Hello,

Gosh I feel like such a dumb dumb with all these questions but I ran into another problem. okay so the two babies that are currently in the nest should be ready to come out either this week or next. Well for some reason all of the sudden Mr. Tweekers and Meanie are fghting over the nest box. It started out yesterday just kinda chattering and pecking eachother now today it has been full blown fighting. I don't get what happened. They have been raising the babies wonderful together. Mr Tweekers won't let her near the nestbox and won't let her feed them. She keeps trying to get in there to sit with them. Now he feeds them alot and she sits in there with them at night. My question is, Which one of the parents do I remove?? Also does anyone have any idea why out of the blue they are acting like this?? Also do I have to worry about this with any of the pairs future babies??

Thanks So Much, Hope to hear from someone soon before they kill eachother,

Best Regards,

Jaime

I figured I would take the time also to show you the pictures I took yesterday.

Here is the over protective Mr. Tweekers

Here is Meanie the Mother. She isn't the mean one right now, Mr Tweekers is

Is Meanie an Opaline??

Here is one of the little babies, this one looks like Mr Tweekers and the other looks like Meanie.

I really like this chick, I think it's really cute. LOL

Mr. Tweekers won't let her near it. He is really overprotective with it.

He is the number one feeder of the babies at the age they are now. This is the way with the dads from the babies being two weeks onwards.

If she is sitting in their now...........expect an egg. As they dont sit in there once the chicks are this age.

She is beginning another clutch.

If the dad is feeding them well...................remove her and put her in a cage out of hearing of the Dad and leave him to finish the raising of the babies.

Usually it is time to remove the hen.

Oh **** you guys. After I got off the internet earlier I sat quietly and really observed their behavior. I think I know what the problem was. Mr Tweekers does not want them to leave the nest. He freaks out when they want to come out and he knocks them in the head to knock them back in the nest box. Meanie sits on the perch and chirps to them, I think she is encouraging them to sit on the little perch next to the nestbox. When one of the babies tried to do this, Mr Tweekers would come flying and attack Meanie and push the baby back in. So I figured that it was him that I needed to remove. Then I came on here and seen that I should have removed her. Should I put the dad back and take the mom out now??? She seems alot more calm now that he is out of the cage, she is eating seeds and her cuttle bone and also talking to the babies. They seem like they want to come out and seem more confident now that he is gone. Do you think that I need to put him back in then since the father is the one that takes care of them at this age?? She is feeding them, but if it isn't going to be enough then I will go ahead and take action.

Thank You So much for your advice, you don't know how much that means to me. I'm really glad I found this forum. It's a good outlet for a beginner like me. The only way to learn is to go through it with a support system like this!!! Thanks A Million!!

Jaime

 

Oops I'm really sorry didn't mean to swear even though what I put wasn't really a swear word?/??

Put him back

 

Remove her.

Edited January 10, 201114 yr by **KAZ**

Thank You Kaz!!! I will do just that!!

So is Meanie opaline?? Just wondering about that.

 

 

So is Meanie opaline?? Just wondering about that.

Looks like it, but as opaline affects mostly wing markings, asking if she is requires a photo of her back of her wings