Happy (belated) Birthday, Sidney
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Baby Sidney story:
Before he was fully feathered out, we were hand-feeding him. The breeder was reluctant to let him go because the babies are so dependent on the feedings, and if you don't know what you're doing, they'll not thrive and grow. However, he had had experience hand feeding a parrot (Peanuts) when he was ill, so, after calling our vet, the breeder let him go at a younger than usual age - I believe it was 8 weeks.
To feed the bird, you make a slurry of this baby bird powder in water. Then you fill a syringe with the stuff and literally shoot it down the gullet. For Sid, it was about 50 cc - two ounces - all at once. If you've seen baby birds eat, you know how they just gobble it down.
The syringes that we used for feeding were "Toomey syringes" that I got from work.
See the detachable tip on the syringe? I was feeding Sid, shooting the feed into his gullet, and that tip came off, and went down his esophagus into his crop. Scared the crap out of me..."Good God, I just killed him!"
Fortunately, he was so small, and skinny that I was able to feel the tip in his crop and milk it up until it came up into his mouth. I was really scared that this was the end of this baby bird.
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Here is to 25 more years Sydney!!
