Zebra finch as a child's pet?

Question

My little sister (6 years old) is a very smart and respectful animal lover. She has helped me with the daily care of all my pets. Our parents have recently divorced and now she lives with her mom away from our zoo of a house. She misses her pets but her mom doesn't want anything smelly or messy in their new home. We have thought about hamsters but my sister has shown quite an interest in the Zebra finches I have that have just started breeding. They have laid some eggs and are expected to hatch the first week of April.
I would like to know how to hand tame a baby Zebra finch. My female is quite friendly but I can not take her out of the cage. I would like to be able to handle some of the babies and teach my sister how to properly handle birds. How old must the babies be before they leave their parents and start eating seed on their own? If you have any tips on hand taming Zebra finches please let me know.

(I will not hand feed any babies unless it is an emergency, they are just so fragile and I do not have any practice with tube feeding on a bird so small)

Answer 1

The best way to tame a baby Zebra.is to wait till they just start to feather while in the nest take them out and handle for 2-3 minutes then return them to the nest, by doing it this way ,the Parents do all the hard work like feeding and when they are ready to leave they will be used to being handled and not afraid of the handler.





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Answer 2

Its very hard to tame a finch but you can try by puting the cage somewhere the girl is most of the time so the bird can get used to her,then put your hand in the cage with a millet in it spray every day,once the finch eats out of your hand clip its wings and take it out of the cage and finger train it.Once its finger trained you can go to the next level and teach it tricks! A zebra finch should be around 3 weeks old (or more) before you tame it.This only works if you have one finch so the bird can bond with the girl. hope this helped xD

P.S tell the girl to be really careful with the finch they are very fragile

Answer 3

TAMING: Finches are a little harder to tame.



If you have the time, start taming them before they even start to fly, it's easier and better if you do it this way. Feed them a few times a day, and eventually they'll get to the point where they jump on your hand and wait for you to feed them. Just be patient, offer them millet and other treats. Dont pet them the first time they come to you, it will scare them.



HAND FEEDING: 1

Provide fresh water daily to ensure bird droppings do not soil the water bowl. If the water cannot be changed daily, FinchWorld.com recommends using a tube water dispenser.



2

Fill a ½-cc Tuberculin syringe with an electrolyte formula for the first feeding. Place the tip of the syringe at the bird's beak until the beak opens. Allow small amounts of the electrolyte formula to drop into the bird's mouth. Give the electrolyte formula every two hours for three feedings.



3

Mix hand-rearing baby-bird food with the electrolyte until the mixture achieves a very thin consistency.



4

Dip a toothpick into the mixture and then place at the finch's mouth, allowing the thinned food mixture to enter the bird's mouth.



5

Watch the formula mixture fill the bird's crop, the food storage sack on the side of its neck, until it is full. Kristine Spencer, writing at Birdsnways.com, advises baby zebra finch owners to repeat this process each time the crop is emptied, about every hours for the first three days.



6

Mix the baby bird food powder and the electrolyte formula into a thicker mixture starting on the fourth day. Using a pipette, continue to feed the mixture to the bird until its crop is filled. The finch will need to be fed approximately every 1 ½ hours as its crop empties.



7

Blend the mixture to the consistency of pudding starting on the eighth day. Feed the bird every two to three hours.



8

Offer small amounts of adult pellet food that has been moistened with juice once the bird has started to grow feathers



Tips & Warnings



Some baby finches will not naturally open their beaks to eat. To induce them to open their beaks stroke their backs and tap on their beaks.



BirdChannel.com advises baby finch owners to avoid feeding between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. so the bird's digestive track can completely empty each day and operate more efficiently.



Sterilize feeding equipment before and after each feeding.



BirdChannel.com warns that injury and even death can occur due to incorrect hand-feeding practices. Only experienced bird owners and breeders should hand feed and only under avian vet guidance.



Overfeeding the baby zebra finch can result in bacterial infection.



Mine? https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20110315161843AAC67dL

Answer 4

You certainly sound like you have your head on straight. Hand feeding finches is extremely difficult, even for those with the experience of hand-rearing small birds. The only drawback to your idea is that it's also very difficult to attempt to "tame" finches. They are virtually wild birds and although they can become accustomed to human presence, they really don't become tame enough to handle that much.



I really enjoy finches myself, they are sweet little creatures, but they are more a cage bird than any of the parrot family members (including budgies).



May I make one suggestion? A parrotlet is a wonderful little "pet" bird that can be tamed and trained quite easily. They certainly aren't very noisy and if in a good sized cage, their mess is easily contained and takes little time to clean up, even for a six year old.



Photos: http://www.google.ca/images?hl=en&xhr=t&q=parrotlets&cp=10&safe=active&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=908&bih=534

Answer 5

She seems like a good owner just keep an eye on her my first pet was a monater lizard and iam 15 hes still alive very awesome pet btw

Answer 6

start out with a Betta or guppies