The cage is good for cockatiels too. The bar spacing is suitable for the smallest birds but it also works for tiels.

It's OK if mom eats the millet spray. The babies will learn from watching her.

Babies do have VERY sharp claws that tend to get caught in all kinds of cloth. I don't recommend trimming their nails. When they start learning to stand on a perch they'll need the gripping power of those pointy little tips. What you can do is put them on a smooth surface like a table top where there's nothing that the nails can snag on. Be sure to fence it in with rolled up towels or something so they can't accidentally tumble off the table.

One chick fledged today and another one is sticking out half-way! We still have nest at the bottom of the cage so she didn't have a big fall down. The one who fledged is chewing whatever she can reach and playing with millet spray (I just asked myself how old that millet is - because parents don't eat in the cage and basically don't even spend much time there, I wasn't paying attention)

All of a sudden - the babies look almost like the parents, I mean the size and appearance. Will parents feed babies who are outside the nest?

The parents should feed the babies when they're out of the nest, but some parents seem to be confused by "floor chicks" and do better after the chick has learned to sit on a perch higher up in the cage. If you're concerned that the baby isn't being fed, simply put it back in the nest from time to time. It will definitely be fed in there, and it can come back out again whenever it wants to.

thanks. I can clearly see that parents now eat less (and they also mate) and getting less interested in chicks. They still do go into the cage and the nesting box and I can see that they feed babies but to me it looks like very quick feedings. They used to be rushing to eat first thing in the morning and them feed them, but not anymore. I thought chicks would need to be fed not as often, but the amount should increase. They started losing some weight which I know is normal at a certain extent.

2 fledged yesterday and one was nibbling on millet spray. One got stuck while fledging - one foot stuck in the round opening and he seemed really stressed but I helped him out. PArents are very protective when babies looking out.

I just wonder what to look at to determine that I need to start handfeeding. I can;t even see their crops - they got crop feathers.

It would be very difficult to start handfeeding at this point because the babies usually don't cooperate if you start past the age of 3 weeks. The parents are going to feed less now for a couple of reasons: the babies don't need as much food because their growth rate has slowed down a lot, and the parents want to encourage them to start feeding themselves.

The babies aren't supposed to have a big bulging crop at this point and if you looked under the feathers it would probably look about the same as the parents. A fledged baby has the ability to follow the parents around and beg for food, and they'll let the parents know when they're hungry. The parents may not be as quick to respond as they were before because they really do want the babies to learn to feed themselves, but they will respond eventually. Many of my fledglings learn to go back inside the nest when they want to be fed because mom and dad respond faster in there.

Oh, I see. I was gone for the whole day and when I came back, all were sitting quietly in the nest. Then we got all of them out to weigh, and I think some results are alarming. 2 chicks look pretty big and fat, and 2 others are visibly smaller (including the youngest one).

For the youngest, yesterday he was 103g, today 97g and he was really begging for food. We gave them some millets, and he ate a little, and when I weigh him he was 100g (don't know if this could be true, he doesn't stand on the scale, constantly moving).

Another small one (who actually the oldest one) was 96g 2 days ago, 92g yesterday, and only 88g today.

For the 3rd chick (he is obviously the biggest) updates are 106g -- 99g -- 100g for the last 2 days, so we can see that this one is getting fed pretty well.

Our pearl girl looks really round and very well developed, she looks almost like her mom. 96g -- 95g -- 92g.

To me it looks like the first two smallest chicks are not getting fed as well as others.

I also tried to give them some water using a glass dropper, and they DID cooperate, the only problem was my lack of experience, but some drops were administered successfully. SHOULD I USE A DIFFERENT DROPPER FOR EACH BIRD, or are we past this point when I should be worrying for cross-contamination if one of them is sick? They all look all right.

I actually was going to open formula bag and try to hand feed 2 smallest chicks, maybe once a day. Do you think I shouldn't?

If the chicks are willing to cooperate you can hand feed them. I'd recommend watching some handfeeding videos on youtube first and maybe reading up on it too. If it's done wrong you can injure or kill the chick. The temperature has to be just right - not too hot and not too cold - and the thickness should be similar to applesauce.

You can use the same utensil for all the chicks. They've been living in close contact with each other and all feeding from the same parents, so they've been exposed to all the same germs. If you like you can try feeding them from a spoon. At this age my babies start to reject the syringe but are willing to eat from a spoon. But they already recognize that formula is food so they adapt to the spoon pretty quickly. Your babies don't have previous experience with it so they might not figure it out as easily.

I have mixed feelings about using a glass dropper. This isn't generally used and I'm not sure how safe it is. But as long as you don't break it, I can't really think of a reason why it would be any more dangerous than a plastic syringe.

I wouldn't hand feed using glass dropper. I used it for water because I had a pack of brand new . What is the size of your spoon?
I will wait with hand feeding but I want to monitor their weight to make sure they are not loosing too much. What is the guideline for weight loss? I know it shouldn't be more than 16%, correct? Should it be 16% from the biggest ever recorded, or 16 from the previous day?

Some chick is flapping her wings inside the box really hard and noisy, What does this mean?

I don't know the precise guidelines for weight loss. The baby's behavior is a better guide, if they're squalling for food they're hungry. If your parent birds are tame you can just simply stick them in the nestbox sometimes, and if a chick begs for food they'll probably feed it. Babies who are already fledged can be placed on a perch next to the parents. They may be too busy struggling for balance to beg for food, but this will help build their skills and also help give them the idea that they can seek out the parents when they want food.

Flapping inside the nest is normal at this age. The baby is exercising its wings, getting them stronger for when they're needed for flying.

One parent is tame (mom), and another is not (dad). Also, the one who is tame (mom) gets very protective when she is in the cage, so if I give her a hand, she would bite in the cage, instead of stepping on my hand, like she would do outside the cage. But sometimes it works.

Would you tell me what I should have at the bottom of the cage for fledglings? I lined bottom with carton, placed shallow water dish, a millet spray and a few toys. Some babies were standing really well on the side of the water dish. I put a few small toys. We don't have any perches that low yet. What diameter should they be and how low? Thanks.

I think I never asked here - do you believe that there are reasons to hand feed chicks, exxept for the situation when parents don't do it? Why do you hand feed yours?