Little Joe's Companion Birds

01/17/2025

https://youtu.be/ZTZ0askFf5A
The next video in the handfeeding series, this one will go into more detail on the preparations that are made before the first egg is laid, and before the first baby goes into the brooder. Topics covered will include such things as maintaining a proper environment, diet, supplementation, nest boxes and more. I also go into detail on how to use these topics to discourage a female bird from laying eggs.

This is a long video, a lot of theory and details. For those only interested in handfeeding a 6 to 7 week old baby, finishing off the handfeeding of their new pet, you can skip ahead to the next video in the series, all about brooders, out in a week or less.

Still early days for me making videos, and while I have cleaned up and improved the audio somewhat, more changes and improvements will be made in the next video. I am learning, and getting a little better, slowly but shurely, and hopefully you will be able to see improvement with each video put out.

The next video in the handfeeding series, this one will go into more detail on the preparations that are made before the first egg is laid, and before the fi...

01/16/2025

https://youtu.be/A9sH8a45seA
Handfeeding video of a mystery baby that came in here as a surrender. Not quite sure what bird breed this little one is as there was a bit of a language barrier with the nice people bringing this one in. Looks like a conure, or maybe even a lovebird, but could also be one of the bird breeds that I have never handfed before, such as pionus. So many different birds, can't have them all! Going to be interesting to see what this little one grows up into.

Handfeeding video of a mystery baby that came in here as a surrender. Not quite sure what bird breed this little one is as there was a bit of a language barr...

01/15/2025

https://youtu.be/Q0xUp48E3IM
The latest handfeeding video of the pineapple conures! Watch them grow!

The second video of the baby pineapple conures, growing up quite a bit from the last one.

01/14/2025

https://youtu.be/dWFoxTg7OMY
This weeks sneak peak inside the brooder! Watch the birdies grow, and see the new arrivals, a couple of bins with new babies bred here, and a couple with very young babies that came in as rescues from "surprise clutches". One of the babies is even a mystery baby, not quite sure what breed they are, just know that they are very small and fuzzy.

A little peak inside the brooders at the baby parrots to see them grow week after week. Several new additions, including a couple of very small rescue clutch...

01/13/2025

https://youtu.be/udThOJcF2l0
Second handfeeding video of the linnie babies is now up, come and watch them grow!

The second handfeeding video of the batch of linnies (lineoated parakeet). Growing quite fast, much bigger and more active than last time! Looks like two gre...

01/10/2025

https://youtu.be/Ho7-B13v2zU
My first long form instructional video is now up!

This is my very first video like this, and it is a bit.... rough.
A lot has been learned though, about audio recording and delivery, camera and editing (kept to a minimum just to help illustrate a talking point). The next video will be much higher quality I assure you, and each one put out will be better than the one before as I continue to learn. If anyone out there has suggestions or comments please let me know! Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Why do this?

Whenever I go looking for bird care info on the interwebs, I keep seeing these videos.. "TOP 10 THINGS YOU SHOULD NEVER DO TO YOUR BUDGIE" or "TOP 5 MISTAKES EVERYONE MAKES WITH THEIR COCKATIEL - YOU WON'T BELIVE WHATS #1!!!" and "WHY YOU NEVER WANT TO OWN A CONURE" and always "LIKE, SUBSRCRIBE, COMMENT, DONATE!!!" all done in a cheesy AI voice.

Dear oh dear, there is a whole bunch of utter crap for instructional videos out there. There is some good stuff, but a lot of the info is wrong or misguided, or comes from the grand total experience of having four pet birds for the past three years. They might present as being knowledgeable and experienced, but a little digging shows that most of them are talking out of their a***s or just regurgitating info from other sources which are just regurgitations from still others and so on.

I will be putting out at least one video each week, more if I can get the time, and they will be pretty dense data dumps on all aspects of bird care. No pretty talking heads, just my old and ugly one, and I'll try to insert more and more example videos so you won't have to look at that one too much. These will be pretty niche videos, so no monetizing of course, and no begging or shilling will ever take place. Upcoming topics will be on things like picking out a proper cage, cage set up, healthy feeding, chop, safe wing trimming and nail clipping, training and more.

