Hi guys, I have Big Blue and his mate down at the moment alongside augren and tuatha who are finishing their last round.

Big blue and his mate laid 6 eggs, 4 fertile / 2 clear, 4 hatched but one got crushed.

 

During the first round i would often find big blue sitting on the eggs or the babies while his mate was feeding or pooping. At first i thought this was a great and attentive father. But yesterday the hen laid her first egg of round two, which i knew was happening because she started begging the male for attention about 3 days ago and they have been feeding eachother a lot. Anyway, she laid yesterday and big blue (the male) kicked all the babies out of the nest and started kicking all the nesting material around constantly, sometimes kicking the egg around then going after it, tucking it under him and sitting for a bit before getting up and kicking stuff around again.

 

Today i checked on the egg and it was fine, but during the time i was changing seed/water/soft food, i heard some scratching, thumping tapping noises and peeked in the box to find him pecking the egg and kicking it around. When i checked the egg i found he had pierced it in two places and there was a little bit of muck inside the shell. I figured he was going to eat it, so i put all the babies into the nursery, and then for good measure i chucked him in their too!

 

Im just wondering if i did the right thing? Why is he so possessive of eggs and the nest box? He's gone a little nutso over this new round. I left the egg and the hen alone, hoping that she doesnt eat it before tomorrow, and if she lays a second she will start sitting tight and then i might consider bringing him back (just to ensure fertility). I dont know if i should!!!

 

I need some advice on this one because i really want as many good eggs as possible. Its a toss up between getting eggs that may be infertile, or fertile eggs that may get eaten.

 

1) Was it right to remove him?

2) Should i leave him where he is, or consider putting him back once the hen is sitting on 2-3 eggs?

3) IF i leave him with the chicks, how might that affect fertility?

4) Does anyone have experience with cocks like this? What would you advise?

This is my opinion.

 

1) Was it right to remove him? Yes, for the moment anyway. Was he actually hurting the chicks? Plucking or anything?

 

2) Should i leave him where he is, or consider putting him back once the hen is sitting on 2-3 eggs? Too be honest this is up to you. I would consider doing it to make sure all eggs are fertile. Males share a big part in egg raising. They need to be their to feed the hens and babies.

 

 

3) IF i leave him with the chicks, how might that affect fertility? The sperm from the cock in the hen only lasts 7 days I think, and I also think it may only fertile one egg. So I beleive each egg needs 1 mating act, so most of the eggs will be infertile because they havent mated since being split up. Feel free to correct me on this.

 

4) Does anyone have experience with cocks like this? What would you advise? I had a male bird that used to think he was female. He would incubate the eggs all day and would not let the hen in the nest box at all. I removed him for a few days and when placing him back he was not possessive anymore. He incubated but didnt mess around with the nest and left the majority to the hen.

 

 

It's only the first egg so perhaps he could have been "trying" to get the nest in order, like hens do. They will often chew the nesting box to pieces and kick all shavings out, maybe he was trying to do that. Give it a few days and see how it goes, add him back in their when the nest is ready and he may see that and say "The nest is fine now, the hen got it ready for me, I do not need to throw everything out now"

 

Remember this is just my opinion, someone may have a better idea I dont know.

 

Good luck anyway Dean.

1) Was it right to remove him?

2) Should i leave him where he is, or consider putting him back once the hen is sitting on 2-3 eggs?

3) IF i leave him with the chicks, how might that affect fertility?

4) Does anyone have experience with cocks like this? What would you advise?

 

1) Removing him is fine

2) I dont know... He sounds pretty agitated and he may have "nesting issues" - what is his history? is he a show budgie?

3) If he has mated with the hen, then he doesnt have to be present any more for the hen to lay fertile eggs.

4) i have experience with hens doing this, not cocks... you sure its the cock and not the hen who did it??

Edited April 4, 200916 yr by KAZ
changed chock into cock

Yes im absolutely sure its the cock. I have the nest boxes set up so i can watch without too much interference or disturbance, and in the first round i would watch him come into the box while the hen is sitting, steal one or two eggs off of her and sit on them next to her. Or she would go out to eat/stretch/poop, and he would go in and sit on the eggs.

