Urgent Can a baby lovebird grow up without its mother?

[Lady Jane]

We may never know the outcome. All we can do is say a little birdie prayer.

 

[rocky'smom]

Prayers for little one

 

[sensaven]

I hope you're right. Maybe they just didn't understand that we needed updates. Id rather be ready for the loss than get excited =/

Hi,

sorry but somehow the forum stopped sending me emails about new posts so I assumed that noone responded after last night's posts which were about lovebirds mating routines.

Just an update, the bird has been fed quite a few times since yesterday and the country that I am living is warm enough by itself (Malta island) - so, please, no mourning - if anyone is a moderator of the forum it might make sense to have a look at the technical issue which created the situation.

On the hand-feeding, any specific advice on how many ml's of cream per day?

And, obviously, while the urgent point is to help the baby survive, I have heard some bad stories about lovebirds staying without a partner (they are supposedly falling into depression) so that's why I am wondering about a new partner for the male. And, by the way, someone even mentioned that the male will kill the baby... should I keep it separate?

 

[HolliDaze]

Hi,

sorry but somehow the forum stopped sending me emails about new posts so I assumed that noone responded after last night's posts which were about lovebirds mating routines.

Just an update, the bird has been fed quite a few times since yesterday and the country that I am living is warm enough by itself (Malta island) - so, please, no mourning - if anyone is a moderator of the forum it might make sense to have a look at the technical issue which created the situation.

On the hand-feeding, any specific advice on how many ml's of cream per day?

And, obviously, while the urgent point is to help the baby survive, I have heard some bad stories about lovebirds staying without a partner (they are supposedly falling into depression) so that's why I am wondering about a new partner for the male. And, by the way, someone even mentioned that the male will kill the baby... should I keep it separate?

Thank goodness! Yes, keep them separate.
you shouldn't feed it cream. Birds aren't meant to drink anything with milk in it, cream can make it very sick. You can buy baby bird food at some pet stores. You may need to call ahead. Do you have Amazon on the Malta islands? They sell it. The food should be heated to about ,42° c. More than a couple degrees higher, and you will slowly burn it's crop. Much less, and the food will go bad in the crop and make it sick. (,the crop is the sack that appears in front of the baby when it eats) this is part of why I said they're so delicate. The special food is super important. Giving a baby bird cream is like expecting a newborn human to survive on Orange juice. They won't get correct nutrition and will likely get sick

 

[sensaven]

Thank goodness! Yes, keep them separate.
you shouldn't feed it cream. Birds aren't meant to drink anything with milk in it, cream can make it very sick. You can buy baby bird food at some pet stores. You may need to call ahead. Do you have Amazon on the Malta islands? They sell it. The food should be heated to about ,42° c. More than a couple degrees higher, and you will slowly burn it's crop. Much less, and the food will go bad in the crop and make it sick. (,the crop is the sack that appears in front of the baby when it eats) this is part of why I said they're so delicate. The special food is super important. Giving a baby bird cream is like expecting a newborn human to survive on Orange juice. They won't get correct nutrition and will likely get sick

yes, obviously, we don't give it actual milk cream (was just an expression) that's what we are giving: Baby Pâtée universelle. Padovan mixed in warm water that we first wait to cool down

any hint about the ml per day?

it's a bit counter intuitive to separate the father from the child but, in any case, he doesn't seem to care too much about it...

 

[Garet]

Please don't get another and don't breed more. It's untrue that lovebirds will fall into a depression without their mates as long as you give it love, toys, and affection. He will mourn her, of course, but given time to grieve, he will move on. My boy Guzma was alone for seven years after his mate died.

There is a HUGE chance that he and whatever female you buy WON'T bond and will fight. Triss went through at least THREE mates, who she bullied before I got her. She was stressed and came to me with damaged feathers and won't tolerate any of my boys on her cage.

Also, I'm not sure if that formula is the best for your bird. It needs formula specifically for lovebirds and parrots. That formula might not have all the vitamins and nutrients it needs, there is no universal formula for all birds.

