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Post by lillyvale on May 3, 2006 15:49:12 GMT 10
we have just got our first egg unexpectedly ....I am concerned about the winter chill which still has not hit us. (central Coast) and the hatched egg(s) when they arrive.
They are scaley cross musk and we wanted to hand raise them anyway so when would be the best time to take them out of the nest given the cold which is overdue. Of course we will have them inside.
How many times should we feed them and what are your recommendations. Also can you let me know the progression on when the drop the feeds. At what age should they be completely weaned?
ta muchly
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Post by vankarhi on May 3, 2006 17:36:32 GMT 10
I would not take them out of the nest until at least 3 weeks old. I like to see pinfeathers at least. They should still be on 4 hourly feeds by then. I don't know much about the lorikeets and lories so that is about all I can advise. My alexandrine which is the latest bird for me to raise was 6 weeks old when i took over feeding and she was on 2 feeds a day...........but I put her back on to 3 a day for a while and she was fully weaned by 10 weeks. You need to do some research before taking them out of the nest if you have never done it before. Plenty of people here do handraise and they will give you advise too. They will need to be kept warm too..............personally I would leave them till they had all of their feathers if you cannot keep them warm enough. Or try a later batch of babies. Good luck with whatever you do and keep us posted  |
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Post by lillyvale on May 3, 2006 20:04:13 GMT 10
When you say 4 hourly feeds ....do you mean night as well?
I am rearing some cockatiels now and have 4 day time feeds
My concern with waiting for another batch, is that I have heard you only get 2 eggs a year and this may be it. Summer may be empty!
The more advise the better on this one.
I plan to bring them inside but it will still be cold at night, unless my beloved husband is willing to let the heater run all night.
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Post by vankarhi on May 3, 2006 21:05:34 GMT 10
They will definetly need more than just heater ............... room temperature. I don't know anything about lories or lorikeets except they need a different diet to most other birds. When i have handraised cockatiels in the past I feed them their last feed at about 10pm then started again about 6am. Rani was already learning to wean and had been dropped to 2 feeds a day by the breeder (even though I put her lunch time feeds back in for a while) and she was fully feathered and it was Summer time here (November early December) when i bought her home. With my tiels, because they were almost fully feathered and about 3 - 4 weeks old I put them on a hot water bottle with a towel folded over it so as not to burn them and covered them with a towel and put them in a small cage or box. But our weather here is not quite as cold as where you are ............. not sure where you are, but assuming NSW and I have never chosen to hand raise a baby during our winter months because it is too cold. If you have a brooder or something similar it would probably be ok. This is just my honest opinion and i am sure others will give their advice and opinions too. Good luck  |
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Post by loriluver on May 4, 2006 0:03:12 GMT 10
I am handraising 2 rainbows at the moment. I pulled mine at 1 week old but I wouldn't advise this if you have never handraised before. As Vankari said 3 weeks or pin feather stage is a good time. Mine are at that stage now and are still been fed 5 times a day 7-730am, 12:pm, 4:00pm, 8:00pm and last feed at midnight. They need to be kept in a brooder at a constant temp of about 26-28 degrees at this stage. I had the unfortunate happen the other night the thermostat on the brooder failed and the temp dropped to 22 degrees my babies were very cold to say the least. I am raising mine on Roudybush 3 and Lori wet mix 50:50 with a teaspoon of Baby apple thrown in. Feeding temp 42 degrees. Here are some links to read that will give you some more information. www.kcbbs.gen.nz/lori/ar/handrear2.htmlThis site has a lot of great information about handrearing www.mooloolabapets.com.au/html/body_handrearing_birds.html |
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Post by lillyvale on May 4, 2006 7:42:44 GMT 10
I think I am in a quandri! I do not have a brooder.
If the parents bring the eggs to hatching stage I doubt they will be warm enough outside. It is much too cold even now with our good weather. Do you think it will upset the parents too much if i put them in another cage with the breeding box and brought them all inside. More chance of survival?
Perhaps i can still handle them a little and the parents feed them. Would that work?
Thanks for the site, I will look at it a later.
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Post by vankarhi on May 4, 2006 19:17:05 GMT 10
As long as the parents do sit on the eggs and hatch them they will be fine. The parents body heat is all they need when being looked after by them. It is only a problem if the parents don't look after them or if we choose to look after them and do not keep them hot enough.
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Post by loriluver on May 4, 2006 23:07:41 GMT 10
Hi Lillyvale, I am not quite sure I understand what you are trying to do.
If your concerns are, Will it survive outside with it's parents in winter. The answer is yes. Mum and dad will keep it warm with their body heat. However, if you are wanting to raise the chick yourself, you will have to pull it from the parents and keep it in a brooder.
I doubt that the parents will take favourably to you taking it for part raising. You run the risk of the parents not accepting it back and therefore will not look after it or perhaps even worse kill the chick.
