If you find yourself caring for a baby parrot, you ought to know it’s an extraordinary experience.
However, being a pet parent isn’t an easy task.
You will need to know all you possibly can before taking up the challenge of caring for a baby parrot.
So, let’s jump right into the topic at hand and look at what care baby parrots need and how best to care for them.
You’re going to love this ultimate guide
Let’s get started!
What Does A Baby Parrot Look Like?
There are fundamentally five developmental stages in a parrot’s growth.
The first stage is the hatchling stage, also known as the neonate stage.
Here’s when the baby parrot has just managed to crack its way out of the egg.
Parrot babies are born without feathers and with their eyes closed.
Parrot hatchlings are blind, deaf, and naked.
This is the eat, sleep and eliminate stage, where the parrot chicks only ever do three things for the first two weeks of their lives.
And they are entirely dependent upon their caregivers for survival.
So, you will need to be super careful at this stage to care for your baby parrot.
Hatchlings become nestlings when they open their eyes and start making noise.
Soon after, they grow feathers around three to four weeks and enter the fledgling stage.
Finally, they come to their weaning stage and leave the nest after learning to fly.
You see, parrots fall into the K-selected species.
Animals such as whales, elephants, and large primates fit into this category.
K-selected species produce few offspring yearly and provide their babies with maximum parental care and protection.
What Are Baby Parrots Called?
The most common term used for a newly hatched baby parrot is chick.
There are almost 400 species of parrots, all belonging to the order Psittaciformes.
These species are divided into three families – true parrots (Psittacoidea), cockatoos (Cacatuidae), and New Zealand parrots (Strigopoidea).
It doesn’t really matter what family of parrots your pet comes from; it’ll be a chick when it’s born.
Or, it’ll be called a ‘hatchling.’
And both mom and dad parrot contribute to the rearing of the hatchlings.
In some cases, parrots care for their young for almost a year before they are ready to leave the nest.
In that time, the parents are responsible for the survival of the little ones as well as teaching their chicks the skills they need to develop for the continuation of the species.
How Big Are Baby Parrots?
Well, considering there are so many species, it’s a little difficult to say how big a baby parrot will be, as the size of the chick depends on the species.
There are small-sized parrots, such as the Parakeets, or truly large-sized parrots, such as the Blue and Gold Macaw.
You’ll be amazed if you look at budgies when they are born.
Budgie chicks are about one-third the size of your index finger, no more than 2 inches in size.
The African Grey chick is big enough to nestle right into the palm of your hand, coming close to 5 – 8 inches in size at birth.
But, the African Grey will get far more care and attention from its parents than the Budgie as the African Grey, a large bird, has a slower growth rate.
How Much Do Baby Parrots Weigh?
As you might have guessed by now, every parrot species is unique.
Therefore, every hatchling from different parrot species is of varying size and weight.
The budgie chick ranges from 1.1 to 1.4 ounces.
The African Grey hatchlings weigh around one and half ounces.
Now, the Amazons are born weighing around 10 – 30 grams.
It has a covering of soft down and can barely hold up its head.
The one thing you will see is that the smaller-sized parrots fledge and leave their nests far sooner than the larger-sized parrots need just to develop their feathers in full.
How Much Do Baby Parrots Cost?
Yes, the price of the baby parrot you might want to adopt will most certainly vary according to its species.
Now, parrots like budgies don’t cost much, as they are readily available and reproduce more.
So, you can easily buy a budgie at $10 – $35.
If you happen to be acquainted with an aviculturist, you might be able to adopt one for free.
But birds like African Greys are endangered species and are not so easy to care for or to buy.
You may find that the price tag for a baby African Grey is as high as $500 to $1400.
How Much Do Baby Parrots Eat?
Parrot chicks don’t eat much, but they must be fed frequently.
In the wild, parrots feed their chicks through regurgitation.
But, if you are hand-feeding your parrot chick, you ought to feed your hatchling 10 percent of its body weight per feeding.
Also, you will need to be careful about the environment in which you feed your baby parrot.
You see, parrot chicks get a lot of care and attention from their parents, and you will have to rise to the occasion if you want your baby bird to be happy.
Getting the right location with the right temperature is vital.
For newborn parrots, you need to have 50% relative humidity.
The hatchlings need to be in a room where the temperature should be between 35 – 36 Degrees Celsius.
Make sure you have a dimly lit room with little to no minimal noise.
Doing so will make the hatchlings feel safe and secure.
As the hatchlings grow older, they become more adaptable to more light or noise and even fluctuations in temperature.
What Do You Feed Baby Parrots?
In the wild, the hatchlings will eat whatever their parents eat – insects or seeds.
But, if you are caring for your hatchlings, you will need to use prepared parrot-rearing food from a reputable brand.
Once the baby bird has opened its eyes, you can add to its daily diet.
