Hand Rearing Food is formulated to rear parrot chicks from hatching to weaning. It contains all known essential amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and colour enhancers required to produce healthy parrot chicks. when the powder is mixed with hot water, it makes a smooth paste that is easily fed with a spoon or syringe and crop needle. Fedd preparation chart and instructions are included in each pack.

Feeding Chicks From Newly Hatched: The first feed of the day for three days should be a quality yoghurt with a high live organism count. Next feed a mixture of the suggested amounts of Hand Rearing Food and pre-boiled water heated to about 50` Degree Celsius. Allow prepared mixture to stand for 2 minutes to asborb all the water. Remix and if too thick rehaet the mixture and add a little water to make the desired consistency. Bring the prepared food to 35` Degree Celsius and feed till the crop is full with a spoon or syringe, taking care not to introduce food into the windpipe.

Feed prepared Hand Rearing Food 4 to 6 times daily when chicks are very young reducing this to 3 or 4 feeds per day as the chick gets older.  Feed small amounts frequently and allow the crop to empty completely at least once each day. Thoroughly clean utensils before food preparation. Food must be prepared fresh for each meal. Discard all eaten food.

Growth Of Chicks: Weigh chicks at the same time each day. Daily weight gains will fluctuate but on average healthy chicks should gain from 10% to 20% of their body weight each day. Weight loss could indicate the onset of disease but often means that the chick is not getting enough food. Healthy chicks that do not gain weight may need more solids in the mix, more food at each feed or more feeds per day.

Weaning Chicks: Provide adult type food to chicks once they are fully feathered or begin to resist being hand fed. To wean onto Passwell Parrot Pellets or Crumbles, reduce the number of feeds and offer some moistened pellets in a dish. Once the chicks start eating the moist pellets, stop  hand feeding and offer only dry pellets. Chicks will naturally lose some weight during weaning.

Probiotics: Some parrot hand rearing products either include probiotics in their formula or recommend the use of a probiotic product. Probiotics are live bacterial feed supplements that may have beneficial effect on the bird's intestinal microbial population. Most probiotics contain several strains of bacteria, none of which has been demonstrated to be normal intestinal inhabitants of parrots. Commercial probiotic supplements are expensive to use and have short expiry dates. A quality yoghurt that contains live Acidophilus and Bifidus bacteria produces a similar result and is considerably cheaper to use.

Using Supplements: Do not add vitamin, mineral or concentrated food supplements to this food, as this will seriously alter the balance of essential nutrients in the formula. The addition of either baby apple or vegetable puree at no more than 10% of the prepared food by volume will not significantly affect the nutritional compostion of the food.

Feather Colour: Passwell Handrearing Food contains canthaxanthin, astaxanthin and apocarotenoic acid. These naturally occuring carotenoids will help to develop and maintain normal feather colour in hand reared chicks.

Immunity Promoter: Some complex carbohydrates have a non-specific stimulating effect on the immune system of many animals. Passwell Hand Rearing Food contains mannon oligosaccharide, a complex carbohydrate with immunostimulatory properties isolated from the cell wall of yeast. 

Analysis: Minimum Crude Protein 24%, Maximum Fibre 5%, Minimum Crude Fat 9%, Maximum Salt 1% 

Ingredients: Ground oats, maize and wheat. Soy and whey proteins, maltodexreins, methionine, Iysine, mannon oligosaccharide, colour enhancers, vegetable oils, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, vitamins A, B2, B12, C, D3, E, K, nicotinamide, pantothenic acid, biotin, pyridoxine, folic acid, choline, inosital, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, sodium, magnesium, iron, copper, cobalt, iodine and selenium.

Available in 300g, 1kg, 2kg, 5kg and 10kg