Okay so number 5 is due to hatch today. So I checked just now and candled all 5 remaining eggs too, while I was there. So now I have two questions:

 

1- When I candled egg number 5 it was hatching, the air bubble at the top was like how it is described..what is it called, draw down or something? Anyway, that's not my question..The egg had one little hole in it, the baby was moving inside but not cheeping so probably having a rest. So, how long should I wait before the baby should be fully hatched? Just so I know if it will need help, I do not want it dying in the egg, that would just be too sad. I actually don't know how long it takes for them to hatch so I'm asking now.

 

2- I fostered one of Budgie's eggs (I took out all her eggs because they all looked addled, except for one I wasn't sure about..so just in case, I put it under Storm. It had been incubated but was left out for an hour or so before I gave it to Storm, so it's most likely dead now anyway right?) to Storm and I candled it too along with the other 4. And what it looks like is rather strange.

I'll try to describe it. Exactly half of it (the bottom half, if the narrow end is the top) is dark..the top is entirely an air bubble. Compared to the other -fertile- eggs,the air bubble in it is huge! What does this mean, is it addled or actually fertile?? It is the same colour on the outside as the other eggs, addled eggs go a gross grey colour and fertile ones are white, aren't they..

 

Anywho, if someone can answer these questions that would be wonderful. Thanks.

Nevermind about my first question. Number 5 has arrived!! Welcome to the world little Sora.

Still would like to know the answer to my second question though, about that egg.. It is due to hatch on the same day as number 7, so I'll soon find out..in about 4 days.

And here's some pics of the babies I took this afternoon. Nariah, being held for the first time at 7 days..his eyes are starting to open now too!

 

Rune, 5 days old:

 

And four (number 5 hadn't hatched when this picture was taken) of the babies:

 

I'll check on them again and take more pictures on Thursday afternoon, when I will also see if number 6 has successfully hatched.

By the way, I've just looked at the pinned topic about red, plum, and dark eyes, and is it just me or does Rune look like he has plum eyes? I know the picture is blurry but can you see the colour of his eyes well enough? That was the reason I even took a picture of him today (was planning to on Thursday approximately, when he was older), when I looked in he caught my eye as it looked different to the rest of the babies.

Edited March 17, 200916 yr by Jen144

WOW this is really interesting. sorry i can't help you but i'm reading!

Very sad news..apparently Storm can't handle sitting on 4 eggs, plus trying to incubate 5 babies and feed them all..at once, really. And I'm not suprised, she has had only 2 clutches (last year) and the first had 2 babies, the second one. So 5 babies is quite a new thing for her...

 

See, I looked this morning and Sora was severly dehydrated. I took her out and she was already too weak to even give a feeding response. (ie, bobbing her head)She hadn't been fed since hatching, (yesterday afternoon)having been covered by the other babies and therefore not noticed by Storm. I tried to give her a little bit of water, but because I can't crop feed and never have I gave it through her mouth. Turns out she was even too weak to swallow properly, and she asphyxiated. It was quick so she didn't really suffer but I feel so guilty...not because I didn't catch it earlier, because there was possible no chance I could have unless I got up and checked on them in the middle of the night..but because I suffocated the litte baby! :sad: :rip: Goodbye little Sora.

 

4 more eggs to hatch, 2 definetly fertile and fine, 1 is weird...fertile, yet very underdeveloped for its age. The other 1 is the one I'm not sure about. I took Neriah and have been handfeeding her with great success, and now Storm has 4 eggs left and only 3 babies, all fed now. Here's hoping things continue to go well after the bad bit with Sora.

Number 5 is hatching. (formerly known as #6 egg) 3 more eggs left to hatch after that.

Still no answers to my questions?

Number 5 hatched last night, but, as with Sora, has not been fed at all. I am not going to feed it and risk suffocating it too...so I took the 4 eldest (and am holding them to keep them warm while the brooder warms up) and left the youngest..and I will check again in an hour or so. So that Storm actually has no babies at all to concentrate on other than the one I want her to feed. This is the best thing I could think of at short notice, so if there is anything better I can do please please reply. Thanks.

I'm also thinking of putting them in a small box with no lid, in the bottom of a cage with Banshee..and maybe he will feed them. (I'll have to keep his cage warm for them though) This is temporary, once the youngest has been fed a couple times and is strong enough I'll put them back..but any advice you can give asap would be great!!

Edited March 19, 200916 yr by Jen144

Update: I risked giving the baby some very watered-down handraising formula, as when I checked on it and the parents it was getting squished by them and completely ignored. So I fed it a small amount of the warm mixture, and thank God I did not aspirate it... it has a small amount in its crop and I'm not giving more for a little while, it has virtually no crop because it has never been fed..so I am following what I have read on how to feed day 1 old chicks.

