Hand Rearing Alex's

[namzz]

Hi all! my name is Nam, just joined up to the site.
I've just got a quick question in regards to hand rearing alex's. Im about to purchase a 3 week old baby alex, but i've never had any experience with hand rearing is it a good idea or have you any tips you can pass on ?

[gooka]

Hi there Nam
The best thing i did when i first started hand raising birds was to make friends with and experienced raiser! The guy who owns our local pet shop here has been doing it for years and his advise was priceless. I also suggest to read as much as you can about everything to do with the subject, and never be affraid to ask questions if you're not sure on something(no matter how stupid it may sound at the time!!)
good luck with your alex. Do we get to see a pic??lol

[vankarhi]

I hope the breeder gives you lots of advise or help since you are doing this for the first time. Alex's are easy to raise. I have raised only 2 of them (one is Takoda in my pictures.......the other is a girl I rehomed), but I have raised a few 'tiels.

The most important thing in opinion is hygiene. It is very very important to make sure all utensils are sterile and clean. I always boiled my spoon, cup and syringe before and after feeding. You will need to know how much to feed and how often to feed oh and the formula needs to be at a certain temp too. One breeder told me around 37/38 degrees and another told me around 41. I felt that 41 was too warm, but that was just my opinion, so I tried to make sure it was around 39/40 degrees and I always tested the food anyway, because I did not want to burn the baby's crop with food that was too hot. So you will also need a thermometer. At 3 weeks the baby should be 4 or 5 feeds a day (I tend to always opt for more feeds than less). You have to always check the crop too as if it is emptying too slow there might be an infection starting. I also used to put a bit of apple sauce (baby apple mixture for human baby's no lumps) in one of the feeds just to make sure the crop did empty (as apparently this can help to make the crop empty faster). But I only did it once a day and only added about half a teaspoon when Takoda was only 4 weeks. I also sometimes added a bit of baby mixed veges and meat....once again only once a day and from a very well strained...like for the youngest baby human. I didn't buy these for my human baby's so am not real familiar with them (I made their meals). I am talking about Heinz type human baby foods.

Temperature is also another problem. At 3 weeks he will not have many feathers to keep him warm. My hubby made me a brooder so I am lucky now, but before then, I used a hot water bottle, with a hot water cover over it and then a towel folded over that and then a teatowel for the bird to sit on, then I put all that in a cardboard box and covered that with a towel and kept checking the baby didn't get too hot or cold and obviously had to change the hot water bottle regularly.

Make sure you use a good brand of baby bird formula too. I have used rowdy bush and Kaytee Exact with good results. I have used Avian Science too and will never use it again.

Keep us informed and there are quite a few of us here who can help you through this, but you must also have the breeders number on hand too, just in case something goes wrong and he can help you through it a lot quicker than we probably can.

Good luck.

p.s make sure you do all the research before you bring the baby home, make sure you are fully aware of what is required and what could go wrong and make sure you have the breeders number on hand to ring if you do come across a problem. I rang Takoda's breeder a couple of times and she lives 7 hours south of me..........but we talked a few times and she knew I had handraised a bit before and she calmed me down and I had no problems with any of the birds I raised.

[namzz]

thanks for the replies, ive done my research and i am not that confident in hand rearing a baby alex..

do you guys know of any breeders in melbourne where i can obtain a young alex?

[vankarhi]

What about the breeder you were going to buy the baby alex from? Otherwise put your feelers out and go to vets and pet shops, look in the bird magazines too as they have bird breeders usually listed in them and some even have adverts for sale.

Good luck and I am very pleased you are opting to go for a baby handraised already. It is a bit frightening, but not hard to hand raise. You do have to be very clean with their utensils and keeping the babies warm and the food temp right too.

Keep us informed about looking for a baby and when you get it.

[vankarhi]

I did not mean to buy from pet shops either, I meant to find out where there are breeders. Some pet shops wont do that, but one pet shop in my area have given me the name of a breeder and that is where I got my Shrekie and Skye from.

[sebzpets]

Maybe our Link Lord willl find some clubs here in Australia that have reasonbly upto date websites..so we can have a thread just for ppl looking for specific breeds/breeders. I am not up oon the parrot associations or anything like that but Laraine or John might be able to help with someone here in NSW to get you started with a VIC breeder contact.

[namzz]

The breeder i was going to buy off is only selling them as babies, he does not want to hand rear them at all.

oh well ill find one hopefully

[deeds]

i also hand raised a baby alex of 2 weeks old. It was my firs ttime too and i did lot of research and was v afraid too but i had the same prob u r having

do nto worry its not v hard and hygiene is the key and rest it will turn out good

but if u r in a v busy job and kind get enought time then will be diff as u need to feed him quite many times through out the day specially first month

so do think abt it

[Jane]

Hi Deeds, how is your Alex going? He/she must be all grown up now, I remember your baby pics

[courtzrocks]

try pet supply places, petwise has breeder names if there are any in melbourne. I am getting an alex from ian adcock 0429 899 932 and he has sent mine to a lady who is hand weaning it. Maybe he knows people down in melbourne that do that. I wont be getting mine for another few months cos it is still little but that makes my job easier. Taming them is easy its just the feeding all the time part.

[robert]

It is a pity ,you don't live near Brisbane,as Petiel who is also a moderator on this forum also handraises them and is very good at it. Also Melbourne seems to be lacking in web-sites for parrots . There must surely be breeders . I just wish they would hurry up and put that info on the web. from Robert and Angel

[robert]

Don't know if this will be helpfull. scroll down next.notice Jack Smith from Melbourne. www.karmicaviaries.com/Moustache.htm Also pet shop at top of next might be helpfull . www.birdcare.com.au/alexandrine_parrot.htm from Robert and Angel