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Mum Dead And Chicks Are Not Thriving With Hand Rearing


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We have been breeding budgies successfully for several years - no baby deaths and all well. However, one of our mums died on the weekend with two chicks left in the nest; one very young and the other about three weeks old. We had no option but to try and hand rear. The youngest one, although seeming to be thriving on formula, died yesterday. We were shattered. The older one is still with us, but looks listless. Any advice, any tips to keep this baby (now about 4 weeks) alive would be so appreciated. I apologise if there is already a thread pertaining to this.

 

Lovejoy :(

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its unfortunate what happpend to the ckick that died. what hand rearing formula are you using and are you using a crop needle

Edited by KAZ
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What happened to the father? My stongest reccomendation would be going to a vet and getting them teach you how to crop feed. Babies really dont get enough food in them through spoon or syringe feeding. I found when I spoon fed, I was not even giving them a quarter of what I give them now. I learnt how to crop feed, and the birds are getting 4.5mL to 6mL twice a day. I realised, the mess involved with syringe feeding, I was barley getting a mL into them!

 

How often are you feeding the chick? Have you tried putting seed in there to get him to pick at it? I would really reccomend going to a vet. Or locating your local club, and ringing up a member from it.

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What happened to the father? My stongest reccomendation would be going to a vet and getting them teach you how to crop feed. Babies really dont get enough food in them through spoon or syringe feeding. I found when I spoon fed, I was not even giving them a quarter of what I give them now. I learnt how to crop feed, and the birds are getting 4.5mL to 6mL twice a day. I realised, the mess involved with syringe feeding, I was barley getting a mL into them!

 

How often are you feeding the chick? Have you tried putting seed in there to get him to pick at it? I would really reccomend going to a vet. Or locating your local club, and ringing up a member from it.

 

 

Squeak, what I have highlighted in red above is NOT TRUE. Many many bird breeders successfully raise and hand feed all kinds of baby birds using syringes and spoons. You shouldn't give such a sweeping statement based only your own experience.

 

Lovejoy, if your baby was thriving on the hand rearing formula, and then suddenly died, it may have been due to other causes than nutrition. Squeak has a good point about the father. Is he not able to feed the chick? Do you have another experienced cock who might have the instincts to feed a squawking youngster? However, if the baby is suffering from an illness, there is the risk that the illness might be transferred to the cock. You will have to weigh the risks, and if you suspect an illness, then you should probably call an avian vet, as Squeak suggested.

 

I had a similar situation to yours, but I only had to hand feed the chicks for two days before the cock and another cock I put in with them took over the feeding duties.

 

Sorry I can't give you more help with hand feeding, but hopefully someone with more experience will have some pointers for you. In the meantime, if you have a chance, go to the Budgie Faq's section at the top of the page, and read the articles about raising baby budgies. You will probably find the info in there helpful. :(

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A very important piece of information may have been overlooked here.

 

What killed the mother may have gone through the chicks..............an illness that the chicks are also carrying.

A sick chick wont feed well either. You need a poop sample tested at the vets.

 

What happened to the father ?

 

What symptoms did the mother have ?

 

Where were they before all this began to occur ? Aviary ? Cage ? Conditions ?

 

Please give more information

 

BUT PLEASE PLEASE get the baby's poop tested to at least eliminate the possibility of a disease or illness causing all this.

Edited by KAZ
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A very important piece of information may have been overlooked here.

 

What killed the mother may have gone through the chicks..............an illness that the chicks are also carrying.

A sick chick wont feed well either. You need a poop sample tested at the vets.

 

What happened to the father ?

 

What symptoms did the mother have ?

 

Where were they before all this began to occur ? Aviary ? Cage ? Conditions ?

 

Please give more information

 

BUT PLEASE PLEASE get the baby's poop tested to at least eliminate the possibility of a disease or illness causing all this.

 

 

Thank you all for your prompt advice. To answer some of the questions: The mother and father stopped feeding when they started mating again. Then the mother died from what appeared to be an egg bound egg. We found her one morning dead on the floor of the aviary with no other signs of injury except broken egg round her oviduct. Three of the babies had already been killed by the father and we managed to save the oldest and the youngest. I think perhaps the formula (Wombaroo Granivore) was too hot for the youngest chick as he was feeding well and "bobbing" well after the first few attempts at feeding, but then suddenly became listless cold and wouldn't feed. He died soon after. The older bird is taking food from a bent spoon or syringe but because we were reluctant to make him too wet after the first few feedings, we didn't get to clean his cheek feathers properly and they are now getting stiff from formula. What is the best way to get it off now? We have put another cock bird in with him. The cock bird was seen feeding this clutch, and other clutches we have had so hopefully he will feed the baby. By the way, the baby is in the process of fledging now so how do we wean him onto seed? Sorry - all these questions! We've always had great parent birds and never had to intervene before so this is all new territory for us. Thanks again for all your advice.

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I had a similar thing happen whenthe mum was killed. Learnt my lesson about two hens.

 

Dad took over feeding but I had 4 babies and the youngest was 3 weeks.

 

I was feeding them them every hour with a bamboo sate stick.

I dipped the stick in the feed mix and they soon got the idea.

I kept offering it to them until they stopped eating. Hahahaha

Full as googs they were. They are lovely birds now.

 

I gave No 3 to my inlaws.

 

Dad with 1&2.

DSCF3915640x480.jpg

Number 4

DSCF3916640x480.jpg

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