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How long does it take for a
baby parrot to hatch?
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At what age is a baby parrot
weaned?
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When do the eyes and ears
open on a new chick?
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What is the temperature kept
at to stay warm?
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How often does a baby parrot
have to be fed?
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What kind of formula is used to feed the baby
parrot?
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Does the baby parrot have to be fed through the
night?
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What do you use to feed the baby
chicks with?
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What heating
source do you use to keep chicks warm?
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Is it best to buy from a breeder or a store?
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What kind of
health guarantee comes with the baby?
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Can I come
and see the baby parrot that I am buying while it is being hand fed?
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Can I take home the baby to finish hand feeding
it?
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When will my baby parrot learn to talk?
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At what age
does a baby parrot learn to eat on their
own?
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What is fed to a
weaning parrot?
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How do I know what sex the parrot is?
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How big should the cage be for a parrot?
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How large should the perch be?
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Will that Parrot Bite?
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When should I take a parrot to the vet?
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Can you get a parrot vaccinated?
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Are
plants toxic to parrots?
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What foods are toxic to parrots?
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Which is better to feed, seed or pellets?
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Why do you breed and raise parrots?
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Is it a lot of up keep on breeding parrots?
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Why don't you sell all your breeding parrots, so
you can take vacations?
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If I buy my parrot from you and I don't want it
anymore,
will you buy it Back?
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What do you do if people ask too many questions?
Most parrots take 26 days after incubation starts. Cockatiels and some
smaller birds take from 18-21 days to hatch. Sometimes the mother hen will wait
until all her eggs are laid, the she will start sitting. Some will start sitting
from the time they lay their first egg. Its best to try to date the egg lightly
in pencil at the wide end of the egg, but you must be very careful and not press
too hard, you don't want to break through the shell.
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This can vary quite a bit, and depends on the species of birds. Cockatiels
and such small birds take up to six weeks. Pionus, Amazons, Greys and such
medium size parrots are at least 3 months. Large parrots such as Cockatoos,
macaws take at least 4 months. Hyacinth Macaws take longer up to 8 months to
wean.
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Usually 11-14 days. The eyes start slitting open and the ear holes will also
start opening as well.
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Newly hatched chicks start out at about 98.5 degrees. Proper temperature is
important for food to properly digest. The temperature is lowered as a few days
go by and then it should be between 85-90 until pin feathers start coming in and
then it can be lowed to around 80 degrees. The chick must be kept comfortable
and away from drafts. For humidity, you can saturate a cotton ball with water
and put it in a container out of harms way. You wouldn't want to put just water
in a container because the chick could get in it and drown.
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A newly hatched chick must be fed every 2 hours for 7 days. Then to every
three hours at about 2-3 weeks old, for about a week or more. So on and so on.
Always watch the crop as it should not empty out except through the night.
New hatchlings must be fed a very watery thin formula for the first couple of
days. You can read more on our
page.
I use Zupreem or Roudybush hand feeding formula. There are
several different hand feeding formulas on the market.
As for myself, I do not feed a baby chick through the night. The
only times I do if the chick had recently hatched out in late evening, then I
may get up to check on it or give him a couple of drops of real thin formula.
Also, if a chick seems sickly then I will feed or do what is necessary though
out the night. Parent birds don't feed their chicks through the night.
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What do you use to
feed the baby chicks with?
I use syringes. I use different
sizes depending on the chicks age. You can also spoon feed.
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What heating source
do you use to keep chicks warm?
I use
heating pads to put the containers or tubs on. It has to be watched a
little closer than other types. I just never invested in
temperature controlled brooders.
Is it best to buy
from a breeder or store?
That is a matter of opinion. Most typical stores are just
dealers and some of their employees may or may not have the proper experience
with parrots. Sometimes a parrot goes through too many changes of hands by the
time it reaches its new owner, for some parrots it doesn't seem to bother and
others have a hard time adjusting. Sometimes more exposure of people may make
the parrot well socialized. Stores now a days only buy hand fed babies to
sell. They sell with a guarantee and it differs from store to store, just
as it does with a breeder. The true "Bird Farm" type stores are good type
of stores to buy from.
The breeder that you may buy from has a direct relationship with
that parrot. Breeders also sell mostly hand fed babies. Breeders also sell
breeding pairs, in which you won't find that in typical store. Breeders
will put together unrelated birds together to make up breeding pairs. The
breeder will usually know more in depth about the species that they raise and
sell. Most breeders sell also with some sort of guarantee.
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What kind of
health guarantee
comes with the baby parrot?
This is one of the common health guarantees that you may run
across:
You have three days (excluding
week-end) to have your bird vet checked after you have purchased it from us, if
you take it in after the 3 day period is up, I will not reimburse you if there
is a health problem. Therefore, if it is the week-end when you take the
bird home, then starting on Monday you should get the bird in to the vet.
The vet should do a basic Well Bird Exam. You pay at your own expense,
with proof from the vet if your bird should have a health problem, we will
take back the bird and reimburse you in full for what you paid us for the bird,
or replace with another bird. This does not include blood work, cultures or any
other extensive tests that you have the vet do. We sell healthy babies. There
should be no problem with a baby when you buy it from us.
We sell babies
with a 3 day health guarantee, see our Policies page on our main website at
pionusparrot.com
Can I come and
see the baby parrot that I am buying while it is being hand fed?
Yes, Yes! It is recommended if you can take the time to come and
visit the baby as it grows. This gives you and
the baby a chance to know each other before he/she goes home with you.
No! Not with us. Some will let you. Most breeders state that if
they release an unweaned baby to you and if something should happen to it, they
are not held responsible. Usually there is no guarantee with an unweaned baby.
