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Will a mother2007-11-24 17:27:41

will a mother bird reject its baby if you touch it? sereious answers only!

Answers:

No. This is major urban legend. Wild or captive bred, the Mother will not reject their babies just because you handled it.

Bird breeders handle babies all the time and the Mother doesn't reject the babies.

There is even a concept in parrot breeding called "Co-parenting". This is when both the Human Companion and the Parrot Parents help with the raising of the babies.

Shaun is correct about their sense of smell but not entirely. They do have a sense of smell and taste, but it's not nearly as developed as ours.

They can see and hear far better than us, however.

So no.Bird Mothers will not reject their babies when you handle them.

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It depends on the type of bird it is.

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it depends. all that crap about the mom smelling you is not true. she could care less what you smell like. when touched, the bacteria from your hands gets on the egg. the mother bird knos whether or not the egg will survive. if it wont, shell throw it out

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a wild bird yeah, I don;t know about a tame bird that you are around everyday. I would think that she would not though. A wild bird can smell the oils from your skin on the baby, ans will not take it back.. it seems to be a threat to them, they smell like human

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i really don't think so, i have adopted many birds that have falllen out of their nest, so if it is rejected, buy some dry cat food, mix it with water, microwave it until warm, and feed it to the baby with a suringe.

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Most birds can't smell at all. However, if a mother sees you messing with a chick, then she may reject it thinking that you're a predator and it's done for. I've touched baby birds before and the mother was quite irate with me, but I do believe she still took care of it.