SilverSage
New member
- Sep 14, 2013
- 5,937
- 94
- Parrots
- Eclectus, CAG, BH Pionus, Maximilian’s Pionus, Quakers, Indian Ringnecks, Green Cheeked Conures, Black Capped Conures, Cockatiels, Lovebirds, Budgies, Canaries, Diamond Doves, Zebra Finches, Society F
What a disgusting picture. That’s 9 dead eggs and the shells of 2 dead chicks. Why? I have no idea. The other nests are thriving, and these parents have a great track record. Last week everything was fine, this week the whole clutch is gone. Two babies hatched before dying, the others died in shell.
Why would I show you this? It’s heartbreaking!
That’s exactly why I’m sharing. Those of you who know me know I make an effort to share just how hard raising birds can be. By hiding this kind of thing we can make ourselves look better, but we can lead the unsuspecting newbie to believe that raising birds is all healthy babies and sunshine. It isn’t. It’s hard, it’s sad, it’s expensive. How expensive? Well this incident alone will probably cost me about $900 in vet bills at LEAST trying to figure out what happened, since mom and dad aren’t displaying any symptoms and will need exams, blood work, etc. Add that to the 11 dead babies, and for the sake of easy math let’s say each baby would have an adoption fee of $100... that’s $2000 down the drain and a lot of sadness, worry, and hassle as I dig into what went wrong here.
I’m not showing you the chicks that hatched before dying. The parents did exactly what they are “supposed” to, that is they flattened the little bodies as best they could so they will dry out instead of rotting in the nest. It’s gory; no one needs to see that.
I also don’t always share when babies die of other causes. But it happens! And my birds get top of the line care and I STILL LOSE BABIES.
That’s a huge part (though there are many reasons) why I discourage people from jumping into breeding. Babies die. I’ve spent years learning how to prevent problems to start with, identify them early when they happen anyway, and act fast to fix them so the baby can survive and even THEN this kind of thing can come out of the blue and kick me in the gut. If you are thinking about starting to breed, are you going to do it long enough that you’ll learn from your dead babies and be able to save others with what you learn? Because if you aren’t, don’t even start. You owe it to the ones that die to learn everything you can and SHARE THAT KNOWLEDGE with others who struggle so that those babies don’t die for nothing.
So that was long and ranty but the bottom line is this: DON’T COUNT OUR CHICKS BEFORE THEY HATCH, AND DON’T ASSUME YOUR BIRD BREEDING IDEA WILL BE FUN, EASY, OR CHEAP.
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