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From: Pastor William Mazzulla III <PastorBill3rd@...>
To: PastorBill3rd@...
Subject: [The OC blog - The Our Cockatiels Blog] Hand-feeding Cockatiel chicks
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:17:43 -0700 (PDT)

If you want to hand-feed your baby birds to make them hand-tamed and more affectionate you can wait until they are at the age you are comfortable with.
At a very young age they will need to be fed every hour.
For more details purchase a Cockatiel handbook (the paper back ones are inexpensive).
Just remember at sometime after 4 weeks they begin to wean so hand-feeding should be before that..... as far as making them hand-tamed the younger the better.

If neither parent is feeding their chicks and they are older then 15 hours but so young as to be not yet weaned then you need to take over their feeding.

If you do a web-search on "hand-feeding Cockatiels"
some web videos of hand-feeding should pop up in your results.


The following website with a video of how to hand-feed s on the Kaytee website.
Web-page with video on hand-feeding birds.
It just happens that we use their powder formula for hand-feeding and their rainbow product for our adult birds. (No. I get nothing from them for saying that!)

Most people use a syringe when the birds are very young.
We found the syringe builds up pressure and squirts out too much formula too quick.
So we use either an eye dropper (when the formula is still watery enough.
Also, we use a Tubette which is plastic and only $1 each at one of our local pet shops.
What is good about this Tubette being plastic is since it is only one dollar and plastic we can cut farther up the tube to make it less narrow as the formula needs to be mixed thicker which is as the chicks get older.

Eventually when we notice the chicks are biting a lot on the litter in their nest-box and/or brooder then we try with a very small plastic measuring spoon to see if they are ready to eat without a syringe or tubette.
The reason I suggest a plastic spoon is because chicks beaks are not as hard as when they are older and that is just my personal precaution.

At the point they are biting at the spoon and eating well we will mix a little of their smaller seeds a including some millet seed in their formula to begin get them ready for weaning.
This will vary from chick to chick becvause depending on their developmen and even their personality some chicks might not be ready as soon to eat off of the plastic measuring spoon.

Seeds especially millet seed are easier then pellets for the ver young to eat when the first begin to wean. Since at this point your birds will begin to explore their home put some of such seeds in a food dish (preferably a low flat dish for now) , we will also spread it on the floor of their brooder house and/or their nest-box.
Shortly after this it will be time to give them a water cup/dish.

Don't forget to talk to others (in person or by e-mail) for suggestions as well as asking your local pet shop if any of their sales clerks who have experience with Cockatiels and/or hand-feeding birds!



These are only suggetsions.
Please refer to Cocaktiel Handbooks and
Instructions which come with handfeeding formula.

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Posted By Pastor William Mazzulla III to The OC blog - The Our Cockatiels Blog at 4/14/2008 05:36:00 PM