we handfeed for two reasons... one to keep the clutch alive and the other is to assist them to be more tame. we've allowed the parents to feed to weaning and still had friendly birds (as we held them daily) but unfortunately we usually loose some of the clutch when the parents feed (survival of the fittest)

so, at this point we are feeding about 4 times a day - we do start out at every two hours though... and we feed till they are 8 weeks old and weaned. some wean at 9 weeks... some at 7.5 weeks... depends on the individual bird.

we started with 4 babies. one died in my hands which broke my heart... not sure why it died, i cried all day after that happened. another we have right now has a deformed leg, so it'll need a special home and the other two are doing great.

a normal clutch for our birds is 3. the mother is piebald and the father is an albino whiteface. we don't pair them off, they do it themselves. we don't actually try to breed them it's more a case of ("mom they're doing it again") so we put the nesting box in for them LOL so we only get one, maybe two clutches a year. the ones i don't find homes for go to a great local petstore (where i used to work) and they buy them from me.

we feed them a bird pablum we mix with water and syringe it into them. their "booty dance" while they eat is sooooo cute. the kids come running when we are feeding the birds. their little bums bounce up and down realllllly fast (helps with swallowing) heehee... you gotta see it to believe it... sooooo funny.

parrotlets would be a good choice for your mom... world's smallest parrots. and very quiet!