I am not only new to the forum but also am a new Quaker owner. We own two, Mac and Maxine (Male and Female). We decided after noticing that Maxine was laying eggs (we removed them prior to our decision) to start to try our hand at raising babies. We just had two of three eggs hatch (cute little buggers), but are totally dumbfounded as to what our responsiblity is to the feeding of these chicks. First we were afraid to touch them for fear that Mom would reject them, but then became concerned that the little ones were not eating. We checked the internet for info on this subject but found not alot that was definitive. Maybe we put the "cart before the horse" with this chick raising idea, but it is too late to back out now so WE NEED SOME HELP!!

1. The chicks were just hatched a couple of days ago. One of the three is not hatched yet. They are quite active, moving around, etc. but we have not seen Mom paying too much attention. Are we supposed to be feeding these little guys or does Mom take care of this for awhile? I did see on another site that Mom regurgitates food for them for awhile but we have no idea for sure if it is being done. If we are supposed to feed them, how, and what? The chicks seem so fragile and we do not want to harm them or do something wrong, so could I get some input as to just what we should do.

2. If we decide not to hand feed them, what is the advantage and disadvantage? Do we take them from the Mother or what? When? What do they eat?

Thanks in advance for any help that anyone can provide.

Larry

I have not done any breeding myself but can tell you some about it. If I am wrong I know someone will be around to correct me. Yes, I agree you did get started kinda half cocked but like you said that is water under the bridge now. It is imperative that they are being fed by the parents or they will succumb quickly. That means you would have to take charge and handrear yourself with a formula. IF they are feeding them then to be tame you will have to take them away from them at about 2 or 3 weeks old and still hand feed them until weaned. Which is maybe anywhere from 12 to 15 weeks old. If the parents are feeding them you can let them do it but by the time they are weaned they will be as wild as march hares probably. But still tameable in the end. You are gonna have your hands full because they will have to be fed around the clock. Get on the internet and start reading. Someone may have to show you how to feed them as well. IT IS A BIG DEAL>. But since you have them already here all you can do is learn from this experience. Im sure someone else will be around soon to give you more info. I wish you and your babies lotsa luck.

Hey Larry
where in Fl are you?
are you sure the parents arent feeding them?

If their crops are full - and due to the fact they they have lived this long - they are being fed. I was told with love birds that if the babies are not being fed at all, they die very quickly - within hours. If they are not being fed, they need to be fed constantly. You need to double check with a vet, but I believe the time table at a few days is about every half hour - or when their crops fully empty. I know when they are first born they need to be fed every 15 minutes.

Handfeeding is good and bad. Some people claim that the birds are more tame, others believe the opposite. Out of the three birds I have hand fed, Drago is the tamest. The two lovies - since they came from pretty much "wild" parents - are still somewhat wild even though we handle them just as much. Regardless, hand feeding is very time consuming and you have to know what you are doing (the food has to be mixed a certain way, with a certain temperature of water, etc). The sooner you pull the babies - roughly 14 days after hatching - the easier it is to hand feed. Even so, you are looking at probably 3 feedings a day, all of which need to be on schedule. If I were you, I would let the parents feed the babies unless you have to pull them or have a lot of time to feed the birds.

Plus, if you leave them with the parents, they will wean the birds - which can be difficult. The lovebirds were weaned in about a month and a half, Drago was almost almost 4 1/2 months old by the time he was weaned and even then he tried to revert.

Keep in mind, that no matter what you do, when the birds reach a certain age (usually around weaning time) the parents will kick them out of the nest and you will have to put them in another cage.

You said that you have 1 egg left to hatch. Do you know if it is viable?

You've received some great answers so far. I'm going to go ahead and add my little bit of info...



Sounds to me like mum is feeding them. As already stated, if mum/dad wasn't feeding the chicks, they'd be dead by now. You will want to only check the nest box twice a day. No more then that. I usually check in the morning and at night. Try to do it when the parents are out of the nest box. Quakers can be nervous parents sometimes and if you mess with the nest box too much, they'll abandon, or kill, the chicks.

So for the first 10 to 14 days, leave the babies alone with the parents. You should be offering the parents LOTS of soft foods. Cooked brown rice, whole wheat pasta, lots of cooked veggies (the ones that are safe), basically anything that is on the softer side. This is great food for them, and thus the babies.

During this next 2 weeks, start doing some research. There isn't many Quaker breeding/weaning articles out there, so look for Cockatiel articles. They are pretty much the same when it comes to raising them. Research is SO important (as I'm sure you've discovered). Raising parrots is much, much different then cats/dogs. It is quite a bit more work.




The advantage to handfeeding is that you'll have much more tame chicks. Quakers that are parent fed rarely make good pets. They tend to be mean and bitey and take a LOT of work to tame them down. So if you want to have pets out of these babies, then you'll have to handfeed them.

Usually chicks are pulled between 10 and 14 days. They need to be fed 5 times a day and the usual schedule is: 7 am, 11 pm, 3 pm, 7 pm, 11 pm. This is just a rough guide. Basically, so long as you are feeing every 4 hours it's good. You don't feed through the night at this age, as this let time for the crop to completely empty (which it should do at least once every 24 hour period).

Parrot handfeeding formula is what is fed. You can buy it at most pet stores in the bird section. Roudybush, Kaytee, Hagens, they are all good brands of formula. Mix it up according to the instructions on the bag. It is very important to have two thermometers to test the temperature of the formula. Too hot and you could burn the chicks crop, too cold and you could cause crop issues.

