The Sale of Unweaned Birds
It is quite common to find unweaned baby parrots for sale in pet stores. This is unfortunate because the average pet store employee or customer has no idea how complicated and demanding the handraising process is (many people think "handfeeding" is feeding peanuts "by hand" through the bars of the cage!). The result is oftentimes a dead baby parrot and an upset customer.
In the wild, parrots stay with their parents for months, or even years. During this time, they are provided with food until they are eventually weaned and able to eat solid food. The parents also spend these months teaching their chicks how to act like parrots.
In the breeding businesses that supply pet stores ("bird mills"), parrots are usually taken away from their parents before they hatch. Sometimes the breeders handraise the baby parrots themselves, using special supplies and techniques until the birds are weaned. Most professional breeders, however, sell their baby parrots unweaned, expecting the buyer, or pet store employees, to continue the handfeeding process.
Why Stores Say We Should Buy Unweaned Parrots..
The claim is that hand feeding, or "artificially rearing", parrots results in a closer bond between bird and owner. But according to a new study conducted at the University of California, Davis, parrot chicks raised by their parents and handled by humans as little as 15 minutes a day became perfectly tame, well-bonded parrots.
Anyone who has rescued an adult parrot from a humane society or rescue group can also attest to the fact that, with proper care, it is entirely possible to establish a bond with a fully grown parrot - handfed or not.
The Truth?
Handfeeding is very time consuming (very young parrots must be fed as many as six times per day). This leads one to wonder if breeders aren't just dumping the responsibility on pet store employees and unsuspecting customers.
There are also some in the bird industry that perpetuate the "hand-fed" myth in order to facilitate the production breeding of parrots (Click Here For More Info on Bird Mills). Separating young birds from their parents increases production by encouraging the adult birds to produce more babies.
The Dangers of Handfeeding
Artificial rearing is not only unnecessary, but also potentially dangerous if done by a novice (even very experienced breeders sometimes run into these problems):
Crop Burn - Improperly heated formula can scald a chick’s crop and actually burn right through the esophagus and the crop, making a fistula. This is usually fatal, but if the burned area is small, the dead crop area is cut out and stitched back together, leaving a smaller but functional crop. More severe burns are treated by implanting a feeding tube in the crop. These burns open the door for serious bacterial and fungal infections.
Sour Crop - Formula has to be the correct temperature in order to be digested. If formula is too cold, the chick's crop doesn't empty and the formula left inside turns sour, leading to infection. When experienced handfeeders encounter this problem, they immediately empty the crop, something an inexperienced person simply cannot do.
(The issue of sour crop comes up quite often with cockatiels; it is not any easier handfeeding smaller parrots.)
Starvation - A healthy chick can quickly starve to death if a novice handfeeder doesn’t realize the amount of food or the number of feeding times required. Chicks that aren't receiving enough handfeeding formula will refuse to eat weaning foods even though they are very hungry.
It is critical that the chick eat enough to support growth and sustain life. Chicks have to be weighed on a daily basis, and if they lose any weight, immediate action has to be taken.
Aspiration – Formula must be placed in the right side of the chick’s mouth or it could be aspirated, leading to often-fatal aspiration pneumonia.
Overfeeding – Older chicks will usually back away when they are full, but newly hatched babies will not be able to do so. Overfed chicks may vomit excess formula or their crops may become impacted, requiring the assistance of an avian veterinarian.
Beak Deformities can be caused by faulty equipment or untrained hands.
Disease - Babies don't have fully functioning immune systems; everything that touches or is in contact with a baby (feeding supplies, etc.) must be clean and sanitized. Otherwise diseases such as Polyomavirus (a highly infectious, often-deadly virus) will present themselves.
Behavior Problems - Both in the wild and in captivity, parrots actively parent their offspring. Birds who are artificially reared are more likely to develop behavioral problems such as excessive screaming, feather plucking, self-mutilation, and aggression. Many hand-reared birds also show abnormal sexual behavior and aggression towards humans.
Forced Weaning
Forced weaning is refusing to feed a begging chick with the assumption that it will eat when it gets hungry enough. Unfortunately, baby parrots just won't eat until they are ready and an unweaned chick will starve to death before it will eat solid food. Forced weaning can also result in permanent behavior problems such as rigid eating habits, nervousness, and chronic begging. |
發表於 2011-3-26 00:12
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