hand feeding finches(societys,zebras,owls,java,gouldian)

[chickensducks&agoose]

You don't want flying birds that are trained to think that you mean food. I went to a lorikeet exhibit once, paid to carry a little cup of nectar for the pretty birds... 20 seconds later, I was totally mid-panic attack, and had been repeatedly crapped on. It was awful. I prefer my birds larger, and less fly-full.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Haha, lots of people pay quite a bit of money for that, so it definitely appeals to some. Running feedings with sun conures was, for me, like being trapped in a hellish day care with lots of screeching, shoving, and pooping. But, some people I saw paid every day to feed them. XD

 

[bagendhens]

1: i would never suggest anyone who has never hand fed a bird to handfeed ANY bird unless your working wiht a breeder directly and being taught...
its way too easy to end up with crop burn, over and under feed, feed too cool and end up with an impacted crop or aspirate.
2: a fince is NOT the kind of bird even expereinced hand feeders want to try and handfeed, so its certinaly not something id suggest a beginner handfeeder to start with...

the GOOD news is however, finches do NOT need to be handfed as babies to become friendly (same goes for parakeets who are actually nicer when parent raised and tamed down than the pirranah birds they are if handfed lol)

instead, buy young birds, canary, society finch, and zebras seem to take to "desentivization" better than some of the mroe exotic species like the gouldians but ANY winch/small song bird can be tamed down with time and patients.

build your aviary, and inside put a chair, plastic, youll need to clean it frequently.
buy young birds, and spend time in the aviary every day with them, sit there with some treats, millet is often a favorite, sit quitely, no sudden movments and desentize them to your presence, eventually they will learn you come bearing a treat and will start to come over to you to get said treat, keep still, sudden movments will spook them, continue every day, eventually those little finches will come right up and land on you when you sit in the aviary wth them taking food and treats form your hands, and many, once they feel very secure, will come and sit with you whether youve got treats or not.

finches dont typically "sit" for very long on a person (or anwyhere else for that matter though, they are very active little birds who seem to never realy keep still...even when there sleeping.

 

[dwhite]

Handfed finches are amazing, but it is like everyone has said very difficult. I know a lady that would handfeed java finches all the time for fun. She would call them and they would fly to her. If you want to contact someone that has handfed finches google NFSS and email Sally Huntington.

 

[AquaEyes]

Quote:
You don't have to hand feed by injecting food with a syringe into the crop. If you offer mushy (but not liquid) food that can be grasped with tweezers or fed with a toothpick and presented for the baby finches to grab themselves, there will be little danger of them choking. If you do use a syringe, feed drop by drop into the front of the open beak and let the finch swallow it itself. This is how I've fed plenty of wild birds that were found in my yard over the years, and the only ones I'd lose were the ones that were clearly not doing well when they were first found. It's much easier and safer if you wait until the babies are old enough that their eyes are just starting to open. And don't remove them completely from the parents. Feed them a few times during the day and let the parents care for them the rest of the time. It's not as scary as you think. Good luck.