It is soo sad, the poor baby has dark skin on its skinny little back and white wings and legs..very very dehydrated..and I can see its little keelbone is so sharp..I don't hold much hope for it but I will keep trying. I'm going to give Storm 2 of her babies back and keep the little one with 2 of its siblings, to help keep it warmer.

Edited March 20, 200916 yr by Jen144

Great news, the baby has improved!! He actually started begging for food and bobbing his head! :yes: (a major step considering the last 2 feedings I gave him I had to force-feed him and hope like crazy none got in his lungs)

 

I hope he continues to improve...I think in an hour (when his crop empties) I wil feed him again and see if he is stronger..then when his next feed is due I'll take out the 4 babies from Storm's nest and put him in for an hour or so and watch to make sure he is fed.

 

If he is then should I let him stay there for another feeding or two from his mum, then take him and put the 4 others back? That way, he got the goodness of his mother's food, and I can still watch him and feed him again, and the older babies won't squish him again. Then I'll do that (swapping between a feeding from me, and one from Storm, taking away her babies when I put him in and putting them back when he is fed from her) for the rest of today...will that be long enough to make sure he is strong enough to get fed tomorrow?

Me again. :yes: Want to show off my little babies! Man they grow so fast, don't they?...here's the four eldest.

 

 

Look at that big crop!

 

aren't they ugly in a cute way!??!!

 

your doing such a wonderful job!

Baby number 5 hs been fed by Storm. I put him in with her at 12 (after having fed him every hour since about 8), then took him out and let her feed the other 4--who I'd taken out when putting #5 in so she could just concentrate on him alone--and put him back in at 2. He's been fed! And he is in with all his siblings too.

 

So it looks like things have turned around and I've managed to save a baby..I hope she continues to feed him, there's no worry about her keeping him warm but she had not fed him at all last night since he had hatched..I'll continue to check every 2 hours on them quickly just to see if he's been fed. If he is, then I will risk leaving him in there tonight, and hope she does continue to feed him.

Tomorrow morning will tell if she has decided to continue feedng him. :yes:

Number 6 and 7 (eggs #7 an #9..9 was fostered and I don't think it will hatch but I am hoping..and #8 will hatch 2 days after) will hatch on Sunday.

Darnation...number 5 did die during the night.. :rofl:

I'm going somewhere at 3 this afternoon, I'll take the brooder in the car (and hold the babies to keep them warm until we get to where we are going and I can set it up) and take 3 of the 4 bubs. They are 10, 8, 8, and 6 days old..I'll leave the 6 day old one with the mum and take the others, so when the next 1 or 2 eggs hatch today there is a lot less chance of them getting squished. I'll be getting home probably quite late tonight, so I won't have a chance to check on the newly hatched babies until tomorrow..

I'm seriously thinking of handraising at least 2 of the older ones..th next baby is due to hatch on Monday and I do not want all 3 to die like the other 2....

So wish me luck, however I manage sort this out.

can i ask ...

was this your only pair put up

and if not did you put them up at diffrent times

 

and why take all her chicks away if it was just one she was neglecting

 

you shouldnt put birds down unless you have other birds ready to foster ...incase .

3 pairs is the least i would put down together

6 is better 3 pairs all on one day then when their eggs start to get layed

with me usually with in a day or to from each other all 3 hens have eggs being layed

then 3 more pairs

who also lay in same time frame all chicks hatching around each other

this way their is always a few places to place chicks i never had a bird who wouldnt foster a chick this way

im just concerned you may lose all your chicks if i was you and the other birds eggs haae not hatched yet but are due i would see if she would exept a chick if you put one in and placed egg back with hen you took chicks from then slowly replace all eggs with chicks if this works and all hens chicks with eggs to sit on then when the eggs hatch the chicks that are bigger can be replaced by yonger ones and the older ones either reared or tryed with oridganal mum once more

i can explain it better with words i hope you get what im saying

 

sounds like you got it under control but if thats any help rather than dragging chicks around

ive done this once with someone elses chicks and my bird that did feed well it worked so.... may work for you

hope all works out well for you jen

Yeah I had one other pair at exactly the same time (the eggs were laid on the same day) but as I mentioned in this thread I think, the female got mites and I had to take her eggs..which were addled..and treat her. I don't have a lot of birds so not enough for a third pair unfortunately. Thank you very much for the help though, I didn't even know how to do that so that will help a lot later if I ever need to foster chicks etc like that.

I had to take all the older ones as they would smother the newly hatched one so that it would not be fed by getting all the food from Storm before she even notices the hatchling on the bottom of the pile.

I took 3 of the 4 and left one with Storm. I checked on Storm this morning, and the bub actually hatched in my hands..so it did not hatch yesterday afternoon when it was due. So, I've put all the babies back, as it won't need to feed for another 10-12 hours, and I can check on them at about 6pm (it hatched at about 8am) and take the older ones for an hour or so so the youngest gets a feed, maybe take the older one for the night.

