How we do things at Shades of Red & Green
I have to say that raising baby Eclectus' really
is one of the most fun things for me and my family to do. To see those
white eggs become pink little babies MAKES MY DAY! And then to see Molly
feed them religiously until they are either pulled or until they leave mom
and dad is just a miracle! I'm very thankful that Mickey and Molly are such
good parents who are willing to feed them, care for them and not cause them
any damage. They really have made my life easy regarding the beginning days
of each of the babies that have been in our care. So a hearty thanks to
Mickey and Molly!!! I hope that Sheba and Clover will be as great of
parents as Mickey and Molly!
Mickey and Molly, Clover and Sheba are given a
varied diet consisting of:
Sprouts -
China Prairie or
Natural-Ideas
Hard boiled eggs or scrambled eggs every
other morning (with shells added).
Any kind of veggie possible that isn't
dangerous (avocado is dangerous to birds and one has to be careful with
how much spinach a bird consumes because it has oxalic acid in it, which
binds to calcium and can cause problems). Veggies that are especially
good are those that are high in Vitamin A. These veggies are deep in
color either yellow, red, or green (carrots, sweet potato, summer squash,
winter squash, collard greens, carrot tops and beet greens to name a
few). Amazingly enough, dandelion is one of the few veggies that has the
proper calcium to phosphorous ratio and it is high in vitamin A!
Chicken (with bones - oh a real favorite
here! They chew up the bones and eat the marrow out of the inside of the
bones. And they make a great "working" food - meaning that they enjoy the
process.)
Fish - any kind of fish that is either baked
or steamed is fair game.
Fruit - I don't feed a lot of fruit. This is
not saying that it is bad. Fruit is great in moderation because of the
natural sugars that are found in it. Yet, my birds do get bananas,
oranges, apples, grapes, mango, grapefruit, strawberries, apricots,
cantaloupe and peaches on occasion.
Nuts - my birds get primarily almonds cause
of their high calcium content and protein. They have also had walnuts but
only occasionally. Peanuts are not a part of my birds diet because of the
aflaxotoxins and high allergy potential.
I try to give my birds the widest variety that I
can possibly give. One of my greatest frustrations is to see babies raised
on seed and mixed frozen veggies. Both are wonderful as PART of a varied
diet - not the WHOLE! And I try and give it to them in as many different
shapes, sizes, and forms that I can as well. Some days the birds get
scrambled eggs with pureed green pepper or dandelion greens or sweet potato.
Another day they get sweet potato raw and the next mashed. Green pepper
might be chopped fine or placed whole in the cage or be placed in the bowl
in chunks. I personally have fun with the variety and I think the birds do
to.
Fledging
I'm thankful to Eb Cravens and Phoebe Linden for
their writings on this
very important concept. Fledging can be defined
as that crucial time in a
baby birds life when they are beginning to lose weight (beginning the
weaning process), and learn how to fly - stopping starting, crashing, going
fast, going slow, hovering, and getting to where they want to go when they
want to go there. This is fledging. I agree with Eb and Phoebe that
fledging is one of the most important times for a baby bird for many
reasons:
More Confidant - a baby bird that has
learned how to fly is more sure of themselves and less apt to have
"issues" later on in life because they know who they are and what they
are. That may sound a bit extreme until you run into a bird that screams
incessantly because they don't know how to entertain themselves and think
for themselves. Or a bird that bites every time you try and pick it up
because it is afraid. A bird that has learned how to fly WELL is a bird
that is far less apt to have these problems (provided that other things
are there as well - this is just part of the puzzle).
Healthier
- it takes work to learn how to fly. A baby bird that has flown for a
good 4 - 6 weeks is a bird that has healthy musculature on their chest.
The muscles had a chance to develop.
Smarter - a bird that has to "think" how to
land, when to land, where it wants to go, when it wants to go, why it
wants to go, etc. etc. is a bird that has stretched its mental capacity to
the fullest. It has been proven in young children that if they don't use
it they lose it. Each child starts out with billions and billions of
synapses in the brain and as patterns in a child's life begin those
synapses begin to die - literally, and highways or heavily traveled roads
begin to develop. I think that this is also the case for baby parrots!
