Is the chick that died the one you have been posting about, or one that just hatched?

Just hatched.Little white face.

I don't know what might have happened to the chick. Did the eggshell separate into two fairly tidy pieces, or is it all torn up? If it's all torn up the parents might have helped the baby hatch, and removing the eggshell prematurely can cause a variety of problems.

There's a not-insignificant amount of blood inside the egg, but it's cleanly separated. When I candled this one, the pip was low so I think it nicked a vein getting out. I don't think that's cause of death though.

I kinda-sorta think its ribs might have been broken. They felt kind of indented? I don't have a chick to compare to atm, but its chest felt different from what I remember of the older chick. Pippin has been on a hair trigger for a few days now. I kind of feel like she or JJ heard something and panicked and somehow crushed it. I had a small child over and while she wasn't around the birds, there was some screeching and dropped objects that might have scared them. Pippin's nerves have been shot--the other day she snapped at every other bird, like going out of her way to antagonize them. She even started snapping at JJ when he tried to get into the nestbox and wouldn't let him in until he started singing and she calmed down a bit.

Panic in the nestbox can definitely do some damage. Do the other eggs look OK?

Quick glance the other eggs looked fine, although I wasn't paying them much attention as I was trying to see if the chick could be revived.

The other two that pipped have hatched. One's bright yellow, and one is either pale yellow or white. I couldn't quite tell. JJ wouldn't vacate the nestbox voluntarily, and I didn't want to force him to come out. Pippin came out and actually seemed in a very good mood. She came to me and cuddled for a while which she hasn't done for a few weeks. But I think I'm going to be playing "don't do anything to stress out the birds" for awhile. He'll come out eventually.

Two little yellow things. They've got a lot of down!

I took a quick look at them and they've got food in their crops and Pip and JJ are incubating them.

Yay! I hope they keep up the good work.

If you get a chance, take out the empty eggshells. The risk of them causing any problems is pretty low, but once in a while an empty shell can get stuck over the end of an unhatched egg and prevent the egg from hatching.

Sad update:

The older chick, the one I've been handfeeding since day 1, died tonight of aspiration. I was tired and he'd been getting harder to feed and I'd made the formula a little thicker than normal because he'd been digesting it all so fast and somehow he choked. I tried to do the "puff" thing to clear his airway but it didn't work. When he hatched I was so certain I was going to kill him accidentally and now I have.

We'd already decided to name him Basil if he were a boy. We buried Basil out next to the willow tree with his turtle snuggle and some millet and the shoe toy he'd really started to love.

I didn't think he'd live to be a week old, but he made it 37 whole days. He never got a chance to fly. He was starting to be so interested in the world.

I'm sorry, Basil. I did my best.

I am SO sorry to hear this. You did such an exceptional job with him and nursed him through so much, and I think we all thought it was smooth sailing at this point. But nothing is ever guaranteed in life and problems can strike when you least expect them.

I hope that you can take comfort in the two new babies that just hatched, and that your experience with them will be the most trouble-free bird-breeding experience ever. You've earned some happy times.