inquisitivefeathers
Moving in
- Joined
- 3/29/12
- Messages
- 6
- Real Name
- Jane
(I just recently joined this site, and this is the first general bird forum I've joined (I'm not normally a forum person, I just like to read) so I hope lots of people will post on this thread. I've posted on other bird forums before that were specifically aligned to specific birds (finches, pigeons, etc) and I feel like I tend to get ignored, with my topics only getting a single reply while like all the other topics get like 10+. Anyway, sorry for the rant, I just hope I'm treated well here.)
So, it's becoming increasingly common for birds to be handfed, from tiny budgies and lovebirds to huge macaws. These days, it can actually be fairly difficult to find a bird that's NOT handfed (but still bred by a reputable breeder).
Hey, I don't mind handfeeding and all, but...
Who are going to be the parent birds for our next generation??
Yes, many breeders do hold back parent-raised birds if they can...IF THEY CAN being the key word. There's so many birds out there who CANNOT raise a clutch to full maturity. We have birds who will kill their mates, birds who will kill their chicks, birds who will mutilate their chicks, birds who will simply ignore their chicks after a certain age. It wouldn't be strange if a well-adjusted, breeder bird becomes very expensive and hard to find.
So here's the concern.
Suppose there is a hypothetical world where there ARE no parent-raised birds. Every single parrot is handfed.
Based on your experiences, how well do these handfed birds breed? Can they accept another bird as their mate? Do they know to lay eggs in the nestbox? Do they know how to feed their chicks to the point of maturity?
SO, my question to you all is: In your experience, how good of parents have handfed birds been?
Most importantly, can handfed birds produce parent-raised birds? As in, could handfed birds produce babies and raise them up completely with no human intervention?
This IS a pretty urgent question for me, considering I love my parrots and hope that they will be here for years and years to come and so that even my (future) great-grandchildren can enjoy them. I need to know your experiences of breeding handfed parrots.
Increasingly breeders (especially of large parrots) aren't even letting their own birds incubate! Eggs are laid, eggs are sent to incubator, and babies are raised from day-one. Hey, I don't have a problem with it..but does the lack of bird parenting for the babies result in progeny that don't know how to parent themselves?
Please reply!
So, it's becoming increasingly common for birds to be handfed, from tiny budgies and lovebirds to huge macaws. These days, it can actually be fairly difficult to find a bird that's NOT handfed (but still bred by a reputable breeder).
Hey, I don't mind handfeeding and all, but...
Who are going to be the parent birds for our next generation??
Yes, many breeders do hold back parent-raised birds if they can...IF THEY CAN being the key word. There's so many birds out there who CANNOT raise a clutch to full maturity. We have birds who will kill their mates, birds who will kill their chicks, birds who will mutilate their chicks, birds who will simply ignore their chicks after a certain age. It wouldn't be strange if a well-adjusted, breeder bird becomes very expensive and hard to find.
So here's the concern.
Suppose there is a hypothetical world where there ARE no parent-raised birds. Every single parrot is handfed.
Based on your experiences, how well do these handfed birds breed? Can they accept another bird as their mate? Do they know to lay eggs in the nestbox? Do they know how to feed their chicks to the point of maturity?
SO, my question to you all is: In your experience, how good of parents have handfed birds been?
Most importantly, can handfed birds produce parent-raised birds? As in, could handfed birds produce babies and raise them up completely with no human intervention?
This IS a pretty urgent question for me, considering I love my parrots and hope that they will be here for years and years to come and so that even my (future) great-grandchildren can enjoy them. I need to know your experiences of breeding handfed parrots.
Increasingly breeders (especially of large parrots) aren't even letting their own birds incubate! Eggs are laid, eggs are sent to incubator, and babies are raised from day-one. Hey, I don't have a problem with it..but does the lack of bird parenting for the babies result in progeny that don't know how to parent themselves?
Please reply!