Baby season

[BrianB]

Last year we had just two baby red fronted macaws. It was a slow year for baby macs. In the fall, we took on a baby Miligold to finish hand feeding. She was a joy, even though she was very sassy with me. Her name is Remi, and she went home the first week of February. We had a few quiet months and managed to take a family trip to Europe in May.

Last fall, a breeder I know reached out to me with an opportunity for both of us. He has multiple pairs of macaws that breed and incubate very well, but will not feed their chicks. Last year he lost half of the chicks that hatched because the parents won't feed them. He has other commitments that make hand feeding day old hatchlings for more than a day impossible for him. We came to an agreement for me to hand feed chicks for him. At the end of May, I picked up two Shamrock macaw chicks. They came from a pair that feed their chicks very well, they just happened to be the first to hatch this year. These two are the ones that Chewy had so much attitude about not long ago. I've been calling them the rainbow chickens because that's what they look like.

Last Sunday, another baby showed up from a different breeder. He has a pair of macaws that lay eggs and without fail right at hatching time triple digit temps arrive in Tucson and the chicks die in the shell. Last fall, he asked if I would hand feed a chick for him if he incubated the eggs. I've had good luck with it before, so I said sure. He pulled the eggs 3 days after they were laid. One of them was infertile, but the other egg hatched on the last day of June. As predicted, Tucson was around 112 that day and another chick would have been lost. When it arrived at my place, it was 4 hours out of the shell, and all of 19 grams. Here we are a week old at a hefty 41 grams and growing like crazy.

There are more breeding pairs on eggs and more babies coming. It's going to be a very busy summer. In the midst of that, we're working on our USDA breeder license. I've never seen something so purposefully designed to be difficult.

 

[April]

Ooh my goodness they are all so precious! I'm so excited to have a baby thread to follow again. That's really wonderful that your able to help raise these sweet babes.

 

[Zara]

Fantastic job with the chicks! They're all looking healthy

 

[BrianB]

I checked in on my red fronted macaws and momma is sitting on 4 eggs. I'm excited to see what happens this year. Last year we only had two chicks, but they have such a great hatch rate I'm expecting at least 3 if not all 4 to hatch. I saw 3 eggs on June 23, and I didn't check again until July 7th when I saw 4 eggs. My guess is that she laid number 4 on the 24th, so I expect hatching to start late next week - give or take a few days. That should put the chicks at 16-20 days old when I get home from Miami on August 6th. That will be the perfect time to take them for hand feeding. I may have other day one chicks to feed between now and then. It depends on what the other breeder has hatching later this month.

The rainbow chickens are going into a cage today. At least that my plan. I have the day off, but my motivation is still in bed. These little shamrocks are spicy, and they keep wanting to chew on me. I keep telling them that this body is a bite free zone. I am not edible. I am sour and I bite back.

My monster baby is starting to hit its growth spurt and I can relax a little. I've hand fed baby green wings, harlequin macaws, greys, and even a crimson bellied conure from day one, but this is a baby Hyacinth. They have a high mortality rate during the first 30 days and their nutritional requirements are so different that it's been. I've been constantly reading and checking in with another breeder every day. I send her daily weights, food intakes and pictures. She doesn't miss a thing and has asked me questions about the direction a toe was pointing in one of the pictures. It was the way I was holding the chick and not a crooked toe. I'm glad to have a pair of eagle eyes watching over me on this one. I've been comparing this little one against an average growth chart for Hyacinth chicks while it hatched under weight, it's now just 7 grams short of the average for a 10-day-old chick. The other breeder feels we're on track and in her experience things are normal. Big sign of relief. The plan is for this little one to stay with us until it is on 3 feedings a day, and then it will return to its owner to finish weaning.

 

[BrianB]

We have a boy. They still had the egg, so I had them send it in for DNA testing. The last picture was taken on Wednesday, July 10th. He weighed 62 grams and was eating 5ml at a time. We couldn't quite get to the 10% body weight threshold. His crop wasn't big enough, and I didn't want to push it. This morning he weighed 103 grams and is taking a full 10ml per feeding. He's still a little behind the average growth chart, but it is just an average. The other breeders I'm checking with still say he looks good. Here is our little guy today. You can see a huge difference between today and the picture from July 7th.

