How and what do I feed a baby grass parrot?

Lisamaree: How and what do I feed a baby grass parrot?
While out walking my dog came across a baby grass parrot, it nearly has a full coat of feathers but can not fly.I have taken it home with me[if i left it there it would be eaten by preators] but am wondering what to feed it. I live in rural Australia so being able to get to a vet to buy proper feed is out of the question,any suggestions as to what i could use from home to feed him?

Answers and Views:

Answer by The_Eternal_Red_Rose
What you should really do is called a wildlife place who will give the parrot the proper care it needs then set it free
What to feed

There are a lot of homemade diets for feeding chicks, but these need to be critically assessed as to their suitability. What is OK for a near-fledged cockatoo is not suitable for a week-old lorikeet. Baby cereals, by themselves, are not an adequate diet for any bird.

Commercial diets offer the advantages of being easy to prepare, and are usually well balanced. I use Roudybush Formula 3, but I know others have had great success with Vetafarm feeds.My advice is to try a few feeds on different birds, and pick the one that works best for you.

If using a balanced commercial diet, you should not need to add any vitamins or minerals – in fact, this can be dangerous to your chick. Probiotics – harmless bacteria that colonise the gut and compete with harmful bacteria – may be useful.

Whatever diet you end up with, there are a few simple rules:

Only mix enough food for 1 feed at a time. Discard any leftovers. Food left for a few hours may become a live culture of bacteria and yeast that can be harmful to your chick.

Never microwave food. This can create super–hot food clumps that can burn your chick’s crop.

Always mix according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Always practice strict hygiene. Disinfect instruments and dishes.
How to feed

Chicks can be fed with a spoon, a syringe, or a crop needle. Care needs to be taken with crop needles, as the crop can be easily perforated if you are too rough, or the chick moves at the wrong time. If feeding with a spoon or syringe, only feed when there is a good feeding response – the chick’s head is bobbing up and down.

Week old chicks will need hourly feeds of only a few mls each, round the clock. In the second week this can be reduced to two hourly feeds, with a four – six hour break overnight. By the end of the third week, feeds can be given every 4 – 6 hours, and by 6 weeks, every 8 hours.

As the chick starts to wean the number of feeds can be reduced to two, and then one. At the same time a wide range of solid foods should be offered. I like to wean birds onto pelleted diets, as these are easy to wean on, and provide a well balanced diet. I use either Vetafarm Parrot Maintenance Diet
or Harrisons Bird Diets
Signs of trouble

You should weigh and examine your chick every day, usually before the first feed. Trouble signs to look for include:

Failure to gain weight, or losing weight
Thin toes, over-sized head. Abnormal feathering
Slow emptying crop – it should empty completely in 4 – 6 hours
Failing to grow inside accepted weight gain charts (where available)
Changes in skin colour ( from pink to red or white)
Vomiting, change in droppings.

If you observe any of these signs, veterinary intervention will probably be necessary.

Hand rearing parrots is a lot of hard work, and requires a huge amount of dedication. However, the results are well worth it.

Answer by wacky
Here in the U.k. I fed my grass parakeets on a mixture of various soaked seeds Sunflower black/white Hemp ,Millet’s, Niger.soak seed in warm water overnight rinse ,drain place somewhere warm and when it sprouts feed it to your bird if your bird is very young try Canary egg food just follow instructions on the packet you may have to feed it through a syringe.