I have 3 parakeets 2 males and 1 female, the female had babies and one male was so attentive I thought he must be the father. After 1 week one of the babies was outside the nest and its back looked seriously red as if something was hurting it. I immediately purchased a new cage and separated the males from the female and babies. I have a bird of flight cage which is 4’ wide, 4’ tall and 3’ in depth would it be safe to separate the cage with mesh and put the birds back together yet keep the males from possibly harming the babies?

 

Update: Both babies were outside the nest but both their backs look less angry.

 

The males keep calling the female they appear very stressed about the recent change.

 

 

 

 

 

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs136.ash2/40115_438826152133_645542133_5723345_1926025_n.jpg

Edited November 1, 201014 yr by Elly
Image Changed to Link, over the pixel size, please read guidelines on pixel size before reposting, thank you :)

Way to young to be out of the nest. Keep them in the nest box. The hen should be able to raise them on her own just fine, get the males OUT of hearing range if possible - they will only distract her. Be mindful that it could have been the hen that hurt the chicks, but given you had 2 cocks with a hen it is more than likely one cock became territorial and attacked the babies which is why you should only breed with a pair and not have other birds around. GOod luck

I struggled to give advice on this - good job Dean

Agree with Dean, way to young to be out of the nestbox... Watch mum closely... Is it possible to get a closeup photo of the wounds? Maybe use your macro settings on the camera...

 

Is it red as in bloodied or more like it's bruised??

Way to young to be out of the nest. Keep them in the nest box. The hen should be able to raise them on her own just fine, get the males OUT of hearing range if possible - they will only distract her. Be mindful that it could have been the hen that hurt the chicks, but given you had 2 cocks with a hen it is more than likely one cock became territorial and attacked the babies which is why you should only breed with a pair and not have other birds around. GOod luck

 

I totally agree with Dean.

Hi SandraR, welcome to the forum!

 

I agree with what everyone else has said, too. You will get good advice here. And you can read a lot about budgie breeding, in general.

 

I hope your hen does a good job with finishing raising these chicks on her own. If she turns out to be the one throwing them out, let us know, and people here will help you work out what to do about it.

 

Oh, and nice to see another Hoosier on here. (Although technically, I am a Wolverine , living down south among all of you. )

Hello everyone and thanks for the advice.

 

Yesterday I separated the males but they were attacking the new cage and under tremendous stress. The female kept calling the males and the father male kept calling the female. Prior to getting a response and reading throughout this forum stress seems to be an issue. I went to the store and picked up some fencing and separated the Bird Of Flight cage right down the middle and made sure there was double of everything, toys, food platforms, etc. and put the female and babies on one side and males on the other. For about an hour mom and dad worked the fencing trying to get to each other. When I woke the babies are doing fine and the mother is tending to them. I also purchased some Kaytee "exact" hand feeding formula just in case mom would not do a good job in feed the babies.

 

 

@ JimmyBanks -- The baby's backs were a bright red as if one of the birds was picking at it. I will show a picture but it's much better than it was 2 days ago.

 

All this happened in just 2 days it makes me a bit angry at my own naiveté at handling these wonderful birds. I should have known better to do research before obtaining an animal I was not familiar with caring for. And shame on the pet shops that sell these birds to people who are novices.

 

@Finnie - Thank you for the email it was wonderful to hear form someone about this situation, I look forward to becoming a part of this community raising my beautiful birds.

 

I do want to thank everyone who responded to my cry for help on this issue.

 

---- By the way it is not easy taking pictures of the babies they wiggle everywhere and are getting fast, before I could pick up the camera this is what they were doing how am I supposed to zoom on sqiggly birds.. LOL.

 

http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=29797&pid=356630&st=0&

Edited November 1, 201014 yr by Elly
Image turned to link, over the size regulations, please read posting picture regulations before reposting, thank you.

Glad to hear that the mother is taking care of them! They are cute. We will like to see more pictures as they grow and get their feathers. (We love pictures here, even if they are blurry due to wiggling! )

A picture of the feathers lost -- how long does it take for them to grow back? Mom is still feeding them and everyone is doing well but they look so fragile and they are actually hardy , they love when I hold them -- ITS A GREAT FEELING

 

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs458.ash2/73143_442292777133_645542133_5780015_8143399_n.jpg

 

Wanted to post a picture of the most outspoken budgie

 

http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=29797&pid=356630&st=0&

Edited November 1, 201014 yr by Elly
Picture size over board regulations

Wow! That is a lot of plucking!!! Were those photo's taken today or just when the Cocks were removed? Poor things. Hope things keep improving for them...

how long does it take for them to grow back?

 

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs458.ash2/73143_442292777133_645542133_5780015_8143399_n.jpg

 

 

 

You should see feathers growing back in between 1-2 weeks onwards

Edited November 1, 201014 yr by Elly
picture turned to link over regulations

@JimmyBanks -- that picture was taken yesterday the dark red from recent picking is all gone but the feathers are gone also. They truly look so much better. I am taking pictures daily so I can compare just in case it is the mom picking on the babies.

 

Sorry forum for the large pictures, I will work on making them smaller.

Update -- The are growing and doing very good. They have turned into scardy birds, so I hold them and sing to them to help them get over whatever fear they have.

 

Great job! It looks like some of their feathers are starting to fill back in.