In some cases breeders will let a well experienced hand feeder take an unweaned
baby, but if you are not experienced, its best that you not try it. Ones that
say, that we can teach you how to hand feed in just minutes, is not what its
cracked up to be. There's a little more to it than meets the eye. If a person
wants to spend quality time teaching you after several secessions, that would be
advisable. When a baby parrot is use to just one hand feeders techniques and
then it changes, then they aren't too happy.
Practice,
practice. Repeat, repeat. As a breeder I talk to the babies a lot, that is how
they learn from an early age. It takes time and patience. Some may not start
talking right away and you think they are not learning, but they are and its a
matter of time. They will practice to themselves. Parrots love to mimic sounds
as well. So keep talk to them until you are blue in the face!
That depends on the species type. Pionus will start
nibbling or eating on soft food items when they are close to 3 months old,
larger parrots may be a bit older before they begin to learn how to eat.
Cockatiels learn to pick up and start eating at about 4-5 weeks old as they are
usually weaned at 6-7 weeks old normally.
As the babies are starting their weaning process, I introduce
them to cereal such as cherrios or another type that doesn't have sugar in it.
The weaning stage can last up to a month until it can eat fully on its own.
Along the way they are given soft veggies, soak-n-cook bean mixture, fruit. Then
they are introduced to pellets and maybe seeds. Some pick up eating faster than
others. Babies will also learn from each other. If there is just one bird by its
self it has a little harder time learning. I don't hurry the weaning process, it
is a stressful time for them.
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Usually you can't tell in most parrots, they are unlike the wild
birds being that the male is more colorful than the female, not so in the
parrots. You can have the parrot sexed by DNA or surgical. Some breeders
can guess the sex by certain traits, sometimes they are right and sometimes they
are wrong. The best way is to have them DNA or surgical. Unless you are going to
breed the parrots, its probably not really a concern.
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How big should a
cage be for a parrot?
A cage should be large enough so that when the wings are spread
out that they don't hit the cage bars in any directions. Try mounting
perches so that they are not over food and water.
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How large should
the perch be?
The parrots foot should wrap around without the front toes and
back toes touching each other. For medium size parrot, the perch should
not be smaller than 1". It is a good idea to offer different size perches
and different texture types.
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Will that parrot
bite?
YES! Because you don't know. A parrot may not bite one
person, but might turn around and bite someone else. Always assume that a parrot
will bite. Would you stick your hand in a lion's mouth? No! Because you know
you're know taking a chance on getting bit, think the same way when it comes to
parrots of any kind. This is the second question that people ask me, the
first question that is asked is 'can the bird talk'?!
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When should I
take a parrot to the vet?
When you first purchase a parrot, if you want to have it vet
checked. Or if you think there might be something wrong, then don't hesitate to
take it in. Parrots can hide their sickness. You can also take your bird in for
an annual check up if you would like, it never hurts to be sure that everything
is okay.
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Can you get a
parrot vaccinated?
Yes, there are different vaccinations available for parrot.
There is a vaccination against the Polyoma Virus. It's
a good idea especially if your parrot travels around a lot. Its much more costly
than dogs are to get vaccinated. Other diseases to be aware of is: Psittacosis,
Psittacine beak and feather disease (PBFD), Pacheco's Parrot Disease (PPD),
Parrot Pox, Exotic New Castle Disease, Proventricular Dilatation Syndrome (PDD).
You can check other resources on the web, you should be able to find numerous
articles on each of these diseases. This is just a short list of the many
diseases and problems that can arise in keeping parrots.
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Are plants toxic
to parrots?
There are many, many plants that are and are not toxic or poisonous to
parrots. Go to this link listed here there is so much informative info.
Harmful Plants
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What foods are
toxic to parrots?
There are some to list a few, avocado, chocolate, alcohol, apple
seed. There are many, to find out further go to the above linked site or also
check at:
Toxic Foods, Metals and Compounds
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Which is better
to feed seed or pellets?
Feed both. Seed should not contain sunflower seed, if any, very
little of it should be give. Mostly it's a preference. Birds need a well
balanced diet which also includes a lot fruits and vegetables, it is very
important that they get that along with seed or pellets. If the bird is not a
picky eater it will like most anything you like.
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Why do you raise
and breed parrots?
It's a big interest of mine. It started out like many, just
having a parrot as a pet. Then turns into breeding. It take tremendous amount of
patience and time. Most breeders do it for the love of parrots. There is no
money in it for me, at this time I do not make any profit. Sales that I
make from my baby parrots are put back in for feeding the breeders and other
supplies that they need. My expense is greater than what my
out put is on babies. Most breeders work hard at what they do.
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Is it a lot of up
keep on breeding parrots?
Absolutely, yes! Feeding, watering, cleaning, buildings for more
aviaries. Getting supplies. Cleaning up after these messy creatures it an
on going, endless chore.
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Why don't you
sell your breeding parrots, so you can go on vacations?
I have so many people ask me this question. I think they
get more frustrated than I do that I don't get to go away on vacations. I always
worry about all my birds when I am away from them. There has been more
than once that I've said, Okay I'll sell them all so I won't be tied down.
But I just keep doing what I do best!
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If I buy a parrot
from you and I don't want it anymore, will you buy it back?
No! If you don't want it, you will have to resale it to someone
else. I'm not in this to buy back babies that I sell.
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What do you do if
people ask too many questions?
I just keep on answering the questions! Many things I know
are from experience that I have learned from just being around the parrots.
There are things I learn from reading and listening to others. I can give advice
or my own opinion on topic. If you are not sure about something, especially
concerning the health a parrot, then seek a professional opinion, such as from a
veterinarian.
Thank you for
reading my questions and answers. I
hope it has been some what helpful. If any other questions come to mind,
and I will answer your questions.
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