Observations of Handraising a Baby Lineolated ‘keet......
By Joan Smith ***
At 3 weeks old, needed a feeding every 3-4 hrs. For the first day of handfeeding he didn’t eat much, as he didn’t yet associate me and the syringe with food! At this age, he could barely hold his head up, so I had to hold his head when feeding. He would crawl around the brooder, just kinda shovelling along with his head. He was still covered in lots of grey fuzz at this stage. Rapid changes were taking place at this stage of growth, and within a couple days he was able to hold his head up by himself and pin feathers started to show.
At 4 weeks of age, still needed to be fed about every 4 hours. Lots of pin feathers and the green colouring of an adult starting to show from the ends of the pin feathers. He is much more active at this stage. Can run and and even hop abit! Now he chases after the syringe when he is hungry, and even is starting to pick at some CEDE eggfood placed in a jar lid in the brooder.
At 5 weeks he appears to be fully feathered, except at the middle of his chest. Now he is out of the brooder and is moved to a small cage with perches placed low. Doesn’t seem interested in eating soft foods or dry pellets. Just a little CEDE is his preference. Still being handfed every 4 hours. He “attempts” to eat cheerios tho’!! Has trouble holding onto them, but does keep trying. Can climb quite well on the bars of the cage and flapping his underdeveloped wings.
At 7 ½ weeks old he is weaned onto pellets!
At 8 weeks old, he loves to play with toys, exploring his enviorment and is quite interested in being with us humans. After being placed on the playstand, it isn’t long before he is taking low flights across the room to get to us. Skittering on the lineoleum (trying to put on the brakes) as he comes in for a landing at our feet! I noticed that he would “flare” his tail feathers quite often when startled or apon seeing something unfamiliar. He had the unusual habit of when he dropped a “foot-toy” from the playstand...he would quickly run to the end of the perch and look over the edge, to see the toy....at the same time uttering a questioning sound! Hard to describe, but almost like a birdy equivalent of “uh oh, I dropped it”. Other odd habit was, if he found a newspaper or mag’ lying about in his explorations, he would run along and all of a sudden stop, lay his head down on the paper and kinda rub it there for a few seconds....then quickly get up and carry on, as if this was the normal thing to do! I found that as far as handling him went, he wasn’t nippy at all, but that he didn’t really seem to like being held. He had far too much energy and preferred to be on the go all the time. Not a cuddly type of bird, but this could have been just this individual birds’ personality.
By 9 ½ weeks old he was holding food and toys quite comfortably in his foot, without needing the support of the perch to lean on. He liked having a box to sleep in and in his case, a small empty kleenex box sufficed. As far as toys went he liked a preening toy, with lots of cotton ropes tassels, and bits of leather. Any toy that had a length of chain or rope with leather or woods bits strung onto it, he liked to draw the chain or rope up, to the perch he was sitting on, to get the leather and wood. Same thing with chains that had beads interspersed along the length. His main activity with toys, seemed to be that he liked climbing up and down and all around a toy, as well as pulling up a chain or rope to his perch.
By the time he was 10 weeks he was sold.
Pics By Joan Smith Starting At 3 Weeks
I have a very sweet, handtame lineolated about the age of 1 1/2 yrs old. He has always lived in a LARGE cage with his buddy Pete a 15 yr old Cockatiel. They act sooo much like a couple it's hard to take one out of the cage without taking them both. If the Cockatiel comes out, my lineo is right on his tail waiting for the hand to place him on my other shoulder. If by chance only the tiel is out, my lineo will literally cry until Pete is returned. They cuddle with each other, they preen each other, and act like a perfect couple with the exception they are both males and of different species..lol.
They have the occasional bickering match over preening (who is going to be first) but other than that, they are absolutely in love with each other. I have been asked repeatedly to sell my Lineo so that he can have the chance to breed but I'm afraid that poor Pete and him would be lost without each other. I prefer my Lineo just as he is: Sweet and gentle. I wouldn't give him up for anything in the world. Now some may disagree with the idea of keeping a Lineo with a Tiel but let me assure you: THIS WAS THEIR CHOICE..not mine. Each had a seperate cage and one day "love" found itself in these two. The lineo ended up in the Tiels cage and won't return home to it's original cage. Like I mentioned earlier, they are partners forever...lol. I just thought I would share my strange story of the Lineo and Tiel..