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Post by vankarhi on May 5, 2006 8:25:08 GMT 10
Lori Luver you worded it much better than me  |
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Post by vankarhi on May 5, 2006 16:30:06 GMT 10
What is part raising a baby bird?? (not meant to be an offensive quetion just curious that is all). My step father used to take the baby teils out and have a quick play with them every day once they were a couple of weeks old and they were hand tame when they came out of the nest and as far as I know the parents never rejected them.........maybe they were lucky. But they never part raised them, they let the parents raise them, just my step father spent time with them for a few mins a day. This is how I got my first baby bird to handraise actually, they just gave me one at about 3 or 4 weeks................because they knew I was good with birds. As a kid I had budgies and had taken some young ones to look after because they were sick, injured or handicapped but had never hand raised any of them.........luckily they were old enough to leave the nest.
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Post by lillyvale on May 6, 2006 17:12:30 GMT 10
Part Raising!
I meant bringing the parents and eggs, lock stock and barrell, into the house in a big cage and letting them do all the work and me just holding them regualrly throughout the process. Hopefully they would not reject them or get cross with me.
Yes - we now have 2 eggs but it seems all this may to no purpose as the parents seem to be out and about in the avairy more than inside. How can I tell if the eggs have life in them or not? Are there any tell tale signs if infertile.
Ta muchly Lilliyvale
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Post by vankarhi on May 6, 2006 17:34:27 GMT 10
they do not sit on the eggs until all the eggs are layed. Then they sit or incubate them...........or at least that is what the chooks do  ............I assumed all birds were the same.  |
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Post by AussieBirds on May 6, 2006 20:11:20 GMT 10
Hello lillyvale,
It is my suggestion that you leave the birds right where they are eggs and all, they will be fine and do their job of hatching the eggs and raising the young. They wont start incubate the eggs until the hen has finished laying and during the day if it is warm you may even find them both out of the nest anyway, if you start moving the birds around and start bringing the eggs inside you will scare the birds off the nest and lose the babies, they wont mind you inspecting the nest box once a day but don't start disturbing them too much.
My advice to you is let the birds do their job, they do it in the wild so there is no reason they wont do it in the aviary if you start mucking around with them too much your asking for trouble.
John
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Post by loriluver on May 6, 2006 21:18:28 GMT 10
Vankarhi, What I meant by part raising was.............................interfering and playing with the birds too much so as the parents will reject it. Sure check on them but is it wise to keep playing with them.?
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Post by vankarhi on May 7, 2006 13:48:08 GMT 10
No harm was meant by my question...........I just did not understand what part raising meant. I thought meant feeding the birds some of the time. I have read where people are advised to take the babies out for a few mins of the day when they are little bit older so they do become used to humans. That way they get the best of both worlds........being fed and looked after by their natural parents which is the best thing for them in most cases and becoming hand tame to humans. I know my step father used to do this, but I never have, but thought it sounded like a good idea to me. I must admit I would be very concerned about the parents rejecting them too...........but my step father was successful in doing this for quite a few clutches. Maybe his birds where so used to him anyway that it did not bother them.  I really did not mean any harm by the question..............I just did not understand what was meant by it. Sorry for the confusion by the way I am not an experienced bird breeder but have a lot of experience with birds as pets and have hand raised a "couple" over the years ;D |
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Post by lillyvale on May 25, 2006 10:41:57 GMT 10
A BABY AT LAST...OUR FIRST LORI...AND WAITING FOR NUMBER 2. We have already named (him/her) 'Toffee'. Hope it has some red like the musk. Will keep you posted on care. I found a small local pet shop and the owner breeds lots of birds. He is going to help me all the way. First thing he said is take them between 19-21 days, feed them the hours you are awake. Always by 7am in the morning and probably 10pm at night or when you go to bed. Just ordinary parrot handrearing mix. I have to keep them in a box with a snake heater underneath to keep them warm at one end of the box. My neighbour is a reptile breeder so he is going to lend us the heater this time around. I AM SO EXCITED...Our first hand reared bird was a lori which died unfortunately so getting these is very special.
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Post by AussieBirds on May 25, 2006 11:03:12 GMT 10
Fantastic news Lillyvale I am so pleased for you congratulations, so where are the pictures LOL.
John
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Post by vankarhi on May 25, 2006 11:28:18 GMT 10
yeah where are the pics. Keep us updated on their growing too. |
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Post by silvercloud on May 25, 2006 13:04:55 GMT 10
Oh how exciting. Congrats on the first and fingers crossed for the second. We want LOTS of pics please. |
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Post by lillyvale on May 26, 2006 12:16:14 GMT 10
Hi Guys, the funniest thing happened. I posted an entry and it did not come up the other day. How odd! It seemed to register as an entry time but no info. I must have done something odd.
Anyway we have our first lori chick and waiting on the next. I will be hand feeding from 19 days old (as advised by a local pet shop owner who breeds lots of them and others). We are very excited, now i need to buy a snake warmer to put under the box so they keep warm.
Hopefully I will get some photos later and post them.
Lillyvale
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............I assumed all birds were the same. 
