donjasjit

The chicks should only be out at the stage they can fly and are fully feathered. Having been thrown out of the nest they would have been in shock, would have gone unfed overnight at the very least, and maybe not fully feathered enough to cope. You could divide an aviary of that size quite easily to accommodate your breeding birds and still have space for the others, I am sure. Thanks for the response Kaz, a few years back I did just what you suggest now. I had divided up the aviary, with separate space for breeding birds. But over time I found that 1. The birds don't breed that often 2. It is very difficult to catch the birds and return to general population once the breeding part is done 3. I had misgivings over whether it was right on my part to take away flying space from 20 birds for just a pair of birds. But this tragedy may force me to reconsider. Anyway I think was right in posting on this forum. I was almost in a state of shock on losing two pretty chicks(one blue and one yellow) in the manner I described above. The advice and concern of the forum members has provided me solace.

Wonderful advice. Thank you very much. I am beginning to realize that hand rearing a chick may not be the best way to deal with the problem. I have a rather small aviary- 10ft by 10ft by 10ft, if I partition a potion of it for breeding birds I am afraid the flying space of the other birds will be severely curtailed. The chicks which I lost were not very young, they had feathers growing. Now I wish to knew, suppose they had not disappeared in the night, would they have survived by themselves on the ground of the aviary. Would the other birds have fed them, or could they have fed themselves.

I've had a real tragedy for my budgies. Recently one of my birds laid eggs which hatched into a beautiful pair of blue and yellow birds. I was very excited. Now my aviary is outdoors and the breeding cages are not made separate, the breeding boxes are part of the main aviary. I've got two breeding boxes and two breeding female birds. One of the birds seems sterile, she does not produce any healthy eggs, but it is this bird which started a rackus. It went to the nest of the other breeding bird and forcbly evicted the two chicks and threw them to the ground. The two pretty little chicks wandered all day on the ground of the aviary. I sort of thought that it would be unwise to interfere in birdy matters and let things be. In the morning when I looked in I was shocked, the chicks are gone. Apparently there is a very tiny gap in the mesh netting and some creature came in the night and whisked away the chicks. Of course I immediately fixed the gap but I can't tell you how angry I am at that sterile breeding bird. I could kill it if I could get my hands on it. I am never going to let it happen again. What steps should I take for chicks. 1. I have decided to have a nursery cage for chicks, I am going to take over the chicks almost as soon as they are hatched. What are the facilities I need to have in the cage. 2. How does one hold a hatchling. 3. How are the hatchlings fed. Does one use a dropper or does just one leave the food in a food box and what food does one give the chick, should it be liquid or normal food. 4. After what period should I reunite the hatchling with other birds 5. What other steps should I take for the hatchling's care in the nursery cage. 5. Is there any way to tackle the jealousy factor among breeding female birds. I eagerly await your advice. 6

Thanks for the quick response. It has been most heart warming. I think the glass idea of Hath seems to be the only way out. The food container does not touch the ground. It is supended by way of a cord from the roof. Of course the cord is plastic and I have never had any incidents of the birds getting hurt by colliding into it even at night. The water container though rests on the ground. Do I need to use any chemicals on the outside of the aviary to keeps mice out? By the way Feathers, I live in Chandigarh, which is the capital of the state of Punjab in northern India.

I have a rather unusual problem. My aviary is out in the open, it uses asbestos sheets as top, wire mesh for the sides and the ground itself as the bottom. The aviary has been there for the past 12 years and I have had no problems. Recently I have noticed that at certain places the wire mesh has rusted away, and this has allowed mice to enter into the aviary. They have burrowed holes in the ground. Now what I wish to know from fellow forum members is how do I deal with this problem. My biggest worries are that even if I mend the portions of the wire mesh which has rusted away, the mice have burrowed holes in the ground, so maybe they will find some way to get in. Is there some chemical which I can use to keep the mice at bay? Please tell me the sequence of steps I need to take. Thanking you in advance.