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From: kdb@intercon.com (Kurt Baumann)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Help..Urgent....
Message-ID: <2858DC56.C53@intercon.com>
Date: 14 Jun 91 15:10:14 GMT
References: <9731@cognos.UUCP>
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Reply-To: kdb@intercon.com (Kurt Baumann)
Organization: InterCon Systems Corporation
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>   Nutristart (available from many veternarians) is suitable for feeding 
> wild birds.  Remember that they should be fed every 15 minutes 24 hours 
> per day - taking a bird from a nest implies a huge commitment.

It has been my experience (over 300 cockatiels, and several wild birds) that 
this is just not entirely true.  It depends on how old (how large the crop) the 
bird is.  For example when you take cockatiels out of the nest at 10 days of 
age you need to feed them just about 6-8 times a day, depending on the 
individual bird, and what you are feeding them.  at about 20 days of age you 
are probably feeding about 3-4 times a day.  Then its down hill from there.

A day old chick will require more water than food at the beginning, they don't 
have a lot of body weight and tend to dehydrate rather quickly.  Day old chicks 
I feed usually get feed about once every 40 minutes or so.  From 8am-midnight.  
Then I get up once during the evening and feed again.  Parents will feed at 
night but realize that they can't just go out and find more food in the middle 
of the night.  YES it is a HUGE commitment, but not nearing as time consuming 
as one would think.

Very young chicks I have are feed watered down Lory food, which is a lot of 
vitamins and glucose.  This keeps them going while they grow that first day or 
so, then I switch to something more solid (but still with a lot of liquid in 
it).  You need to be careful not to dehydrate or underfeed.  There is a fine 
balance with a young chick, and sometimes experience is the only thing that 
keeps chicks alive.  Good luck.  Rosemary Low has a book on the care and 
handfeeding of baby birds, there is a section dealing with wild birds in there 
as well.  Insect eaters have a higher protein requirement than seed eaters.


Kurt Baumann                  703.709.9890
InterCon Systems Corp.   Creators of fine TCP/IP products for
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