Handfeeding Baby Parrots

Hand Raising baby parrots can mean many things. Parrots are born naked and helpless into this world, unable to stand or feed themselves and need their mothers warmth to survive. unlike other birds like chickens which pop out of the shell and immediately start running around and eating.

Many bird breeders leave the chicks in the nest for the first three to four weeks before pulling the babies. They may then handfeed the baby for another week or two before wholesaling the bird to a pet shop to complete the weaning process. The weaning time can vary from three months to six months for larger parrots. This approach to hand feeding satisfies the technicality of saying the bird is handfed but doesn't necessarily provide a properly socialized and tame pet bird.

The early months are the key to a loving and properly socialized parrot My large and medium sized hookbils are handraised from day one. I pull the eggs from the nest as they are laid and incubate them in the Avey Incubator The three variables in the incubator environment are (four actually) temperature, relative humidity and how often and regularly the eggs are turned and bacteria or the lack of it.

The incubation period is 28 days for my macaws and African Grey Parrots. I set my incubator for 99.3, and the wet bulb thermometer varies between 84 to 87 degrees depending on amount of weight lost by the eggs during incubation.