# Question about hand-rearing



## ollie (Nov 2, 2008)

Quick question about hand-feeding as opposed to handling chicks from an early age...

Is there much difference in how tame and sociable the cockatiel will be if he is handled each day then put back with the parents and fed by the parents, rather than being hand-fed from about 2 and half weeks old?

Will the cockatiel accept human contact and be as tame as a hand-fed bird?

Also, any pros and cons of hand-raising birds this way? How old would you reccomend the chick should be before it is handled? I was thinking around a week or two old?

Thanks!
-Ollie


----------



## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

You can handle them the day after they hatch! There are some who say that handling doesn't go as far as hand feeding to make a bird tame. I have to say that I agree with that. I usually pull my babies for hand feeding at the age of three weeks unless the parents aren't doing a good job keeping them fed. then I pull them sooner. You can just do additional feeding to what your parents do. The idea is to get them to look upon you as a source of food like a parent thereby removing any threat that the chicks will naturally feel from a human.


----------



## allen (Aug 25, 2007)

i have done both and this is what i have learned they are tame yes when hand raised and do look at you as a parent but when hand fed they tend to bond to you alot quicker and they love the attention but you should be ready with all required stuff to hand feed just incase there is an emergency like miracles dad poked holes in her crop and i had to hand feed from 1 week old that also includes making sure you have a brooder setup ready as well


----------



## ollie (Nov 2, 2008)

Thanks so much for the replies!


> You can just do additional feeding to what your parents do. The idea is to get them to look upon you as a source of food like a parent thereby removing any threat that the chicks will naturally feel from a human.


That's a really good idea, I think that's what I'll do. Like if you feed (additional to the parent feeding) and handle the chicks, say, twice a day, morning and night?


----------



## allen (Aug 25, 2007)

2-3 times a day atleast 5 minutes each time


----------



## ollie (Nov 2, 2008)

Ok, thanks!


----------



## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

You could get away with 2X a day if it's just supplimental feeding. But Yes spend a little time with them. Talk to them. It will amaze you the way they look at you.


----------



## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> You can just do additional feeding to what your parents do.


This is what I did (aka co-parenting) and the chicks turned out great. I didn't really want to handfeed them since the parents do a much better job, but handling alone wasn't doing the job - they considered me to be a predator and screamed whenever they saw me! So I started feeding them once or twice a day when they were two to three weeks old and that changed their attitude very quickly. I also handled them and talked to them while I had them out.

One thing I learned early on was that the parents were alarmed by the sight of the empty nestbox, so I stopped letting them see it and put the parents in a different cage before I took the chicks out. The parents stayed tame through the breeding period and cooperated with this. It could be a major problem if the parents were wilder.


----------



## atvchick95 (Sep 17, 2007)

I was told it wasn't healthy to Feed them then put them back with their parents that the parents would then feed them again when they were still full and cause them to be over fed , stretch out the crop and all kinds of other bad things


----------



## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

The parents won't feed overnight and all that's really needed is that the crop empty out completely once in a 24 hour period. The parents seem to sense how much food a baby needs and I've never seen one overfeed one.


----------



## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> I was told it wasn't healthy to Feed them then put them back with their parents that the parents would then feed them again when they were still full and cause them to be over fed , stretch out the crop and all kinds of other bad things


I fed the chicks as much as they wanted, which was NEVER as much as the recommended feeding amount for chicks that are solely handfed. Makes sense, because the parents don't follow the handfeeding schedule so the chicks weren't as empty as they would be with handfeeding alone. Sometimes the parents would try to feed the chicks as soon as I put them back, but the babies would refuse if they were already full. Sometimes a chick that hadn't taken much from me would accept food from a parent, but there were no problems with overfeeding. 

And no problems with underfeeding either. That's the beauty of co-parenting. If a chick doesn't handfeed as much as you thought it should, you don't have to worry about it going hungry because Mom and Dad will step in and feed the chick as needed.


----------

