Hand Rearing African Grey Chicks

This blog will detail hand rearing of two African grey chicks. You may read about their parents and the clutch here. The two chicks hatched on Jan 6 and Jan 9, 2012. They were pulled on Jan 22 with one aged 13 days and the other 16 days. The chicks were close banded on Jan 22. The band id of the chicks are SAUD-202 and SAUD-203 respectively. Here is their first photo and their data.

SAUD-202 (L) SAUD-203 (R) 13 and 19 days Old

ID: SAUD-202 Hatch Date: Jan 6, 2012 Pulled on: Jan 22, 2012 (16 days) Weight: 129g

ID: SAUD-203 Hatch Date: Jan 9, 2012 Pulled on: Jan 22, 2012 (13 days) Weight: 117g

The chicks are housed inside a homemade brooder made out of an old fish tank. The bottom is covered with wood shavings and lined on top with tissue paper. The brooder temperature is maintained at 90'F.

The chicks hatched 3 days apart but their size does not differ significantly. The older chick had its eyes open at the time of pulling while the younger one still had the eyes closed. Their weights were 129 and 117grams respectively. The chicks are being raised on Zupreem Embrace Plus. Initial feedings are about 16-18cc Six times a day. I feed them at 5:00am, 9:00am, 1:00pm, 5:00pm and 11:00pm.

Following photos show the growth progression of the two chicks.

18 and 21 days old

25 and 28 days old

28 and 31 days old

35 days old

 The chicks are now out of the brooder and into a basked lined with wood shavings and paper towels.

41 and 44 days old

46 and 49 days old

 The chicks were moved to a cage at age 51 days.

55 and 58 days old

 The chicks are now almost 2 months old. They are taking 3 feeds a day about 40ml in each feeding. They have started nibbling on corn, apples and are also cracking some sunflower seeds.

59 days old

Here is a chart showing the growth of the chicks. The weight in grams is plotted against the age in days for both chicks. The peak weight was attained at around 7 weeks old. The chick SAUD-203 appears to be a male and SAUD-202 looks like a female. Both chicks are healthy but there is a difference of about 10% in weight between the two.

Chicks are now 3 months old and being fed twice a day in the morning and at night. I will stop the morning feed after a couple of days. They are eating corn and vegetables and also nibbling on seeds.