Hand raising baby finch.

[lyn2233]

Up date on my little finch. Last post I said I thought he would not make the night proved me wrong and has been camping with us the last 6 days. Took a couple of younger finches with him they accepted him at night in the nest but started to peck at him during the day so had to remove them. Still feeding him 4 times a day with hand raising formula, egg and biscuit with boiled egg, Passwell finch soft food and add a little Ornithon Supplement. Will not eat seed yet picks at it but does not seem to know what to do with it.Got home to-day and thought I would put him in the aviary to see if he would follow the other birds trys to get near them but they won't accept him.He sees me and flys to the wire or when I went in the aviary flew straight to me. My next idea is when this other young finch fledges I am going to put them in a cage together and see if it will teach him to eat. As I said last post he had lost most of his feathers, he is just starting to get few new ones through but still looks pretty naked. Can anyone knit finch jumpers Anyway he is still hanging in there I have now been hand feeding him for 7 long weeks. Oh yeah pretty excited got home and 5 baby stars have fledged and my painted finch as 4 babies.

[Diane]

Congratulations on all counts!

[dano_68]

Great news Lyn!

Yes, I would put him in a holding cage with another(s) of his own species for at least 2 weeks. After that he should be fine. I know from experience that human imprinting does have a huge impact. I raided a Ruddy cock once and even his calls were weird to the other Ruddies so they all rejected him. In the end I got a new hen in, put them both together for a couple of weeks and now all is well. I still think he has a weird call, but hey my voice was not high enough to teach him!

[jusdeb]

well done he will learn to be a bird in time ...