What do I feed baby lovebirds - handrearing?

[bailey niall]

I bought 2 lovebirds in October, both so young they still had black beaks! In January I than put a nesting box in, I tried to sex them when I bought them as my parents were breeders and I must have been lucky because they did lay. To my delight 21/2 weeks ago I discovered 4 eggs in the box, I decided to investigate when I noticed Mork & Mindy weren't coming out of thier box much. The birds are in a cage I take them outside in when it is fine but so they can come in when it is cold, being from Melbourne Australia winter is pretty cold :cool:. A week ago I discovered 2 eggs had hatched! The other two have not hatched to this day so they may be no good but I will leave them for now. So my question is: What do I feed the baby lovebirds when I am handfeeding it with syringe, later spoon? A formula? Can I make a seed mash for them? What environment do I keep them in for warmth when I remove them from the nest? Any info to help me look after my babies would be appreciated.

[birdcrazee2]

http://www.parrotparrot.com/lovebirds/handfeed.htm That link tells you about handfeeding baby lovebirds. Your local petstore should have handfeeding formula and supplies available. I think you'll find all the information you want on that site though. :) Good luck! Oh, and by the way, if the other two eggs havn't hatched by now they probably aren't going to :(

[Kaye]

I just thought I'd point out that it's not healthy for your lovebirds to breed and have babies until they are at LEAST a year old. Please keep that in mind for your next clutch.. :o

[Gems]

I agree with Kaye. That is really young to be be breeding already. Forget about the spoon thing. With a bird as small as a lovebird, you will end up wearing more formula than you feed them.
Use a commercially available handfeeding formula such as Kaytee exact. I use that and have had no complaints so far. You can mix baby foods of various flavors into it once they are a little older.
If you are new to handfeeding, you need to find someone to show you how to do it BEFORE you try it on your own.

[bailey niall]

Thanks everyone for your help. I will be removing the nesting box.