Not for the argument..
There is plenty of aspects, except nutrition, to consider. Unnecessary stress, as you said. You Carolyn previously wrote that baby birds learn from somebody alike - parents and other siblings. They gain more confidence when they are around other birds. I understand that some species are meant to be the only bird when it comes to be a pet bird, but they still can use benefits of being part of the flock at least until weaning.

There's positives to handfeeding with just the feeder and the chick. He's been handfeeding for years, so he knows what he's doing.

Personally I do prefer to leave babies with their parents most of the time, and "borrow" them once or twice a day for handfeeding to socialize them with humans. But not everyone feels the same way.

I don't know what the availability of birds is like in B's area - maybe this is the only way he could get a handfed lovebird. They're aggressive little boogers, so I'd be kind of nervous about getting one that was purely parent-raised and not socialized with humans.

From my understanding, lovebirds are more pair oriented than flock oriented, and even when being raised in a flock, sometimes they'll still not completely enjoy being around other birds when they mature and bond with a human.

Birds like cockatiels tend to be flock-oriented and typically seem to enjoy being in numbers. Even my bird Alex, who I think is convinced that she's actually a person as she could care less on whether or not Lucy is within her line of sight, seems to prefer when all the humans in the household are in the same room as her where she could see them. That's because she sees us all as part of the flock and prefers us to stick together (Lucy on the other hand doesn't want anything to do with anyone other than me, but prefers to have Alex within her line of sight because Alex is another cockatiel that she sees as part of the flock).

There are benefits of raising pair oriented birds with others of their kind or even other species, yes. They're less likely to be too possessive if they end up in a home with more than one bird. Still there's that possibility regardless. With pair oriented birds it's not gonna affect them as much to be raised alone, I don't think.

From what I've heard, lovebirds can have the tendency to be aggressive to one another even when raised together sometimes. Despite their name, they don't sound very too loving...

Oddly enough though, back when my mom was breeding she did get a pair of lovebirds and put them in an aviary with cockatiels and budgies. While they didn't breed, they apparently got along really well with each other as well as all the other birds in the aviary. I guess it might be more or less of a case-by-case situation too.

Babys can develop different my friend had 4 baby caiques 4 longest time 3 of em seemed to br devloping. But 1 loooked way younger when he wasent. But now they all look the same.

I, for one, feel that people should not push their opinions on what bird they should get when it isn't their bird. Feathers has hand reared multiple babies and has bred his own

If somebody wants to raise a baby and has the knowledge to do so. Their choice. If somebody wants a weaned baby. Their choice. If somebody wants to rehome an adult bird. Their choice. If somebody wants to adopt from a rescue. Their choice

No matter where the bird came from, it hasn't nothing to do with us. I would very much put my faith and trust into him raising any baby

That said, I'm glad you figured out the dates of your baby so you can be happy with his growth Feathers Regardless, all birds are different and may develop at different rates. They don't necessarily have to be stunted. Obviously with my cockatiels they were clearly at least two weeks behind on development so that is when I stepped in. I also find that parent raised birds grow faster. I don't know why or how! Just something I've learnt from my own personal experience

Thanks guys!

Looking back at this thread was pretty interesting to me. He is doing perfectly fine in development. He is also a velcro bird. He won't play alone, only on me and my shoulder. Too cute!

Parent-raised babies get some of their parents' digestive juices with every meal. Handfed babies don't. It probably helps them digest the food more efficiently and/or the food is somewhat predigested before the babies get it. Either way it gives them the opportunity to get more out of the food.

Nevermind, It's a long story.

Something bad happened to a baby you know ?