Caring for a baby bird that needs to be hand-fed means you essentially have to be the mother bird. This includes keeping the baby warm, clean, and fed on demand. Expect around-the-clock care to meet the appropriate feeding schedule for your bird's species.
Hand-feeding
The proper hand-feeding formula can help you get your bird off to the right start. You may choose to mix your own or use a convenient packaged mix. Packaged mixes range from those that you cook and cool to easy mix formulas such as Lafeber's Nutri-Start or Kaytee Exact Hand Feeding Formula.
Weaning
Baby birds should be weaned at specific ages depending on their species. It is important to recognize signs that a baby is ready to begin the weaning process as well as indications of a possible problem (such as a bacterial or yeast infection) which would prevent the bird from weaning. Weaning time depends on a variety of factors, including your bird's general health, species, age, and other environmental factors.
Weaning formulas should be palatable while providing the correct nutrients to help your bird grow. A suggestion we have is Exact Conversion and Weaning Diet.
When hand-feeding and weaning, the right skills and knowledge will make the difference between an insecure problem bird and a confident, social bird. A kind, gentle, and patient human hand feeder teaches a bird to be accepting, gentle, trusting and loving with humans.
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