A Guide to Supplement feeding... my style

[Babs _Owner]

So "supplement feeding"? We say it, and a lot of us DO it, but we dont EXPLAIN it.

Here's a video of me "supplement feeding", my notoriously famous lazy pair Brat & Ricco.......and their babies.

I made one mistake in the video, I said, " the babies born after are bigger" I meant the "babies born BEFORE"

Too late to change the video. But here it goes. My lesson from Sally, Debbie, Madcat and (myPRO at supplement feeding..........Elana!)


Pay attention to what I say. I gotta get that little guy born two days up to speed with the others. This is how I do it.

It works! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTV0BwENVm0

[Babs _Owner]

Babs

Hope this helps others

[Sally]

Good video, it always helps to be able to actually see how to do this instead of just reading about it. Interesting, I've not used an eye dropper before.

Now, visualize trying to feed something way smaller than even that smallest baby--that's what it is like trying to feed some of the smallest waxbills!

[Babs _Owner]

Sally

I have to admit.. Feeding.little waxbills must be much harder. Their teeny weeny mouths.

A lab pippett might be good for them, Those are smaller. I find the dropper gives me WAY more control than a syringe. When they are newly hatched, I can let 1/2 a drop hang out of the dropper without releasing it just just touch it to the inside of the mouth. So much easier and faster than scooping.

[ac12]

I use a small plastic pippett.
It is much easier and faster than using the banding tool. I could never get enough food into the chick with the banding tool. Depending on the size of the chick with one to a few feedings, I can fill the crop, and I'm done.

It is kinda scary how far down the chicks will swallow the pippett. But then I don't have to worry about aspirating the chick, when the pippett is down in the crop or close to it.

I learned about the pippett watching a video that Tiffany had made.

[haroun]

graet vid lady ! i'm the first one to make a like lol

[Madcat]

Oh wow..... I gotta hand it to ya!!!

[Jen]

Babs
Love your video and thought it was very informative. I have not had much luck feeding such young ones.

I have a few questions that I do not see explained in any videos. I would like to see a video detailing how you mix the product and how you get it and check it for the right temp. What do you use to check the temp and how do you maintain temp when feeding them? How critical is the temp of the food and maintaining it throughout the feeding? If you have a very young one that does not eat well or take to the taste of the food you are feeding and have to wait a while to try again, do you throw the mix out and start over getting the food freshly made and back to the right temp? How long can you maintain the temp of the food?

I've tried putting the mixing cup with mix down into a warm waterbath of water to try to keep the mix warm but find it cools off fast and maybe why I have problems with success.

Sorry for all the questions, but mixing the food and getting/keeping the right temp is a very important step in keeping the babies alive.

Thanks for taking the time to share your video. Like I said before...wish you were my neighbor sometimes! I could use the help!

[ac12]

I found that using a dial thermometer to be almost impossible to use. I am dealing with such a small volume (sometimes only a teaspoon) that the thermometer is impossible to use to measure the foumula, I can only measure the temp of the water bath.
Instead I use an IR thermometer ($16 at Harbor Freight). I just point it at the food, press the trigger, then read the temp off the back of the thermometer.
But this only measures the surface temp. So you have to mix the food so that the temp is uniform top to bottom.

Make a water bath at the temp you want.
The water helps to keep everything in it at that temp.

Tips:
- You need to get all the containers up to temp first, so that they don't suck the heat out of the water bath or the food.
- A ceramic tray, after it is brought to temp, would hold heat better than a metal tray.
- You need enough water to hold temp. A small volume of water, or shallow water will cool down fast.
- A cold room will cool down the water bath faster. Yeah winter is a problem. So this is an issue, not really a tip.
- You need to put the water bath tray on something insulated, like a folded towel. The cold counter will suck the heat out of the water bath.

[Jen]

ac12
Thanks for your response Gary. So far all my parents have fed their babies and I have not had to deal with hand feeding this season. It is not an easy task to hand feed and heart breaking when I'm not successful.....which is most of the time. I always put the babies back into the nest and pray the parents take them in but sometimes that doesn't happen and the baby is doomed if I don't at least try. Pretty tuff to deal with either way, but that's part of keeping finches.

Thanks again!

Jen

[ac12]

Once the chick is past 5 days, it becomes much easier. That is when I can use a pippett to feed them.

It is those first 4 days that is HARD. They are so tiny in the first few days, and you have to be so careful feeding them not to aspirate them.

For new hatches, my success:failure rate has been 0:6
None made it past 5 days.
The first couple of day of constant feeding were brutal. It was the getting up every 2 hours at night to feed the hatchlings. That was when I understood why some people won't hand feed.

[Babs _Owner]

Jen ac12

Im working all week, but I'll try and get a video of me mixing up the formula this weekend! That would be a fun project.

Gary, I use the same thermometer you use. OMG I could not live without it. I keep a coffee cup on an electric cup warmer to keep the water bath for the formula semi-hot, then heat up the formula from that, reheat quickly that way if needed. Hope that helps ya in the future. Saves a lot of time.

I get a lot of flack about the temperature. I feed at about 100 degrees. It will be easier to show in a video than type it all.

Hope fully I'll get that video out on Saturday.

[Jen]

Babs
For me, your next video will be the most important. There are a lot of You Tube videos of folks feeding just hatched babies. But for me, the critical part is mixing the formula and temp and maintaining it as consistently as possible. You coffee cup warmer is a great idea! I will also invest in the thermometer you and Gary talk about.

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. It is so much better to be prepared in advance of an emergency situation!

[ac12]

Babs,
You just gave me an idea
I use a light dimmer on my heated foot pad under my desk, to adjust the heat level to my feet. Full on was too HOT.
So, why not use the same dimmer on a coffee cup warmer? Then you can get the temp closer to what you want rather that whatever the coffee cup warmer will do, which is probably too hot.

[Babs _Owner]

Jen

Ahh The pressure is on! Gotta get my camera going this weekend! heehee

@ac12 Sounds like a great plan!