Hand fed birds make excellent pets when handled from day 1. If a parent bird wont sit on its eggs, we will pull the egg and incubate it until it hatches. Then we will feed it every 2 hours or so, even through the night. If the parent bird will sit and incubate its own eggs, fantastic. Mother nature tends to do the best job. Sometimes they need a bit of practice to get it right, but they usually figure it out. Once hatched, if they feed the baby, we leave it until somewhere between 10 days and 2 1/2 weeks of age, depending on the species. Left until this age, we know that the parents have fed it all the essential nutrients a new born baby needs to get a good healthy start at life. If we are sure they wont feed the baby, we will take it to guarantee it has the best chance to survive.