I'm sure eveyone will have a different story to tell. My little green fellow is now 8 years old. My Ollie is extreamly cuddly with me, but no one else. He is friendly to other people, but he is very much a one person bird. Ollie expects to be held several times a day, and has even gone to work with me sometimes. He is very quiet, but he will squawk from time to time.... He will playfuly nip my hand, which I recoiled from the first time he did this, thinking he was going to bite me. He also has this habit of butting his head against me as a show of affection and this too took me by surprise. He will try to kiss my mouth, but I discourage this as he could get bacteria from me, not the other way around.
These little birds love to hide under blankets or pillows so don't let them out unsupervised as you might not know the bird is there, and crush them. This happens a lot with this breed, so it's very important to always know where they are. I also have Daisy, a little female that Ollie will have nothing to do with, as he is bonded to me. She loves him, but he will try to hurt her sometimes so I keep them apart.
My vet suggested to always give water that's been boiled once. From the kettle is best, as this is clean water. Ollie likes to drop his pellets in his water to make a "soup" almost, so he now has two water bowls, so that he always has a fresh supply. And he has a bath dish, as he loves to splash in water every day, and take showers also.
He loves apples and can say apple and red pepper and juice, as these are his favourites. He talks somewhat but Daisy is the real star when it comes to talking. She can sing "you are my sunshine", hitting all the bad notes I hit, when I was teaching her". My laugh is another source of mimicry, and so my home is just crazy. She is 4 years old, and just full of energy.
These guys go through the same terrible two's that other birds experince, so you just have to be patient with them. I find Ollie is sweeter as he gets older, and more in need of love. He is the light in my life, as I have never been with an animal that is so loving, and protective [all 7 inches of him, ready to take on all enemies]. But, he is a one person bird, and that can be an issue for the other people in our life. I'd love for you to have the same joy I have.
Put all ingredients through a food processor and feed a table spoon full (per pair) each day tp birds that that you wish to breed and/or feeding young. The remainder will keep in a fridge for about a week.
As a general conditioner he recommended that a sprinkling of wheat germ also be given each day on soft food.
It is a fact that whoever we get to speak at our PS meetings it is only a matter of minutes before the topic of feeding arises. Any comment on diets that have worked?....Ron Lewis Jan 17/oo
Posted by: Tami King - stormy0@flash.net - September 26, 1999
Soak beans overnight. At least twelve hours. Drain and rinse well. Put into a large stock pot and cook 45-60 min or until al a dente. Rinse lightly with cold water to stop cooking process. Set aside. Cook coucous in 1 1/2 cups of water for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork. Stir into the bean mixture. Cook Pasta until Al dente, drain into strainer, run under cold water, shake off excess water , add to bean mixture. Cook rice until firm, add to mixture. Stir in both jars of baby food, the palm oil, spirulina. Let cool and put into 1/2 cup serving size bags. Freeze immediately. Our birds go wild for this.
When cous-cous has soaked up all water, combine with veggies, stir, and serve to your feathered friend according to size. Freezes well and may be served hot or cold.
Baby Formula Posted by: Kitty - smileyaviary@hotmail.com - June 13, 1998
Mix and cook the above cereal for 5 minutes, remove from stove, and add one 4 1/2-ounce jar of baby vegetables (strained garden vegetables), a combination of peas, carrots and spinach. (For cockatoos and cockatiels increase this amount by 1/3 to 1/2).
If sunflower meal is not available, purchase raw hulled sunflower kernels and grind them in a blender. Add 2 slices of very dry whole wheat bread mixed with 1 1/2 to 2 cups sunflower kernels, and grind them together in the blender to prevent the kernels from becoming soggy and sticky. The bread will add nutrition to this formula.
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