BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Birds Help! Small Baby!

One of my six baby's isn't...doing that well.

It's smaller then to others, and not as devolped. the baby's were born around July 11th, and it looks like there going to start flying any day now, but this one. It dosen't even have all it's feathers in yet.

My dad is coming to try and hand rase it him self, and there's not much I can do to stop him. We both have hand raise baby wild birds, abandoned of corse, but never one that mainly eats seeds.

Plus the baby hasn't been abandened, but I'm worry about it's health, and I can't stop my dad from taking it...so i might as well help him so it dosen't die.

So what I'm asking is, has anyone done this before, or have any links?

What can he feed it when it'salmost two weeks old?

Finch make amazing pets when they are handfed, but I'm hoping that the reason he is so much smaller is that he was the last to hatch & just needs time to catch up.

You can purchase handfeeding powder at many pet supply stores, both online & walk in. You would only need a tiny bit each time, but it must be mixed up fresh every feeding time. Finch need to be fed approximately every 2 hours.

Good luck.

Thanks soo much mavis! Hand feeding powder? I hope our pet store has it...do you know what we can use if it dosen't? Just for the mean time before he can get it somewhere eles?

I recommend hand rearing formula called "Exact" - its made by Kaytee and is available in most large pet stores. You can also order it over the internet at www.birds2grow.com or most other online shopping spots for pets and birds.

There are some important things to know before you start feeding.

(1) Temperature above 105 degrees when the baby recieves it: best temp range is above 105 degrees and you can test this on your arm or cheek. Your body temp is about 99 degrees, so it should feel warm to you. It will cool quickly, so be careful not to let it cool too much.

(2) Thickness - Powder/water ratio is somewhat trial and error at first. You want to have it be liquid-like in nature, not sticky. Because your baby is not a newborn, it may be a little thicker than what we would see as watery, but let it sit a few moments before feeding to make sure it won't thicken once your baby has swallowed it.

(3) Always mix a fresh batch! Like Mavis mentoned, its important to throw away all leftovers from each feeding.

So, mix a small cup of it with very hot water (water cools quickly, so best to start out hot), keeping the consistancy very liquid-like and not thick. Let it sit for a couple of minutes before feeding it to your bird because you want to make sure it doesn't thicken too much. Using an eyedropper (syringe is okay but its easy to shoot too much in your bird's mouth and he may end up aspirating - getting it into his lungs). Just a little bit each time. Leave him hungry enough to still beg but not be desperately begging. Since he is not a newborn, then you can spread the feeding times out a bit more than 2 hours - you can go with 3 to even 6 hours at night if he seems to take to it well. I do not know what kind of finches you have - if you have an African finch, there are some extra things to do to get more protein into the baby. If the parents don't mind, you can feed him and allow them to continue the other parenting duties. This usually only works with Society and Zebra finches, though.

Feel free to send me an email if you have any more questions and let us all know how it goes! As Mavis pointed out, there is a good chance he was the last to hatch and that he is a few days younger than the others. I would encourage you to watch closely - provide lots of chopped up hard-boiled egg mixed with eggfood powder and seeds so that the parents feed the babies a high protein diet and do not have trouble with calcium and vitamin D3 deficiencies. If the parents are still feeding, try not to interrupt them.

Congrats on all your little ones!

Thanks skgserenity! I'm not sure if our pet store has rearing formula, so it might be a while before I get some.

Do you have any recomendation of what I can feed him before I find some furmula? Something I can find around the house?

All the other babies fleged yesterday and this morning. So this ones all alone in the nest, and I don't think mom and dad are paying attention. I want to feed him, but I don't know what!

Well, we got the hand feeding formula and now everythings fine!

But we found out what was wrong with her, she dosen't fly very well, if at all, she's only done it a couple times. Also, her crop is deformed, it's on the sides of her neck and not her front. But she can still eat fine and she just looks a little funny, but she'll live.

Thanks for all your help! I really appercate it!

Thanks for updating us.

COngrats! Sorry - I was away for a week and only now saw the recent replies. I am so glad she is doing well. I just had three blue caps hatch out and I am "assisting" the foster parents by hand feeding the babies in addition to their feeding so that I know they are being fed and can watch them carefully for any weaknesses. I may end up with little African Finger Finches before I finish! LOL - not a common sight within the Cordon Bleu family. I would love to hear how your little one is doing (and looking!).