feeding (Figure 39.2). At first it is a free‐for‐all, but they soon get the hang of it.
Stay strong and don’t be tempted to deviate from the feeding protocol otherwise you will always
have a battle and feeding will be unpleasant for everyone. Chicks that have been tubed will feed bet-
ter with the tube attached to the syringe: even if you don’t actually put the tube into the esophagus,
the birds will lean into it. This method is less messy and forms less of an attachment than getting
closer with the syringe tip, as that usually involves more contact to control the head. Weaning
depends on the temperament of the bird(s), and the species and the number of birds in the flock.
As our young flocks acquire more members throughout the year, we have as many as 40 chicks
with an age spread of ~4 months difference. Because of the way we build the flocks and the impor-
tance placed on this process of socialization, once chicks are old enough to leave the nursery, we
don’t separate the weaned from the unweaned birds. The only segregation would be for a few
weeks maximum at fledgling age, and even then we would try our best not to leave a single chick
by itself if it was last to fledge.
Provide ample solid foods throughout the aviary and supplement with two hand‐feeds a day,
morning and afternoon, and gradually make each feed later and later until the evening feed is
eliminated entirely, and the morning feed becomes an early afternoon feed. There is a point when
it is clear that the birds are “playing” and no longer require the nutritional benefit of the food, even
if they still continue the begging noises and behavior. Bring feeds down to alternate days for about
a week, making sure to increase the amount of solid food available throughout this process to allow
for the natural weaning process to take place. The weaning process is usually accompanied by a
weight drop of about 10–15%. Take a final weight a week after weaning and, providing there has
been no dramatic losses, consider them weaned.

Self-feeding­Diet
Because of their vast territory and distances traveled in 1 day, it is impossible for anyone to say
exactly what the natural diet of a wild parrot consists of. Their foraging territory is huge and the
blooming and fruiting of each tree is seasonal and usually brief. We do have an understanding of