I Guess You Can Call This a Rant... WITH Don't Breeder's Send Home Formula With New Parronts???

[suncoast]

It just makes me sooooooo mad!!! How hard can it be to send home a baggie full of handfeeding formula and let the new parronts know how to give comfort feedings??? Or worse they know the baby's are too little to be sent home and they do it anyway. Then they lie and tell them the baby is weaned when they're not, and so now the new parront has a baby bird that is crying and starving and they don't know what to do.

When I think of how Truelygirl was left to cry and starve I get so upset I could the $#@! out of someone.

Ginger

 

[brdfvr]

I have had a newly weaned conure from a breeder and tried to offer comfort feedings only to be turned down at every opportunity. I don't think it's worth it to send a truly weaned bird with handfeeding formula because. . . they're weaned! I just wasted my money trying to offer 'comfort' feedings.

 

[TextsFromParrots]

Yeah I felt that way with one of my conures. Absolutely ZERO interest in comfort feedings. They stared at me like . It's good to have just in case, I can agree there, but I think that breeders who wait and fully and properly wean a baby should offer advice on comfort feedings. Warm mash or the like offer comfort just as well. I know I didn't know about them until I came here.

 

[Billie Faye]

I think there is a difference between "comfort" feeding and UNWEANED babies....and a fully weaned bird will "revert" sometimes when stress with a move....it depends on the bird AND stress will also bring out unnoticed problems that will lead to a bird becoming sick when arriving at a new home...so I agree in letting a new parront understand about "comfort" feeding or issues that can come up...and what to do...

 

[Sparky04]

Afie's breeder sent her home with some formula to do comfort feeding. Afie had no interest. Westley didn't come home with formula.

 

[suncoast]

I'm glad there is another side to the equation, because I feel like there are so many people who come on here desperate for help because they don't know what their baby's want. I don't think it hurts anything to be prepared incase your baby is not weaned or reverts, because you should keep a little handfeeding formula in the freezer anyway for emergency situations when your bird can't or won't eat. And I respect a breeder who educates their customers. Unfortunately they are few and far between.

Ginger

 

[avianantics]

Comfort feedings should never be offered unless the baby actually is asking to be fed. That said, I always weaned my babies onto weaning pellets and sent home a bag of weaning pellets with every baby. If not used for comfort feedings, they are great for training, or can just be fed dry, so no waste. Some babies do regress and want a comfort feeding, but most (if properly weaned) do not. If they aren't hollering to be fed and are eating on their own, there is nothing gained by offering a comfort feeding, and comfort feeding(s) should only be offered AFTER the youngster has his/her regular meal, or at least been given the opportunity to eat on his/her own.

If you find yourself faced with a baby that wants/needs a comfort feeding and do not have formula on hand, you can feed a bit of organic mixed veggie baby food, or mashed sweet potato, cooked oatmeal or barley, or you can just take pellets, soak them in warm water or juice until mushy and puree them in a blender.

 

[Holiday]

I'm glad there is another side to the equation, because I feel like there are so many people who come on here desperate for help because they don't know what their baby's want. I don't think it hurts anything to be prepared incase your baby is not weaned or reverts, because you should keep a little handfeeding formula in the freezer anyway for emergency situations when your bird can't or won't eat. And I respect a breeder who educates their customers. Unfortunately they are few and far between.

Ginger

Well, I agree with you, Ginger--at least in the case of macaws and cockatoos. I think it's a good idea. It's not as dangerous to have them use a bent spoon (no real danger of aspiration), and they can tell them the precise temperature and consistency. A weaned bird will not want much, but it is a great way to make them feel loved and comforted. Every single Hahn's macaw I've brought home ended up reverting and begging for formula--EVEN Sonny, who was over 6 months old. He was obviously fully weaned. It wasn't about that. Btw, I'm off to mix up some formula for my Hahnsies and Zoe. They still eat it, and Max and Zoe are three

 

[Bokkapooh]

For large birds like cockatoos, macaws, zons, etc, the breeder should always explain about how a stressed baby will revert and will require comfort feedings. The breeder should send some home and tell them what foods to offer to help. Moistened HEATED pellets are a great comfort food, you don't necessarily need formula. And blended veggies HEATED with moistened pellets and oatmeal is a very nutritious formula for both unweaned and babies needed comfort food.

