Weaning Pablo.

[Jack]

Right, i have been keeping it a secret but i think its time to tell.
A while back i posted a thread regarding what type of new bird i wanted... Well i was at my uncle's one evening and he asked if i wanted a rainbow lorikeet to hand rear!! No way was i gonna miss the oppotunity to get another bird!!
So... Pablo is now 5 weeks old and developing his red, yellow, orange, blue and green feathers!! He is such a character.

To the point. I have searched and searched everywhere for information about weaning lorikeets and couldn't find any anywhere, so... At what age do you wean lorikeets and how exactly?
Any infomation will be greatly accepted and stored in my brain
Oh and i'll post pics later.

[avinet]

Rainbows, and all Lorikeets, are really easy to wean - which occurs at around 9 or sometimes 10 weeks. I'm not sure what you are hand rearing your Rainbow with but when they are young I used a 50/50 mix of a good Lorikeet wet mix (not Shep's!!) and Roudybush hand rearing mix, and as they get towards 6 or 7 weeks I gradually cut down on the Roudybush and by 8 weeks they would get just wet mix. Very quickly they would realize that it tasted the same out of the cup as off the spoon, and before long they would feed themselves.

By 7 weeks I would have them in a cage (wire bottom so they don't get too messy) and put some wet mix, chopped up fruit, veggies, and sprouted seed in the cage and their natural curiosity would get them trying it out. Once they were starting to feed themselves, I introduce dry mix and also separate water (very important once they are eating dry mix) and also start to put in flowering nectar plants - mainly Grevillea and Bottle Brush which they soon love to get stuck into.

Main problem comes when they start flying - they tend to take off and fly in a straight line until they hit something. After picking themselves up off the floor they give a shake of their heads and take off again to hit the next obstacle. Make sure all windows have curtains across them and any mirrors are covered - very important! Fortunately they seem to have thick skulls and I have never had any injuries from this kamikaze instinct It takes 2 or 3 days before they seem to get the hang of turning and realize that they can't fly through obstacles.

Apart from the learning to fly stage they are the easiest babies of all to wean.

cheers,

Mike

[Jack]

Thanks, i had the general idea on how to do it and i thought they would be easier to wean than parrots. I am using 50/50 hand rearing formula and lorikeet wet/dry mix and have slowly started to increase it.
They sure are curious, i turned my back for 3 seconds to pick the roll of toilet paper up of the ground and he had his head stuck into the formula.
My favourite situation so far was when he was stratched out in his beanie on the table and a song came on that had whistling at the beggining... Well, did he ever jump up and screach his little heart out!! He loves it when i whistle to him.
I'm looking forward to him growing up.
He is 5 weeks and at his last weigh in he weighed 122g (after feed). Is that a healthy weight? I weigh him every other day and record it and he puts on the grams fast.
Thanks again!!

[avinet]

Oct 10, 2011 21:45:46 GMT 10 Jack said:

He is 5 weeks and at his last weigh in he weighed 122g (after feed). Is that a healthy weight? I weigh him every other day and record it and he puts on the grams fast.
Thanks again!!

That sounds about right, and he certainly looks OK in the photos. It is best to weigh them before feeding and first thing in the morning before they have eaten and with an empty crop is the best time. Weights after a feed can vary depending on how much they have eaten.

To be honest I usually never weigh babies - I did in the early days but after a while you know how a baby is going by the look and feel. However if a new species turned up then I would likely keep weights for the first few babies. Certainly if the Greys get their act together those babies will be weighed.

cheers,

Mike

[Kevin0Lorikeet]

I have hand-raised a rainbow lorikeet, he has just been weaned at about four months. I started by taking him out of his box and would show him how i get the food out of the small dish, then after a few days he went over to it and started eating himself. He is now five months old and lives in a big cage and feeds himself. To wean him off the egg and biscuit I would say go onto woombaroo food and then onto wet and dry Lorikeet food. Hopes it help.

[Jack]

Pablo is now almost 10 weeks and is nearlly fully weaned. I followed your steps and he loves the bottlebrush flowers i gave him. He eats, well 'chews' his fruit and laps up his wet mix. I haven't put dry food in but i will soon, maybe even today?
You sure a right about their hard heads mike!! He just seams to crash into anything, falls down makes a noise then comes running back to me!
I don't know why a hadn't got a rainbow lorikeet earlier, they're so much fun right from hand-rearing them.
Thanks for all your help too.

[blinkybill]

Pablo sounds soo cute!! hope u are having fun!