Please help- Hand rearing

[Flight Feathers]

Hi all,
Yesterday morning when I went to check on my black face baby zebra finches their crops were pretty much empty. I checked on them again late afternoon and they still had not been fed and their crops hadn’t been very full the day before either so I’m assuming the parents had abandoned them. One of the babies in particular is quite thin and scraggly but they are getting stronger with each feed and will now scream their little heads off for food which they could not do when I first brought them inside. They are about 2 weeks old so they have a few feathers now. How often should I be feeding them? When I go out for up to 6 hours I’ll just give them a big feed before I go and then put them to bed. Will this be okay? Their daylight hours have been a bit mixed up anyway as I have to wake them up early morning to feed them and warm up wheat bag again and I usually feed them before I go to bed also. I make them a mixture of dried commercial egg food mixed with water and then I warm it up and feed it to them on tiny spoon. They seem to really like it which is good. At the moment I am keeping them in a small brooder made out of a plastic fish tank with a warm wheat bag in the bottom and paper towels over top with a nice warm nest of ripped up toilet tissue and some fluff and the two babies cuddle up together and keep each other warm too.
Is there anything else I should be doing for these little babies?
Any help is very much appreciated as I really want these little babies to live.

[Flight Feathers]

Well I fed them some very watery egg food from a syringe and I’m afraid I may have given them too much as now their crops are more or less fillled with water but they seemed to really like it as they were sucking pretty hard and going by the very dark reddish color of their skin I think they were dehydrated. Will they be alright?? Or will they die from having too much watery stuff in their crops?? I’ll definitley feed them some much thicker food next time.

[Sally]

Flight Feathers If they are starting to feather out, then they can go longer between feedings. Six hours is a long time to go without food, but sometimes our schedules just don't allow for anything else. Do you have access to hand rearing formula? That is much better nutritionally than simply commercial egg food. If you have to use the commercial egg food, I would try to add some real hard boiled egg to the mixture. What they should be eating at this stage would be the consistency of soft pudding. The dark reddish skin sounds like dehydration, so perhaps they need more water in their formula. There are some good tips on hand feeding, stickies in the Breeding forum. Good luck with it, it is not easy to hand feed.

[Flight Feathers]

Flight Feathers If they are starting to feather out, then they can go longer between feedings. Six hours is a long time to go without food, but sometimes our schedules just don't allow for anything else. Do you have access to hand rearing formula? That is much better nutritionally than simply commercial egg food. If you have to use the commercial egg food, I would try to add some real hard boiled egg to the mixture. What they should be eating at this stage would be the consistency of soft pudding. The dark reddish skin sounds like dehydration, so perhaps they need more water in their formula. There are some good tips on hand feeding, stickies in the Breeding forum. Good luck with it, it is not easy to hand feed.

Thank you, I have organised for someone to feed them while I am away and they have experience with hand rearing so I know my babies will be in good hands. Just wondering if I should be feeding them during the night? And should I be getting up often to re heat their wheat bag or will they keep each other warm until the morning? I won’t be able to get any hand rearing formula unfortunately but I’ll definitely try feeding them boiled egg. How much chance is there that these babies will live?

[Sally]

Flight Feathers Since a wheat bag (I had to look up that one) doesn't stay warm through the night, I would suggest a heat lamp. You will have to be very careful with this, but experiment with low-voltage bulbs that offer just a little warmth. A friend used to keep her babies in a kleenex-lined shoe box, with a gooseneck lamp aimed into the box, but kept far enough away so the babies were kept warm but not overheated.

At this age, the babies definitely don't need to be fed during the night. When I was hand feeding, and the babies were two weeks old, I did last feeding at 11 pm and first feeding at 7 am, so they went 8 hours without food.

With an experienced friend helping, I think those babies have a good chance. Adding boiled egg will give them much-needed protein. Make sure the egg is mashed and mixed well with the water so that there aren't any lumps left.

