New Rainbow Lorikeet

[Wolf]

That is true and had not been brought up yet. Thank you for doing so.

[Gabriel]

I have read that to quarantine a bird is to basically place the cage in another room separate from my existing birds for an extended period of time. If you have any other information of this topic it would be very appreciated

[liz]

I have seen quite a few sites and have also been told personally that lorikeets tend to be aggressive when it comes to other birds, so that's why I am quite unsure. I would like to post a sketch of the layout of my house, how can I do that?

They can be in the same room while caged and may even enjoy the company. I know nothing about lorikeets so I don't know how they are with other birds. Be careful if you have them both out at the same time. Watch them close. Birds are fast.

[Wolf]

To quarantine them keep them in separate rooms for 30 days and if you put things in or out of the cage or handle a bird wash before going into the other room . The purpose is to hopefully prevent the spread of disease. When you get a bird you should place it in quarantine and make a vet appointment for the purpose of making sure that it has a clean bill of health and does not have any disease that it could infect another bird with.

[liz]

To quarantine them keep them in separate rooms for 30 days and if you put things in or out of the cage or handle a bird wash before going into the other room . The purpose is to hopefully prevent the spread of disease. When you get a bird you should place it in quarantine and make a vet appointment for the purpose of making sure that it has a clean bill of health and does not have any disease that it could infect another bird with.

Keep the new one in quarantine for a month. I let them communicate before they meet. That way they know of each other and look forward to meeting. It's like talking to a new friend on the phone before you meet him. You learn about him before you meet.

[Pajarita]

Quarantine is not only the time you look for symptoms and take to the vet for a complete physical , it's also the time when you switch your bird to a better diet (breeders do NOT wean to good diets), observe and learn his body language and start the bonding process. In your case, where you are going to have a baby, you will also need to handfeed (you do know how to do this, don't you?), control the daily weight to make sure the bird is eating enough, provide soft foods twice daily, etc.

[Gabriel]

I do have a very faint idea on how to hand-feed, but it would be useful if you could go through it step by step.

[Pajarita]

Oh, my dear, people will tell you how to do it and there are many sources in the net but, in truth, all you need to do is to feed once wrong and the bird will die from aspiration so it's not something that you should learn from the written word, pictures or even a video. It's something that you have to observe somebody doing in person several times and then practice also several times with this person looking over your shoulder. The breeder will tell you that the bird is weaned and that, if you need, you can handfeed without a problem but this is only because he wants to sell you the baby bird. You will also need a digital scale, food thermometer (cold formula causes sour crop and hot formula burns it) and both syringes and pipettes.

[Gabriel]

I have heard you should never feed a chick with a full crop, and you must wait until it is empty before feeding. How can I make sure if the chick's crop is full or empty?

[Pajarita]

No, that's not correct. The crop needs to empty completely once a day, not every time you feed. See what I mean about not been good to just read about it?