Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 12/16/2006

Question
sorry for the confustion, the conure laid two eggs, my question is two part.  l.  when the eggs hatch do we feed the mother/father anything different so they can feed the babies?  (seeds are being fed to both birds now)  2.  Do we hand feed the birds later on and if so what do we feed them?  
Thank you,
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Hi, my dad's conures just had babies.  does he have to buy specific food when the babies hatch?  They are eating seeds now and water.  The eggs are starting to shake, so we are panicking.  Thanks
-----Answer-----
Hi, Candie.  Thanks for posting!

I'm confused by your post.  Do you mean your dad's conures just laid eggs or their eggs have started to hatch?  Are you asking what to feed the adults or babies?  Please explain what you mean by the eggs are starting to shake...eggs aren't supposed to shake.

Chrys

Answer
Hi again, Candie.  I understand now...thanks!

Seed is a poor diet, but you can't change their diet now.  A diet change is stressful on a bird and besides this, your birds will likely not accept a new food at this moment because birds won't eat things they don't recognize as food.  It could take some time to switch them to something better and you don't have that time right now.  Should have been done before the birds laid eggs.  

Visit my website for information on handfeeding baby birds.  If you want the babies to be tame, you'll need to pull them from the parents at about 10 days of age and handfeed them per the information on my website.

Come back with any additional questions.

Chrys