Pursuing a passion for our feathered friends, we have been hand feeding and socializing the ultimate "pet" birds for the past ten years. If you are looking for that little Macaw that will lay in your lap, a Cockatiel to be your best friend, a Ringneck to adorn your shoulder, and much more, you have come to the right place.

An Exciting Day

It is always an exciting day when I have the opportunity of assisting in the birth of a tiny Cockatoo/Parrot that, in the wild, would not have survived. 

In my last post, I spoke of the "perfect hatch" which is when the tiny chick cracks its egg in a perfect circle around the top of the egg, pops the end and out he comes.

All to often, however, we see a not-so-perfect hatch.  One where the little chick breaks (pips) the egg and then just keeps pecking away at that same spot.  Before long it has broken a hole there and the outside air begins to seep into its egg drying out the membrane inside its shell.  Once this membrane begins to dry, it acts like shrink wrap and shrink wraps itself to the little chick.  Now the baby is caught and is no longer able to assist in its own hatching. 

Nothing is sadder than seeing a Mother Parrot who has futilely attempted to peel the egg off her chick.

This is always a balancing act because a chick that hatches to soon and has not consumed all the nutrition from its egg will be a weak chick and very likely to not survive.  So we keep good records and log the time of pipping, the time of chirping inside the egg and listening for the ever present tapping. 

There can even come a time when the chick will panic because it is running out of air, when we hear this kind of chirping, we move fast.  Normally we hope to just move at a normal progression.

Our little chick today had opened its egg and then had only enlarged that hole in the last 24 hours.  It was chirping strongly so I gently peeled back a tiny bit of the egg and as I suspected, the chick was totally encased in the dried membrane, unable to move.

Now we set up the ER and go to work.  I heated some saline solution (the same solution that you might use for your contact lenses).   Those who wear contacts, have you ever let a contact dry out and then added saline and re hydrated the lens.  Well, this is exactly what we do for the little chick. 

Remembering that the little chick must be kept at 95 to 100 degrees, we heat the saline and then using an eyedropper, carefully rehydrate the dried membrane, always careful to avoid the chicks mouth,

If our timing is right, the little chick will begin to squirm, loosening itself from its shackles.  Normally a second application is required and before long, we are rewarded with a healthy pink baby.

And here it is, not quite out of its egg and doing it all on its own.  Its name is Zeke and next to it is its sibling, Diego, who did have a perfect hatch and is resting comfortably in its butter cup.

Enjoy your day,

Pat from The Beak

The "Hatchling"

I never witness the birth of a little Amazon, Cockatoo or Macaw chick without it being just like the first time.  It is wonderful to watch and even more wonderful to understand.  Each time we have a hatching, I stop whatever I am doing to watch as this tiny little being (about half the size of my thumb) wiggles and squirms until it is free from its little temporary home.

This is out newest Umbrella Cockatoo baby, Sparky (born on July 5).   Observe that Sparky had what we refer to as a "perfect hatch".... the egg cracks in a circle around the top and the end then just pops out.  Sometimes things don't go quite so perfect and a little assistance is needed to make things go smoothly.

The mechanics of an egg hatching are equally as amazing.  Even if you have seen a chick hatch, you might not know just how God and Mother Nature orchestrate this phenomenon. 

When a fertile chick is developing, it occupies approximately two-thirds of the egg.  As the preparation for hatching begins, the chick draws down to about half of the egg and forms an air pocket in the top end of the egg.   During growing, the chick has developed a large (relative of course) muscle on the back of its neck, this is called a "pipping" muscle.  As the baby begins to breath air from the air pocket, the carbon dioxide exhaled causes an involuntary spansm in the neck muscle which, in turn, throws his "pipping tooth" (a small extension on his beak shaped like an arrowhead) against the inside of the egg shell.  This regular tapping on the inside of the egg shell can be heard by holding the egg up to your ear.  Next comes the "pip" the first little break in the egg, then the tapping is combined with chirping as it works its way around the egg.  Within 24 to 48 hours the chick will have completed the process and a new life is born.

In the exoctic bird world, the newborn chicks are 100% helpless.  They have no way of maintaining their body heat and must be kept at 95 to 100 degrees, just what it would be under the body of its Mother.  We keep the chick in a little butter cup filled with tissues so his legs will grown correctly.  We feed the newborns every three hours and get up in the middle of the night to fix formula and change diapers just like we did when our children were born.

Many of our friends think we are crazy but just look what we get for our efforts:

The reward always exceeds the effort.

In additional to all our exotic babies, the wild birds are also a passion.  As I sit here the Hooded Orioles and two of their babies are making short work of the grape jelly provided just for them.

Much to be loved in the world of birds....

Pat from The Beak