 

Now going into the second round, soon after the hen laid her egg, he chased the chicks that werent already out in the breeding cage out the nest box hole. Then i watched him kick all the nesting material around, stop, sit on the egg and then get up and kick material around again so i swapped nest boxes with a clean one and when he went in there was nothing to kick around so he sat on the egg (the hen doesnt sit yet). Today during feeding time, i heard him scratching around again but i knew there was nothing to kick around except the egg so when i looked in i found him kicking it around and pecking it, then sitting on it a while. Then he would kick it again and peck at it which is when i saw he'd pierced it

 

I removed him and put him with the chicks in the nursery because he's not violent, he's just very clucky... very feminate and possessive of the nest box around egg laying and hatching time.

 

So basically i have to decide to either keep him away from the hen and her second clutch and hope the remaining eggs will be fertilised by any remaining sperm (if they have successfully mated), or i wait until the hen has started sitting on 1-2 eggs, re-introduce him and let them get on with things provided he doesnt try to destroy the eggs. If i can re-introduce him safely, i will remove any clear eggs and hopefully the hen will replace them with fertile eggs and continue sitting.

 

Oh the joys of breeding lol. Their eldest chick (the one that was attacked by the hen) has stress moulted all flight feathers except the outermost primary flight on each wing. He's also a strapping looking bird and i hope to focus on his nutrition around his adult moult so he regrows his flights and turns into what i think will be an outstanding bird for this pair. No other chicks have been attacked or stress moulted (they were chased out of the nest, but they werent plucked).

:grouphug: with everything... I hope that he doesn't start a habit of eating the eggs... I've heard that it is very hard to break that habit once they start...

I've never had a cock bird behave like this but removing him & the chicks was your only option. He'll probably look after the chicks in the nursery. There is a good chance that all the second clutch will be fertilised so if he was mine I wouldn't put him back with the hen. Also I wouldn't have left a damaged egg in the nest because it might encourage egg eating

Aaaaah more trouble!!!

 

This pairs first clutch is really starting to worry me! I was checking on the chicks in the nursery today, and what i normally do at this age is take them out of the nursery into the breeding cage area (enlcosed) and let them fly around while i clean and feed. I took out the albino, which is a foster chick from another pair, and as soon as it tried to fly, its flight feathers fell out too!!! It lost about half of them. Is it stress moulting from being kicked out of the nest by the cock as well?

 

Im worried there might be some sort of mite problem, but the other two chicks are flying fine for their age. I've seperated the two chicks that are losing flights, and brought them inside the house in a cage to moniter them. Gosh im really starting to feel sad now. Im scared i've doomed them to a flight-less life or something!!

 

How can i tell if its mites, stress moult, or by some stretch of the imagination - dietary deficiency? (protein maybe? but isnt that in softfood and rolled oats?)

 

I really want these chicks to be healthy and bounce back. Im going to pull my hair out if i find another chick moulting tomorrow

 

Help!

Might well be french moult....... in which case seeing as they are already older and are only losing flights now, they should all regrow well enough for them to fly but it will take about 6-8 weeks for the flight feathers to come back through. Relax! A good way to check is to look at the feathers that are falling out and check to see if the end of the quill (part that goes into the skin) is pinched in. Often you will see some dark dried blood int he quill too but this is more obvious in chicks that get french moult earlier. If it is french moult it'll be best to stop breeding this season and give your birds up to six months off to stop them shedding virus. I have never had chick stress moult, even when I've mistakenly weaned them too early and they had not learned to feed themselves and lost HEAPS of weight before I realized and started crop feeding them. Just keep them in a nappy cage, keep feeding and watering them well and forget about them for a while. I think you will find they make a full recovery!

 

And as far as the cock is concerned I've had all sorts. Some of them on the second round destroy any egg in sight (I personally think it's to do with the not wanting other chicks than his around and the natural instinct to destroy eggs if they are not his going a bit astray and making them attack their own eggs too). Had hens completely kill, eat and destroy a nest of young chicks and egss when she went out of condition during the round and everything in between. I find it best to take the hen out and leave the cock with the older chicks rather than moving the lot of them as then he will generally keep feeding them whereas moving them often upsets that arrangement.

 

The ones that get into the nest with the hen I find very frustrating as they ALWAYS seem to be less careful with the chicks and eggs. I generally try not to use these birds as parents and will foster out the eggs if I REALLY want to use the bird for some reason.

Edited April 6, 200916 yr by nubbly5