sleeping place for baby

Oct 01, 2011

sleeping place for baby
by: Linda

If he can sit a perch, then that would be best for him. If he cannot, then a cage is needed, and you'll have to use unprinted newspaper in the bottom to keep ink off him until he's ready to sit on a perch. Make sure any cage for him is large enough so he can completely spread his wings and flap as this is good exercise for one unable to climb around a cage. Do not use any kind of wood chips as babies and even grown birds tend to eat these, and they will cause an impaction that kills the bird. Unprinted newspaper is found at your local newspaper and is very cheap as they are end of rolls they couldn't use and they sell them cheap. Just ask for them, and they'll point you in the right direction. We use this for the bottom pans of our double Macaw cage as the smell of ink can also be irritating to parrot's lungs.

Also, at 5 months, this Macaw should still be handfed using baby parrot handfeeding formula. This is found here, and you'll need to already know how to handfeed using a syringe. If he's partially weaned, you'll still need to offer 2 60cc syringes of food once or twice a day. Baby birds tend to revert back to being babies and needing handfeeding when they're moved. It happens with any of them as young as this one.

In the wild, Mother Macaws and Cockatoos can and do feed their babies 9 months to a year while teaching them how to forage for food. So I imagine he will also need supplementation with the handfeeding formula.

If you don't know how to do this, and believe me, handfeeding a Macaw is different from smaller birds, you'll need breeder to show you how a few times. Baby Macaws bob their heads very hard and very fast, and if you don't have a good hold on the jaws behind the head, you'll be washing formula off the bird, you and anything in range, so let breeder show you how to do this correctly.

First time I fed a Baby Greenwing, I'd already been feeding up to 40 babies several times a day of the smaller varieties. I thought, "No big deal, just another baby bird". Well, I couldn't have been more mistaken as they do not eat in as civilized a fashion as the smaller birds, so make sure you understand how to hold without hurting him and which side to put syringe into so he does not get strangled as this leads to pneumonia.

I highly recommend a trip to Avian Vet with him to make sure he is infection free and at the right weight before anything. If breeder can show you a health certificate of a very recent visit, then that's great. If not, please make sure this baby has a good start with you.

Thanks for writing, and I'm very envious of your good fortune to have not just one of these wonderful birds, but TWO!!! Congratulations and Best of Everything to You and your Birds!

Linda

sleeping place for baby

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sleeping place for baby

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