Surprise babies?

[Lochnessa]

Hello, I need help. My mothers birds laid eggs and one of them hatched? I'm not sure how to proceed here. I do see maybe 2 other eggs. My main concern is the mother laid her eggs in a very small coconut my mother added. Its maybe a little bigger than a softball.

[maxollie]

Hi, and welcome. You will have a challenge with leaving the babies in the coconut hut for the long term. For now, you will have to leave them there. My suggestion is to unhook the tent, and place it on the cage floor, so that, if the babies fall out, at least they will not crash to the ground. Go to a petshop, and purchase a wooden nesting box for lovebirds. In a week or ten days, if the chicks survive, then put them and the mother in the wooden box. You will have a 100% better chance of the babies surviving if they are protected in the box. Their chances of survival are very slim in the hut, because they do not have enough room, neither does the mom, and the poop will build up in the tent, which will cause infection, and they all will die. The mother too is at risk for illness. Your goal now is to be sure mom is feeding them. And that they are warm, and do not fall out of the hut.

[Lochnessa]

Hi, and welcome. You will have a challenge with leaving the babies in the coconut hut for the long term. For now, you will have to leave them there. My suggestion is to unhook the tent, and place it on the cage floor, so that, if the babies fall out, at least they will not crash to the ground. Go to a petshop, and purchase a wooden nesting box for lovebirds. In a week or ten days, if the chicks survive, then put them and the mother in the wooden box. You will have a 100% better chance of the babies surviving if they are protected in the box. Their chances of survival are very slim in the hut, because they do not have enough room, neither does the mom, and the poop will build up in the tent, which will cause infection, and they all will die. The mother too is at risk for illness. Your goal now is to be sure mom is feeding them. And that they are warm, and do not fall out of the hut.

Hello, so this morning when I arrived at my mothers home I saw the chick was not in the coconut. I search and found it on the floor. It seems the mother is ignoring it now. Maybe cant find the chick? I picked it up and placed it on a heating pad covered by a towel. Om also gonna purchase baby formula. Should I try moving the coconut to the floor and place the chick back?

[maxollie]

Yes! Move the coconut to the floor, and wrap a small piece of flannel around the hut, with the front side open, so there will be sufficient air in the tent, and yet, keep the baby and mom warm. Moving the hut, may cause the mom to be aggressive, or ignore the baby, but in my view, you have no other choice. It is a miracle the baby did not die after falling. If the mom will not feed it, then you need to hand feed it. If she shows aggression at all, to the baby, remove the baby, and put it in a 5 gallon small aquarium, and put some small pieces of flannel on the aquarium bottom, and use a heating pad, placed on low, on the outside of the aquarium, to generate some heat to keep the baby warm. You also could take a standard medical water bottle, that people use, fill it with warm water, and place it in a corner of the aquarium opposite the baby, to generate heat.

The best idea, in my view, is to get the wooden nest box I mentioned and put mom and baby and any eggs in it asap. Then, discard the hut immediately.