Handfed babies?

[Ducky]

K so I've been reading through a lot of threads at this point and one of the things that has surprised me is the number of people on here with parent raised lovies. A lot of people also don't seem to think that pet lovies need or should have handfeeding from 14 days.:confused: Like I said, this is really surprising to me, since most of what I have read prior to here has said that pet lovies do best when they are handfed. Personally, unless it was a rescue, I'm not sure I'd have the patience to wait a year to pet my lovie!

I know that handfeeding isn't everything if the baby isn't properly socialized, but it seems to help from what I've read. Also, what about handraising - letting the baby stay with the parents until weaning but taking it out of the cage several times a day for "socialization." I've just been very confused and decided to ask what everyone thought!

[linda040899]

I, personally, advocate hand raising....letting the babies stay with their parents until they are weaned and taking them out to socialize several times/day. The key to having a tame pet is socialization, not dependence on humans for food. Handfed babies will form a bond with the hand feeder and you still have to win that bird's trust in order to form your own bond with the bird.

How long it takes to tame a parent raised baby that has not been socialized is dependent on the individual bird and how much attention that bird receives. Young birds are relatively easy to work with, while abused ones may never trust humans again.

[kimsbirds]

We do both in our home, ducky.
All my customers tell me they can't tell the difference between hand fed and parent fed. The key is in the socialization. If we are leaving babies to be raised by their parents, we socialize the youngsters several times a day, beginning around the 10 day old mark.
All our babes are sweet, and love to be with people, regardless of who was "mamma".
When I first got into breeding, I too, was told that handfeeding was the ONLY way to have a tame baby. I found out from Linda, very early on in my birdie career, that that's not true.
Its' a personal choice for each breeder, but I have to say honestly, handfeeding is VERY time-consuming and really puts a dent in my days (and nights!)
I find myself to enjoy parent raised babies much more, as I'm not stressed out by handfeeding schedules, and can really focus on just working with them to step up, cuddle, fly to me etc. Don't get me wrong, I love ALL the babies born here, but I prefer not to handfeed if Mamma can do the job.
Just my :2cents:
Kimmie

[Keltoth]

Ha! Ask DebSpace about her birds that she just got from me; the handfed baby (Keeghan) doesn't want to step up for her and is very shy (correct me if I am misrepresenting what you've said, Deb), while the hand-raised/parent-fed bird (Tobin) is a gregarious little guy who's never met a finger he didn't like... :rofl: Both were socialized the same amount of time, but the parent-fed bird is a nicer pet than the hand-fed bird in this specific instance.

Sometimes it's just a crap-shoot. I know it's been said before, but it is not the act of feeding the bird that makes them accepting of humans; it's the actual social interaction with humans that makes the difference. Hand-fed babies are nicer to humans than they would normally be as a side effect of hand-feeding; it is the social interaction with the human during feedings that makes the bird bond with humans - which is why hand-fed babies who are weaned and put in a cage with other birds will revert back to wild status fairly quickly, if not interacted with on a daily basis with humans. Even with daily interaction though, even hand-fed babies can become flighty and agitated when thrust into a totally new, alien environment from their previous home.

I can state that I've done both, and while hand-fed babies can be exceptionally sweet birds, so can parent-fed birds. It all depends on the level of human socialization that the individual bird has received. The dirty little secret that breeders who exclusively hand-feed don't want folks to know is that sometimes, even hand-fed lovebirds can turn out to be birds that are not overly-affectionate of humans - ESPECIALLY if they can see or hear other lovebirds. Just because a person's bird has been hand-fed does not in any way guarantee that they are getting a bird that will be an exceptionally loving, sweet bird. It's the human/bird time investment that makes a sweet bird, and even then, that bird that is sweet and loving to you might turn shy and flighty if/when it is removed from your home and presence and sent to another place to live. Some birds thrive under change, and some take longer to readjust.

...just like people. Funny how that works, huh?

- Eric

[Janie]

Personally, unless it was a rescue, I'm not sure I'd have the patience to wait a year to pet my lovie!



