Lost another baby :( What is going on?!

[IcyWolf]

So, in total, we had 6 eggs, 4 hatched but the 4th one died the same day it hatched. Now, about 2 hours ago I checked on them and the smallest one didn't have much food in his crop and was looking a bit dehydrated, so I decided to give him some formula, he took it like a champ and I put him back in the nest box. I went ahead and pulled the oldest two out and gave them just a little bit of formula as well and returned them. I just checked again and the third baby was dead, he was 8 days old today. The other two are 11 days old and about twice his size and their butts are getting quite fuzzy. This is her first clutch but is that a reason to loose 2 babies and two fertile eggs? It really sucks because now I have yet another person to inform that I do not have a baby for them

 

[MikeyTN]

It happens since it is their first batch. You don't want to give the younger one formula if he has food in his crop, just a tad bit of warm water if he's dehydrated. Probably would of been best if you had yank the older two.

 

[IcyWolf]

His crop was just about empty, but I also noticed that his belly was quite dark so I'm wondering if something else didn't go wrong. Why is it that you can't give them formula if they have parent food in their crops, I've never heard that before! Glad you mentioned it.

 

[Pedro]

Sorry IcyWolf, this is a sad fact of breeding parrots. It happens to all of us.

Failure to hatch. Any factor that reduces the viability of the embryowill reduce the chances of pipping successfully. This includes, congenital defects, respiratory disease & yolk sac infections. If the shell is to hard (low humidity) and/or to thick. The embryo may not be able to pip.

Survival of hatchlings. Parrot chicks are dependent on their parents for warmth, protection & nourishment. Some birds are poor parents, which maybe related to their age, nest disturbances, & neurological disorders & other diseases. The parental care necessary for the successful rearing of the progeny may not be provided so some of the chicks may die.

Many infectious diseases can cause early losses. In some cases these may be directly linked to the parent stock, can be a fungal or bacterial infection.

I usually can understand it happening in the first nest of young parents but should it keep happening i would have a crop wash & droppings tested for any problems.

That said i have 2 sun conure chicks because the last clutch died. I also have the next clutch in my incubator due to hatch in another week or so. I am guessing bad parents here as the 2 chicks are weaning, of good size & no health problems along the way. The adult birds are mine but i have loaned them out so i can't for certain say if they are being fed a balanced diet either.

 

[cdog]

I'm afraid I cant help with this, but good luck for now and in the future.

 

[antoinette]

Hoping you have no more losses.............
Great advice from members above
Good luck

 

[MikeyTN]

His crop was just about empty, but I also noticed that his belly was quite dark so I'm wondering if something else didn't go wrong. Why is it that you can't give them formula if they have parent food in their crops, I've never heard that before! Glad you mentioned it.

I'm gonna have to go with Pedro there after you mentioned about the belly being dark.

The reasoning behind why you don't handfeed while there's seeds in their crops is that it can take a bit longer to digest out the seeds while your leaving the formula in their crop to ferment. The formula shouldn't stay in the crop sac for a long periods of time as it causes crop rot. You'll smell it from their breath....Or sometimes they'll drain out the water from the formula while going through the seeds leaving just the dry formula in their crop causing it to dry up and unable to digest. In that case you give them warm water and gently rub the crop sac to loosen it so they can digest it. Sometimes I do make them throw up their formula if it's been in the crop sac for too long, which I had more problem with Kaytee formula then Zupreem. I hope I'm explaining it right as my eyes is getting droopy....I haven't been feeling up to par as I think I have a ear infection going on....

 

[Pedro]

Mikey i hope you get yourself off to the Doctor, we can't have you feeling poorly.

 

[lene1949]

My first thought: Are you interfering too much?

 

[roxynoodle]

I'm really sorry to hear another was lost. I don't know much about these things, but I doubt any of it was your fault. It's probably because they are first time parents and the eggs hatched so far apart. I'm thinking of you and your bf.

 

[IcyWolf]

Thank you guys for all the input, and thank you mikey for clearing that up, after I started thinking about it, I figured that was about what you were going to say. And I actually have switched to the zupreem formula. That last baby was the first time I used the kaytee stuff and I didn't like it. No matter how I mixed it or how I added the water(starting warm and making it warmer, starting hot and letting it cool as I mixed it...) it didn't seem to matter, it didn't like to stay mixed and if I would let it sit for even a few seconds the formula seemed to sink to the bottom. And, of course, I do use a thermometer and constantly check the temp, I try to keep it steady at 106. And even though I have that thermo in there, I still test it on the inside of my wrist before it goes into a baby, just to be sure it's not too hot.

@lene, I only check them in the morning, in the afternoon and then at night, if something is amiss, like a baby having an empty crop during the first two checks, then I will keep a closer eye on them, I ONLY do this because the hen is very good about me being around. When I check the babies, she pops out of the box, goes over and starts eating out of the dish and then goes right back in, you can tell when they are upset at you, female budgies have this loud yell and I've even seen some charge at peoples hands to get them away from their nest, these were always birds in aviary settings though.

The oldest two seem to be doing good, they are fuzzy and walking around and I couldn't believe the grip they already have! I couldn't get the one to let go of my finger for a second! So they seem like pretty strong little guys, if all goes well, I will pull them on friday and hopefully we will be in the clear i actually started to worry about this last baby a day or two ago when I realized that he was only two days behind these guys and he was developing nearly as fast, he was half their size and didn't have any down feathers yet, I was hoping that it was for other reasons but I'm not really surprised that what happened did. That doesn't make me any less bummed out about it but hopefully at least these two make it through healthy and happy