I have a not quite 3 week old baby budgie. He is from a clutch of 10 eggs with only 2 going on to be fertile and hatch. His sibling was almost a week older than him. I came home from work today to find the older baby at the bottom of the cage, I am unsure of what happened and how long he had been dead but it looks like he was attacked by either one of my other birds or possibly fell out of the nest and gotten at by a mouse.

 

The parents of these babies had a follower, another female (not breeding) that was constantly following mum around or popping into the box with her. I am not sure if this is normal or if she may have been the attacker.

 

My trouble now is what do I do with this lone baby, mum only really goes into the box to feed them now and he is still quite small with pin feathers just starting to come in (his sibling was almost fully feathered with just a little bit of down on his belly).

Should I remove him from the nest for hand-rearing now so that he isn't a victim of whoever got my other little one or do I leave him in the box and hope he will be okay?

I assume you are colony breeding and I guess that is the problem with that sort of breeding, other birds can smash eggs and kill young.

But saying that the 3 week old chick could of fell out of the box. Is there any bird in the aviary with blood on their mask or anything because that normally gives away the culprit.

How many birds are in the aviary?

If you are confident in hand rearing I would probably go for that option or you will just have to leave the chick there and see what happens.

it is a colony of 9, I did check all the other birds for signs of blood and only found one with a small amount near the vent, but she was on the ground above him when I found him. This is also the bird that is hanging around the parents. Could mice have done it if it had fallen from the nest?

 

I have not hand raised before. I do have some paswells? handrearing food here though and a couple of small syringes if it is recommended I remove him from the box. I am unsure if the mum stills sleeps in the box as I have gone outside about 10pm one night and she has been asleep on the perch with dad.

 

 

I have another hen who had a clutch of 5 babies (I removed the 7 week olds just over a week ago) and is now sitting on 7 eggs. Is it a possibility to put the baby in with her? I have heard of people fostering the babies to other hens but I don't know the circumstances of when it is possible to do it.

i would keep feeding it yourself or if the hens chicks are same age you could try it but only if you have a spare at least 3 hours to watch mum dad and other chicks reactions make sure you give plenty extra food in flight veg in stuff to help them with the extra feeding hulled oats if possible

id just keep it inside though hand feed it myself

 

im going to bed so ill give you ten mins to ask anything else before i log out

.. this is easy do you have a spare cage? Put mum, dad and the baby in a small separate cage together and the baby will be continue to be feed by mother or father. That's the best way. Do not foster babies at 3 weeks old they will be killled

I have another hen who had a clutch of 5 babies (I removed the 7 week olds just over a week ago) and is now sitting on 7 eggs. Is it a possibility to put the baby in with her? I have heard of people fostering the babies to other hens but I don't know the circumstances of when it is possible to do it.

NO. She would kill that chick because its in her nest where she has laid eggs and she would be territorial against anything that seemed like an invader to her nest. It would be different if she had a nest with chicks of similar ages.

 

I have a not quite 3 week old baby budgie. He is from a clutch of 10 eggs with only 2 going on to be fertile and hatch. His sibling was almost a week older than him. I came home from work today to find the older baby at the bottom of the cage, I am unsure of what happened and how long he had been dead but it looks like he was attacked by either one of my other birds or possibly fell out of the nest and gotten at by a mouse.

 

The parents of these babies had a follower, another female (not breeding) that was constantly following mum around or popping into the box with her. I am not sure if this is normal or if she may have been the attacker.

 

My trouble now is what do I do with this lone baby, mum only really goes into the box to feed them now and he is still quite small with pin feathers just starting to come in (his sibling was almost fully feathered with just a little bit of down on his belly).

Should I remove him from the nest for hand-rearing now so that he isn't a victim of whoever got my other little one or do I leave him in the box and hope he will be okay?

 

These are the hazzards and perils of breeding colony style. Forget the mouse theory.....the other female did this. And once a bird is dead in the aviary the others begin to eat it....so no to the mouse theory again. AND if you have mice going through your aviary its time to stop and fix that issue or you will have sick birds.

