Post by ekkiemum on Dec 21, 2005 12:56:26 GMT 8
Some important questions to ask about the babies are:
Tell me how you handfeed and wean your babies.
You will want to hear things like…we handfeed on the baby’s schedule. You will not want to hear things like…we adhere to a strict every two hours until the baby is so many days old then every four hours (or however many hours) until the baby is such an such age…It is OK if the breeder uses some kind of times as general guidelines, however….but not strict rules.
Every baby parrot is an individual, just like every human baby. In the olden days, mothers were told to feed human babies on a strict schedule, but later, that was found to be wrong, and babies should be fed when they are hungry. Similar with parrot babies. Parrot babies should not be made to cry for food or beg for food due to being hungry. This causes trauma and food anxiety for baby parrots.
You will want to hear things like…we syringe feed the baby into the beak …or we sthingy feed the babies. You will not want to hear that babies are routinely gavage fed (tube fed into the crop) or power fed…which is a term the breeder might not use, but means an assembly line type method of feeding the babies…fill syringe, squirt in food, next baby fill syringe, squirt in food, next baby, etc….It is OK if a breeder gavage feeds a baby that is not feeling well and is not eating well until the baby is better and normal handfeeding techniques can resume.
At what age do you pull babies for handfeeding?
You will want to hear things like…we let healthy babies stay with their parents for 10 days…or for three weeks…or even six weeks. You will not want to hear that babies are routinely pulled for handfeeding before 10 days of age or are incubator hatched (there are exceptions…for sick babies, or for parents that destroy their eggs, neglect their eggs, or kill or do not feed their chicks).
What techniques do you use for weaning? What do you wean your babies to?
You will want to hear things like…we use Phoebe Greene-Linden’s Abundance Weaning technique ( there is an article about this technique at the birdsnways website that you may enjoy reading). …We wean our babies to cooked mix and fresh veggies and fruits. You may hear we wean our babies to such and such a brand of pellets. Weaning babies to pellets is not necessarily bad. Just a few years ago, this was considered to be very good…but now we know the fresh foods and cooked foods are better (especially for Eclectus). If you mention you would want your baby weaned to cooked mix and fresh foods, you may find your breeder will do that for you.
You do not want to hear that the breeder weans the baby to “seeds” or to “parrot mix” or “parrot food”. If they do use terms like “parrot food” find out what exactly is meant by that term. If it means a primarily seed diet, then that is not good.
You will not want to hear that babies should not be fed if they are screaming or hollering. Babies that are crying and screaming for food are traumatized and afraid they will starve to death. Good weaning practices include having food around for the babies to play with, touch and taste as well as nibble at or eat – supplemented with judicious hand feeding where necessary. Every baby weans at his/her own rate, some fast, some slower. You do not want to hear that every baby is weaned by such and such an age. That can mean the baby was force-weaned, which is another term for given adult food as the only source of nutrition before the baby is ready to eat a diet of only adult food on his own. Such babies are often poor eaters as adults, are disinterested in food or will not try new food.
You do not want to hear that the breeder uses grit for parrots (canaries, poultry, finches, OK..parrots..no).
How do you socialize your babies?
Are the babies handled with love and affection? Are they alone in their brooder or are they with other young parrots of similar species and/or age? Are they played with? Talked to? Do they learn to play with toys? Do they learn to go to different people (men, women, older children)? Are they encouraged to be curious about their surroundings, to explore and play in safe, supervised areas? Do they have a playtree to play on when they are old enough to do so? Etc…Parrots go though stages of development similar to those of human babies. Phoebe Greene-Linden has some interesting articles about this. I think there is one at the birdsnways website about the stages of development and activities that are good for encouraging coordination, curiosity, social skills, etc for such intelligent creatures.
Do you let the babies learn to fly before they are sent to their homes?
Current thinking is that babies should be competent fliers before having their wings trimmed back gradually and then sent to their homes. This is commonly referred to as “fledging”.
Another thought is that parrots wings should not be trimmed at all, and some breeders will only do it if the new owner requests it.
Fledging is a concept that is gaining more acceptance in recent years, so it is sort of an extra credit item…if your breeder does it or will do it for you, great. Some breeders feel very strongly that the babies’ wings should be clipped for their safety, even while at their facility. As long as the wings of Eclectus are clipped in a proper Eclectus clip, you can always teach them to fly later, if you feel it is appropriate for your home and lifestyle.
