Pets- Birds

Question
Thank you for your reply.

The baby hatched on December 19th or 20th which would put it at 3 weeks & 1 day.

It doesn't have feathers really.  It's more like fuzz.  

Does that sound about right?

Jerrie

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Followup To
Question -
My mother has a pair of love birds.  The female laid several eggs in various areas of the cage, but finally built a nest in one corner.  She ignored the nest box that was put in the cage.  

She was sitting on 5 eggs.  The first baby hatched, but the male got the baby and tossed it out of the nest.  It died.  

The second egg hatched and the male again tossed the baby out of the nest.  My mother rescued the baby, put it back in the nest and removed the male from the cage.  

The remaining eggs did not hatch.

The question is when can we risk putting the male bird back in the cage?  The baby is getting big, his eyes are open and he seems to be progressing well.

After reading several questions and answers here on the site, I now realize we are past the point when we can do handfeeding (don't tell my mother but I don't think she could handle that anyway).  

Do we leave the baby in and return the male?  Do we remove the baby from the big cage and move it to a separate cage, and if so, when do we move the baby?  Is there a set point when babies can survive without their mother when they are not being handfed?

Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jerrie
Answer -
Hi, Jerrie.  Thanks for posting.

I need to know how old the baby lovebird is before I can answer your questions.  Do not put the male back in the cage at the moment.  

Thanks.

Chrys

Answer
Hi again, Jerrie.

Yes, this sounds about right.  The baby should be starting to develop "pin" feathers.  Pin feathers will replace the fuzz.

At this age, the baby still needs to be fed by the mom or pulled for complete handfeeding by your mother or someone else.  I would not put the male back in the cage with the mom and baby for fear of him hurting or killing the baby.  The baby is NOT too old to be handfed with a handfeeding syringe and baby parrot handfeeding formula.  In fact, if this baby is not imprinted to humans ASAP, it may not be tame, which means you won't be able to handle it when it gets older.

You should not move the baby to a separate cage until it's able to eat on it's own or unless you/someone handfeed the baby.  In other words, when moved to a separate cage on it's own, the baby has to eat, whether on it's own or via handfeeding.

Lovebird babies can start to be weaned at around 4 weeks of age.  Whenever you see the baby start to peck at things on the bottom of the nestbox, it's time to start the weaning process.  The lovebirds I've raised were completely weaned from the parents at 8 weeks of age, and I started the weaning process at 4 weeks of age.  There's a process involved, and I've outlined this process on my webpage:  http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index/html

Visit the website and come back if you have questions.  Thanks.

Chrys