Make sure that NONE of the birds in an aviary where nestboxes are are undergaed....none in that space can be under 12 months of age and no hens over 4 yrs.

Aviaries should be the space they all fly and have fun and breeding should happen by pulling pairs out into a breeder cage...one pair one cage one nestbox.

Read this http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=28294&hl=

 

 

Solution ? YES you are now going to have to feed that baby. Putting mum and dad and baby in cage from an aviary at this stage now wont help. Mum and dad will pace the cage because they are used to more space and its highly unlikely they will feed the baby now after the nestraid and after moving on. At the age your chick is Dad would have been its primary feeder anyway not the mother. You could try putting the baby and the Dad in a cage and see if he feeds it before you try raising it yourself. You wont need the mother at this stage.

Edited November 26, 201113 yr by **KAZ**

thanks for the help. I pulled him last night and used a wheat bag wrapped very well to keep him warm and checked him every couple of hours during the night. He has had some handrearing food today and seems to be okay. What do you recommend that I feed him?

Buy some budgie starter and mix it half and half with handrearing mix at this age. Budgie starter has whole seeds in it which he would have been getting from his parents.

bub is doing well, he is eating from the spoon and gaining weight. His poo changed colour and texture pretty drastically but I assume that is from the sudden change of diet.

 

I was watching the parents of this little one this afternoon and noticed that the possible attacker is attracted to mum. I am a little unsure as to whether this bird is male or female, it's cere has been quite pink from the time I purchased it about 6 months ago, it also has a very bright yellow beak and solid black eyes with no ring. Anyway, mum and dad (both green) would be next to each and dad would regurgitate to mum then the ringer (white) would come up and scare dad off. White would then snuggle up to mum and regurgitate to her and everytime dad came close white would shoo him off again.

The bird you have described seems to be a male who is trying to pair up with the female. He would most likely not be the "attacker"...that would have been a female and likely the one you described earlier in this topic.

another female (not breeding) that was constantly following mum around or popping into the box with her. I am not sure if this is normal or if she may have been the attacker.

 

How many budgies do you have in what size space ? How many males and females ? What ages ? How many nestboxes ?

and how many clutches has this female had so far in a row ?

Edited November 29, 201113 yr by **KAZ**

that is the one I described earlier unfortunately so if it is a male then I only have 3 females in there and one is the mother, one is a 12 week old and the other is sitting on her second clutch of eggs.

 

My aviary is 1.8m long, 1.5m wide and 2m tall. I have 9 budgies and 3 tiels in there. No plans to add any more. 2 budgies are too young to breed, only about 12 weeks. I have 2 cockatiel boxes (a pair of budgies took one) and 3 budgie boxes, all mounted all high separated

Your 12 week old needs to be removed from the aviary....no under 12 month olds should be where nestboxes are. They try and go back into nestboxes and can and will fight over the box. 12 weeks old females have been known to lay eggs although they shouldnt. Presence of nestboxes with underaged budghies force breeds them.

The aviary, while it seems adequate should really only be housing the tiels at the moment in time. Its really not big enough for the breeding activity and the birds you have in it whilst breeding. If not breeding in their it would be different.

Your 12 week old needs to be removed from the aviary....no under 12 month olds should be where nestboxes are. They try and go back into nestboxes and can and will fight over the box. 12 weeks old females have been known to lay eggs although they shouldnt. Presence of nestboxes with underaged budghies force breeds them.

The aviary, while it seems adequate should really only be housing the tiels at the moment in time. Its really not big enough for the breeding activity and the birds you have in it whilst breeding. If not breeding in their it would be different.

 

 

going to have to back kaz 100 percent

i been reading this tread and in my opinion your asking for troubble

idd seperate out all birds into another place till the chicks of the one hen has hatched and been raized then id think about another way to breed

as their is only really tewo pairs id read up on seperate breediong benifits and all then get a few cages go from their even if you got one for the 5 left birds and one each for the breeding age birds

would solve everything

teals stay in the aviary