Love bird killing Newborn Babies

Shahedmaria

New member
Mar 14, 2018
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0
Hi All,

My opline red head love bird is now 18 months old. First time they breed while their age was around 12 months. They hatched 3 babies and i found all of them dead at different age.

After that i removed the box and allowed them to breed 5 months letter. They breed again 2 babies. This time also i found both are dead. I observed the babies and found there are wounds on both of them. which makes me sure that they were killed.

The male has breeding experience and raised few babies with other male. So i presume its the mother who killing the babies.

I have raised other birds but never faced this type of issues before. Can someone please help?

Thanks,
Shahed
 

itzjbean

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Jan 27, 2017
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Although uncommon it does happen in some prolific species, some birds are just not wired right to raise babies properly, they get confused or just have no experience. Hamsters are also known to eat/kill their young. Very weird but it happens... In that case, to save the babies you must pull them to hand feed and take on the responsibility of keeping them alive since the parents are inept at doing so. This would mean pulling eggs after they are laid and incubating them yourself to keep them alive. Breeders of some larger species will do this, since the eggs/chicks are so valuable that they don't want to risk the parents crushing/killing them, they take on incubation and hand-feeding themselves to keep fatalities to a minimum.

If you are unprepared to pull babies, to keep them warm with a brooder and have hand-feeding experience, please don't let your birds lay and incubate eggs to hatching anymore. You have already lost several babies because you were not prepared or active enough to save them.

A responsible breeder will be ready at any stage of egg/chick development to save the babies and do what is right for them, which is to keep them from harm from mom. Please do not let them continue to lay eggs if you are not prepared to take on hand-feeding and save these babies.
 
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LordTriggs

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May 11, 2017
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I wouldn't. Have you ever hand raised a bird before? I would suggest going to a vet and learning FAST along with getting the equipment you need

Don't let your lovebirds breed for a couple years. 1 year old is far too young to breed, physically they can but it's like asking a 14 year old human to have a child
 

itzjbean

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Jan 27, 2017
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Can i use budgerigar for fostering the eggs? Can they raise babies?

I would highly advise against doing this -- though it may work with fostering as you suggest there is no guarantee the budgie will accept the chicks, they could cause even more injury/harm this way. There really is no way to go around this, no quick fix, so again I will just reiterate how important is it to not allow eggs to hatch. It is very easy to prevent eggs from hatching, simply by picking up the egg and shaking the egg so the yolk inside is dissolved, will keep the eggs from hatching.
 
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Stevorindy

New member
Jun 25, 2022
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I would highly advise against doing this -- though it may work with fostering as you suggest there is no guarantee the budgie will accept the chicks, they could cause even more injury/harm this way. There really is no way to go around this, no quick fix, so again I will just reiterate how important is it to not allow eggs to hatch. It is very easy to prevent eggs from hatching, simply by picking up the egg and shaking the egg so the yolk inside is dissolved, will keep the eggs from hatching.
So let me make sure I understand, don’t try to foster the babies as there is a chance the new parents will reject and kill them. Instead just take the egg and kill the baby yourself this way the baby won’t face the potential of being killed by the foster parents? That’s sound logic there. What percentage do you feel they would have of being accepted by the foster parents? Any percentage is better than the 100% chance of death you are suggesting. I’m sure you mean we’ll, but your logic is quite flawed and replulsive. For the one asking, we have done this ourselves with the fostering eggs with a wonderful pair of lovebird parents and they did a wonderful job.
 
May 2, 2021
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Stormy(M): blue Australian budgie
Picasso(F): green Australian budgie
Apollo(F): sky blue dominant pied Australian budgie
So let me make sure I understand, don’t try to foster the babies as there is a chance the new parents will reject and kill them. Instead just take the egg and kill the baby yourself this way the baby won’t face the potential of being killed by the foster parents? That’s sound logic there. What percentage do you feel they would have of being accepted by the foster parents? Any percentage is better than the 100% chance of death you are suggesting. I’m sure you mean we’ll, but your logic is quite flawed and replulsive. For the one asking, we have done this ourselves with the fostering eggs with a wonderful pair of lovebird parents and they did a wonderful job.
Hi, this thread is 4 years old! You probably won't get a response, so I suggest starting a new thread if you would like :)

And if there is no life, the embryo is not alive. It's that simple. Not everyone has extra birds to foster. Some birds are chronic egg-layers, and some people don't want chicks. Some birds have health issues that you wouldn't want them to pass on to the chicks. There are a million reasons people would shake the yolk when there is no embryo, so please stop judging.
 
May 2, 2021
3,527
Media
4
Albums
2
8,038
Vermont, USA
Parrots
Stormy(M): blue Australian budgie
Picasso(F): green Australian budgie
Apollo(F): sky blue dominant pied Australian budgie
And if you joined just to say that, I suggest you:
1. Refrain from posting such judgemental things on further threads
2. Start a thread talking about your birds
3. Offer help and support to people on the forums!
 

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