Handfeeding Cockatiels

Question
Hi Sarah,
We have (3) 2 -3 week old Cockatiel babies, we are blessed to have excellent Cockatiel parents and they are doing a great job. Now the fear of possibly handfeeding, we are new to this and we are not home alot during the day to keep the handfeeding schedule. We have read many disturbing articles on hand feeding cockatiels. I went out and bought a 10 gallon glass aquarium and I have tried to heat it to 90F but it just won't get that warm. I also purchased a 60 watt red heat light and still won't reach 90F. We just read an article about socializing Cockatiels instead of hand feeding http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww62e.htm and the other article about how to socialize. http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww66e.htm I just wanted to know your thoughts on this, we are very nervous about the handfeeding and don't want to hurt the babies, we know we can socialize with them because we have 2 great family oriented adult Cockatiels. Your thoughts on this are greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Gregg

Answer
Hello Gregg,

If you are uncomortable with handfeeding, then you definitely shouldn't attempt it without any training first. Especially if you aren't home to keep up the feedings, because it is very important to feed them on time.

You can easily socialize them without handfeeding them. This is the perfect age to start to do so. Those two articles are a great start! =) I'll just tell you what I know from co-parenting; You need to handle the babies everyday, at least once a day, but preferrably more often. At this age, you have to be careful not to chill them since they aren't fully feathered yet. So either keep them in a towel or blanket while you cuddle with them, or just take them out for short periods of time, around 15 minutes or so a day. You can increase the time they're out gradually as they start to feather out. And you can take them out more than once a day, as often as you see fit.

There are quite a few people out there who co-parent raise their babies and they turn out just as tame as hand-fed babies are. If you handle them, cuddle with them, step-up train them and make sure you handle them everyday, they'll be super sweet little tykes. This doesn't work with all species of parrots, but cockatiels are probably one of the easiest to tame, so this method is perfect!

Since you're nervous about handfeeding, I say go for the co-parenting!!! I'm sure you'll do a great job of socializing them.

If you have anymore questions, please let me know!

Sarah