Watch the whole clutch before you pick one bird
Stand back and observe before anyone opens the enclosure. Healthy baby birds are curious and responsive: eyes open wide, heads up, begging or exploring while their siblings do the same. The bird you want is in the middle of that activity, not the one hunched alone in a corner with eyes half closed. A sleepy baby after a feed is normal for a few minutes, but a chick that stays fluffed and still while the group feeds and calls is telling you something is wrong.
The close-up checks that reveal health
Look at the nares, the openings above the beak: they should be clean, dry, and even, with no discharge or crust. Eyes should be clear and bright, the beak aligned without scissoring, and breathing silent with no tail bobbing on every breath. Feathers around the vent should be clean and dry, because pasted droppings there point to digestive trouble. Pick the bird up if the seller allows it and feel the chest: muscle should pad both sides of the breastbone, not leave it sharp like a knife edge.
Feeding status is a safety line, not a detail
Ask exactly what the baby is eating and whether it is fully weaned onto solid food. A responsible seller will not send home an unweaned chick with a first-time owner, because hand feeding done at the wrong temperature or consistency can burn or infect the crop and a chick can go downhill within hours. For a young parrot, weaning should happen at the bird's pace with soft foods and the foods it will eat at home offered until it eats them confidently on its own for several days in a row.
Questions a good seller welcomes
Ask what the parents eat, whether the babies have been seen by an avian vet, and what socialising the chick has had beyond feeding. Look at the weaning area itself: clean brooders, fresh food dishes, and records for each chick are good signs, while overcrowded tubs and a seller who cannot say which chick is which are not. Take your time across more than one visit if you can; a healthy baby is consistently bright, not just lively in the minute after a feed.
Ask to see the baby at two different moments if you can: once when it is hungry and active, and once after a feed when a healthy chick should settle, digest, and look content rather than limp. Notice how the seller handles it — supporting the body, moving calmly, and returning it to warmth promptly. A baby that is passed around like a toy for every visitor is being socialised at the cost of stress and chilling, which is not the start you are paying for.
Starting records from day one
Write down the hatch details the seller gives you, the foods the baby is weaned onto, and the date of its first health check while everything is still fresh. Those first notes become the base of a record you will add to for years. Gathering them in KinsLe Pet Passport keeps your bird's records together in one portable packet, ready for the first vet visit and for any boarding or handover that comes later, instead of scattered across receipts and memory.