 

[April]

We have a boy. They still had the egg, so I had them send it in for DNA testing. The last picture was taken on Wednesday, July 10th. He weighed 62 grams and was eating 5ml at a time. We couldn't quite get to the 10% body weight threshold. His crop wasn't big enough, and I didn't want to push it. This morning he weighed 103 grams and is taking a full 10ml per feeding. He's still a little behind the average growth chart, but it is just an average. The other breeders I'm checking with still say he looks good. Here is our little guy today. You can see a huge difference between today and the picture from July 7th.

What a precious little face. Congratulations on knowing he's a little boy. I'm glad he's slowly but steadily growing stronger.

 

[Tyrion]

Best of luck with your babies they are so cute

 

[BrianB]

Our boy weighed in at 166 grams this morning. The last picture I posted of him was taken on July 10, so he's up 100 grams in 8 days. He gave us a scare on Tuesday. I got a call at work that I had to come home right away. The little guy was pale, leaning to one side, and unresponsive. I couldn't leave, but I talked Felix through a few things, and we got him perked up. Felix managed to get 5lm of food into him, and by the time I got home 30 minutes later, he was fine. He was all wiggles and peeps when I took him out of the brooder. I told him he was too young to be acting dramatic like a full-grown hyacinth. I talked to another breeder, and she thought it was something like a blood sugar crash where he was a little overdue for feeding and ran out of energy. I got another 10ml into him not long after that and everything was fine. Now we're up to 15 - 17ml per feeding and still on at least 6 per day. He's been fine ever since. The last thing I wanted to do was call the breeder and tell him that we had lost him.

I miscalculated on the red-fronted macaws. The pair next to them were acting up, so I moved the cage out to check their nest box. There wasn't anything going on in there, and since I was back there, I checked the red-fronted box next to it. There were chicks, days earlier than I expected them. When I looked before, there were three eggs. I checked some days later, and there were four. That last egg appears to have been laid out of cycle with that clutch, and she was already incubating. I was expecting chicks to hatch between the 19th and 21st, and they started hatching on the 12th. I didn't want to disturb them more than I had to, but the chicks looked about four days old. I'll check again next week and plan on taking them on the 28th.

 

[April]

Our boy weighed in at 166 grams this morning. The last picture I posted of him was taken on July 10, so he's up 100 grams in 8 days. He gave us a scare on Tuesday. I got a call at work that I had to come home right away. The little guy was pale, leaning to one side, and unresponsive. I couldn't leave, but I talked Felix through a few things, and we got him perked up. Felix managed to get 5lm of food into him, and by the time I got home 30 minutes later, he was fine. He was all wiggles and peeps when I took him out of the brooder. I told him he was too young to be acting dramatic like a full-grown hyacinth. I talked to another breeder, and she thought it was something like a blood sugar crash where he was a little overdue for feeding and ran out of energy. I got another 10ml into him not long after that and everything was fine. Now we're up to 15 - 17ml per feeding and still on at least 6 per day. He's been fine ever since. The last thing I wanted to do was call the breeder and tell him that we had lost him.

I miscalculated on the red-fronted macaws. The pair next to them were acting up, so I moved the cage out to check their nest box. There wasn't anything going on in there, and since I was back there, I checked the red-fronted box next to it. There were chicks, days earlier than I expected them. When I looked before, there were three eggs. I checked some days later, and there were four. That last egg appears to have been laid out of cycle with that clutch, and she was already incubating. I was expecting chicks to hatch between the 19th and 21st, and they started hatching on the 12th. I didn't want to disturb them more than I had to, but the chicks looked about four days old. I'll check again next week and plan on taking them on the 28th.

Oh gosh I'm so sorry that you had such a scare with him but I'm so glad that he ended up being OK and that he's doing well now.

