# Just some questions...



## *Tiel_Heart* (Feb 19, 2008)

Well I just wanted to know some different Questions on Muattions breeding and handrearing
1. What temperature does the cage have to be in a cage while hand rearing??
2. If A chick is 3 and a half weeks old how often do they need to be fed??
3. Do you use a syringe or a modified spoon to feed the chick?? I have recently read that a spoon is better but I always used a syringe.
4. What colour parents do you need to produce a WF Grey
5. What colour parents dor you need to produce a WF Cinnamon Pearl or a Normal Cinnamon Pearl??

Thanks for taking the time to read!!
Sophie!


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

At the age you are pulling the chicks you want to maintain 80 - 85 degrees. It's best to start them off in a 5 or 10 gallon aquarium. Or a kritter keeper (a plastic habitat with a vented lid). At three and a half weeks I would feed 4 X a day. Morning Noon and dinnertime then just before you go to bed. Their crops should empty overnight. I use a spoon as it is safer for the chicks and it is easier for chicks of that age to take a spoon. To produce WF Grays you need Eith two WF Grays or one and one that is split for it. There are a variety of other ways to get them as Gray would be the dominant color. But both parents need to carry the WF gene or you won't get any. Pearl is a sex linked mutattion so you male needs to be Pearl or split for pearl to get any. If the male carries the gene for WF Cinnamon Pearl and you pair him with any WF hen you will get some WF Cinnamon Pearl females. If he is Full WF Cinnamon Pearl all the female offspring will be the same. If he is a split then half the females will.


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## *Tiel_Heart* (Feb 19, 2008)

Thanks!!
Would it be ok If I fed the chick At say 4.00am then again at 7.30-7.45am and then at 4.00pm and the a small feed at tea and one before bed??


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

Is Tea Dinnertime? You really don't need to be up at 4 feeding the baby 6 or 7 would be fine. Unless that's your schedule. Sounds good to me tho. I always offer them food 'till they're sick of me. Probably more often than most people do. But I figure if I feed them 4 X a day at that age (relatively thin formula, like thin catsup) they grow fast. They actually become independent sooner. If they are allowed to go hungry they get kind of desperate. They become more needy and nervous.


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## *Tiel_Heart* (Feb 19, 2008)

Ok its just I go to school at 8.00am and get home at 4.00pm. Yes tea is dinnertime:blush: Sorry.
I have read up on it and I think I will strt with a syringe until they get used to opening there mouths then a spoon.There was a thread that atvchick posted. It shows you how to set up the cage for handrearing....Would that be ok at this age??


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

It's harder to switch them later and at 3 1/2 weeks they may just refuse to eat. I would start them on a spoon as soon as possible


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## *Tiel_Heart* (Feb 19, 2008)

oh ok then.... So what about the times?? Would that be ok??
also How do you teach a bird to return to your shoulder.I really dont want to clip my birds wings but I might have to. My friend has a teil that doesnt have clipped wings and its aufull trying to catch it when playtime is up. It fly onto curtain rods,On top of the fridge then panics and get stuck some where


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

You could probably get away with it. It's a bit of a stretch. If you feed the baby right before you leave and as soon as you get home it would be best. I have some fully flighted babies that come and land on my hand when I go in the aviary to feed. I put them in there about the age of 6 weeks. Part of what I do is when they can stay on my hand real well I make them step up to be fed. Now all my babies step up. & are clipped because I'm selling those the others in the aviary fly right to me. Even Monkey (who is now about 6 months) lands on me when I go in there. 
atvchicks preps are good I'm sure but differ in that I use a spoon. There is a very good book "Hand-feeding and raising Baby Birds" by Matthew M. Vriends PhD. He lists all the pros and cons of various feeding tools. This book is why I only spoon feed. It is the authors favored method as well.


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## *Tiel_Heart* (Feb 19, 2008)

OK Thanks!!
I will use a spoon. Doesnt it have to be modified to look like a funnel??


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## *Tiel_Heart* (Feb 19, 2008)

Anyway in response to the colours What would I get If I put a cinnamon Male in with A cinnamon Pearl pied hen??


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

Here is he spoon I use. It's a measuring spoon. I start the babies off with the little side and I have another one I bent that is between these two sizes. Buy the age of three weeks they are using this larger end. It's a half Tablespoon.
They will all be Cinnamon. They will all have the pied gene. The boys will also be split to Pearl.


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## *Tiel_Heart* (Feb 19, 2008)

Ok thanks!!!
Is there anwere you could buy a spoon or would you have to make one??


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

I have never seen them for sale. I use a measuring spoon because it's easier to bend but you can just use a regular teaspoon.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Here's a place that sells handfeeding spoons: http://www.parrottalk.com/spoons.htm I found it with a google search and haven't bought from them myself.


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## *Tiel_Heart* (Feb 19, 2008)

Oh ok Thanks for the link!!


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

looks like a bent teaspoon to me!


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