I am not sure what catergory to put this under but I was wondering if anybody has had success hand feeding Owl finches?? I have been hand feeding Baby Gouldians for the last couple of weeks and was waiting for two of my pairs of Owl finches to hatch some eggs. The first pair's clutch
hatched and the parents are doing a wonderful job. The second pair's clutch started hatching and the parents started pitching. I saved two and am hand feeding them, and to my surprise, they are doing pretty good. They are literally 1 and two days old.
I am using pedialite with just a smidging of Nutri-Smart just to keep them hidrated until their egg sac disappears.
It's unbelievbale how small their mouths are. I use a crop feeding tube but of course am not able to get it into their mouths yet.
Hand feeding baby finches
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jimlas43
- Fledgeling
- Posts: 91
- Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2010 9:35 pm
- Location: New Hampshire, USA
Hand feeding baby finches
I love my bird room! Gouldians, Owl's, Shafttails, Green Singers,Gray Singers, Cordon Bleus, Red Headed Parrots, Orange Cheeks, Stars, Canaries, and lot's of babies 
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Sally
- Mod Extraordinaire
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- Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2007 11:55 pm
- Location: DFW, Texas
Re: Hand feeding baby finches
The hardest part of feeding these tiny babies is that it is difficult to get food into their mouths without aspirating them, as one drop of food is bigger than their whole mouth! You can use a flat-ended toothpick, but then you have to make the formula just barely thick enough to stay on the toothpick. I have also used an artist's paintbrush, very fine tipped. I dip it in the formula, touch the edge of the bowl or a napkin to get the excess off, and then stick that tiny paintbrush end in their mouth--they will suck the formula off it!
The best tool I have found is the leg-banding tool. You dip it in the formula, getting a tiny amount in the groove, again remove the excess so they don't get a big drop at once, hold the tool with groove-side down, and let them lick the formula off--much less chance of aspirating. It is incredible to see that tiny little tongue working at that formula!
The best tool I have found is the leg-banding tool. You dip it in the formula, getting a tiny amount in the groove, again remove the excess so they don't get a big drop at once, hold the tool with groove-side down, and let them lick the formula off--much less chance of aspirating. It is incredible to see that tiny little tongue working at that formula!