1st Timer in need of seriouse help and advice please

[Barry]

Hello thank you for taking the time to read this and i hope you can help.
On friday 2 days ago from putting this up my mother was walking the family dog over the local park and she heard a lot of noise comming from the wooded area on closer inspection she come across a crow attacking a nest of parakeet's the crow had killed 1 and had the other baby in its mouth by what she thinks was it's leg when the dog barked it droped the baby and made a quick getaway she was about to walk on when she noticed that the baby was still alive only just and the pairents no where to be seen so as not to leave the baby to it fate by fox cat or other bird's she scooped it up and braught it home with her. Now comes the part we so badly need help with the bird other than a bit of shock looks in fine condition but we do not know its age it has very few green feathers that look more like little stubs all over it with a very clear red beek it still has a lot of thick gray what i would call baby feathers (sorry i am not good with the words for these things we have only ever had adult birds) over its body but this is thinning in some areas it is very quiot nearly all of the time only making very little chirps when we are feeding it (not like what you see on nature films where the babys are shouting full blast) is this normal? Also it seems to keep its head down nealy all of the time again is this normal? it has no problem with movement and seems to have no problem with burring its self in its box (we have it in an old shoe box filled with tisue papper torn in to strips to help keep it warm that we change ever morning) we are feeding it a formula called KAYTEE EXACT and we do this every 2 hours from sun up to sun down (so when it is dark we dont feed as we think this is what the adults would do as we are sure they would be asleep at this time) At the moment the bird is in a spair bedroom on its own so as it has peace and quiot is this a good idear or should it be downstairs in the hubbub of the family? the way that we are feeding it is by syringe we did try a spoon but it looked like the bird had a bit of a problem coping with this way and was very happy feeding by the syringe but do we place a dish of water in its box or dose this pose a hazard of drowning? As i said we dont know its age so how long do we keep up the 2 hourly feeds for and how old dose it have to be before we can try it with solid? Also as you can guess we have all fallen for the little bird and want to keep it as a pet. We did have a Amazon Green parrot before sadly she died from old age but she was a 2nd hand hand reared adult when we got her so we knew she could fly but at what age will our new found love start to try if it survives this stage?
Also because we would like the bird to be tame like our parrot (she would sit on your head even in the garden) do we handle the baby a lot at this stage or wait a bit and keep handling to feeding time only for now? Also me and my mother are arguing over this she has put a tea towl over the top of the shoe box to help keep the heat in leaving only a small cigerett packet size opning at the front with no cover. I on the other hand disagree and think there should be no cover as the tisue paper will keep it warm enough.

Thank you all in advance for you help and fingers crossed it will make it through this.

[smallworld]

This is kinda of a late reply, I know. Is the baby still alive? Hows it going? Well I think about all the feeding tips you're looking for, you'll be able to find through the extensive posts in the breeding section of the forum. The diet too has its own section.

Since the chick was attacked, I'd say take it to a vet anyway. The little champ may have suffered internal injuries by the fall and the attack. What kinda parakeet we talking about anyway? A ringy?

Well my reply is late and probably far from helpful but I just wanted to say you guys did a great thing rescuing that bird, even if its chances are slim.

[Barry]

Just to let you know the Baby is still live and kicking or should that be bitting it's weight is on the constant up and the green feathers are starting to come through thicker now still has its head down most of the time but looks 1 million percent stronger than when it 1st come in to our lives this is a photo i manage to get of it after we weighed it just now. As far as we know it is a ring neck as the local pet store said that is what flys wild round our area but if any one know better pls tell me. Many thanks.

[xx_sheena_xx]

very cute
looks like you are doing an exellent job
s/he does look like an indian ringneck

[smallworld]

Yep that looks like a good old ringy to me too

What a start he/she had huh. Shes lucky to be alive and to have found a home with you guys. Congrats, great job and beautiful bird. Its a wild bird and so it has the healthy genetics it needs to overcome the hurdles it has, I guess.

[newbie]

Yep that looks like a good old ringy to me too

What a start he/she had huh. Shes lucky to be alive and to have found a home with you guys. Congrats, great job and beautiful bird. Its a wild bird and so it has the healthy genetics it needs to overcome the hurdles it has, I guess.

Hi all im new here i have bought a Ringneck he is blue with a gray looking body i want him to be an inside bird he talks and all that funny stuff i just want to no can i should i clip his wing or should i not i only want to cause i have young kids and they are allways leaveing doors open can anyone help ???

[pinkdevil]

If there is a chance that the bird can escape from a left opened door, than I would play safe and have the wings clipped.

This means that you would need to keep an eye on your bird so no harm comes to him from accidentally being stepped on etc. Also if he wanders outside from an open door, could be in danger of other animals as he cannot fly away to safety.

To clip or not has pros and cons.

[newbie]

If there is a chance that the bird can escape from a left opened door, than I would play safe and have the wings clipped.

This means that you would need to keep an eye on your bird so no harm comes to him from accidentally being stepped on etc. Also if he wanders outside from an open door, could be in danger of other animals as he cannot fly away to safety.

To clip or not has pros and cons.

thanks for that how short do i clip the wing so that he cant fly or can only fly not far

[pinkdevil]

If you are not confident or clipped before, I would suggest having a breeder or vet show you how first.

But here are 2 links explaining how to clip a bird properly.

http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/clip.html

http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/wings.html