Want to buy an unweaned baby parrot? Let me educate you! Let me guess....... A. someone told you or you heard you had to raise your own bird to have a close relationship (bond) with it? Sorry, but that is absolute rubbish! Some uneducated parrot owners actually believe that and some breeders tell you that because they are lazy and/or greedy and dont want the hassle of doing the weaning and socializing themselves as it can be the hardest part of the rearing process. It takes time and effort and that costs the breeder money! B. You know someone or have heard a lot of people say that they raised their own and it was fine? Those people really were lucky. You dont often hear when they kill them. No one wants to admit that they killed a poor innocent baby because they did not know what they were doing. Believe me there are so many the mind boggles. C. The bird is cheaper if you buy it unweaned? Unfortunately they dont tell you how much it is going to cost you after you buy it. You will need to buy a brooder if it is not fully feathered, a single bird rarely produces enough heat to keep itself warm in a bucket, box etc. especially at night. Even if it doesnt need a brooder any more you still have to buy Formula, feeding equipment and sterilizer etc. And if you are a responsible pet owner you will buy a book on how to hand rear properly. You will have now probably spent more than you would have if you had bought a weaned baby! And if something goes wrong it could cost you a lot more. The truth is, buying an unweaned bird more often than not ends in heartache! But it looks easy you say? There are so many things that can go wrong eg: If the temperature is too low the baby gets cold, the crop slows and you may end up with sour crop, not to mention damage to vital organs that would probably only show up later in life. The same will happen if the food you feed is too cold. If the food is too hot you can damage the crop lining or even burn it which can lead to an infection. Nutritional and growth deficiencies due to having formula too thin or dehydration and again sour crop if too thick. Humidity levels too high can lead to fungal problems, then again if it is too low you can have skin and feather problems or dehydration. You can also end up with bacterial problems if you are not vigilant in cleaning and sterilizing. And that is just to name the main ones! End result? A dead bird or very costly Vet bills and we havent even started on the weaning process yet! A parrot that is not weaned properly can end up with long term Psychological problems! Feather plucking, screaming, biting and destructive behavior are but a few of the more well known issues that can occur if a parrot is not weaned properly. Im not saying this will happen to all of them but it does happen to a lot of the babies weaned by the inexperienced rearer (keep in mind you usually only hear of the successes, no one is going to brag that they failed!), Weaning a parrot is not just getting a parrot to eat food and not formula. It is much more complex and the most important and stressful time in a parrots life! They need guidance and socialization with other parrots. They need to be confident in themselves and know that they are a bird and not just be babied and made needy. They do not need more stress from a total environment and “parent” change. I admit you can buy a weaned bird and still have problems as some unscrupulous breeders will say their birds are weaned, socialized, tame and friendly when they are not, but if you ask around and choose your breeder carefully (preferably one that will give you some guarantees) you will have a well adjusted companion for many years to come without the heartache!
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 10:30:14 +0000
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