MYTH: "I was told
that a bird bonds better to you when you hand-feed it yourself."
FACT:
Don't believe a word of it. Baby birds have 3 stages of life. The first is
when they're born and their eyes are shut. At this point in time, they don't
care about you and they're not looking for a social bond. The second,
is when the baby is growing and fledging and weaning. This time of their
lives, they're only interested in flying and eating. They seek out their
feeder for sustenance and to build confidence. They are not looking for a
social bond. The last stage is when the baby is weaned, fledged, moving into
an independent stage and this is the point a baby goes to their new home
because they ARE looking for a social bond!
Don't fall for the lies about needing to hand-feed your own baby.
These lies are perpetuated by breeders who want to get out of the HARDEST
part of raising birds! They want to pass on the difficult problems that can
arise from hand-feeding onto some unsuspecting person who is eager and
willing to get their baby right now. Sure, you might save a few hundred off
the cost of the bird, but is this worth your baby's life?
Inexperienced hand-feeders can:
♦ Feed too hot formula and
burn a baby's crop, causing extreme surgery and usually a slow and agonizing
death.
♦ Aspirate a baby by getting food into
the lungs, causing pneumonia and death.
♦ Not using good disinfection practices
- causing fungal and bacterial infections.
♦ Underfeed a baby, which slowly starves
it to death, or retards its growth both physically and emotionally.
♦ Force wean a baby on a time schedule
which causes behavioral and psychological issues as an adult that do NOT
go away.
♦ Feed too cold formula which causes
problems with digestion like slow crop, food refusals, and other illnesses.
♦ Not keeping a close eye on proper
development and weight which will eventually take a toll on organs and bone
growth...
BECAUSE: If you've never hand fed
baby birds;
You do NOT have the experience to know what you're doing.
You do NOT have the know-how to catch those tiny little warning signs
in a tiny baby and fix the problem before it gets worse.
You do NOT have the baby's best interest in mind and sadly, neither
does a breeder who allows their precious chicks to leave them unweaned.
Think long and hard about this. Do you really want to be sitting
there, with a dead baby in your hands? Of course you had the best
intentions... but in the end, the baby pays the higher price. How social and
bound to you is that baby now? How great a pet is that baby now?
Think long and hard and in the end...
Let the professionals do their jobs. Do not buy an
un-weaned baby.
Do not listen to a breeder that tells you any different than what you've
read here.
Do not believe anything different than what you're read here.
Do not buy an un-weaned bird, and do not deal with breeders willing to hand
an un-weaned baby into your care.
