Is it true that most breeders don't check the hatch dates?

[BrandyL]

I'm just curious if it's true that breeders don't usually keep tabs on the hatch dates of their birds. We have a new baby who's, I think, way younger than the breeder said. He does not look at all like the pictures of most 10 to 12 week old conures. He's very scruffy and small looking. It's no biggie, but he's not doing well and I'm worried. Thanks everyone.

 

[Mizzely]

I don't think that's true at all. Even my green cheek from Petco had a hatch date certificate.

 

[Zara]

He does not look at all like the pictures of most 10 to 12 week old conures.

There are some cases in which birds don't grow at the usual rate.
One of my birds was like that and about 2-3 weeks behind in her growth. If she hadn't hatched in my home I would have also questioned the breeder, but being on the other side, I can say, It does happen (birds growing slower). Maybe this happened with your bird...
If it were a full clutch that looked younger than the breeder states then I would question their records.

Edit to add pic,

All those birds hatched within 2 days but the little one at the end looks over 2 weeks younger

 

[Laurie]

There are many people who call themselves breeders. Selling babies does not make one a professional, however.

Professional breeders invest in the health of their birds, select the parents based on specific qualities, keep track of babies hatch dates, treat babies as individuals, keep records, provide toys, vet care and socialize their babies. In the United States the professional standard is also to only sell unweaned babies to experienced hand feeders that one might also deem to be professional or to raise them to the point of weaning.

Sadly there are many breeders who are not professional. That doesn't mean that you will not get a good baby but unfortunately there are things you may never know about the bird. Also if the breeder does not keep records of hatch dates I doubt they keep other records which could be invaluable to them in improving the health and care of their flocks.

As Zara mentioned, some babies do grow more slowly. One common cause is if they did not receive as much food the first few days (this can happen with poor handfeeding or even when a parent bird does not provide abundant food) to compensate for the less abundant nutrients the babies have a slowed growth rate. This is good because it allows them to grow with the nutrients that they are receiving rather than having a fast rate of growth and not having nutrients to support it. So you get a healthy baby but just one who grows more slowly. They can mature weeks later than their clutchmates but as I said will generally be just fine.

You should be mindful that you are feeding your baby often enough as scruffy feathers often indcates that feedings are too far apart, the wrong temp or that the bird has not been keep warm enough.

 

[melissasparrots]

Breeders should have a general idea of when babies hatch. They should at least know within about a week. Most should know within a couple of days accuracy. When I used to breed, I’d know the hatch date of my amazons with 24 hrs. My parrotlets usually also within the day but if they had a large clutch of all the same sex or color, I might lose track of who is who by the time they sell. However, I never sold unweaned so not knowing exact hatch date was never an issue.