I am looking to hand rear parrot birds. I am successfully hand rearing finches so I can gain experience but my goal is to do the same with more expensive birds so I can earn money while I am not well, which happens a lot!
Is there anything I should know before I invest in some pairs of birds so I can begin?
Hi Kendall,
To be honest, I think once you do your research, you will find that there isn’t much money to be made by handfeeding birds. And breeding birds is more of a hobby than a business – most breeders barely cover their costs. It’s great that you have successfully handfed finches as they can be tedious to feed at first. But handfeeding parrots is entirely different than handfeeding finches. Finches are a gaping bird – meaning they hold their mouths open until food is put in it, and they stop begging when they have had enough. Parrots are entirely different. Besides having the right equipment for handfeeding, the baby parrot needs to be fed carefully to avoid aspiration. They store a lot more food in their crop for several hours, but once full, a parrot will let you keep feeding it until it chokes to death on the food. Because the food is stored in the crop for hours, the formula has to be the perfect consistency and temperature and the bird has to be kept in the right environment and temperature. Any error can cause crop stasis and often death. It’s also very easy to burn the crop if the formula isn’t heated properly or is fed too hot. And you will have a lot of sleep deprivation because parrots have to be fed through the night until they reach a certain age.
As far as investing in pairs to learn on or to start your business – do you have a few years? Breeding parrots is not easy – even birds that readily breed in captivity like cockatiels, parakeets and lovebirds come with many issues along the way. If you read through just one page of questions here, you will find that the majority are related to breeding issues. You can set up pairs and have everything absolutely perfect and still end up with nothing to show for it. Birds have to be a certain age before being set up to breed. Even then, some birds take years to fully bond and settle down for breeding. And setting up birds to breed is very expensive. Your pairs may not even be compatible when you put them together. Never, ever buy “proven” pairs unless a breeder is going out of business entirely. Some breeders will sell off pairs that don’t produce well, are no longer producing, or have some type of bad breeding habit. Bird breeders do no sell their good pairs. You need large flight cages and the appropriate nest box for each species. Visual barriers are often needed and some species won’t breed if they can hear other birds around them. You have to feed them a nutritionally balanced diet – loose seeds will not be adequate for breeding birds. They also need fresh fruits & veggies, dark leafy greens, multi grain bread and cooked eggs or some type of egg food, plus a good source of calcium. When they are feeding chicks – because you don’t pull a chick to handfeed for 2-3 weeks – the parents need a LOT of food that had to be replenished all day. And of course there will be Veterinary bills and Vet care for birds can be very expensive. Not all Vets will treat birds so you have to find a Vet near you who does know how to treat birds. In some cases the nearest Avian Vet may be hours away.
I’m not trying to discourage you but I can’t encourage you to pursue this as a money making venture. I know it may sound fun, but it is a lot of exhausting work and certainly not something to take on if you are frequently unwell. Please do your research before you buy any birds.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
