Abstract
Billy Bird is a Double Yellowheaded Amazon. He hatched, under his mother, on the third of September, 1982 and by so doing created a vortex of new and different experiences that "sucked" me right in; I was changed forever: Because of that 15 gram, altricial ball of down, today every aspect of my existence is "colored" by birds. It's difficult to imagine anything so small having such a profound impact on one's life hut I promise you, it's true. He was the first of over 1000 parrots who have hatched for or been hatched by me since that fateful day.
The hatching of my first baby Amazon revealed a terrible truth; I knew next to nothing about parrots and was desperate to become educated. There was a dearth of printed material available so I asked innumerable questions of anyone who expressed the least knowledge of birds. Countless hours on the phone to kind strangers eventually paid off. I discovered the names of some of the upper echelon aviculturists and began directing my queries to them. Of course, I wanted to emulate those who were successful. Since childhood. I have always been surrounded by a myriad of animals. The possibility of "doing birds full time" was immensely appealing to me.
Incubation of psittacine eggs seemed to he "fashionable" in the early 1980s hut the only hook available to me was one on poultry, 771e Incubation Book by Dr. A. F Anderson Brown. Nevertheless, I read it from
·cover to cover, several times over.john Stoodley was soon to he published and his "Parrot Production" better suited my needs. He talked about such wonders as "fostering" chicks under congenial hens, hand feeding from day one and even how to build your own incubator. WOW!
Lacking his mechanical skill, I bought a TurnX and called myself an
aviculturist. Fifteen years later, (in the words of an old cigarette commercial), I can truly say, "I've come a long way, Baby!"
Raising domestically hatched, baby parrots is an honor, a lot of work and a HUGE responsibility. If you have occasion to raise chicks from day one you should he prepared to do for them what their parents would do under the most perfect of circumstances. Tiny babies need more than food, heat and clean bedding; they need nurturing and individual attention.
Look at a hahy Amazon in the nest; note how meticulously preened the hahy is, just a few hours after hatch. The f1uffy down that looks so pretty is also a thermo-regulator so if there is no hen available, hrushing and fluffing hecomes my job.
Mother Nature has given baby psittacines a signal whereby they can tell their parents to feed them. They hob up and down vigorously and emit a characteristic c1y which their parents respond to by regurgitating food into/over them and cleaning up the mess. Feeding time is also a time for attention and nurturing. If your feeding method is one that doesn't require much time spent with individual birds then you need to dawdle. Stop and spend some time with each baby as you encourage them to solicit food. A
natural behavior and powerfully stimulating, it behooves a hand feeder to elicit this response. The motion of bobbing and the vocalizing encourages vigor, gives the full crop time to expand, stimulates the whole gastrointestinal tract and promotes elimination. Of equal importance is the apparent fact that the babies seem to like it.
I brood new hatches, one to a container, so I am the only living creature that they see. I keep chicks on paper napkins for the first three or four weeks; they don't have "friends" to snuggle with until I put them on shavings. They need and deserve my companionship. I truly believe that they will he happier, better adjusted pets or breeders for my early efforts.
If you don't already know, birds won't he sweet if all you do in the way of handling is to feed them and change their hins/cages. When I had a few babies, playing with them all was never a problem. Fortunately, by the time I was routinely feeding 30 or 40 chicks at a time, I was also able to hire help. Ideally, my helper feeds the outside breeder birds which leaves me free to feed and nurture babies. (I must wash my hands 100 times a day.) When feeding neonates I make it a point to caress and speak to each individual chick, stimulating them to give me a feeding response and complimenting them on their beauty and vigor. I really fill up my babies and I want to be sure that all passages are clear before I move on to the next parrot chick.
Psittacines lack the musculature to cough hut energetic vocalizing assures the handfeeder that the trachea is free of formula. Calling to be fed and the
pumping motion of soliciting for food is a natural form of exercise, it simultaneously stimulates and satisfies young birds who depend on their caretaker for literally everything.
Once they are "off heat," I take a bin full of babies with me and make time for petting and preening during phone calls, watching a video, even reading, (all these pastimes leave at least one hand free). A few moments here and there throughout the day will go a long way towards satisfying a baby bird's need for affection. Hearing you talk, watching you work is reassuring to young parrots. If you were feeding 30 chicks you would need 10 hours each day to give each one of them 20 minutes of individual attention. Most of us don't have this kind of time but a "piece-meal" approach to socializing can be very effective.
Holding back a bird that you have raised to become a future breeder is the supreme act of conservation. With gene pools growing ever smaller, each individual parrot that hatches today will play some part in the destiny of psittacines throughout the world.
In reviewing my records I see that slightly more than ten percent of Birdlady's Babes have been utilized as breeders in the last 15 years. I'm happy with that ratio and I know that many aviculturists in America have similar accomplishments to be proud of. I hear a lot of dire predictions about the future of parrots in captivity, especially from the English faction of aviculture, but my own observations indicate that responsible breeders are holding back stock in appropriate numbers: Good for us!
A novice breeder who has experienced a modicum of success might ask herself, "I've set up all the pairs that I can manage, now what do I do with babies that hatch in the future?" Most of the chicks that hatch at Birdlady's Babes are sold into the pet trade. This is necessary in order to fund my operation and has nothing to do with greed or heartlessness. I have a few, carefully selected buyers, to whom I will sell chicks. These people have been scrutinized and their methods thoroughly examined.