If you opt to have your bird’s wings clipped, please read our post at the PDR (Polly’s Desk Reference) forum about wing clips. It explains about Eclectus’ wing clipping needs and some styles that would be appropriate for Eclectus (and warns about some clip styles that are not appropriate for any parrot).
Do you have your babies vaccinated against polyoma.
This is another question that might be considered “extra credit”. Some people consider vaccinating the babies against polyoma to be controversial and do not do it routinely. However, even breeders who generally do not do it will usually have it done it if asked. The breeder should NOT do this vaccination him/herself …an avian vet should do it. Some breeders think they know how to do it correctly (and some do) but some do it incorrectly, rendering it ineffective.
Polyoma is a disease that Eclectus are susceptible to throughout their lives (not just as babies, like with many other kinds of parrots). As a result, many people consider that for Eclectus, it is necessary to vaccinate, especially if the family has other kinds of parrots in the home, or will have other kinds of parrots in the home at some future date, or will visit bird stores, pet stores where there are birds, etc. If you are not sure how you feel about polyoma vaccination, we encourage you to discuss the pros and cons with an avian veterinarian.
What is your health guarantee?
Ensure you have an avian veterinarian for your baby, and ensure your avian vet sees your baby for a thorough wellness checkup within the guidelines of your breeder’s guarantee. Sometimes the guarantee can be negotiated a little. When we brought our birds home, our breeder gave us an extra day to have the veterinary examination performed due to our having to drive a long way on a weekend to get the babies and a long way back to take them to our avian veterinarian on the first day the vet was open again. We had made our appointment in advance, to be sure our babies could be seen the first business day after we could pick them up.
You might even wish to have a consultation with an avian vet prior to bringing your baby home to ensure you and the avian vet have a chance to get to know each other, and you have a chance to ask questions about things like polyoma vaccinations, microchipping, wing and nail clips, diet or anything else that you think of. We did that, and it was well worth the price of the vet visit.
If your breeder does not want to have your baby vaccinated for polyoma prior to your bringing the baby home but you have decided you DO want this vaccination (or if you have decided to just handle it yourself and not ask the breeder to do it), you can have the avian vet do the first injection (there is one two weeks later, then annually thereafter) during the wellness exam.
Tell me how you handfeed and wean your babies.
You will want to hear things like…we handfeed on the baby’s schedule. You will not want to hear things like…we adhere to a strict every two hours until the baby is so many days old then every four hours (or however many hours) until the baby is such an such age…It is OK if the breeder uses some kind of times as general guidelines, however….but not strict rules.
Every baby parrot is an individual, just like every human baby. In the olden days, mothers were told to feed human babies on a strict schedule, but later, that was found to be wrong, and babies should be fed when they are hungry. Similar with parrot babies. Parrot babies should not be made to cry for food or beg for food due to being hungry. This causes trauma and food anxiety for baby parrots.
You will want to hear things like…we syringe feed the baby into the beak …or we sthingy feed the babies. You will not want to hear that babies are routinely gavage fed (tube fed into the crop) or power fed…which is a term the breeder might not use, but means an assembly line type method of feeding the babies…fill syringe, squirt in food, next baby fill syringe, squirt in food, next baby, etc….It is OK if a breeder gavage feeds a baby that is not feeling well and is not eating well until the baby is better and normal handfeeding techniques can resume.
At what age do you pull babies for handfeeding?
You will want to hear things like…we let healthy babies stay with their parents for 10 days…or for three weeks…or even six weeks. You will not want to hear that babies are routinely pulled for handfeeding before 10 days of age or are incubator hatched (there are exceptions…for sick babies, or for parents that destroy their eggs, neglect their eggs, or kill or do not feed their chicks).
What techniques do you use for weaning? What do you wean your babies to?
You will want to hear things like…we use Phoebe Greene-Linden’s Abundance Weaning technique ( there is an article about this technique at the birdsnways website that you may enjoy reading). …We wean our babies to cooked mix and fresh veggies and fruits. You may hear we wean our babies to such and such a brand of pellets. Weaning babies to pellets is not necessarily bad. Just a few years ago, this was considered to be very good…but now we know the fresh foods and cooked foods are better (especially for Eclectus). If you mention you would want your baby weaned to cooked mix and fresh foods, you may find your breeder will do that for you.
