Hi, first post....got a dilemma. This is my hens first brood and she's been a great mum, but I'm pretty sure she's stopped feeding her 4 week old chicks. She hasn't been near the nest box all day and all evening. They're beautiful blue/grey chicks and I don't want to lose them at this stage. Trouble is I can't locate my breed book, or find any info online on what to feed specifically and how. Any advice would be gratefully received, thanks.

At 4 weeks old the dad probably feeds them a lot more than the mum. She wont be in the nest box nearly as much. Are you 100% sure they're not getting fed? Do they have full crops?

At 4 weeks old the dad probably feeds them a lot more than the mum. She wont be in the nest box nearly as much. Are you 100% sure they're not getting fed? Do they have full crops?

 

 

Dad has never been anywhere near them and has never fed mum either. All the mum seems concerned with is flirting with dad. I'm pretty sure she isn't feeding them. Will check their crops shortly.

Did the mom do all the work on her own!! Well done to her. Are you breeding them in an aviary or in a pair? Are they all four weeks or is that only the eldest? How many are there?

 

As to feeding them give them some boiled eggs mashed as small as you can and but in the box so they can see help themselves, you can't leave that for long around 3-4 hours or else it spoils.

 

I think you could add a bit of water to it to make it mushy and if they are not eating it themselves use a spoon to tip it into their beaks slowly.

At 4 weeks they don't have long before they shoud be fledging. Fledging is araound 33 days. The hen may be trying to get them to come out. As nerwen asked how old exactly are they?

At 4 weeks they don't have long before they shoud be fledging. Fledging is araound 33 days. The hen may be trying to get them to come out. As nerwen asked how old exactly are they?

 

Thanks for your replies. Yes, she's in a pair, although they were originally in a large indoor aviary with another pair. I had to separate them when the other hen started attacking her and smashing the eggs. After they were separated I put the mum (Daisy) with what I assumed to be the dad as they'd spent all their time together preening each other and flirting. Turns out he wasn't the father after all as the chicks are definately grey and the 'dad' is green (the other male is gray!). I assumed that the 'dad' (Jack) would muck in and help out anyway, but he never has done, he's not remotely interested and spends his time staring at the other hen through the dividing wire! The actual father (Dave) only ever seemed to be interested in Jack!! So I just assumed he wasn't the father..shows how much I know!

 

Anyway, there are two chicks, one is 3 weeks and the other is 3 weeks and three days (My boyfriend corrected me on their actual age!). We lost the youngest at 2 days old and one egg was infertile, so she laid four in all. I was panicking yesterday as she hadn't been anywhere near them all day and evening. So after I'd read your replies I dashed to the vets and got a pipette and some syringes to hand rear them. When I got back and checked them their crops were full and she's been fussing after them most of the afternoon. So I'm very relieved and a lot less stressed. Thanks so much for your advice...

 

A question for Nerwen....what colour is Marine? She's (or he's) exactly the same colour as my other hen, Teapot.

Edited September 28, 200519 yr by azurebluesky

glad to hear that thing are better than you hoped at 3 and up week they have feather to keep themselves warm now so the mother will spend a bit more time outside. And now that you have the stuff at hand the next time (if there is one) this happens you can start hand feeding as soon as possable.

 

Marine (male) is a yellowface type 2 normal. Chirpy another member on here has a budgie called Teapot.

glad to hear that thing are better than you hoped at 3 and up week they have feather to keep themselves warm now so the mother will spend a bit more time outside. And now that you have the stuff at hand the next time (if there is one) this happens you can start hand feeding as soon as possable.

 

Marine (male) is a yellowface type 2 normal. :wine Chirpy another member on here has a budgie called Teapot.

 

Thanks, yes the chicks are doing well...one of them is a strange colour, its predominantly grey but has blue chest and tail feathers. I'm keeping a close eye on them now. Mum is still doing well on her own. I bought two new males today (they now live with Teapot and Dave, who are accepting them okay so far), one is violet and the other is a bluer version of Teapot, his head feathers don't have nearly as much patterning though. I've called them Stan and Ollie. The pet shop owner was selling them cheaply as he's closing the pet side of his business, and they looked pretty depressed. They're eating well and talking like crazy so I think they're settling in.

 

I now know what colour Teapot is, thanks.. :wine . I'll post a picture soon. My friend has 2 cockatiels called Teapot and Bosco! She was happy for me to copy the name (I think )!

Your two new males should have been put in quarantine. :wine four weeks to 30 days is the recommended time. You can never be sure what illnesses new birds will bring into your flock. You could lose all your birds. Here is one experience of such an event. >Quarantine<

 

I currently have 9 budgies. One of which is in Quarantine for another two & half weeks. It is alway better to be sure than very sorry. Hope everything goes okay.

Your two new males should have been put in quarantine. four weeks to 30 days is the recommended time. You can never be sure what illnesses new birds will bring into your flock. You could lose all your birds. Here is one experience of such an event. >Quarantine<

 

I currently have 9 budgies. One of which is in Quarantine for another two & half weeks. It is alway better to be sure than very sorry. Hope everything goes okay.

 

Well, after having a huge shock after reading your post, I took out the 2 new budgies and put them in a smaller separate cage. I inspected them and was pretty mortified to notice one of them has diahorrea and the other is panting. I took them to the vet today and told him what you'd said and my concerns about their health. He was very vague, could be an infection or not, could be respiratory problems or not...he said it was difficult to tell! He said they might be infectious or (yes you guessed it) not. I got the distinct impression he wasn't that interested. He said when budgies get ill you can never really tell until they're about to die! He gave me some antibiotics, advised me to keep them away from the others for a week (i'll keep them out for a month though, like you said) and said they should be okay. So now I'm worried sick about the other birds, they look fine though, chicks are healthy, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all is okay. Thanks for your advice Daz, I hope it wasn't too late to prevent a tradgedy. :grbud:

Azure I'm sorry to hear that, but I think you need to look for another vet. Was this one an avian one or not? He didn't seem to help ease your worries at all, or seem to care that much about the birds.

 

Are your two new ones hand tamed? If not the breathing may have been from panic (unless it didn't ease down after a few minutes of you leaving them be)

 

Did the vet do any swaps of the feces to look under a mircoscope? or just look at them and give you all those vague answers? Good for you for at least caring enough and listening to yourself that something seems wrong and taking them to a vet straight away. Pity the vet didn't help much at all.

 

My fingers are crossed that all is well for you.

Just an old tip for you. Sometimes when budgies have been moved they will get loose poops if you put cold black tea in their water bottle and no other source of liquid for 24 hrs it should settle the stomach. Females are prone to getting more stressed than males.

 

Hope this helps

i think stress can give them runny poop so going to a new home could be the cause of it and the panting. try not to panic too much .

Hi....thanks for all your advice. Unfortunately the vet I have to use doesn't specialize in birds...he sees all types of animals...and he wasn't particularly interested. There is another vet in the area who I may go to see in the future. Happily my two new birds seem to now be in good health...I gave them some antibiotic drops, and I noticed that the panting did seem to be panic (he stopped as soon as I was out of sight, I watched him through a crack in the door!). The other one's runny bum has cleared up and he/she is looking well, eating normally etc ( I say he/she because of the strange white cere).

 

Anyway, the two new ones are doing well and the babies have fledged and are gorgeous, so all's well on the western front right now!

Thanks to everyone for your concern and tips...it was very much appreciated...