I need some help....asap

[henseman]

Hi,

If any of you have read my earlier post "Can budgies have a successful clutch of babies without a nestbox?", there are some things that have totally blown me away as being new to budgies and their nature/habits, (for lack of a proper term).

My Angel has put out a total of 10 eggs. To date of the first hatchling, five were destroyed, 3 have hatched, one dying after the first 24 hours and the third one that was born yesterday and viewed this morning under the mom(alive), completely disappeared from the cage when I went in to feed/water them tonight.

From what I can tell, it doesn't appear that the male(Devil) is doing his part in feeding the mom(Angel). I have witnessed him trying to "mount" her numerous times while she was incubating the eggs. Could he be killing off the babies? If that is a possibility, should I remove him from the cage to protect the first born and the last egg that she's incubating? or should I remove the baby and try handfeeding it to allow the mom to incubate the final egg?

Please someone that has had experience in this....give me some advice. I can even call you on magicjack if you would allow it.

Brian

[Kerry C]

I replied to your earlier post but for what ever reason it did "take."

Did you provide a proper nest box AND proper nesting material for your birds? - shredded Aspen or pine shavings?

As to why the chicks are dying - that can be from many reason but generally a poor diet fed to the adults BEFORE breeding started is the culperate. If mom does not have good nutrition she can not have an egg yolks that have enough nutrtion to develop chicks AND give the chicks enough energy to get past hatching. A seed diet is not a healthy proper diet. A bit of lettus once a week is not a proper diet. A good diet needs to be a wide veriaty of fresh foods daily where seed becomes more of an after thought for your birds.

As to who is disposing of the chicks. None of us can tell you - we can not observe your birds only you can.

The best situation would be to foster what chicks are left to a hen with the same size / age chicks.

Hand feeding day old chicks - not unless you have a cat catheter and can feed them about ever 30 to 45 mins through the night as well. Extending the time as they get older. Problem is hand feeding formula is not ground fine eough to go through a cat catheter, but that is about the smallest instrument to be able to feed chicks this small and NOT aspirate them.

There is more to breeding birds than tossing 2 of the opposet sex in a cage. A lot of forethought needs to go into this venture. Even then, one does not always end up with cute fluffy chicks. There is a dark side where aggression and distruction can happen. To do it right you need to have a good set up with several prs breeding at the same time. Individual cage breeding is the best plan so you know who's doing what and when. Plan for the worst so when it happens you will be ready.