This is the beginning of an ongoing effort on my part to pass along the knowledge gained over many years of caring for many many birds and doing rescues, a full time job not a part time hobby. Most of the knowledge I gained when I first began working with birds came from other breeders, the old timers of the old school, people who did it for the love of it. Over the years they have all retired or passed away, and now instead of me pestering these cranky old men and women and trying their patience with my questions, I can be the cranky old man and make some videos to direct those people coming to me and trying my patience with their endless questions. Just joking, in reality I do enjoy answering questions, but with these videos out I can spend more time answering more advanced questions and talking theory.

So check out the video and see if you like it, there are many more on the way and I promise they will get better. Even this video will eventually be remade as I learn more and get used to actually talking for more than a couple of sentences at a time.

The first video in a series covering all aspects of handfeeding baby parrots, from nesting to brooding, handfeeding, weaning and training. Applies to most ho...

01/10/2025

https://youtu.be/f-xO-gcojHo
The next handfeeding demo video with the younger batch of cockatiels again. Now 8 days later, and they have grown quite a bit, and they act just as hungry!

An update handfeeding demonstration video of the first younger batch of cockatiels, now 8 days later. They have grown quite a bit, can almost hear them growi...

01/05/2025

https://youtu.be/HhsMxs-ZO1A
Some of the older cockatiels getting a handfeeding, a bit energetic and more of a challenge to control at this age, ranging from 5 to 8 weeks old. Bit of an oops in the middle of the video, did not want to restart whole thing another day so just kept on going. I might just have to get some editing software and play around with it a bit. Would be good to be able to fix mistakes like this, and maybe play around a bit with the audio and such.

Some of the older cockatiels getting a handfeeding, a bit energetic and more of a challenge to control at this age, ranging from 5 to 8 weeks old. Bit of an ...

01/04/2025

https://youtu.be/ey5mbDyP-Co
The very first feeding of a clutch of baby pineapple conures, just a half hour out of the nest. The two smallest had flat crops, and had not been fed as recently as the largest, so out they all come and right into a handfeeding session. Time to fill those crops and get them all growing! I am also working on longer instructional videos on topics such as "picking the right bird cage" and "a general overview of the handfeeding process" along with many other upcoming topics in an effort to pass along some hard gained knowledge. If anyone has any topics they would like covered, let me know in the comments!

The very first feeding of a clutch of baby pineapple conures, just a half hour out of the nest. The two smallest had flat crops, and had not been fed as rece...

01/03/2025

https://youtu.be/LxFk2BzhTPk

Video of a handfeeding session of a small clutch of lineoated parakeets, or llinnies as they are called. Much slower eaters than many of the other parrot babies here, and requiring a little bit of a different approach from the side of the beak instead of a hard "latch on". Long video for a handfeeding, but I gave them the microphone at the end to hear their distinctive little happy chirpings.

Video of a handfeeding session of a small clutch of lineoated parakeets, or llinnies as they are called. Much slower eaters than many of the other parrot bab...

01/02/2025

https://youtu.be/caBAncJEIlM
Another handfeeding video, this time some first week Suncheek Conures! Included are some tips about knowing how much to feed at each feeding. Eventually I will sit down and write out a complete handfeeding guide, perhaps in a few months considering the size of the undertaking. This guide, and others I plan on writing, will then be posted somewhere available for download. As I get a little older there is a bit of a drive to pass on knowledge gained over the years, often times gained the hard way. I made the mistakes so you wouldn't have to!

Little video of a small clutch of young suncheek conures during a handfeeding session. Very young still, only a week and a bit in handfeeding. Also included...

01/01/2025

Baby Cockatiel Handfeeding Session!

Hope everyone out there is having a good new years! I will be ringing in 2025 here with the last handfeeding of the day, which is great since I don't have to think up any other excuses to stay home! In this video I will be showing what it is like giving a handfeeding to a clutch of young cockatiel babies, and giving some breed specific tips on doing it safely. This is the first of the many handfeeding videos to come, so there will still be some issues with sound and light that have to be worked out. For anyone interested in one of these birds, it is a great way to watch them grow week by week! Let me know if anyone has trouble viewing the video. It can also be seen by visiting my YouTube channel, just do a search for Little Joe's Companion Birds!

