Hand-feeding

An overview of Harrison's hand rearing formulas

As the nutritional requirements of each species of birds vary from hatching to fledging, Harrison's has produced hand-rearing foods of high nutritive value, formulated for ease of digestion to meet each growing bird's needs.

For those breeders who hand-rear their young from day 1 or 2, Recovery Formula provides the ideal starter diet for most parrots and indeed the majority of small passerine birds. As the baby parrots develop Juvenile Formula provides the correct nutritional balance for continued development.

For those who are dedicated to wild bird rehabilitation and the rearing of orphaned nestlings, Recovery Formula provides the critical nutrients to stabilise injured and debilitated birds. It also provides the diet for rearing the majority of wild bird nestlings. 

Which should I use?

The Harrison's food recommended for certain scenarios is summarised below.

Hand-feeding infants

Precautions when hand-feeding

• Feeding should not be attempted by inexperienced persons.
• Do not attempt to feed birds that are not aggressively feeding as this may result in inhalation of the food.
• Do not use formula that is too cold or too liquid.
• Feedings must be accomplished promptly to avoid appetite loss.
• Failure to heed cautions could result in the death of the bird.

Nutritional requirements of a hand rearing food

One of the main prerequisites to successful hand-rearing is a quality hand-rearing formula. These foods are scientifically formulated and nutritionally balanced for ideal chick growth. The desire to tinker with them by adding additional products should be resisted as this will unbalance this formulation. In these diets, as well as providing adequate levels of appropriate nutrients, the ratios of key attributes (for example, protein:energy; energy:calcium; calcium:phosphate; vitA:vitD:vitK) are also balanced to ensure efficient utilisation and optimal health and growth.

Need for different formulas for different species and different life stages

Growth rates of chicks vary with the age of the chick and the species of the bird. For certain species of parrot growth rate is rapid – from hatch to flying in a matter of 6-8 weeks. For other species growth rate is much slower. Large macaws, for example, may stay in the nest for months until they are mature enough to fly.

One rearing food may therefore not be entirely suitable for all species in terms of ensuring the correct growth-rate patterns. Within certain parameters tissue maturation is dynamic and growth rate flexible, however under and over provision of both gross and actual nutrients can result in skeletal and tissue developmental abnormalities (feathers are a common example here).

Two examples will perhaps help clarify the concept here. A cockatiel’s growth rate is rapid especially in the early stages of its development. It requires a high protein (essential amino acids + energy) formulation to cope with this growth rate. Feather production is also rapid again requiring a high protein food. As growth rate of tissue is fast a cockatiel also requires a relatively high level of calcium (per unit energy) to ensure adequate mineralisation of the developing bones. Once the growth rate has slowed a reduced protein/energy food will allow maturation of the tissues and not predispose to wing/feather deformities seen in other species of birds (angle wing) or obesity and fatty liver issues.

The other side of the coin is seen in larger parrots. Although being able to use a high protein/energy food early in its development (where proteins are more easily digested and assimilated than fats and carbohydrates), too high a plane of nutrition for too long will potentially result in either tissue growth/weight being too great for the strength of the bones or excess calories being stored as fat in the tissue or liver. With these species of birds, a lower energy input for a longer period is required to allow tissues of differing types to mature in an appropriate and parallel time frame.

The hand-feeding foods in the Harrison’s range can be used to cater for both scenarios, providing the right nutrients to different species at the right time in their lives.

To hand-rear or not to hand-rear?

Hand-rearing a baby bird can be a very rewarding experience; it can also be distressing when things don’t go according to plan. It requires care and patience, and places demands on your time and emotions and so should not be entered into just for ‘the fun of it’.

On many occasions necessity becomes the decision maker as to whether to take on the task of hand-rearing. When parent birds for whatever reason fail to rear their own young or in the case of wild birds, when there are orphaned chicks, hand-rearing is perhaps the only viable option to potentially save a life.    

Hand-feeding (as opposed to hand-rearing) is an essential part of critical care management in many clinical situations both within veterinary and wildlife establishments, and a life-saving practice in many situations. In general, the downside of intervention in these situations can be no worse than if no action had been taken, however it should be consider that on occasion inappropriate husbandry and feeding techniques, coupled with inadequate levels or incorrect food, can result in prolonging a life that may have been better humanely ended earlier.

There is much that can be gained nutritionally by hand-rearing a parrot chick either removed from its parents or incubator hatched – many breeders find that hand-rearing is the best way to ensure the bird receives the nutrition needed for optimal growth and development. The bird may also be ‘tamer’ and more likely to be a good pet in a domestic setting.

There are, however, certain nutritional and developmental problems which can be associated with the process. Underfunding of gross energy due to insufficient calories per unit food (over-dilution), not enough food per feed, not enough feeds per day or simply a poor-quality food, will result in stunting, poor skeletal development, long-term failure of the immune system and, of course, potentially death. Whilst not generally considered a nutrient, water is also an essential part of feeding and dehydration due to low water intake, too concentrated a food source or excessive water loss - possibly due to diarrhoea or too hot a brooder temperature - will be equally detrimental to chick survival.

Not only are nutritional issues associated with hand-rearing, so are psychological ones. Parrots raised as individual birds, rather than clutch reared by parents or crèche reared by breeders, may imprint on their carer (or humans in general) with subsequent behavioural problems. Hand-rearing has been shown to be directly associated with reduced mental capacity in some species of parrots.

Hand-feeding is not without risk of associated disease issues. Candidiasis, a condition caused by the yeast Candida albicans (also responsible for the infection ‘thrush’) results in excess fermentation in the crop giving its common name of ‘sour crop’ due to the ‘yeasty’ smell that arises. This condition results in crop and gut stasis, dehydration, toxaemia and, unless resolved, death. Candida is a ubiquitous organism and potentially found in all avian digestive systems where it lives as a commensal doing no harm. However, the conditions surrounding hand-rearing – stress, intermittent feeding patterns, too low or too high brooder temperature, less than adequate hygiene (using the same feeding equipment for different individuals within a rearing set up without adequate sterilisation and thus transferring bugs from one chick to another; inadequate sterilisation of feeding equipment between feeds allowing growth of yeast to accumulate etc.), reheating and refeeding of pre-prepared food – all predispose to establishing Candida (as well as other potentially pathogenic organisms) as a disease entity.

Care also needs to be taken when feeding baby birds that food is not aspirated into the respiratory system.

Weighing up the pros and cons

As mentioned above, hand-rearing should not be done on a whim and requires dedication and is not without its downsides. Many of the pitfalls, however, can be avoided by good husbandry techniques and a good quality commercial hand-rearing formulation. Learning to hand-rear requires practice and patience and some species are easier to rear than others, but as proficiency is gained, hand-rearing becomes a pleasurable and rewarding experience.

In some instances the carer may be left with no choice but to hand-rear; in others it is for the individual to consider whether it is a task they should be undertaking in preference to the chick’s parent(s) with the benefits and disadvantages that can result in each scenario.