| Day 9 The chicks were kept at 90° F. If there had been only 1 chick, we would have set the brooder slightly higher at about 95° F. The chicks were kept in a small dish lined with toweling to give the feet traction. This was changed every 2 hours when the birds were fed. For the first 5 days, the chicks were fed every 2 hours from 8 AM to about 8 PM. Thereafter, food was given from 8 AM to 5 PM. The feed interval was also increased to between 2.5 and 3 hours. |
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| Since the chicks were 8 days old when we took them from the
nest, they were immediately large enough to be given pieces of the adult diet, and did not
need a liquidy (syringe / spoon fed mixture). The adult diet, plus sliced pinkie mice was
given to the chicks with no special additions or supplements, except Nekton MSA (a
balanced calcium and mineral supplement) which was lightly sprinkled on each bird’s
food once a day, 3 days a week. All livefoods were deliberately avoided because of their
hard body parts. The parent toucans prepare livefoods by hammering them to a pulp, and,
more importantly, the adults assist in the chicks’ digestion, by imparting some of
their own saliva. But when we hand feed crickets or mealworms to a chick, they are
invariably excreted whole, undigested. We can offer a more nutritionally balanced diet
without including livefood.
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