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Post by george on Apr 2, 2008 3:33:35 GMT
Hi again everyone!
I've been searching high and low for a handreared kakariki and I can't find one close enough to home so I thought I'd try myself. I have a breeding pair of yellow kakarikis and thought maybe this summer I might be brave and rear a baby myself.
I've never done it before so can anyone advise me? I think I'm going to let Fifi and Pierre do the hard bit and take the chick when it's a couple of weeks old. I can get special handrearing mixture from my pet shop but is there anything else I'd need to give the chick? And how warm do I need to keep it? And it's food? And can I just take the one chick or should I take two to keep each other company. Or should I take all of them??!!
I could ask questions for ages! Basically, I don't know anything! I wouldn't dare attempt anything without your advice!! Hehe!
Thanks guys!
xx
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Post by Admin on Apr 2, 2008 9:06:32 GMT
First off i would prepare the parents for breeding to make sure you get nice plump and healthy little chicks up their diet to include double the amount of fresh vegetables/fruit and egg food. They will also need a mineral block and some vitamin drops for their water. When that all sorted, you will need to choose something to put inside the breeding box, i advise plain shredded paper as we once had a chick loose its toe because the "recommended shop bought" nest material got caught round it. Then the parents are ready and all you need to do is sit back and wait for the show - and believe me... what a show they will give you #norty# For the chick, i would suggest (personal opinion only) that you only take out the amount you want hand tame, so either just the one you want or if you want one and maybe you wanted to hand rear one for a friend then just take the two and let the parents rear the rest. otherwise they will start to breed again straight away without giving themselves a break and this could be very harmful to the female. Leaving the chicks in with mum for the frist two weeks makes life a lot easier as after this you wont need to do the night feeds after this age. You will need some sort of incubator, a small fish tank with a heat mat under the chick side and a spot bulb above a damp towel the other side will do both heat and humidity nicely - you do need to keep the towel damp though. Place the chick in a small plastic bowl lined with kitchen roll to make your life easier in cleaning and keeps chick safe from wandering off - once he is old enough to get out the pot, just line the bottom on the tank with kitchen roll and barrier the the other side so he cant get to the damp towel and give himself a chill. Now for feeding the chick.... you will need to buy some ready made formula from the pet shop as you said, and be prepared to stock up on baby pureed apple food too. With you feeding the parents SO well the chicks might not like the bland taste and ive not known ANY chick that can resist 4 month baby apple desert lol. To hand feed the chicks you will need a feeding spoon (i will try and find a link for you in a mo) i dont tend to recommend surringes (sorry cant spell) as they can be dangerous to the chick, the spoon will help the chick learn to feed himself in the long run too. When you first take them out at 2 weeks they will need feeding every two hours from the time you get up to the time you go to bed (8 feeds as a minimum), at 3 weeks they can be fed every 3 hours and at 4 every 4 hours till fledging. The mixture at first needs to be very runny, and gradually every week make it a little thicker till eventually when the chick is about 6 weeks old it is thick enough that it has to peck it off the spoon itself. The food needs to be at the chicks body temp, but this will be explained on the packaging for you too. This is the age that you will need to start sprinkling seed on the inside of the box for him to "play" with and when you notice him eating off the floor regularly start to gradually lessen the amount you hand feed him, you can also chop the odd grape in half for him to have a play about with too, encouraging fruit etx at this age will help keep him healthy. at this point he will need a little pot of water in his box too, and maybe change him to a small cage with one very low perch so he can start to learn to perch, a dry towel in the bottom will cushion a fall if he gets too adventurous. We offered our chicks rearing food up to they were 8 weeks old as well as the cage offered food. This helped them improve their "people" skills as well as made sure they were getting enough to eat with doing most of it themselves. This is the point where you can REALLY enjoy your new baby he will be starting to play properly, will willingly drink off your tongue and be generally a loving and attentive son (or daughter) BUT... as you are already aware from the experience you have with the older kaks, even hand reared ones arent a "sit on shoulder and hug a lot" bird, they are just as active etc but with the added bonus of being loving too sorry it was a bit long winded hope i havent confused you!! any questions just ask hope this helps
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Post by Admin on Apr 2, 2008 9:21:38 GMT
i have had a quick search and found this one as an example... Click HereBut if you take a look at it, its not difficult to make one yourself with one of your own teaspoons - thats what we did as we couldnt find anywhere in the UK to buy one.
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phill
Flock Member
Posts: 349
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Post by phill on Apr 2, 2008 12:20:44 GMT
I think Sal coverd it wodnerfully lol.
Sal, with the feed times you were talking about, is that what you feed your kaks? At them intervals? At 2 weeks, 8 feeds a day! ESSH!! For the lovebirds and GCC's, put them on 5 feeds a day, 7,12,4,8,12. Do Kaks need to be fed less, but are more regular intervals?
