My birds don't mind me checking the nest, they only mind when I am checking it while they are inside

Scooping these poor guys with a spatula seems a bit like shooing someone with a broom... not really nice!!!


Here is the thread that I made about Quinn when she was jumping in the nest. If you read all the posts you will see a lot of scooping recommended http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=37057

If the birds were being friendly and polite we wouldn't have to get rude and scoop them out. Of course we're invading their nest in the first place, but checking the conditions there isn't just for entertainment. There are a lot of problems that can be recognized and fixed if we monitor the nestbox, and the birds will actually be better off because we do it.

I didn't want to upset them and to be honest I didn't see any usefulness in looking constantly at the eggs.


There is actually a use at checking the nest when there are eggs. One of the reasons is to get them used to humans checking the best so that when they have chicks, they won't freak out and panic when you suddenly open the nest.

Another reason is to check for a DIS. You mustremove a DIS egg because if the parents accidentally crack that egg, you will have bacterial problems in the nest, and that's not good for the other eggs, chicks, and the parents.

There can also be problems during hatch and the baby might need help getting out of the egg. If you don't check the nest at hatch time you can lose a chick unnecessarily. Hatch time isn't a good time to start looking in the nest, it's better to get the parents used to it beforehand.

I absolutely agree with the need of checking on them. I just think that there is no need to shoo them with a spatula.
I only have one experience with this so of course I am not an expert.
But for what I read and was told my two parents were pretty standard, behaviour wise, and just waiting for them to go out on their business, which happens a few times every day, one can check everything and still avoid the scooping/shooing.
Just my opinion, nothing else.

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