- Many birds bred in captivity are hand-reared. Hand-rearing
allows a greater number of birds to be reared (initial clutches
may be removed and hand-reared, with the birds re-laying). The
abnormal rearing environment may, however adversely affect later
behaviour. One potential problem is that birds reared in an
abnormal environment may not themselves exhibit normal parental
behaviour as adults. - A well-recognised problem, of more
concern in some species than in others, is that hand-reared
birds may become imprinted on humans and not later recognise
their conspecifics as appropriate mates. This is less likely to
occur if the birds are reared alongside others of their own
species. If reared together with chicks of another species, they
may preferentially mate with that species. - Hand-reared birds
may be less wary than parent-reared birds. This may be useful or
detrimental depending on the circumstances. It may increase
vulnerability to predation in birds intended for release, but
may be useful in producing bi