IndianRingNeck.com

Hi all-

I know we're a little way off the next season- but I'm after some tips and tricks...

how does one hand-fed without accidentally taming the chicks?

I also had to laugh @ number 3

Thanks Lee and Ben.

Hi.

Not like I know *anything* about bringing up babies, but I've seen an image somewhere of someone hand feeding baby Hyacinth Macaws with their hand inside a Hyacinth Macaw head puppet glove. Apparently, they felt it would make the babies think there was no human hand, and hopefully learn something that would help them raise their own babies down the line.

Maybe someone want to give that a try and let us know how it goes!

Ummmm....MissK I think that would freak my birds out lol. As I understand it with the large breeds, when they are removed from their parents @ -10 days old or even incubated and hatched by the human hand, the birds are more likely to have imprinting issues with humans. The use of the "puppet" is to stimulate the natural feeding response and limit the human imprinting that occurs in the chicks.

And that wouldn't work with our guys? Is that because IRNs don't imprint the same way? Or has it got anything to do with the unreality of a fist-sized "Ringneck" head? (--These are sincere questions, not those rhetorical ones I like to use.)

Large breed birds stay with their parents a loooooong time before they are weaned. Hyacinths for example are not fully weaned until sometime around 9 months of age. That much time being fed by a human hand will not doubt have an impact on imprinting. And most other large breeds fall into somewhere between 4-6 months. They are also a lot more affectionate by nature than IRN's so it is easy to see why it would be a concern.

I see..... Ever more to know!

Same here

I completely agree with you on the parent raised birds Lee. Unfortunately though with large birds, they are almost never parent raised. That is why there are so many plucked sad cases sitting in foster homes or sanctuaries. My cockatoos, while better adjusted than those sad cases, do not even know they are birds most of the time.