My female lovebird had her first clutch a couple months ago and there was a question that was bugging me for a while. My female laid five eggs in total and all hatched. Something I noticed once that 5th one hatched was that she stopped feeding the two youngest, while the oldest were nice and full. I even bought formula and tried to feed them a little just so it wasn't to much work the female. Even that didn't work because eventually they died. Couple of theories I had was maybe she didn't have enough space in her box, she couldn't keep up with 5 chicks, or something was wrong with them. Anyone know what was going on?
Female Lovebird not feeding her babies..
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MonicaMc
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- Sep 12, 2012
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Mitred Conure - Charlie 1994;
Cockatiel - Casey 2001;
Wild Caught ARN - Sylphie 2013
It's hard to say without necropsies or really knowing all that's going on.
Typically, when the hen has too many chicks to feed, it's best to remove the oldest chicks and hand feed them while allowing the mother to feed the youngest.
Typically, when the hen has too many chicks to feed, it's best to remove the oldest chicks and hand feed them while allowing the mother to feed the youngest.
MikeyTN
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- Feb 1, 2011
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"Willie"&"Lola"B&G Macaw,
"Dixie"LSC2, and "Nico" Scarlet Macaw.
Yes like what Monica said, with a clutch that size, they will feed the biggest one first. While the little ones gets squashed underneath the bigger babies whose hogging all the food, they starve to death. Whenever you breed, you need to think of the possibilities that could happen and be ready to do whatever is necessary. And by that I mean removing the older siblings into a incubator and feed them on your own. IF you have problem buying a incubator, I have a cheaper way instead of spending a fortune on a incubator. I just posted some pictures of my little tank that I use for incubating few days ago....
Pedro
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- Dec 15, 2010
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When my parrots have chicks i usually feed my parent birds 3 times a day. They have soft foods, seed, corn on the cob & sprouts. If the parents are feed heaps there isn't any reason any chicks are lost. Maybe there just wasn't enough food to feed them all.
The older chicks are the stronger & get fed first. Sometimes the younger ones get lost in the clutch grow weak from lack of food & perish.
Is the male helping to feed the hen. The should be able to cope feeding 5 chicks, I doubt there was something wrong. How long after hatch did they die?
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Yeah I was considering on taking the older ones out but as I wasn't aware on how the mother would react if I did, I hesitated. I actually ended up taking out the two older ones only to leave the younger ones in the box to see if the mother would feed them, but she never did. I gave up and just eventually let the mother do what she wanted with the little ones. And since there are a lot of people saying inexperienced bird owners shouldn't handfeed baby birds I was doubting my ability to feed them. I know realize that the female doesn't mind me handling the babies because I did it a lot once they grew older. I even gave them formula eventually but I always but they back with their mother.
And to Pedro. I fed them a lot. I was very nervous about them not having enough food that I checked probably checked 4 times a day when I was home to make sure there was food still there. Same with water. Male lovebird helped too. He was always sitting on the perch in from of the box. The younger one was about 2 days when it died. The second youngest was just a day older.
And to Pedro. I fed them a lot. I was very nervous about them not having enough food that I checked probably checked 4 times a day when I was home to make sure there was food still there. Same with water. Male lovebird helped too. He was always sitting on the perch in from of the box. The younger one was about 2 days when it died. The second youngest was just a day older.
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Yeah I found different people with different incubators and the most convenient one I found was using a heating pad, a small plastic box they use for small animals, and using paper towels for the bedding. Didn't sound to difficult.
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