[Flight Feathers]

Flight Feathers Since a wheat bag (I had to look up that one) doesn't stay warm through the night, I would suggest a heat lamp. You will have to be very careful with this, but experiment with low-voltage bulbs that offer just a little warmth. A friend used to keep her babies in a kleenex-lined shoe box, with a gooseneck lamp aimed into the box, but kept far enough away so the babies were kept warm but not overheated.

At this age, the babies definitely don't need to be fed during the night. When I was hand feeding, and the babies were two weeks old, I did last feeding at 11 pm and first feeding at 7 am, so they went 8 hours without food.

With an experienced friend helping, I think those babies have a good chance. Adding boiled egg will give them much-needed protein. Make sure the egg is mashed and mixed well with the water so that there aren't any lumps left.

I only used a wheat bag for the first night but I warmed it up very late and then got up at 4 in the morning to warm it up for them again. I have stopped using a wheat bag now tho as it’s been very warm at nights now so I’d cook them if I gave them a wheat bag too! I don’t have a heat lamp but it may be useful to have for if I ever need it with other babies - How much do they usually cost?

I have moved my little babies to a small bird cage now. They are about 2 weeks old and I’ve had babies about the same size etc fledge when they were this old so I imagine they will be alright and it means they won’t get too hot.

My friend didn’t end up being able to feed them while I was away so they just came on a bit of a car trip so they could get fed every couple of hours.

I have fed them mashed up egg mixed with water and they liked it like that so I’ll definitely keep feeding it to them along with the egg food.

The babies will beg very loudly and seem to be eating a lot but what worries me is the fact that they keep getting so much air in their crop. Apart from that they seem fine and quite healthy.

Thank you for all your help!

[Sally]

Flight Feathers Don't worry about air in the crop, it happens, especially with hand fed babies. It seems to resolve itself.

As far as a heat lamp, this can be as simple as a gooseneck desk lamp with a 60w bulb in it, aimed at one end of the cage. You just need to check how much heat it is giving off by putting your hand in front of it.

Once the babies have feathered out completely, they can stay warm, especially when they cuddle with each other. Parents leave the babies alone in the nest a lot at this stage.

[Flight Feathers]

Flight Feathers Don't worry about air in the crop, it happens, especially with hand fed babies. It seems to resolve itself.

As far as a heat lamp, this can be as simple as a gooseneck desk lamp with a 60w bulb in it, aimed at one end of the cage. You just need to check how much heat it is giving off by putting your hand in front of it.

Once the babies have feathered out completely, they can stay warm, especially when they cuddle with each other. Parents leave the babies alone in the nest a lot at this stage.

Oh that’s good to know then.

So a lamp wouldn’t be too bright for the babies eyes?

My babies have quite a lot of feathers and one is hopping around now- does this mean they are old enough to keep each other warm now?

I also noticed some very confusing behaviour from my babies when it came to feeding time... I’d get the food out to feed them and try would start screaming and then next moment they would be feeding each other ??! Is this normal?

[Flight Feathers]

Hi all, I have sad news... the babies died... thanks for all your help tho. They lasted about a week inside.

[Fraza]

Flight Feathers oh no better luck next time and things happen it’s not your fault

[Flight Feathers]

Flight Feathers oh no better luck next time and things happen it’s not your fault

Thankyou. They were very special- I will miss them.

[Fraza]

Flight Feathers it does seem really hard to hand feed I hope I never have to do it

[Sally]

Flight Feathers It can be extremely difficult to hand feed. I can't even tell you how many babies I have lost. So sorry you lost them, you get so attached when you are their parent.

[Flight Feathers]

Flight Feathers It can be extremely difficult to hand feed. I can't even tell you how many babies I have lost. So sorry you lost them, you get so attached when you are their parent.

Thank you, I did get very attached to them no matter how many times I tell myself not to get attached. I believe the stronger baby died of lonieless as it was making little crying sort of noises and was very lonely after the first one died. The first one died because it had food stuck in its crop that had sat there for the past 2 days...

I had really hoped these babies would live tho, considering I’d just lost my other whole clutch to mice. So was rather devastating to loose both clutches. At least I have another clutch now with lots of babies this time.