# Hf ht vs ht pr??



## sweetnsour924 (Oct 20, 2010)

I am looking for some thoughts from everyone about hand fed hand tamed vs hand taming parent raised babies.
Do you think that babies that are raised by their parents can turn out to be as tame as babies pulled and hand fed with enough attention?


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## Fredandiris (Nov 27, 2012)

I think a lot of it is the parents dispositions, but I'm sure it's possible to have a hand tame parent raised baby if you give it A LOT of attention.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

If you're trying to decide what to do with your own babies, there's a third option: co-parenting. That's where you leave the babies with the parents most of the time but "borrow" them once or twice a day for handfeeding. You get the benefits of both handfeeding and parent raising.


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

With ENOUGH attention, yes. It really helps though if you have a really good relationship with the parents. The chicks learn EVERYTHING from their parents, so if you have some people loving parents, there is a better chance the chicks will be more inclined to be around people. Although it is harder to work with a parent raised chick than a hand fed chick, it can be done, but you may need some patience with them


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## ollieandme (Mar 25, 2013)

totally! it might just take parent raised birds a little longer


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## catalinadee (Jan 1, 2011)

I don't personally like co-parenting. I find that the babies don't take the food very easily so I usually go for hand raising or parent raising or parent raising and hand taming. Hand raised birds tend to develop slower and can take a long time to wean. I kept one back myself and he still has relapses where he wants to be a baby again haha. But parent raised birds, I find, tend to have less behavioural issues and they develop very quickly. Babies usually go through a curiosity phase where they want to learn everything and anything and that is the best time to start handling them IMO. Of course, you can also take the babies out and handle them if the parents let you but some parents may abandon nest if you do that, so be prepared


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

I got Zues when he was a bit older from a friend of mine (she was unable to find him a home when he was a baby and so he was left in the aviary for a few months), he is parent-raised, with time and lots of patience though, I have been able to get him much friendlier. 

A parent-raised baby can still be a wonderful companion (pet?), it just can take a lot more work, kind of like adopting a bird that has had very little or no interaction with anyone. Unfortunately, a lot people have intentions of taming a bird, only to end up getting discouraged, and shift them to somewhere else so they don’t have to deal with trying to anymore. The rewards of taming are great, and very satisfying.

Obviously there is going to be a big difference between hand-taming a parent-raised baby vs a hand-fed and hand-tamed baby… if you are ready to take on I guess you could call it, a challenge, with satisfying rewards, go for it I say, it is worth it.


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## sweetnsour924 (Oct 20, 2010)

I'm only asking this because I have just set up a new pair together who will be first time parents. I believe it maybe good to let them feed the babies on their own if they do well so they can learn what to do. If there is any problems I am ready to step in and hand feed as I have been doing it since 2005 and have raised many babies but I have never had a what I'm going to call a FRESH pair who's never been parents before so I just thought it would be a good idea to let them handle the first clutch to see how they are as parents. BUT I don't want total wild babies on my hands. I know there would be a difference between my babies that I pull at 12 days old and raise or if I handle them daily. I was just wondering how many people do this and how wild are they usually by the time they are weaned.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

The parents disposition play a major role...last year I had three babies. Two were from a very skittish pair. They tolerated being handled but didn't exactly enjoy it. The other pair gave me one baby and both parents were very sweet. I handled all three babies on a daily basis, but even so, the baby from the sweeter parents was much easier to work with then the babies from the skittish parents. I really wish I had co-fed because that may have helped a bit.


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## sweetnsour924 (Oct 20, 2010)

Both parents are hand fed hand tamed and very friendly but I don't know how they would act when it comes to a nest and babies. I have yet to see a pair that isn't defensive in their nest.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

My hand tame pair was ten times MORE defensive then my skittish pair (the male in the skittish pair chewed through his box to escape almost every day.) By disposition I mean how they act during none breeding season. If they're people friendly and more laid back, their babies will inherit that and may make the taming process easier on you.


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## sweetnsour924 (Oct 20, 2010)

The female is very friendly and wants to be with people all the time. The male is more laid back friendly. Is happy whether he's hanging out on his own or with his people.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Then in that case they should be just fine with only hand taming without hand feeding. You probably wont notice a difference.


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## Tequilagirl (Mar 4, 2013)

If I was to buy a baby from a breeder I'd pay a premium for a parent raised tiel that has been well handled and socialised. I believe those are the best.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> I find that the babies don't take the food very easily so I usually go for hand raising or parent raising or parent raising and hand taming.


When you co-parent, the babies aren't going to take nearly as much formula as a baby that's been pulled for handfeeding. It's also very helpful to take the parents out of the breeding cage an hour or two before you're going to handfeed so the babies have a chance to get a little bit hungry. There might be some parent birds who will get frantic if they're locked out of the breeding cage for a while, but my pairs are OK with it so it works for me.

As for defensive parents... it can be very difficult to get into the nest during the egg incubation and early post-hatch stage. But once the oldest baby is about a week old the parents should stop brooding the chicks and start spending most of their time out of the nest so the babies are much more accessible at that point. With my birds it works best to take the parents out of the breeding cage before removing the babies, or at least block the nestbox door with a small towel to keep them out. The parents are alarmed by the sight of an empty nestbox so I don't let them see it.


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