Moistened dog food, hard-cooked eggs, no flavoring raw liver, or peanut granules are all healthy options for baby parrots.
You can feed parrot chicks with a plastic syringe without the needle.
Make sure that the food is fresh, not too hot, and watered down with no big-sized granules or chunks in the feed to cause choking.
Baby Parrot Feeding Schedule
Having a proper feeding schedule for your parrot chicks is essential.
You ought to know that baby parrots don’t eat a lot, but they do need to be fed after every 2 – 3 hours.
The schedule varies as the little ones grow older.
Hatchlings with their eyes shut need food after every 3 – 4 hours.
Yes, they will also need to be fed during the night.
As the babies grow older, their eyes will open, and their feathers will start to appear; you can decrease the feeding time to half the feeding frequency.
So, if you were feeding your hatchlings six times a day, you can now provide them three times a day.
Once the feathers of your parrot appear, and your bird is past the nestling stage, you will not need to feed your bird during the night.
It can now keep the same eating time as you.
You will have to feed your baby parrots before you go to sleep and right after you wake up.
Do Baby Parrots Drink Water?
Baby parrots do not drink water.
They don’t need to drink water.
Baby parrots get hydration from the regurgitated food from the parents or the hand rear formula you feed them.
The chicks that are a few days old cannot drink water from a water source directly as they have yet to open their eyes.
These baby birds can actually choke on water.
Baby parrots aspirate water.
These birds have wide mouths, and if the water gets inside the trachea, the chick starts to aspirate.
If little water gets in, the hatchling may develop pneumonia.
But a lot of water will suffocate your chick.
Baby parrots get hydrated from their food source.
Once these tiny parrots are four weeks old and move onto solid foods, they will need to drink water.
Do Baby Parrots Sleep A Lot?
In general, you can safely say that baby parrots sleep more than adult parrots.
Baby parrots need more sleep as their bodies and brains are still developing, and due to this very reason, they need more sleep.
According to scientists, baby birds get more REM sleep (deep sleep) than adult birds.
Rem sleep facilitates cognitive as well as physical development.
If you want your baby bird to grow into a beautiful and intelligent adult, you ought to let it get as much sleep as possible.
But, you also need to understand that sleep varies in birds according to species and is also affected by the weather.
Parrots coming from regions closer to the equator sleep 10 – 12 hours; birds away from the equator sleep more in winters, like 14 hours, and less in summers, only 8 hours.
When your baby parrot is tiny, you will have to disturb its beauty- sleep during nighttime when you need to feed it.
When Does A Baby Parrot Start Talking?
Parrots differ according to species.
But, they also vary according to personalities.
You ought to know that not all parrots talk.
Some species, like the Slaty-Headed parakeet, generally do not talk.
In the wild, parrots mostly mimic sounds rather than talk.
In captivity, where parrots come into close contact with humans and often imprint on them too, these birds can learn many human language phrases.
If you are to look at the parrot species well-known for their conversation, such as the African Grey or Amazon parrots, these birdies learn to talk between three to ten months of age.
The More at home and happier your bird is in its environment, and the more it listens to human sounds, the more likely it is to mimic and talk.
When Do Baby Parrots Open Their Eyes?
Baby budgies open their eyes after seven days and often imprint on their parents.
Other parrot species will take up to two weeks of incubation, after which they open their eyes.
The best thing to do if you want to know about the parrot species you adopt is to visit an avian vet.
The vet will be able to give you a pretty good idea about the needs and wants of your baby parrot, as well as the most basic information about the parrot species.
Most commonly, smaller-sized parrot species open their eyes sooner than large-sized parrot species.
The African Grey chick takes roughly three weeks to open its eyes.
When Do Baby Parrots Start Flying?
Baby parrots tend to fledge around five weeks of age.
Some parrot species may learn to fly sooner than other parrot species.
In general, the baby parrot will have quite a few feathers on its wings when it attempts to take flight.
But full feathers only appear 15 weeks or so.
How Long Do Baby Parrots Stay With Their Mother?
Parrots don’t leave the nest as soon as they learn to take flight.
Most parrot species stay on until two or three weeks after mastering the art of flying.
Fledglings living with their parents still rely on their parents for food and protection.
The weaning age for many parrots, particularly medium to large-sized ones, is between 15 – 16 weeks.
On the other hand, parrots like budgies wean much sooner – 3 to 4 weeks.
Additionally, 30 – 40 days after being hatched, budgies are ready to leave the nest.
Wrapping Up
Parrots make fantastic pets, and these creatures are truly wonderful to behold.
However, caring for a baby parrot is no less of a responsibility than caring for your own baby.
Hatchlings need constant supervision, but as the hatchling continues to grow, the less you will have to worry.
Most parrots adapt perfectly to their environment and to their owners too.
If your parrot has imprinted on you, you can be sure it will love to the moon and back.