 

[BrianB]

I've been keeping a daily record of the morning weight, the number of feedings, and how much he gets at each one. I do this for all of the day-one hand fed macaws until they are about a month old. Here is a picture of the little guy from July 2nd at two days old and another from this morning at 19 days old. At two days old, he weighed 23 grams (.81 oz) and had 8ml of food spread out over multiple feedings that day. This morning, he weighed 187 grams (5.81 oz), and yesterday, he had 80 over the course of the day. Same bird, same hand. What a difference 17 days makes.

 

[Tyrion]

Man they are way to cute for words

 

[BrianB]

Here we are, seven days after the last picture, weighing 318 grams and taking 30ml of formula per feeding. This picture was taken at 5:30 this morning. I'm a dragon in the morning, and he gets away with looking like one and being cute about it. We had the option to purchase him but decided not to. Another chick will come along in the fall or spring of next year, and maybe then will be the right time.

Baby red-fronted macaws are coming out of the box on Sunday. I have a blue & gold pair that just started laying and another hatchling from a breeder expected in the first week of August.

 

[BrianB]

The red-fronted macaws have arrived. The first picture is them right out of the nest box. One had some regurgitation and bedding stuck on its head, so I needed to clean that off. They both looked great and took their first feeding without too much fuss. The parents have given me almost all girls, so I will presume they are girls, but I might be surprised this time.

The breeder I hand-feed for has an unusual hybrid that started hatching yesterday. It's a Harlequin/Calico hybrid. I can't find any history of this cross other than his own. I'm going to hand-feed it and return it when it has weaned.

Here is the baby dragon. He is one month old today and weighs 462 grams. I looked at some of my records, and he's heavier than my weaned African Grey chicks are at four months old.

 

[April]

The red-fronted macaws have arrived. The first picture is them right out of the nest box. One had some regurgitation and bedding stuck on its head, so I needed to clean that off. They both looked great and took their first feeding without too much fuss. The parents have given me almost all girls, so I will presume they are girls, but I might be surprised this time.

The breeder I hand-feed for has an unusual hybrid that started hatching yesterday. It's a Harlequin/Calico hybrid. I can't find any history of this cross other than his own. I'm going to hand-feed it and return it when it has weaned.

Here is the baby dragon. He is one month old today and weighs 462 grams. I looked at some of my records, and he's heavier than my weaned African Grey chicks are at four months old.

Aww that precious little face. I can't wait to see how this hybrid baby develops

 

[zoo mom]

It is always fun to watch your baby threads. I don't every expect to hand raise babies.

 

[Jan]

Oh goodness that's gonna be keeping you busy. I'm jealous! Many years ago I got my B&G from the breeder at 2 weeks old and I thoroughly enjoyed raising her. They surely grow quickly. So sweet and cute they are!

 

[BrianB]

We left for Miami last Thursday to celebrate my mother-in-law's 96th birthday and to meet grandbaby number 7. This Monday afternoon, about 15 minutes from the airport, we received a notification that our flight had been canceled. The next available flight was this morning. I have no complaints. We were able to spend two more days with both of them, and those are precious moments we'll never see again.

The baby dragon looks like a completely different bird. He has massive feet, and the blue on his head and the yellow around his eyes are starting to show. Our house sitter wasn't able to get his weight this morning, but I'm going to guess he's above 750 grams. Yesterday, he was 728; the day before, he was 672. That's 52 grams in a day. I think the most our baby green wings put on in a day was 30 or 32 grams. The little guy might be going home this coming weekend, so this may be the last few pictures I get of him. The hen has laid another egg, so there might be another baby coming along in a few weeks. I can't wait to do this all over again.

I haven't gotten a picture of the red-fronted macaws, but they are close to the same size now and pushing 300 grams each. You can see the sassy attitude coming out already.

The day before we left for Florida, we picked up the hybrid from the other breeder. He went back through his records, and the baby is a Harlequin / Jubliee hybrid. It is doing well. I used the flash when I took the picture so it looks very red, but it's a nice pink color and well hydrated. I can't wait to see how this little one turns out.

