Q. Must I wait for the babies crop to empty before I feed it again?
A. Not necessarily, often there will be a little food left in the crop at the time the
next feed is due. This does not matter as long as it is only a little. If there is quite a
lot you may be feeding too much or you may be able to leave a longer period
between feeds. Try changing one or the other before panicking that you have a
problem. However, the crop must always clear completely during the night. If not
then your food is probably too thick or the baby is too cold. 

Q. How old will my breeding pair have to be to start laying fertile eggs?
A. This varies according to the species. The youngest I have heard of a Galah
(Roseate Cockatoo) laying is just under 12 months old and a Moluccan Cockatoo
at two years old, but usually these lay at 2 years old and 4 years old respectively.
Greys are usually at least 4 years old some quite a bit older. Most Amazons lay
at around 4 years and Senegals and similar 3 to 4 years old. Pionus will often lay
at 2 to 3 years old. Macaws at about 6 or 7 years old.

Q. Why has my breeding pair of Hawk-heads stopped laying? It seems to be since I
placed another pair 2 flights away.
A. The placing of a second pair nearby will be the cause, especially if your original
pair were wild caught. Captive-bred birds do not seem to be as bad. They spend
a lot of time competing with each other and 'shouting'. The only answer is to
move one pair out of visual range of the other. This may be enough, if not then
you will have to place them out of audible range as well, which is not so easy.

Q. I measure my food in CCs., but your charts show weight gains in Grams before
and after each feed. Is it possible to work out how much to feed without
weighing the baby several times?
A. The amount to be fed is not that precise, the charts are only a guide, but if you
reckon that 10ml.(CCs.) of food will weigh about 10 grams you will not be far
out especially if the mix is pretty thin. As the mix thickens for the bigger birds it
will weigh more.

Q. Why is it necessary to hand rear so many different species?
A. There are various reasons why parrots are hand reared. In the case of the rarer
birds it is often done so that the parents will lay again and the second clutch is
then left for the parents to rear. This way more babies are raised as otherwise
only one round would be raised in the northern hemisphere (the alternative is
fostering). Sometimes the parents will not continue to feed or brood the babies.
Sometimes they will bite off the emerging quill feathers. Sometimes, usually the
cock bird, will break eggs left in the nest. Often, African Greys (and some other
species) are hand reared as they become tame pet birds quicker. As you can see
there are numerous reasons and these are only a few examples, but parents
should be encouraged to rear at least one clutch each year.

Q. I have heard that it is necessary to provide a humid atmosphere for rearing the
babies, why is this?
A. The babies are better able to digest their food if they have a humid atmosphere. I
always have a container of water with a perforated lid in the brooder during hand
rearing.

Q. Is it better to use a syringe or a spoon with bent up sides to feed the chicks?
A. Some rearers use one method and others use the other, but it really depends
which you feel easier with. A syringe should only be used to place the food in
the mouth and not directly into the crop. I use a different sized spoon for different
sized chicks. It takes a little longer with a spoon, but I feel the curved spoon is
more similar to the parent's beak. However, for various reasons I occasionally
use a syringe.

Q. What is the best bedding to use for rearing chicks?
A. My containers in the brooders all have paper. I use folded tissues for the first
few days, then I switch to shredded paper for the chicks until they move to a cage
(shredded newspaper is very good as it is soft and absorbent). In the past I have
used wood shavings, but I found that some babies (Eclectus for example) tend
to swallow the smaller chips which can cause problems.

Q. Should babies be placed in individual containers and should separate spoons be
used for each chick?
A. Definitely not! Babies benefit from the company of their siblings and even
similar aged babies of different species. Whether you use a separate spoon is up
to you. I do not, but my hygiene is good. I feel a certain amount of cross infection
is good for the chicks to boost their immunity as long as no serious bacteria are
present.

Q. I notice that you start feeding at 7 a.m., but some suggest starting earlier or
feeding all through the night. Why do you start at 7 a.m.?
A. I used to start at 5 a.m. some years ago, but I found that the parents in the nest
often fed at 10 or 11 p.m. and then did not feed again until 6 a.m. My last feed is
11 or 12 p.m. so I decided to make them wait until 7 a.m. My weight recordings
showed that it made no difference to the growth of the chicks. So I now get a
longer night's sleep. I have never fed through the night, I believe the chicks benefit
from a long period without food in each 24 hours. I may check a weak newly
hatched chick at 3 a.m. to make sure it is not dehydrating.

Q. You seem to use different humidity settings for various eggs, why is this?
A. It is necessary for an egg to lose a certain amount of its moisture during the
incubation period. This loss is controlled by the humidity in the surrounding air.
By adjusting the humidity around the egg I can hopefully get a strong chick to
hatch. The amount of loss is not so critical for Amazons, for example, as it is for
Cockatoos and Macaws which generally need to lose less.

Q. You refer to ring sizes by a letter. What is the metric equivalent?
A. The ring size is the one usually adopted in the U.K. and the approximate metric
equivalents are as follows - R = 7.1 mm; S = 7.7 mm; T = 8.7 mm; U = 9.5 mm;
V = 11 mm; W = 12.7 mm; X = 15 mm; Y = 15.8 mm

Q. When should my babies start feeding themselves?
A. You will see from the bottom of my charts the day when the baby is moved to a
cage, this is when it starts to climb out of the container in the brooder. When it is
moved into the cage there are fruit and vegetables as well as seed, pellets, etc. in
containers therein. At first they will be ignored, but soon they will be played
with and some will be eaten, especially if there is an older bird for the baby to
watch feeding. When I am satisfied the baby is eating a little and not just playing,
I cut down on the number of feeds to encourage it to eat more on its own.
Eventually, my feeds cease altogether, when this happens varies from species to
species as you will see from the charts.