Last round a hen of mine had a clutch of 9 eggs, 8 were fertile and all hatched. But every time one hatched the baby would be dead before the sun went down... At first i put it down to her being a maiden hen, but then once the 3rd and 4th chicks died in exactly the same way, it really seemed more than her not having crop milk yet. I fostered a chick out that had just hatched and it died as well. Then i put the remaining eggs under a foster and i managed to save only one chick in the end!

 

So this round, with a new cock bird as well, she has laid another 9 eggs, 8 are fertile (yippie!), and the first chick hatched today, and was found dead under the nesting material...ARRRRH!! In a huff I carefully moved all her eggs to a foster pair and hopefully a few have a chance at surviving now.

 

What is she doing??? Has she a virus that infects the chicks when they hatch. is she squishing them or smothering them some how. she has never fed them, but chicks should last 24 hours before their first feed. these ones die within hours of hatching. The only one that survived before was a chick that never came into contact with the hen.

Why should chicks last 24 hrs before a first feed ? My Mum budgies feed their newly hatched babies in less than 3 hours.

 

But a cockbird yesterday opened up some eggs with nearly ready to hatch chicks in them and I found them bloodied on the breeder cage floor and him with blood all over his face

Edited September 2, 200915 yr by KAZ

I don't know for sure. I just think that a chick a few hours old being found under the nesting material is significant. It may be behavioural, though that does not account for the deaths of the fostered chicks.

I've had a couple of maiden hens that just wouldn't feed their chicks (at the beginning of this year's breeding season). It was gut wrenching.

 

The way I got round it partially was to remove the newly hatched chick asap and pop it under a 'good' mum and transfer a 1-2 day old chick to the non-feeder. More often than not a slightly older and well fed chick will peep louder and prompt the new mum into action. I would repeat this with every new born chick, as soon as they were 2 days old they went back to their mum.

 

But you need to monitor closely .... if she doesn't feed the transferred chick within 5 hours, pop it back into its original nest and try with a slightly older chick, say 3-4 days.

I like the idea of giving her a slightly older chick to feed I have taken her eggs for now so she will start laying again hopefully.

Good mothers will feed their chicks quickly after the chick hatches, but chicks will last up to 48 hours before their first feed. These chicks should not be stone cold dead in such a short time if it was just the hen not feeding. I did supplement feed some of her chicks last time and it made no difference, they still died.

 

Will see what happens under the foster hen i guess. its the same pair with clear eggs that raised her last chick, so they are trusted parents.

This is a strange one, gut wrenching.

 

I have never had such a young chick die. Must be tough

It is tough dave, and really annoying too. I am really hoping some eggs hatch and survive under the foster If the same issue continues with the foster then there must be something wrong with the eggs and i will have to assess what the hen is possibly missing in her diet.

http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....showtopic=22377

Thanks for the link Kaz I will have to determine which one she is lacking if the deaths continue. She has the same diet as all the other breeders, and the others are fine.... Will be a case of trial and error until its discovered.

thats mysterious isn't it? how annoying. well its for the eggs.

The second chick from the clutch hatched under the foster hen yesterday, it was fed instantly by the reliable foster and is doing great - I think the biological mother was pushing the chicks aside as if they were nesting material and letting them go cold which is why they died so quickly.

Oh! Well, at least you have found out. So, it was behavioural. The hen had no idea what she was supposed to do.

Last round a hen of mine had a clutch of 9 eggs, 8 were fertile and all hatched. But every time one hatched the baby would be dead before the sun went down... At first i put it down to her being a maiden hen, but then once the 3rd and 4th chicks died in exactly the same way, it really seemed more than her not having crop milk yet. I fostered a chick out that had just hatched and it died as well. Then i put the remaining eggs under a foster and i managed to save only one chick in the end!

 

So this round, with a new cock bird as well, she has laid another 9 eggs, 8 are fertile (yippie!), and the first chick hatched today, and was found dead under the nesting material...ARRRRH!! In a huff I carefully moved all her eggs to a foster pair and hopefully a few have a chance at surviving now.

 

What is she doing??? Has she a virus that infects the chicks when they hatch. is she squishing them or smothering them some how. she has never fed them, but chicks should last 24 hours before their first feed. these ones die within hours of hatching. The only one that survived before was a chick that never came into contact with the hen.

Good luck with rest of eggs Liv. at least it doesn't look like its an infection you have to worry about.

Thanks Catherine and Robin. I am pleased that it looks like its not an infection or a vitamin deficiency. I have been stressing about this, but it looks to be okay now. The next thing is to hope that the foster hen has a similar incubation routine and temperature to the mother, as changes in brooding can kill the eggs.

Yes. I do hope so. All the very best!

The second chick from the clutch hatched under the foster hen yesterday, it was fed instantly by the reliable foster and is doing great - I think the biological mother was pushing the chicks aside as if they were nesting material and letting them go cold which is why they died so quickly.

Yes Liv, that's exactly what was happening with a couple of my maiden hens earlier in the season .... basically they were clueless

 

But the good news is that you can train them with slightly older chickies. I had absolutely no issues with the second round (though I did keep an especially watchful eye on them )