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 Post subject: Re: Caring for new chicks and parent birds
PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 9:20 am 
Cockatiel
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those two older babies are just cuddling together sometimes. not too often. Even human siblings give each other a hug.



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 Post subject: Re: Caring for new chicks and parent birds
PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 10:42 am 
Cockatiel
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Keep the parents and find good homes for the babies...
You must do something, or you will have too many birds and wont know what way to turn...
None of us are being nasty, we are just worried about you and the birds..
I hope you will take advise and act soon..



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 Post subject: Re: Caring for new chicks and parent birds
PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 2:53 pm 
Cockatiel
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thanks, I appreciate it!
I figured out which 2 chicks are getting fed well by the parents. They were with the very round crop in the middle of the day while others were not this way at all. Seems that the father got some favorites like the first time. Or maybe these are the chicks who stay in the box instead of flying around.

None of them (except for the youngest) bobbing his head while eating. Just opening their beak, in the best scenario (in the worst - not opening anything). The youngest is eating like probably the real (younger) babies eat. He even makes pleasure sounds while eating formula. IS it possible to overfeed a chick formula? He was 108g before feeding, and 113g after. Is it not too much? I can't measure in cc's because a lot spills. The only method would be to weight them before and after (which I normally do)



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 Post subject: Re: Caring for new chicks and parent birds
PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 5:13 pm 
Cockatiel
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No, safely separating one parent with the babies is not possible within the same house. I had to take older clutch downstairs to feed, because otherwise father would be too loud and too distracting. Even there, they could hear him and respond.
Also, one parents can feed up to 3 chicks, while I have 5.

Any even smallest changes make parents alerted and can easily result in refusing to feed the chicks - there were plenty of examples. I would avoid any changes at this time if I don't want end up feeding the babies 4 times a day.

About hormone control - we don't want level too low because they won't feed the babies this way. I think my hormone control working. Otherwise, I would see parents mating.



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 Post subject: Re: Caring for new chicks and parent birds
PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 5:17 pm 
Cockatiel
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I was advised against giving away babies for free. I agree there is a point. We don't want people to treat them as a "free pet"



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 Post subject: Re: Caring for new chicks and parent birds
PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 6:00 pm 
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No, I wouldn't offer the babies for free unless it was to someone you knew and/or trusted. I'm thinking the younger babies would be easiest to sell but perhaps the older babies are still young enough to be easily sell-able too. Again, maybe there's a bird club in your area that has meetings you can attend? I've been meaning to try the bird club in my area once I get motivated enough. It sounds fun and you may be able to ask for advice on finding appropriate homes for your little guys.

At what point is it safe to do hormone control stuff and separate mom from dad?


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 Post subject: Re: Caring for new chicks and parent birds
PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 7:17 pm 
Cockatiel
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Cloudy skies wrote:
At what point is it safe to do hormone control stuff and separate mom from dad?
I thought a whole idea of hormone control is to be able to keep the birds together without any bad consequences. Some people say their birds mate for fun and don't lay any eggs.

Why didn't I boil the eggs? I guess I didn't reach my boiling point at that time. It was a whole story of how I tried to prevent this clutch (and how I failed due to lack of experience), it's described here earlier, with Carolyn being a big part (of course, responsibilities are on me only :) I thought I would never do harm to an egg with the chick inside :) I am gradually changing my mind about it, but of course it's better to prevent egg laying.

What's a difference between 2 month old babies and 3.5 from the selling perspectives?



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 Post subject: Re: Caring for new chicks and parent birds
PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 7:05 am 
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I wouldn't recommend separating the parents at this point because they might stop feeding the unweaned babies. Dealing with a clutch as a single parent seems to make a lot of birds give up. They're not actually mating at the moment so the danger of a third clutch seems to be low.

You will be better off to rehome at least some of the babies at some point. Life will get even crazier when the current chicks fledge and you have five more birds flying around the house.

The older chicks are still young enough to be desirable. The unweaned babies shouldn't be rehomed until they're weaned, but if you find somebody who wants one and will take it later, that will be a good thing. It's been difficult for you to manage the breeding behavior of your adult birds, and I can guarantee that some of the "children" will want to pair up and have babies when they're a little older. Your adult birds will want to have more babies later on too, so you'll either need to become very skilled at hormone management or reduce the number of birds in your house who want to breed.



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 Post subject: Re: Caring for new chicks and parent birds
PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 7:22 am 
Cockatiel
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thank you. Actually hen started the morning with her begging song and bended back, and cock was considering what to do, but I came close and said NO, and the cock went to feed the babies. Of course, this won't work every time she asks.
Some babies just prefer to sit in the box. I only have 2 who persistently come out, and one who is actually flying after the parents. What to do? The youngest is 4 weeks old today. Is it still a bit early for all of them to fledge?
Another surprising thing is that babies don't even try to pick up food I give them (seeds and crumbled pellets on the bottom of the cage, plus millets). I thought they need to start eating on their own a little bit? They just sitting frozen outside the box waiting to be fed.

Older kids, instead of helping (I would expect them to show the babies how to eat), playing "monster" game. As soon as a baby flies out, everybody rushed escaping from him like he is a monster.

Is hunger what makes babies leave the nest?



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 Post subject: Re: Caring for new chicks and parent birds
PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 7:29 am 
Cockatiel
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I said it was irresponsible, but I wouldn't mind rehoming the parents at all. Trillie is a good dad, but he never made any contact with humans, and difficult to manage. Cuddles comes to people more but also difficult to manage.
I want a companion bird, like Chipper who we lost was. Of course, I would love a bird companion for that bird too



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