 

[saroj12]

yes, obviously, we don't give it actual milk cream (was just an expression) that's what we are giving: Baby Pâtée universelle. Padovan mixed in warm water that we first wait to cool down

any hint about the ml per day?

it's a bit counter intuitive to separate the father from the child but, in any case, he doesn't seem to care too much about it...

this looks more like it

Baby Pâtée parrots. Padovan

kudos on keeping the little one alive!!

 

[sensaven]

this looks more like it

Baby Pâtée parrots. Padovan

kudos on keeping the little one alive!!

cheers, any hint on the dosage per day?

 

[saroj12]

cheers, any hint on the dosage per day?

i'll tag some experts who can help @Monica , @finchly @SandraK

 

[iamwhoiam]

Good that you are feeding the little one. Hope things go well. Here is some hand feeding info including feeding schedules (scroll down for the schedules) Hand Feeding Baby Lovebirds From Day 1
Here's another link about hand feeding: http://www.lovebirdsplus.com/handfeeding.html
I've hand fed but not lovebirds so hope someone else will chime in. It is important to check the crop while feeding because you don't want to overfill. You will see the crop filling up with food. You want to make sure the crop is empty or almost empty before each feeding. It's also important to weigh the baby daily, monitor droppings and whether or not crop is emptying.

 

[sensaven]

Good that you are feeding the little one. Hope things go well. Here is some hand feeding info including feeding schedules (scroll down for the schedules) Hand Feeding Baby Lovebirds From Day 1
Here's another link about hand feeding: http://www.lovebirdsplus.com/handfeeding.html
I've hand fed but not lovebirds so hope someone else will chime in. It is important to check the crop while feeding because you don't want to overfill. You will see the crop filling up with food. You want to make sure the crop is empty or almost empty before each feeding. It's also important to weigh the baby daily, monitor droppings and whether or not crop is emptying.

thanks for sharing

 

[HolliDaze]

Thank goodness! You'd be surprised the silly stuff people feed baby birds...

I believe it's a percentage of their weight each day. I handled a larger bird and fed him as much as he could eateat, going nice and slowly so he didn't overeat. I'd assume that would be harder with a s smaller bird.
A scale will be your best friend here.

 

[finchly]

Oh I am late, I didn’t see the tag. Sorry!

The answer to ‘how much’ is however much baby will eat. Don’t force if he’s done, but do feed immediately when he’s begging.

Guidelines online are just that, guidelines. Every baby eats differently. Also you will have certain days when he suddenly seems to eat every 30 minutes. Don’t worry, just keep feeding. That’s probably an indication of a growth spurt.

I hope you and baby are doing well. The two big mistakes I see with people hand feeding are 1. Not getting the food warm enough before feeding, which causes the crop to slow and 2. Making the food too thin or too thick. It should be thin, but as the baby grows it should very slowly be thickened. If he stops pooping it was probably too thick.

 

[Lady Jane]

Does a hand fed bird get the crop milk from a Mom?

 

[finchly]

Does a hand fed bird get the crop milk from a Mom?

Good question! Only a very few parrot species produce crop milk. Pigeons and doves do... so Roudybush (and maybe others?) creates a special formula for those. It would be important for, say, a dove to get that kind of formula.

 

[sensaven]

Oh I am late, I didn’t see the tag. Sorry!

The answer to ‘how much’ is however much baby will eat. Don’t force if he’s done, but do feed immediately when he’s begging.

Guidelines online are just that, guidelines. Every baby eats differently. Also you will have certain days when he suddenly seems to eat every 30 minutes. Don’t worry, just keep feeding. That’s probably an indication of a growth spurt.

I hope you and baby are doing well. The two big mistakes I see with people hand feeding are 1. Not getting the food warm enough before feeding, which causes the crop to slow and 2. Making the food too thin or too thick. It should be thin, but as the baby grows it should very slowly be thickened. If he stops pooping it was probably too thick.

Thanks for your response.

Just another question: it has been mentioned above to separate the baby from the father, however, I do see it tying to communicate with him and, sometimes, he tries to feed it himself. What's the best thing to do finally?

 

[finchly]

I don’t raise lovebirds. But it sounds like they are ok together?Especially if he’s trying to feed it -you want to encourage that!

I leave all males with the hens during nesting and they do a great job helping to feed babies.