I have been considering breeding budgies, and i have done a lot of research but theres still a few unanswered questions. If anyone could help that would be great

 

1. While browsing the breeding forums, i have come across the word 'crop' several times. What is it exactly?

 

2. How do you tell if an egg has a chick inside?

 

3. What is 'sour crop'? What do you do if your baby has it?

 

4. How and what do you feed baby chicks if the need to handfeed arises?

 

5. How do you know if a bird is suitable for breeding?

 

6. Is there anything special that a laying female needs to eat?

 

7. How do i tell if a baby chick is sick? How do i know what is wrong with it?

 

8. Is there any important information that i might need to know?

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

1. While browsing the breeding forums, i have come across the word 'crop' several times. What is it exactly?

 

The crop is where food is stored before it goes to the stomach to be digested. It's located between the lower neck and the upper chest.

 

2. How do you tell if an egg has a chick inside?

 

After a week of incubation (hen sitting tight on eggs), one can use a candle light (small flashlight), and hold it up to one end of the egg in a dark room. If it's fertile, you'll notice red veins going through the egg. You may also notice the egg darkening.

 

3. What is 'sour crop'? What do you do if your baby has it?

 

Sour crop is when food stops leaving the crop, ends up getting stop in there and starts to fermentate (goes bad). Sour crop can be caused by cold food, food that is too thick, overstretched crop (in which case the baby needs a crop bra). There are several other reasons for this occurance. If a baby has it, then the crop needs to be emptied, new formula added with some pedialyte, gatorade, or even nystatin. Crop emptying and giving any additives to chicks should only be done by an experienced person, i.e. an avian vet and should not be attempted by a novice.

 

4. How and what do you feed baby chicks if the need to handfeed arises?

 

Most breeders will use syringes or crop needles to feed chicks. Baby parrot formula can be bought to feed to the chicks.

 

5. How do you know if a bird is suitable for breeding?

 

If the bird is healthy, of breeding age, though not too old (most here say not to breed over the age of 3-6), and appears ready to breed.

 

6. Is there anything special that a laying female needs to eat?

 

Extra calcium via cooked eggs and eggshells, more fresh foods...

 

7. How do i tell if a baby chick is sick? How do i know what is wrong with it?

 

If the chick is not eating, not gaining weight (you will need a gram scale to weigh chicks daily if not being parent raised), feels cold, etc it could be ill or the parents may not be caring for it. You would have to examin the chick to see what is wrong, and even then it may not be visible.

 

8. Is there any important information that i might need to know?

 

You should learn all that you can now, and get all the supplies incase you need to handraise the chicks, and find someone who can educate you in how to properly handraise chicks yourself incase of an emergency, or have numbers to someone who can handraise if the need arises. In young chicks, they need to be fed about every 2 hours, even during the night, they need to be kept in a brooder to be kept warm with a thermometer, you would need several syringes and would have to know how to properly feed formula (if you don't know how to, you could drown a chick by putting the food down the wrong side), a thermometer to measure the temp of the formula, you would need to be aware of sour crop, yeast infections, bacterial or fungal infections, crop burn... you would also need a gram scale to weigh daily to be sure the chick is gaining sufficient amount of weight each day....

 

That's just a topper, though...

This is a verrrry full crop.

 

 

Bea's baby noodle.

 

 

 

Mfids very good replies.

Edited October 17, 200519 yr by daz

Wow...is it supposed to be that full or is your baby sick? It looks very uncomfortable...

It does doesn't it? No, it's not normally that full, the Daddy bird is just getting carried away feeding it

He's a good daddy! : It's not usually that full, that was just Gherkin trying to prove he's not gay by being a good mummy...

He's an excellent Daddy Bea! Can Gypsy borrow him?

I think Buzz would actually appreciate a chance to care for her babies herself!

Well thanks for all the help. Now that i know my budgie is a girl thiigs will be a lot easier (I would have gone out to get 'him' a girlfriend and then sat in front of the cage for months wondering why they weren;t having babies (Laughing out loud))

It helps doesn't it? My Winkie was a boy when I got her too