Hand feeding yourself vs. Buying weaned?

[HolliDaze]

I know a fair bit about handfeeding, I fed Dexter myself from 8 weeks. I'm curious though, what's the behavioral differences between Hand feeding yourself vs. Buying a recently weaned baby? Id much rather rescue, but where I'm going, there are no rescues and few birds are sold in Craigslist. I like that I can socialize an unweaned baby better, whereas a weaned baby could potentially have no experience with things outside whoever fed it.

We're assuming the person Hand feeding does everything properly, from appropriate temperature to abundance weaning. I'm more interested in the difference in the bird/owner bond.

 

[Mizzely]

Since birds naturally leave their parents in favor of an unrelated mate at puberty, I would worry that making yourself the parent would not help your relationship.

All my adult birds I have bonded with well, but Jingo my quaker I got as a weaned baby regressed and I had to spoon feed him for a while. I will always wonder if that is why he decided to distance himself from me at puberty.

 

[Kodigirl210]

I think the one thing I have seen on AA is that people who have gotten unweaned birds have rushed to get them weaned regardless of whether they should. They seem to miss the fact that its about the nutrition that a baby requires to a certain age. It drives me nuts when I read that people have tried to start weaning CAGs at 5-8 weeks to finish at 8-10 weeks when the minimum is 12 weeks but preferably 16 weeks. I honestly wish that breeders wouldn’t sell unweaned birds. Not saying that is at all the case with @HolliDaze & I know sometimes it is about the breeders wanting to dump the birds early.

The one comment I have consistently seen is that unweaned babies did not bond as well to the person who wanted the bond. It doesn’t increase the chance of a better bond-it actually decreases the odds. Sif was an unusual case due to all her health issues but other than that, I never plan on getting anything other than a weaned baby.

 

[HolliDaze]

I think the one thing I have seen on AA is that people who have gotten unweaned birds have rushed to get them weaned regardless of whether they should. They seem to miss the fact that its about the nutrition that a baby requires to a certain age. It drives me nuts when I read that people have tried to start weaning CAGs at 5-8 weeks to finish at 8-10 weeks when the minimum is 12 weeks but preferably 16 weeks. I honestly wish that breeders wouldn’t sell unweaned birds. Not saying that is at all the case with @HolliDaze & I know sometimes it is about the breeders wanting to dump the birds early.

The one comment I have consistently seen is that unweaned babies did not bond as well to the person who wanted the bond. It doesn’t increase the chance of a better bond-it actually decreases the odds. Sif was an unusual case due to all her health issues but other than that, I never plan on getting anything other than a weaned baby.

Im.not one of those people =). I got dexter at 8 weeks and he weaned at 18 months, and still gets fed every couple months if he asks. (Despite my vet and family wanting me to force wean him) granted, these were comfort feedings after 9 months or so.

it's still up in the air whether I get a wean ed baby or not. My biggest concern is socialization, Dexter met new people from 9 weeks onwards, and ended up being a brave, friendly bird (though he's not even two yet, no idea how he's going to be when adult). Blackbird was difficult to socialize, and I got her as a weaned baby. I'm not sure how much more difficult socialization will be.

 

[Kodigirl210]

I visited my CAG every weekend from the time she was 4 weeks. Sometimes my daughter went with. So routinely she saw 3-people. I took her home at 12-weeks & had some regression but as I said I think was due to the physical disabilities we hadn’t diagnosed yet. She is the most friendly CAG I’ve ever met. She literally gave my mom (someone she had never met) kisses at 14 weeks.

Our GCC was weaned properly when we got her. She is also friendly to everyone but is mostly bonded with my daughter (on purpose) as Sif is to me.

I saw no difference between the 2. I will say the breeders of Isen make it a point to work with all the birds as well as allow local purchasers to visit to make sure they are well socialized and that may be the key in the end. How much the breeder worked with the babies outside of feeding them.

 

[Gen120]

I think it depends on the bird and the experience you have with handfeeding. For example, I have weaned 4 cockatiels, and 3 conures over the last 15 years. Snickers, my very first bird was handfed and weaned by the breeder, my conure was weaned and handfed by me from 5 weeks old. (I have quite a lot of experience). Both Snickers and my conure I weaned were very sweet and well socialized birds. The other conures I got at 11 weeks old from a birdfair (not recommended I know, but I know what I'm doing), and they were very sweet but not as sweet as Mango was. I'm not sure if that was because of their personalities or because I didn't wean them from a really young age. 2 cockatiels I hatched and had to pull from their nest at 3 weeks old (parents were picking and bullying the babies). Those 2 babies are still so very sweet, lower their heads for scritches and such. But then again, so did Snickers who was handfed (not by me). So, with all that said, it does depend on the bird and your experience and knowledge of handfeeding properly. Also, Sammy my LCA is a rescue bird that I got when she was an adult, and I have the strongest bond with her out of all my birds.

 

[melissasparrots]

I know a fair bit about handfeeding, I fed Dexter myself from 8 weeks. I'm curious though, what's the behavioral differences between Hand feeding yourself vs. Buying a recently weaned baby? Id much rather rescue, but where I'm going, there are no rescues and few birds are sold in Craigslist. I like that I can socialize an unweaned baby better, whereas a weaned baby could potentially have no experience with things outside whoever fed it.

We're assuming the person Hand feeding does everything properly, from appropriate temperature to abundance weaning. I'm more interested in the difference in the bird/owner bond.

Almost none. Some people will tell you that babies naturally leave their parents and that you shouldn't hand-feed because they will want to leave you. Most of the people that push that will in the very next sentence tell you that you should rescue instead. They also usually have not actually hand-fed themselves. For the sake of the bird, I'd have the breeder finish hand-feeding. Reputable breeders do not let other people hand-feed for the most part. If a person wanted to sell me an unweaned chick, I would seriously question their breeding practices, disease prevention and selection of breeding stock. You do not get a better or worse bird by hand-feeding yourself. However, you can get a worse quality bird from someone willing to sell you unweaned. Or by buying a healthy chick unweaned and messing it up with inexperience. Let the people that know what they are doing via many years of experience finish hand-feeding a baby. And select a breeder who's weaning practices you agree with. That may require that you get a bird shipped.