Hand-Fed VS Hand-Raised: What's the Difference?
There are many, but let's try to break it down. We've been asked a lot lately why we made the switch to Hand-Raised babies instead of Hand-Fed.
Hand-Fed Babies
With Hand-Fed babies, the caretaker is seen as the FOOD BRINGER, and little else. Ask any breeder, we walk anywhere near them and the begging ensues, often with them fighting to be the first out the door, or fed first, and sometimes to the point of climbing all over each other or even climbing right into the formula. It's quite hard to work with a baby who sees you as nothing but food, and until the Baby is nearly weaned, that's all we are.
Yes, they are sweet and gentle, but in all honesty, it's because they don't know how NOT to be. A Hand-Fed bird was removed from it's parents, and loses a bit of its identity in the process. They "forget" they're a bird, and how to behave like one. While yes, this can and often does, make for a good pet, it can also lead to problems down the road.
Hand-Fed birds can become TOO attached or too dependent on humans, often seeing them as a mate rather than part of the flock. They can have trouble accepting other birds in the household that are taking the attention of their "mate" and this can often be problematic, or lead to a dangerous situation.
"Hand-Fed" is an industry coined term used by some breeders to instill a false sense of the bird being "super tame" and help them make money. Sorry, but its true. The socially accepted phrase has people thinking that ONLY a bird taken from its parents and raised and fed by human hands will make a good pet. This simply isn't always true. Let me explain a key difference.
Let's break it down. Even if feeding babies by syringe, which is far faster than by spoon, feeding each baby takes at least a few minutes, between feeding, weighing, and clean up. Not to mention the mixing of formula to just the right temp, and making sure there's enough for all the babies you need to feed. On top of this, you are feeding babies every 3-4 hours. With many babies, it may take up to an hour to feed them all, leaving you a 2 hour window before needing to repeat the process again!
The problem that comes in, is how much actual human interaction does each baby then get? The answer is not that much. When a breeder has many beaks to feed, the time that can be devoted to each baby is limited literally by the hours in the day. Play, snuggling, social interaction.... all end up taking a backseat to feeding, because there simply isn't time.
For those of us with fewer birds bred at a time, we have a bit more time to devote to each baby, but we still race the clock. And often, our personal or family lives suffer as a result. Many hobby breeders end up closing after a year or so of this, literally for this very reason. I personally know several myself.
Parent-Raised Babies
The exact opposite side of the scope are parent-raised birds. These birds are raised completely by their parents with little human interaction, and next to no handling. These are the birds you will find for sale in pet stores, because the breeder doesn't really care where they end up. They were bred for money. Any breeder that sells "fertile eggs", babies "out of the nest" or "wholesale", breeds for money, with little regard to the babies. This is fact, not opinion.
Hand feeding is an art, and one that isn't easy to master. It's also fraught with consequences when done incorrectly. Any breeder that cares about the babies will not sell a baby to be hand fed by a novice. There is simply too much that can and does go horribly wrong.
At any rate, the parent-raised birds are generally skittish by nature, as their parents have taught them that humans could be a threat. They won't be eager to step up or interact with you and can take weeks, months, or years (if ever) to tame. You can often find them for a far lower price for this reason. For example, a baby Greenwing macaw for just $500? Yea, it's probably not going to be very friendly.
Parent-Raised birds are raised by breeders wishing to maximize their time, cage space, and money with the fastest turnaround time. Parent-Raised babies wean faster, therefore, can be sold faster making room for the next batch. All the breeder needs to do is keep the parents fed.
Hand-Raised Babies
And then there are the Hand-Raised babies, and what we are now doing here. Hand-Raising is literally working WITH nature rather than against it. Instead of yanking babies from parents, tossing them in a plastic bin, in a glass tank, with artificial light heat and humidity, fed an artificial mush with an artificial tool, and then left to digest... we instead allow the parents to HELP us raise the babies.
The parents handle the feeding and keeping warm. We have all that time open then to handle, snuggle, train, and love on those sweet babies who now see us as something more than a bringer of food. Because the babies are well fed by their parents, they are eager to be with us to learn new things, explore, forage, perch, and play.
With Hand-Raising, we work with babies several times a day for 20-30 minutes at a time (more once they're older) getting them familiar with all the things they will experience once they go home. Hand-Raised babies wean faster than Hand-Fed babies, and end up being a more well-rounded, well adjusted bird once they go home. They still know that they're a bird, but they view people in a positive light and are eager to be with their humans, while still being able to accept other birds in the home.
The Bottom Line
When done correctly, a Hand-Raised baby can be just as sweet, sometimes even sweeter, than a Hand-Fed baby. Don't let the terms fool you. A breeder with many birds simply doesn't have the time to socialize each and every baby when they are Hand-Fed.
The crops are filled, they're weighed, and then popped back in the brooder for warmth so they can digest until the next feeding. Feedings are often moved or adjusted to fit the human's life or errands or events. Babies are fed on the human's schedule, not when they are actually hungry and asking for food. Something comes up? Babies are fed by someone else, or on a different schedule, or by a different means and if they don't take it, they're often forced to because if they don't eat, they lose weight. A baby losing weight is a dangerous line.
This simply doesn't happen when babies are fed by the parents. They are fed when they ask for food, and fed the appropriate amount. They don't experience that weight drop and they don't struggle with weight issues. In fact, Parent-Raised and Hand-Raised babies often wean out more than 25% heavier than their Hand-Fed counterparts.
So, to break them all down simply:
Hand-Fed means pulled from the nest and fed formula until weaned. Does not guarantee a friendlier bird. The term is used as business wording, to be honest because people have associated it with a friendlier bird.
Parent-Raised means babies are left with the parents completely, often with little to no human interaction. While this type of bird will be quite bird adjusted, they are often scared of human hands. Often referred to as the "wild child".
Hand-Raised means the bird is fed by the parents but is raised, trained and socialized by humans. While these birds may be a bit more outgoing and bold (due to the confidence from being with their parents) they make sweet loving companions when the breeder has taken the time to work with them daily prior to going home.