You do not want to hear that the breeder weans the baby to “seeds” or to “parrot mix” or “parrot food”. If they do use terms like “parrot food” find out what exactly is meant by that term. If it means a primarily seed diet, then that is not good.
You will not want to hear that babies should not be fed if they are screaming or hollering. Babies that are crying and screaming for food are traumatized and afraid they will starve to death. Good weaning practices include having food around for the babies to play with, touch and taste as well as nibble at or eat – supplemented with judicious hand feeding where necessary. Every baby weans at his/her own rate, some fast, some slower. You do not want to hear that every baby is weaned by such and such an age. That can mean the baby was force-weaned, which is another term for given adult food as the only source of nutrition before the baby is ready to eat a diet of only adult food on his own. Such babies are often poor eaters as adults, are disinterested in food or will not try new food.
You do not want to hear that the breeder uses grit for parrots (canaries, poultry, finches, OK..parrots..no).
How do you socialize your babies?
Are the babies handled with love and affection? Are they alone in their brooder or are they with other young parrots of similar species and/or age? Are they played with? Talked to? Do they learn to play with toys? Do they learn to go to different people (men, women, older children)? Are they encouraged to be curious about their surroundings, to explore and play in safe, supervised areas? Do they have a playtree to play on when they are old enough to do so? Etc…Parrots go though stages of development similar to those of human babies. Phoebe Greene-Linden has some interesting articles about this. I think there is one at the birdsnways website about the stages of development and activities that are good for encouraging coordination, curiosity, social skills, etc for such intelligent creatures.
Do you let the babies learn to fly before they are sent to their homes?
Current thinking is that babies should be competent fliers before having their wings trimmed back gradually and then sent to their homes. This is commonly referred to as “fledging”.
Another thought is that parrots wings should not be trimmed at all, and some breeders will only do it if the new owner requests it.
Fledging is a concept that is gaining more acceptance in recent years, so it is sort of an extra credit item…if your breeder does it or will do it for you, great. Some breeders feel very strongly that the babies’ wings should be clipped for their safety, even while at their facility. As long as the wings of Eclectus are clipped in a proper Eclectus clip, you can always teach them to fly later, if you feel it is appropriate for your home and lifestyle.
If you opt to have your bird’s wings clipped, please read our post at the PDR (Polly’s Desk Reference) forum about wing clips. It explains about Eclectus’ wing clipping needs and some styles that would be appropriate for Eclectus (and warns about some clip styles that are not appropriate for any parrot).
Do you have your babies vaccinated against polyoma.
This is another question that might be considered “extra credit”. Some people consider vaccinating the babies against polyoma to be controversial and do not do it routinely. However, even breeders who generally do not do it will usually have it done it if asked. The breeder should NOT do this vaccination him/herself …an avian vet should do it. Some breeders think they know how to do it correctly (and some do) but some do it incorrectly, rendering it ineffective.
Polyoma is a disease that Eclectus are susceptible to throughout their lives (not just as babies, like with many other kinds of parrots). As a result, many people consider that for Eclectus, it is necessary to vaccinate, especially if the family has other kinds of parrots in the home, or will have other kinds of parrots in the home at some future date, or will visit bird stores, pet stores where there are birds, etc. If you are not sure how you feel about polyoma vaccination, we encourage you to discuss the pros and cons with an avian veterinarian.
What is your health guarantee?
Ensure you have an avian veterinarian for your baby, and ensure your avian vet sees your baby for a thorough wellness checkup within the guidelines of your breeder’s guarantee. Sometimes the guarantee can be negotiated a little. When we brought our birds home, our breeder gave us an extra day to have the veterinary examination performed due to our having to drive a long way on a weekend to get the babies and a long way back to take them to our avian veterinarian on the first day the vet was open again. We had made our appointment in advance, to be sure our babies could be seen the first business day after we could pick them up.
You might even wish to have a consultation with an avian vet prior to bringing your baby home to ensure you and the avian vet have a chance to get to know each other, and you have a chance to ask questions about things like polyoma vaccinations, microchipping, wing and nail clips, diet or anything else that you think of. We did that, and it was well worth the price of the vet visit.
If your breeder does not want to have your baby vaccinated for polyoma prior to your bringing the baby home but you have decided you DO want this vaccination (or if you have decided to just handle it yourself and not ask the breeder to do it), you can have the avian vet do the first injection (there is one two weeks later, then annually thereafter) during the wellness exam.