Which one did you get. The seedling mat? I have one from Hydrofarm thats the best brand but the one on Amazon looked ok. With the thermostat you could set it. They never get too hot least not the one I had.
I got that one
He kinda just bobs his head back and forth, nothing comes out of him when he does that. I also “cook” the formula at 120°F, and feed it at about 100-102°F, and the little box he is in is kept at 98°F.
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Thank you so much! I’ll fix the heater once I get the proper bedding, which should be some time later today. I’m worried about the box being angled though from the header being underneath half of it, would a piece of cardboard or something under the other half be a good idea? To keep the box flat?Hi Britney, for safety sake for the chick do as suggested and rinse the flannel out and dry it well. I've taken a piece of fabric and cut it into a 2 1/2 -3 inch wide strip about 10 inches long.. folded the fabric sides in towards the center... then tied one knot softly, then tied a second knot softly, then tied a third knot harder and trimmed the extra length off. The ruler is just to show you the size of what I made and this would be a good size buddy for your baby. You might make two and a few extras in case the first ones get too dirty. I took photos to demonstrate what I've made:
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Please keep your heating pad on the 'outside' of your container. I've attached part of one of the links to setting up a brooder to show you without you having to visit that link ( that link is attached below from our breeders forum section)
You are doing a good job keeping the temperature at the required temp for your little one. When you are done feeding though I would suggest you place the baby back in the brooder with a couple of the cloth buddies to keep it comfortable and company. With a full crop you really want to avoid mashing that crop and causing the formula to come up or into the airway of the chick.
3 Basic Parts to a Brooder
1. Small heating pads for babies can be found in most department stores. There are also similar heating pads available in medical clinics and stores that cater to athletes.
2. Plastic containers are easy to see through and clean, and usually come with a convenient top. In a pinch you can use a card board box and even a small picnic cooler.
3.Thermometers do not need to be expensive and highly accurate, but they do need to be consistent. Thermometers will be used as a guideline because you will determine the actual temperature setting by the body posture of the baby.
Baby Parrot Brooder 1
The easiest and safest method is to place the container ½ over the heating pad so you can have different temperatures available across the bottom of the container.
Several days before you need the brooder you should begin to find the temperature you need. Place the thermometer in the container and move it around to determine how the temperature changes on different parts of the floor. If the temperature is not warm enough you can place the lid on the container and/or wrap the container with a towel. Do not cover the entire top because the babies will need fresh air. As the babies grow it will be less critical to keep the temperature constant.
Always test the heat source at the lowest and highest possible settings to make sure you are aware of how the heat source can change with different settings.
The brooder needs to be placed in an area where there is little or no light and the room temperature is fairly constant.
This section could apply to your baby given how tiny it is if the container you have is too big ( looks like a shoebox to me) and you don't want the tiny chick to migrate too far from it's heat source... the heating pad UNDER the container.
Insulated Container for small Babies 1
Insulated Container for small Babies 2
Insulated Container for small Babies 3
A second level of temperature control comes from a smaller container where you will place the baby.
A nice comfortable and cozy insulated container for small babies can be made from a cup or bowel and a couple of paper towels. Make a T shape with two lengths of paper towels. Place the cross of the T in the bowel and push to the bottom. For very small babies only push the center of the towels to the bottom making a V-shape so the baby will go to the center of the bottom and stay in the same place all the time. This V in the center will also wrap around the baby similar to a mom or sibling making contact. The V will also help keep the babies feet under him. Without the V a baby may continue to move his feet and develop bleeding sores from the paper towel that seems soft to us but rough to delicate baby skin.
The bottom portion of the T that is sticking out of the bowel can be folded over and turned into a lid.
Comfortable Body Language 1
Proper temperature will be determined by body language but basic guidelines are necessary to get started.
New born babies are the most critical and will need to be kept at ~ 97 Fahrenheit. Over the next few weeks the temperature will slowly drop to ~ 85 until the baby starts to produce feathers. Brooder temperature will be lower when you have several babies in the same container.
How to Setup a Brooder for your Baby or Sick Parrots
High quality brooders for baby and sick parrots can be expensive and complicated, but in a pinch can also very simple and inexpensive. We received this inquire from Nihan in Turkey (2014). Hi from…
I don’t know much about baby birds, but I thought the ideal temperature was 105 degrees? @Zara ?
120F may be a bit extreme for heating the formula. You should feed him at 105F-107F instead of 100-102F. At the current temp you are feeding you risk the formula taking too long to digest in the crop and causing the crop to slow down.. you do not want that to happen. You can have a separate bowl of water measuring the same temperature of 105-107 and you can place the bowl or cup you mix your formula in within that bowl to keep your formula a constant temperature until you are done feeding your baby.
yes.... a piece of cardboard would be fine... even a magazine or two will do. I don't think it would be angled too much though. When you get it set up take a photo for us to see.
Yes.. I just covered that.
Oh wow thank you! I was so confused because I swore my formula said 102, but I’m dyslexic and after looking at it harder it does in fact say 105. I hope my baby will be okay!120F may be a bit extreme for heating the formula. You should feed him at 105F-107F instead of 100-102F. At the current temp you are feeding you risk the formula taking too long to digest in the crop and causing the crop to slow down.. you do not want that to happen. You can have a separate bowl of water measuring the same temperature of 105-107 and you can place the bowl or cup you mix your formula in within that bowl to keep your formula a constant temperature until you are done feeding your baby.
Some people will use Pipettes for feeding such tiny babies - you must be careful not to squeeze the bulb at the top of the pipette to avoid a sudden push of too much formula. If the small syringe you are using is working for you then stay with it, just make sure to expel any air from the tip of the syringe so you aren't pushing it into the baby. I only wanted the image of the tiny baby to show up but it wouldn't let me detach the other image so ignore the other photo.
It's ok... she's ok. When you put your hand in there she is recognizing you as the food source so that's why she is nibbling. If her crop is full then place her in the cubby of the bedding with a couple of the fabric buddies and she'll settle down until her next feeding.
If her crop is emptying between feedings then you don't have a problem. If she has a very small amount of formula in her crop when she is scheduled for a feeding it's ok to go ahead and feed. You can let her go without a feeding between 12PM and 6AM. Though I will tag @Zara on this ( over night) since I have not hand fed chicks at this age. Are you using a digital thermometer?
Yes I am using a digital thermometer
I’m not sure. I think what I’ll do is I’ll use the bedding, but make a little nook for the baby to lay in and line the bottom of that nook with a piece of my flannel like someone suggested.
Babies are hatched in nest boxes filled with shavings ( normally) so you don't need to line that nook with the fabric but if you do, just make sure there is enough of an indentation where the chick can keep her legs under her and have traction to move about. This is the problem with paper towels being too smooth for a young bird to move about on. We do see our fair amount of people who come on the forum with a baby whose legs are splayed out to the side with no ability to walk and will stay that way unless there is human intervention. Those babies were either kept on a paper towel surface or there was not ample nesting material in the nest box to begin with.
Okay, should I still make a little nook out of the bedding though? Without lining the bottom with anything?