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Post by Admin on Apr 3, 2008 7:34:27 GMT
awww thank you Phil was worried i waffled on too much lol at 2 weeks we fed them little and often as they are not the best bird to try and hand rear and wont take to it very well to start with, by doing one week of small 8 feeds a day they adapt better and have less of a chance of having crop problems. Out of all the chicks we hand reared the ones that had that first week of 8 feeds were a lot easier to rear from week 3 - i dont think it was really necessary to the chick but it sure did make my life easier lol.
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mueb
Fledgling
Posts: 153
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Post by mueb on Apr 3, 2008 11:06:24 GMT
Personally I would suggest buying yourself a book on hand-rearing then you can get yourself a routine and learn for yourself the ups & dowsn of hand-rearing. I have been hand-rearing birds for 20+ years and I don't do anything like Sal has suggested!!!! goes to prove everyone does things differently............ Beware of using anything damp as dampness creates fungus and can lead to aspergillosis. I have never used anything that's damp at all.
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phill
Flock Member
Posts: 349
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Post by phill on Apr 3, 2008 12:10:58 GMT
Yep Mueb is right, everyone has differnt methods. I bought myself a proper brooder, so didn't worry about the whole damp cloth and all. They are expensive, but something good to invest in if you are breeding.
Thanks for the info Sal, learnt something knew abot h/r Kaks.
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Post by Admin on Apr 4, 2008 10:39:02 GMT
Personally I would suggest buying yourself a book on hand-rearing then you can get yourself a routine and learn for yourself the ups & dowsn of hand-rearing. I have been hand-rearing birds for 20+ years and I don't do anything like Sal has suggested!!!! goes to prove everyone does things differently............ Beware of using anything damp as dampness creates fungus and can lead to aspergillosis. I have never used anything that's damp at all. bearing in mind that you breed on a commercial basis and George, like me, is only doing it on a personal one! There is a big difference. I agree that George should find his own way of doing it and read up where he can, he asked for advice and its polite to try and help where we can rather than "read a book"
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Post by Berserka on Apr 4, 2008 10:55:38 GMT
Really what it comes down to is just try it. I handraised my first budgie with advice I received off a forum. I have never read a book on doing it. I certainly don't consider myself an expert (far from it) but what works for 1 person may not work for another. All we can do is ask questions and learn from the experiences (both good and bad) of others.
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Post by george on Apr 4, 2008 11:12:18 GMT
Thanks Sal for your fantastic advice! No need to worry about being long winded - the more info the better!!
Pierre and Fifi reared two lots of chicks themselves last year and started to sit on a third lot of eggs but I replaced them with plastic eggs as I didn't want them to wear themselves out! And the weather was starting to get cold then too. I'm hopeful they'll try again this year. They don't have a nest box yet but I randomly bumped into a very nice man in the pet shop who said he'd make me one! He's made it now, I just have to pick it up.
About the nesting material... last year, anything I put in the box, they kicked back out! In the end I put quite a thick layer of wood shvings in the box - there was so much of it, they gave up picking it out! Is that ok? I don't use the fine stuff as I know that'd get in their eyes and they could breathe in the dust. I'm only going to take one chick (for me!!) and leave any others with their parents. As it's the first time I'm going to try handrearing, I think I'd be daft to take more than one in case it goes wrong!
Which has just raised another question... if it does start to go wrong, would I be able to put it back in the box with the chicks I left behind? Would the parents accept it back again?
I'm sure I've got many more questions but my minds gone blank! Typical!!
Thanks again to everyone xxx
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Post by Berserka on Apr 4, 2008 11:22:14 GMT
I have found when I have transferred chicks to a new foster that you put the chick under the others & sprinkle the poop of the other chicks over the new one to make it smell like theirs. I recently had to transfer a red rump chick from one family of budgies to another as the first stopped feeding it. It hadn't been fed for awhile and was starving but by sprinkling poop etc from the box the mother accepted it and fed it. My experience - may not work for all people.
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Post by george on Apr 4, 2008 19:59:29 GMT
Fab! Thats reassuring! I'd feel much better about trying it if I had a back up plan! Pierre and Fifi were such good parents last year, I'm pretty sure they'd accept the chick back if its siblings that I'd left for them to rear were in the nest too.
I'm going to keep looking for a breeder who could handrear one for me but if I don't find one by the time they start breeding, I think I'm definately going to give it a go! Wish me luck! Lol! And I'll keep you all informed too of course! xx
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Post by Berserka on Apr 4, 2008 22:26:19 GMT
You may even find you enjoy the experience so much you decide to do it for others as well. Needless to say, updates and pictures are expected!
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Post by Scully on Apr 6, 2008 10:48:39 GMT
I can imagine that does work with the poo Karen, its just the same with alot of other animals. Good tip for anyone here ;D
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Post by george on Apr 6, 2008 21:31:10 GMT
I've just found a picture of Pierre and Fifi's first lot of babies, thought I'd add it! Sorry for it being a bit blurry... Thats Carlos, Pablo and Rosetta!!
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