 

[Bokkapooh]

Comfort feedings should never be offered unless the baby actually is asking to be fed. That said, I always weaned my babies onto weaning pellets and sent home a bag of weaning pellets with every baby. If not used for comfort feedings, they are great for training, or can just be fed dry, so no waste. Some babies do regress and want a comfort feeding, but most (if properly weaned) do not. If they aren't hollering to be fed and are eating on their own, there is nothing gained by offering a comfort feeding, and comfort feeding(s) should only be offered AFTER the youngster has his/her regular meal, or at least been given the opportunity to eat on his/her own.If you find yourself faced with a baby that wants/needs a comfort feeding and do not have formula on hand, you can feed a bit of organic mixed veggie baby food, or mashed sweet potato, cooked oatmeal or barley, or you can just take pellets, soak them in warm water or juice until mushy and puree them in a blender.

I think comfort food, whether formula or oatmeal veggie pellet mash, should always be offered whether asked for or not. All new birds, baby or adult, benefit from that comfort. It helps them settle in. Many rescues will offer comfort food to their birds they get in. It truly is a miracle concoction that helps a bird settle in.

 

[Gen120]

I agree. My sun conure Pepper came to me unweaned... But I did know how to handfeed and the breeder I got her from made sure I did before I took her home. I have seen breeders that just sell unweaned birds to anyone but Pepper's breeder wasn't like that. Pepper was 11 weeks old when I got her and once she did wean she kinda reverted back to a baby. But I've handfed 4 of my own birds plus others that my dad's cousin has raised (who's a birdbreeder and the one who taught me how to handfeed correctly).

 

[Anne & Gang]

OUr breeder sent us home with some handfeeding formula...we needed it three times..after that Sam was fine..it is NOT waste to send home a new baby with handfeeding formula because you just do not know...and she also told us what could happen..our breeder was responsible..there are so many who are not and so many on here who come on screaming for help when their newly weaned babies are starving.

 

[Billie Faye]

Look, even the ADULT birds enjoy the attention if going to a new home/stress...and setting by them and slowly talking and offering some food....YOU have to earn the trust of birds and this can be a BRIDGE to help...it is never a waste to take the time to explain/offer the formula along with the name and where to get it...it is also called good relationship with your buyer/bird to make them feel secure and can rely on you (breeder) if they have more ?s...Any breeder who takes the money and closes the door afterwards doesn't care...it is just a business...and YES, I am a former breeder/still have communications with people I sold to and helped people over the years with others...When I first got my birds and tried to communicate with breeders, it was a stone wall to get information from them...I ended up with a GREAT CAV that helped me in many ways but I was so dissallusioned by people who were breeding and didn't want to help new people or some one who was interested in breeding....I was a threat and was treated as such.....I NEVER wanted that to happen to the people who bought my babies...I wanted them to call me and ask me ?'s and learn to help the birds....So many people back then didn't have the internet/others to go to and buying the bird was a flip of the coin....so many birds died because of that....we have come a long ways in the last 20+ year.....now we GIVE freely to help others and the birds win! And THAT is the WIN!

 

[Shade]

I had asked Léa's breeder if she would provide any handfeedfing formula when I took Léa home, just in case, and she said it was common practice for her to send all her babies home with some hand feeding formula powder and a sample of any dry food they were weaned on to help transition if the owners chose to give something else.

As well, she has no intention of letting Léa go until she has stop taking formula for a week or two and has been maintaining her weight for the same time. Any doubt and the baby stays there until there is no doubt.