The afternoon handfeeding of a clutch of baby cockatiels, still very young. Also in the video area some important tips to keep in mind while handfeeding, mos...

12/30/2024

Not sure if I am turning into Radagast the Brown or the world's ugliest Disney princess. 4 week old baby parrotlet in their favorite spot.

12/30/2024

*Edit - having a devil of a time trying to get this video to play on facebook here, are you guys out there able to click on the picture or link below and view the video on facebook? please let me know.

A sneak peak video of all the babies currently in the brooders going through handfeeding! We have budgies, linnies, suncheek conures, cockatiels and even a parrotlet! And of course more budgies. I have been trying to make and upload more videos to facebook, but have run into problems with file size, upload times and video quality so will be posting them to YouTube instead and linking them here.

Enjoy the babies!

A little sneak peak at the babies in the brooders going through handfeeding here. We have baby budgies, lineoated parakeets, Suncheek conures, a parrotlet an...

12/28/2024

The old videos are all uploaded now to the YouTube channel! There is even a new one just recorded, a short preview of the full 20min+ video is included in this post.

Link to full video..... https://youtu.be/e08QhJjDAdI

I will be uploading most of my upcoming longer videos to YouTube, and linking to them here. It is just so much easier to upload, edit and keep track of everything on YouTube as opposed to Facebook.

As soon as the parts for my regular camera arrive tomorrow I will take a video of all the upcoming babies currently in the brooders. Very cute, very hungry and very loud!

12/27/2024

YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW ACTIVE!!

"Little Joes Companion Birds" on YouTube

https://youtu.be/SeINzW1WlVc

Spent the day uploading a wackadoodle of old videos, mainly of baby birds during feedings, shoulder and finger training, contact training and just general playtime. Will upload the rest of the old videos tonight and tomorrow, then a few new videos taken this past week. Then on to making new content!

Many people have told me that my informational posts are too long for some to read through, especially for those with vision or English language comprehension issues. I have also been told that my videos are very hard to understand, my voice gets lost in the background cacophony of the birds.

To help with this I will be making various videos in the coming weeks and months, and will be using greatly upgraded audio and video gear. Really I only spent a few bucks to fix my good camera and get some stuff from Amazon on boxing day sales. Not much, but anything will be better than just my phone with the microphone hole full of bird dust!

There will also be many videos uploaded, several each week most likely, of the babies currently in handfeeding. Views of them in the brooder, during handfeedings, and especially at play and contact training when they are at their cutest!

If there is anything you would like to see in a video, or anyone has any good topics to cover in one, let me know in the comments!

12/18/2024

Don't forget the outside birdies this Christmas!

This is the bird feeding station in the backyard here, and even in the late afternoon when this video was made there is quite a bit of activity. Early mornings and the place is packed! Most bird owners I know have a lot of used seed at hand from changing out seed daily, and giving it to the hungry outdoor birdies is a good way to avoid just throwing it out.

This really becomes important for the birds when it get below freezing, and finding the extra calories needed can be hard. Not sure what is going on with the weather this year though. We should have had our first hard frost out here 6 to 7 weeks ago, but there are still flowers blooming and plants coming up in parts of my garden!

And of course, my supervisor at the end of the video making sure all is well.

12/16/2024

Budgie Baby Video!

Little video of the peeping chatter of the little baby budgies currently in handfeeding. Only three clutches so far, but more are in the nest and on their way!

Yup, I am aware that the audio can be very hard to understand, there is a lot of background noise from the babies, the birds, and the fans in the room. I am going to try to kludge up a microphone for my camera over the next few days to try to clear the audio up a bit.

I plan on taking quite a few more videos this season, posting them here and on my youtube channel "Little Joe's Companion Birds". The youtube channel is still a mess, mostly old videos, but will do a little work on it each day.