You'll also need a brooder, heat source, syringes (or a bent spoon whichever method you chose to handfeed), and the list goes on.

Handfeeding parrots is tough work. They are very time demanding and if you do one thing wrong, you could kill the chicks.

Here are a few articles that cover handfeeding. They are for Cockatiels, but the basics are still the same:

http://www.cockatiel.org/articles/handfeeding.html

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww62e.htm
http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww63e.htm
http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww64e.htm
http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww65e.htm

For how to handfeed, I'd go onto Youtube.com and do a search on Quakers and Handfeeding. You should have lots of videos pop up and that will give you an idea as to how to go about it. Here is one of NCVon's videos (she's a member on this forum who had to handfeed one of her Quakers from day 1...not an easy task ): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h86mOydz8N0 Notice how she has the syringe pointed to the right side of the bird's mouth. This is very, very important.

Another option is to start looking for a breeder in your area and see if they would be interested in taking the birds from you and let them handfeed the babies. Some breeders would do this for a small fee, or if you don't want to keep the birds, then you could just give them the chicks. That is something to think about.

I am North Port, southwest Florida....right below Venice and Sarasota. I am not sure at all if the parents are feeding the little buggers, but from what others have said, they would have died very quickly if they are not being fed....so, I am assuming they are. Other that watching the goings on 24/7, how can I tell if they are feeding them? What should I look for?

Thanks for the info!! I guess they are feeding them as they are alive after 5 days now and making a bit of noise too. I do not know if the third egg is viable or not. How can I tell? There we four eggs but one of them "disappeared" and I am assuming that it was not viable and Mom and Dad took care of it. I am aware of the fact that we will have to feed them quite often and we are willing to do this but right now, what we need to know, is WHAT DO WE FEED THEM after the two weeks.

Thanks so much for some great info and links. Seeing this done on the video was very informative. What do you suggest as far as the food to feed them. And I see too, that NCVon, is feeding them from Day #2. How do I know if this needs to be done with my two little guys.

To ensure the parents are feeding them, you have to check the crops of the babies. They should be nice and full. At this point, if the babies are still alive, I think the parents are doing a fine job of things and I'd leave them alone for now.

Some good brands of formula are Kaytee, Hagens, and Roudybush.

Where can I get info on the brooder and heat source?

If you read all the links I gave you, you'll find instructions in there on brooders and how to make your own.

Or, you can purchase a professional one online.

We use the Kaytee hand feeding formula. That was recommended to us by a lot of other breeders. That is one that is readily available at pet stores in our area. With hand feeding 2 baby love birds and a Quaker we went through a few jars of the formula.

The parents will often eat the eggs that won't hatch. If the last egg doesn't hatch, remove it when you take out the babies or the babies leave the nest.

When we got Drago he was just 2 weeks old and he had been kicked out of the nest. The store we got him from had been hand feeding him already so he was use to the process. He had a lot of down, so we lucked out and didn't have to set up a formal incubator (we had a plastic storage bin with hole poked in the top with care fresh bedding). We were feeding him 3 times a day. Didn't take long - maybe 2 weeks - until he was ready to be in a cage, but not really ready to wean. When we pulled our lovebirds at roughly the same age, they needed a formal incubator, had to be fed 4 times a day and one was really stubborn (even forcing him to eat would take an hour).

Handfed babies make good pets, but if you want to sell the birds to other breeders, you may want to steer away from hand feeding. Many breeders in our area will not touch a handfed baby because supposedly (not my theory) they tend to not take care of their young well.

The best brooder we have used is home made. Here is the example we followed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzRh1nf8myA

Almost everything you need can be found at WalMart.

I have a 3 week old baby quaker. I need help...I don't know if she is okay or not. She usually moves her head around and opens her mouth and makes noises when I come around or she hears me. But she is not doing this she is just sleeping and laying there. Is something wrong with her? What should I do? please help me! I love her so much.
Megan

Hi, Welcome to the forum!!

I realize that you're new here and probably haven't quite figured out how things are done but this would best be posted in a separate thread of it's own.

Are you experienced with handfeeding? If not, you need to get some help from a breeder or a vet ASAP. There are a lot of things that can go wrong if you're not experienced and I'm afraid it sounds like something has.

I would get that baby to a vet right away!!!! She could have "slow crop" from the temperature of the formula being too low. She may have "sour crop" or several other things.

I wish I could tell you she's OK but it doesn't sound like she is.

Best of luck.

Hi Larry,

Usually,the babies should be feed by their parents for 25days, it is good for the babies. And the food which the mum regurgitate is good. After that we usually take the babies out of the nest and do handfeeding, like sun and QP kinds, in China most of the breedpark and vet using VERSELE-LAGA A21 instead of the mum's vegurgitate, and 3hours a time, till the babies can eat apples and carrots etc. And than feed them with A21 tiwce a day, 10ml a time WATER:A21=1:1...
And if u haven't got A21, U can use HEINZ nutrion rice flour mixed with oat&samp and cooking them together with water. The older the babies grow the denser u feed.
Keeping warm is the second important thing u should pay attention to. And do not play with the babies a lot, let them sleep.

All above is my experiences to u on handfeeding my Suncounre.
Wish your babies will be fine!