You took the words right out of my mouth! :D

My first lovie was a pet store parent raised bird that I adopted 3 1/2 years ago when he was 7. He was tame. His former owner (who got him when when she was about 12) said he'd always been tame as far as she remembered. My guess is that she just grabbed him from the beginning and while that method usually doesn't work in building trust, in his case it must not have bothered him. She's had other birds before him and being young, she just did what she thought was OK and with Oliver, it worked. After having him tame and reading on this forum for a couple of years, I knew I did not want to get a wild lovie so I did find a breeder that pulls the babies at around 9 or 10 days old and also socializes them every day from that time till they go to their new home. My guess is that hand feeding without socializing is not going to give you a very tame baby.

From what I've read here, I think "socialization" is the real key to having a young tame lovie and if I were going to breed, that is the way I'd do it.....let the parents raise them (if at all possible) and then socialize them as soon as they are old enough to be held.

[Mummieeva]

I had a parent raised and a hand fed bird both. My parent raised was tamer then hand-fed.lol. Personally I am with the others in letting parents feed the babies and I do the socializing. I was the grandparent..playing with kids and returning to parents when they were cranky.lol.



Steph

[DebSpace]

You're exactly right, Eric! Keeghan is now stepping up for me on a perch, but doesn't want anything to do with my hands yet, including not taking millet if it is held with my hand. When I tried using my hands again last night, Tobin was right beside Keeghan and hopped up on my finger like he did before, proving once again that a bird's personality is unique to that bird. Tobin eats the millet from my hand, too. (BTW, Eric, I can see Keeghan becoming more relaxed day by day, even in the way he looks at me without his feathers shrinking into panic mode.:) )

[Boris_fan]

Just adding my :2cents: my breeders were rescues and not tame at all and they will rip your face off given the chance... they make great babies... and all 3 pairs are great parents untill about 3 weeks then on 3 weeks 1 day they pick the babies bald... still full crops but they babies are naked.... so this time my second clutch...i took them right before they were pluck and hand feed them and hand raised them and they are all great babies but i am afraid to leave them in there any longer for fear of plucking.... i have all the nesting boxes off now and giving them a rest untill april and they are trying to eat eachohter through the cages i have to put separaters between the cages... where they actually drew blood on the one males foot ,we held him in a towel, stopped the bleeding and neosporin to the rescue he is fine and fisty now......:clap: so thats my story... .:)

[Ducky]

Thanks everyone for the replies! I have just been curious, and while I do not plan to breed lovies in the immediate future, this is helpful. It's also great since I'm planning on getting another lovie this summer and was curious as to what kind of difference it makes. More...birdies...:D

[rmhand]

I let Rupert and Tweety raise their babies and as suggested here in the forum I started handling the babies to socialize them. It's working very well. They seem to be completely weaned as they've been drinking water and eating on their own now...the parents did an excellent job. The babies enjoy coming out daily to interact with me. I'm teaching them to step up and it is working very well. These babies are just as friendly as any hand-fed one I've seen. It makes me feel good that I didn't interfere with the parents in the feeding process although I was ready in case they refused to take care of them. I'm fortunate that all three babies are healthy and active. Sometimes too active, but they're a lot of fun.

[Finnysmommie]

Finny was purchased from a pet store chain. He was not tame nor hand raised. In two weeks he was my new BFF. I think that is probably not the norm. I knew nothing about birds when I purchased him so it is probably more of a miracle.

Reilly was hand raised and was tame when I got him. It took about the same amount of time for him to be completely comfortable with me. He only took a couple of days to learn up to get on my hand but he was not completely comfortable until about 2 weeks.

I think a lot has to do with personality of the individual bird. When I purchased Evie (who passed away). She was from a breeder and they said she was tame and hand raised. NOT!!!! She was so fearful it broke my heart. We had her for almost a year and in that time she was never completely comfortable with us or me. She would get up on me sometimes but it was not until she was very sick that she ever bonded with me.

Cindy