WEANED VS UNWEANED BABIES
8 day old and 2 day old Jenday conures.
If you are only getting one bird, and don't plan to ever handfeed
again, I DO NOT recommend purchasing a baby bird who still needs
to be hand-fed. Wait and get a baby that is already fully weaned
and eating on his own. There are those who insist that feeding
a baby will make it bond to you. This is a myth-I've fed over
50 of my own babies, and there have been several who didn't even
LIKE me. Handfeeding may make YOU bond to the baby, but it won't
make the baby bond to YOU. Another reason for buying an unweaned
baby is price-unweaned babies are often cheaper than weaned ones.
I feel that if you can't afford to buy a weaned baby, perhaps
you shouldn't get one at all. Birds WILL need vet care, and if
you can't afford to pay full price for the bird, what kind of
vet care can you afford for it when it gets sick or injured?
2 to 3 week old Cherry-headed conures.
If you've never hand-fed a baby through weaning before, it CAN
be very difficult, not to mention dangerous. There are many, many
things that can go wrong. An inexperienced handfeeder can inadvertently
over or under feed a baby, burn the baby's crop with too-hot food,
cause sour crop with too-cold food, aspirate the baby (cause inhalation
of formula), cause bacterial infections by improper sterilization
routines, cause behavioral problems by using incorrect weaning
methods, and more. If you save some money by buying an unweaned
baby, and then have to spend several hundred dollars on vet bills
to correct a problem caused by the handfeeding, what have you
saved? Passing an unweaned baby from place to place also stresses
it, weakening its immune system. This leaves it even more prone
to developing infections and illnesses.
The buying and selling of unweaned baby birds is much too risky for the babies involved. It is better for you AND your future bird to purchase a baby who has been weaned by a competent, loving breeder. If you are allowed to choose your baby while it is still handfeeding, try to arrange to can go visit it regularly during the weaning period to play with it and familiarize it with you.
If you truly want to learn how to handfeed baby birds, apprentice yourself to the breeder you get your baby from. Ask him or her to give you lessons, and watch you closely to critique your methods. It's much better to learn slowly, over a period of months or years, than to jump into it all at once by taking on an unweaned infant bird right away.
