What do you wish your hand-raised baby was exposed to?

[Mads505]

Hey guys! I'm getting 3 baby green cheek conures in a few days. I'll be keeping one and the other two will be finding other great homes.

I have lots of hand raising experience, so my question isn't about that.

For those of you who have purchased a hand-raised bird (or even have thoughts on how you could've done better), I'd love to hear your opinions.

Here's my list so far:

• As many foods as possible
• Raised with kids and in a home hearing dogs and cats (will NOT interact with predator species)
• Will meet safe strangers
• Will be exposed to harnesses and birdie backpacks (I do understand the safety issues some have had with them, but I like them for a lot of reasons)
• Will be sexed, tested for PBFD, Polyoma, Chlamydia, and avian herpesvirus
• Will be vaccinated for polyoma
• Will be exposed to claws gently being filed

Can anyone think of anything else?

 

[Pixiebeak]

Allow to fledge and learn to fly well . It affects the whole rest of their life if they are clipped before or just after and haven't learned to fly well.

 

[Mizzely]

Yes, unclipped and ample time with other birds. Exposed to a variety of toy textures and colors.

 

[Shannan]

I also like my birds to be able to adapt to different schedules and to learn how to entertain themselves as these are necessary for such long lived creatures. It would also be helpful if being toweled wasn't so stressful. My Gray was very tolerant of it and it did not stress him but the conure has very different opinions of it.... Also car rides as that is a necessity of life.

 

[Mads505]

They won't be clipped, flying is so important

They'll get lots of time together and hopefully with the ringneck, assuming he tolerates them

Toweling for sure

Definitely car rides- hopefully we can take them to pet friendly places once they're harness trained so they're comfortable going places

How do you get them adaptable to different schedules?

 

[Pixiebeak]

Learning foraging

 

[Mads505]

Learning foraging

Definitely

 

[Shannan]

How do you get them adaptable to different schedules?
[/QUOTE]

With our conure we have a basic schedule which is composed of blocks of activities. Once he became comfortable with the basic schedule we rearrange it. The structure of each block remains pretty much the same but the order may change up. So he has his morning routine, then quiet time where he has to entertain himself (in a big flight cage, and plenty of toys and foraging activities), then time where he gets out and gets to play in the bird room (with people for attention), he also gets to come out to the main part of the house in his small cage to hang out while I cook, watch tv, etc (we have cats so whole house freedom is not an option), then his bed time routine. Sometimes he gets room time, then quiet time, then main house, etc but 2-3 days a week I help my parents so he may have a longer quiet time and then main house time then room time, the order changes as does the amount of time so he gets used to flexibility. And sometimes we have to spend the whole day in our cage and that is okay too. (after all in 20 years most people will take a vacation and sometimes the bird sitter can't get them out and so learning to handle that when we are available to help him out is important).

As a result of this mentality my African gray was very comfortable wherever we ended up and even having different people watch him when I could not. He handled living in a tent at a GS camp, room mates, spending the summer with my best friend, etc. Very adaptable which would have helped him should he have ever had to be re homed.

Oh also if you can teach them to drink from an eyedropper or syringe that helps with medicine time.

 

[Mads505]

How do you get them adaptable to different schedules?

With our conure we have a basic schedule which is composed of blocks of activities. Once he became comfortable with the basic schedule we rearrange it. The structure of each block remains pretty much the same but the order may change up. So he has his morning routine, then quiet time where he has to entertain himself (in a big flight cage, and plenty of toys and foraging activities), then time where he gets out and gets to play in the bird room (with people for attention), he also gets to come out to the main part of the house in his small cage to hang out while I cook, watch tv, etc (we have cats so whole house freedom is not an option), then his bed time routine. Sometimes he gets room time, then quiet time, then main house, etc but 2-3 days a week I help my parents so he may have a longer quiet time and then main house time then room time, the order changes as does the amount of time so he gets used to flexibility. And sometimes we have to spend the whole day in our cage and that is okay too. (after all in 20 years most people will take a vacation and sometimes the bird sitter can't get them out and so learning to handle that when we are available to help him out is important).

As a result of this mentality my African gray was very comfortable wherever we ended up and even having different people watch him when I could not. He handled living in a tent at a GS camp, room mates, spending the summer with my best friend, etc. Very adaptable which would have helped him should he have ever had to be re homed.

Oh also if you can teach them to drink from an eyedropper or syringe that helps with medicine time.
[/QUOTE]

Oh I see! Yeah, that'll be no problem, we never really have a hard and fast day-to-day routine. I thought you meant comfortable with changing up wake up/bedtime routines and such

We typically start handfeeding with syringe, so our guys are pretty comfortable with them!

 

[Xoetix]

Time alone without human interaction in order to entertain themselves

 

[Toy]

I think the major one should be NOT to be clipped.

My U2 was clipped by the breeder, sold to a pet store & has chewed her wings & tail feathers off ever since & she'll be 25 in July. I got her at 7 months of age. She has never flown.

My current B&G Macaw, "JaKhu", was also clipped. I was told they flew her 3 or 4 times. They hard clipped her (clipped off all of her long flight feathers). She had no balance, falling often on her face when walking on the floor & off perches, etc.. Since then her wings have grown in, but she also fears falling, so she vice grips my arm. I have yet to get her to fly.

Harness training should be started by breeders as soon as they can, while still being hand fed, so they get used to a harness early. Trying to put a harness on a macaw that is weaned is not easy. Not fun getting bitten by those huge beaks.

Toweling should also be done pre-weaning, so the bird can get used to being wrapped in a towel for nail trimming, vet visits, emergency checks, etc.

 

[Mads505]

Thought y'all might like to see the lil babies. They're so precious! Super snuggly, and great eaters.

I think we may have a cinnamon, a pineapple, and a yellow sided. They like falling asleep on each other with their wings over like a blankie

 

[Shannan]

Awww.... they are so cute. they look wonderful. It sounds like they are getting such a great beginning.....

 

[caspin22]

They should be exposed to vacuum cleaners and brooms around their cages and play stands. All of my birds are used to the vacuum except for our Pionus, whose poor soul left his body the first time I turned on the vacuum in the room. We're working on it, but he still freaks out. He was also initially afraid of the broom, but since I sweep this room 2-3x/day and the broom hasn't eaten him yet, he's now fine with it.

 

[Emma&pico]

They are absolutely gorgeous and sound like they are off to a great start

Thought y'all might like to see the lil babies. They're so precious! Super snuggly, and great eaters. View attachment 442819 View attachment 442820

I think we may have a cinnamon, a pineapple, and a yellow sided. They like falling asleep on each other with their wings over like a blankie

 

[Xoetix]

Omg

 

[Mads505]

Sweet lil babies are doing so well!