 

[BrianB]

The blue dragon went home to his owner on August 11th. My last update was that he had crested 1 kilogram in weight at 53 days old. I think he's going to be big, even for a hyacinth. The hen's other egg wasn't fertile, but they will breed again.

The red-fronted macaws are getting big and sassy. At this age, they think they are starving, so whenever they see one of us, they start calling out, and they do it in unison.

Our male shamrock macaw has weaned, and he is beautiful. He will be a big talker, but unfortunately, the first thing he starts repeating is a combination of Chewy and Christopher's screams, and he's very proud of himself. In between what sounds like "I love you", "Hello", and a few other garbled things, he likes to show us his scream. We're working on that. He hardly does it when he's out with someone, but I have to leave the room when he joins the flock calling at sunset. After all those months that Christopher told him to shut up, you would think that was the first thing he repeated.

The hybrid macaw chick has been a very sad experience. It stopped developing at 15 days, and the growth stopped a few days later. After a conversation with the breeder, we transitioned the food to something with a lot more fat and protein to kickstart the development. It never happened. The chick reached about 54 grams of weight, but its eyes never developed, it never shed the hatch down, and it never developed any sign of pin feathers. At 25 days old, it looked the same as it did when it was 15 days old. I talked to an avian vet, and she suggested there was a developmental abnormality and the chance of survival was low. After some more conversations and pictures sent to the breeder, he agreed that euthanasia was appropriate. I had that scheduled for this morning, and then the body would be donated to the animal hospital for research and training. When I went to do the last feeding before bed, I discovered it had passed. I agreed to feed the chick but had no part in the breeding. This hybrid is too many generations away from the pure species and should not exist. The chance of abnormality is too high and while one chick made it to adulthood, not all of them will be so lucky. I'm still going to meet with the vet to get his thoughts, and hopefully, the short life this little one had can contribute some knowledge to avian science.

 

[April]

The blue dragon went home to his owner on August 11th. My last update was that he had crested 1 kilogram in weight at 53 days old. I think he's going to be big, even for a hyacinth. The hen's other egg wasn't fertile, but they will breed again.

The red-fronted macaws are getting big and sassy. At this age, they think they are starving, so whenever they see one of us, they start calling out, and they do it in unison.

Our male shamrock macaw has weaned, and he is beautiful. He will be a big talker, but unfortunately, the first thing he starts repeating is a combination of Chewy and Christopher's screams, and he's very proud of himself. In between what sounds like "I love you", "Hello", and a few other garbled things, he likes to show us his scream. We're working on that. He hardly does it when he's out with someone, but I have to leave the room when he joins the flock calling at sunset. After all those months that Christopher told him to shut up, you would think that was the first thing he repeated.

The hybrid macaw chick has been a very sad experience. It stopped developing at 15 days, and the growth stopped a few days later. After a conversation with the breeder, we transitioned the food to something with a lot more fat and protein to kickstart the development. It never happened. The chick reached about 54 grams of weight, but its eyes never developed, it never shed the hatch down, and it never developed any sign of pin feathers. At 25 days old, it looked the same as it did when it was 15 days old. I talked to an avian vet, and she suggested there was a developmental abnormality and the chance of survival was low. After some more conversations and pictures sent to the breeder, he agreed that euthanasia was appropriate. I had that scheduled for this morning, and then the body would be donated to the animal hospital for research and training. When I went to do the last feeding before bed, I discovered it had passed. I agreed to feed the chick but had no part in the breeding. This hybrid is too many generations away from the pure species and should not exist. The chance of abnormality is too high and while one chick made it to adulthood, not all of them will be so lucky. I'm still going to meet with the vet to get his thoughts, and hopefully, the short life this little one had can contribute some knowledge to avian science.

That's so sad about the hybrid chick but I'm glad he was loved and cared for so well for the time he was here. I'm glad to hear that everyone else is thriving.

 

[Kassiani]

Nothing cuter than baby Macs!

I'm glad they are all doing well.