I do not like swapping babies around but I have no choice if I want to try to save this one's life.

Edited March 21, 200916 yr by Jen144

I've never bred so I don't know but... wouldn't moving the chicks around so much unsettle the mum and risk the chance of her not feeding any of them?

I've never bred so I don't know but... wouldn't moving the chicks around so much unsettle the mum and risk the chance of her not feeding any of them?

that was kind of my point all the chick handling also.

birds do not normally crush babys

and unless their was like 11 chicks up to 7 is normal for a good laying hen

and they move them aside from oldder chicks them selfs

i have never had a mother squash a chick yet or it siblings

if anything if thats the only worry just let nature do its thing

i thought mum was not feeding i didnt relize you just been doing this to stop chicks being squashed

some mothers have strong instinked to just exept chicks no matter whatshappening and if are use to being handled themselfs dont get stressed but jimmy does make a very good point

be awear stress can even make her condition bad as she may not want to leave chick when their returned in fear they will be taken again and in return not want to leave remainding chicks alone and not feed herself

take care with it all

good luck once again

I've never bred so I don't know but... wouldn't moving the chicks around so much unsettle the mum and risk the chance of her not feeding any of them?

that was kind of my point all the chick handling also.

birds do not normally crush babys

and unless their was like 11 chicks up to 7 is normal for a good laying hen

and they move them aside from oldder chicks them selfs

i have never had a mother squash a chick yet or it siblings

if anything if thats the only worry just let nature do its thing

i thought mum was not feeding i didnt relize you just been doing this to stop chicks being squashed

some mothers have strong instinked to just exept chicks no matter whatshappening and if are use to being handled themselfs dont get stressed but jimmy does make a very good point

be awear stress can even make her condition bad as she may not want to leave chick when their returned in fear they will be taken again and in return not want to leave remainding chicks alone and not feed herself

take care with it all

good luck once again

 

 

Okay, update after the being gone so long.. the reason I was dong all the mucking around with the chicks was that Storm was not feeding the newly hatched ones. Turns out, she just plain did not want to feed them whatsoever. My guess is she decided she had enough babies? But I don't know so if anyone could give me a clue here why she was doing that that would be great, especially to stop her doing it again.

So, she has 4 remaining babies, all beautiful and in great health. They are now 27, 25, 23, and 23 days old. I'll post some pictures sometime later.

Here is a list of their colours etc:

1- Neriah, female Cinnamon (I was so not expecting this!!!) Normal

2- Ari, female Cinnamon Normal

3- Rune, male SF Goldenface DF Cobalt Violet Clearflight Pied. Fostered, is actually Storm's first grand 'child'.

4- Kato, female Cinnamon Spangle, maybe pied.

So...with the Cinnamon, the only way those 3 could be is that Cinder is split for it, right? Quite a nice suprise I think. :hug:

I have a question, also. Ari's wing colour is a very light tan, while Neriah's is a deeper brown. Does this actually mean anything or are the darkness of the cinnamon different between birds?

Anthoer question about Neriah, is that her body colour is coming through. And she is a violet-grey-mauve sort of colour, but the brown from her wings is bleeding through her body feathers..so she is grey-ish and brown! Is this too, normal, or not?

Here are some old-ish pictures of them. All that has changed is that their wings have all the feathers now, as do their heads, and their body colour is just starting to come through fully.

All four:

 

Rune:

 

Kato:

 

I'll post new pictures of them some time today.

Why do you think Rune is a male......looks very much female in that photo.

 

Edited April 6, 200916 yr by KAZ

I'm actually not sure whether Rune is male or female yet. Sometimes I'm certain s/he is a female, then I look later and it looks like a male. But given what you said, plus the fact that it looks more and more like a female and less like a male most of the time, I'll say Rune's a female. Probably.

Make that definitely a female

Alright, definetly a female. Four girls for Storm to take care of..maybe it's just chance or Storm and Cinder have a high percentage of females..granted, they've only had two clutches..but out of those two clutches there were 4 babies in total (that were not fostered) and..out of the four, four were females!

Do you know why Neriah has brown in her body colour, and why one Cinnamon's colour is so much lighter than the other? I just find it rather strange lol.

Here are some of today's pictures of all four babies.(who are now 28, 26, 24 and 24 days old)

Rune, a Clearflight Pied Cobalt DF Violet, 24 days old:

 

Ari, the Cinnamon Mauve, probably Violet too:

 

Kato, the one best picture I could get of her, as she is a Cinnamon Spangle and maybe Pied too, so she mostly ended up looking like a white blob!

 

And Neriah, the Cinnamon Mauve as well, 28 days old now:

awww cute as

Excellent chicks there jen144.