And more fun. One of the joys in life is
watching babies of anything! What energy! What
verve for life! Flying
fosters this. They learn how to fly and be adventurous. They try and
test things out. In other words they live life to the fullest!
Our babies learn how to fly well and only then
do they get a very gradual wing clip - one to
two feathers at a time, then they learn how to fly with those feathers.
And then about a week later they lose one to two more, etc. etc.
Socialization
I feel that this is also one of the crucial
beginning blocks to a healthy baby bird. There is nothing like a well
socialized baby bird (thank you Sally Blanchard, Eb, and Phoebe). By
socialization I mean those beginning life experiences in a birds life that
foster a healthy outlook on life because of interactions with many people,
places and things. There is nothing
more
disheartening for me than to see a bird PETRIFIED of a new toy (which you
have to place 1st across the room, then half way, then beside the cage and
then finally in the cage). A well socialized baby bird should look at
a new toy with WOW eyes. By wow eyes I mean - yeah something new to
destroy or something neat to check out.
Having said the above, however, I want you to
understand that there is a proper way to do this and an wrong way. Within
each stage of development in a parrot's life, just like a child's, there are
things that are important. For example, bright and shiny in a parrots life
typically is something that is fun to play with - typically. However, one
wouldn't want to put something bright and shiny in a one week old parrots
"space." At that stage in a baby parrots life food and warmth and
"presence" are what it needs - not bright and shiny. I say that because I
think a lot of baby parrots are overwhelmed by our good intentions. As the
old saying goes, "there is a time and a place for everything."
At our house things are a little crazy! My
wife, Jennifer, and I have three small children -
Rebekah (8) , Joshua(6) , & Zachary (3) . Now if they don't sound
and look mischievous I don't know what does! :) These three are my socializers! The kids love the birds. I'm soooo glad that I didn't listen
to those that said I should have waited to have a parrot. Most people are
amazed when they see the kids handle the birds. One day Clover was on the
play gym and Zach went over and picked him up and was petting him when we
finally saw him. The kids provide the noise, fun and variety that the
babies need to enjoy life. Our "flock" is filled with variety, energy, and
spunk!
The kids love to sit down and cuddle the babies
and spend time with them. They get handled, petted, loved, and focused
upon.
When the babies are old enough to eat by
themselves they get to eat at the table with us on their eating
perches and play on the floor with the kids and I. After they have been
clipped and the weather is nice they go outside and play in the dogwood and
lilac trees in the back yard. And then there are times that they play
in the grass with us. On days when it is nice I take them to work with me,
where I have a play gym, food and toys for them and employees who think I'm
crazy but that the birds are pretty cool.
All of these things are important for a baby to
be well socialized in the proper time frame.
I
personally am against tube feeding or gavage feeding. I find them to be
totally unnatural and damaging to the baby bird. A baby needs to learn
how to mouth food and swallow food. In tube and gavage feeding a baby is
fed through a tube straight into the crop. It is clean, fast and
difficult to learn. Once mastered it is ideal for the breeder - less time
spent feeding and in clean up. However, the damage done to the baby is
evident early on. Babies that are gavage fed take longer to wean because
they don't know "how" to eat. I know someone who has a hyacinth macaw
(now 7 years old) who was gavage fed as a baby and who still has to be
hand fed because he won't eat otherwise. Babies are fed by mom and
dad until 5 weeks of age and then moved to a basket where they are fed a
homemade formula that I got from Katy McElroy (www.hornbeamaviary.com)
with
a
ketchup bottle. It must be said though that gavage feeding does have its place - when a chick is unhealthy and has no
feeding response, gavage feeding can save its life. I disagree with using
it as a regular method of feeding babies.
I welcome questions regarding how we do things
at our "home", so please feel free to email me.
Email me!
