A COMPLETE BALANCED HAND-FEEDING FOOD FOR HATCHLINGS

• • For hand-feeding psittacine chicks from hatching to 1 - 3 weeks of age.
  • For young birds needing an easily assimilated source of nutrients.
  • Smooth texture for acceptability by birds until they are eating on their own.
  • A nutritional handfeeding diet for growth from hatching to fledging of passerines such as swifts, swallows, the large-sized flycatchers and warblers, shrikes, chickadees, titmice, larks, woodpeckers, jays, mockingbirds, robins, grosbeaks, song sparrows, towhees, goldfinches, finches and more

Caution: The correct feeding technique must be used in order to prevent injury to the bird or inhalation of the formula that could result in pneumonia or death.

SPECIES:

• • • From day 1 to weaning for passerines
    • From day 1 to day 21 for chicks with adult weight <150g
    • From day 1 to day 14 for chicks with adult weight between 150g and 350g
    • From day 1 to day 7 for chicks with adult weight >350g

DIRECTIONS:

Step 1: Gently feel the crop to determine that it is almost empty before feeding.

Step 2: Mix fresh, 1 part dry formula to 1-3 parts bottled “drinking water” heated to approximately 103°F (39°C). Do not microwave. Allow to cool to lukewarm.

Step 3: Feeding with an irrigation syringe is probably the most universally successful technique. As one faces the bird, position the syringe to enter the oral cavity from the left side of the bird’s beak and direct it toward the right side of the bird’s neck. Deposit the food into the bird’s mouth and, as it swallows, the normal feeding response closes off the trachea and prevents aspiration of the formula into the lungs.

Step 4: Feed the bird until the crop is full but not overstuffed and clean the excess formula from the bird’s beak, feathers and enclosure.

Step 5: Small species older than 21 days and large species older than 7 days should be fed Juvenile Hand-feeding Formula.