About your new baby hyacinth macaw. 

From the moment your baby hyacinth hatches it is fed and cared for around the clock, first by its wonderful parents and later lovingly hand raised in our nursery. We prefer the parents to incubate their eggs and then feed the babies for at least the first two weeks but that is not always possible. Under normal circumstances babies are brought into the nursery for hand rearing between two and four weeks of age. There are times the parents won’t sit their eggs and they must be removed to the nursery incubator for artificial incubation.

Babies do nothing but sleep and eat for the first four weeks of life continuously growing in size and weight. Hand feedings consist of a warm commercially blended diet fed through a feeding syringe on a schedule consistent with the baby’s age. This procedure is not to be confused with “tube feeding” which is a method of feeding we reserve for feeding critically ill babies only. 

At around four weeks of age pinfeathers are visible and baby becomes more active but still spends a lot of time sleeping and eating. From four to eight weeks of age the baby will be ¾ feathered, will have more then doubled in size, will try to climb, will flap its wings especially before being fed and shows interest in eating soft foods, such as bananas and cooked yams on its own. At this age baby spends most of its time awake taking intermittent naps between eating, playing and exploring. By 12 weeks of age baby is housed in a full size macaw cage, able to perch and eat on its own while still dependent upon hand feedings two to three times a day. This is the weaning stage where hand feedings are slowly reduced and finally totally replaced by the baby eating completely on its own. Most hyacinth babies wean at about nine months of age. 

Before your baby hyacinth arrives at your home you need to be prepared and purchase the appropriate cage, toys, food, avian scale and first aid kit. Set the cage up in an area that allows the baby a certain amount of privacy away from high traffic areas of the home. Set up a climbing tree or a hanging play area near where you and family members socialize. The cage and play areas should be away from outside doors, kitchen, bathrooms or other areas where there is potential danger of escape or injury. Providing climbing trees, toys, swings and other fun activities for your baby is important to maintain optimum health and fitness. If these play areas do not provide for food and water return the baby to its cage periodically to eat and drink.

Keep an observant eye on your new baby to be sure it is eating and doing well.
Starting a journal is an excellent way to keep track of the baby’s progress. Baby books like those used for human babies are great because some are quite intricate and accommodate pictures and other mementos such as the hatch and sex certificates. 

six weeks

Allow the baby time to adjust and become accustom to its new environment before introducing too many new things or people. Sometimes the stress of change will cause a baby to go off its food and behave in a depressed manner. This usually does not last more then a few days and is minimal. A few symptoms to be concerned over would be lethargy, no interest in food, weight loss, regurgitating, abnormal droppings, exaggerated open mouth breathing, poor eye contact and lack of physical response to you or its environment. 
 

fourteen weeks

If you have the space and money to build an outdoor aviary or flight cage to allow for fresh air and sunshine regularly that would be ideal. Parrot leashes are another safe option to treat your baby to the outdoors. It is not safe to take a parrot outside with unclipped wings or improperly contained.

Being educated, patient and understanding of your baby hyacinth will minimize stress making the transition much easier and enjoyable for everyone. All of our parents are urged to contact us, or their veterinarian, immediately if there are any problems or concerns.