To clean or not to clean

[australianaviculture]

My IRN chicks are just shy of three weeks old. The are already getting so big but I have noticed a build up of dropping in the box, I removed the old eggs matter today. Should I fully clean out the nesting material and put fresh stuff in? Obviously this is not a thing that happens in the wild.

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[henpecked]

I would if you think Mom and dad would stand for it,don't want to stress them out,so all depends on how tame/protective they are.Are you co-parenting or are they to be parent raised? Some birds will tolerate alot and some parents won't.

 

[australianaviculture]

Their father is hand raised but mother is not, so far I have had good access to the box and I have started handling the chicks to tame them a little (it is something I have done with other breeds) but they are to be parent raised as I have no expirence hand raising yet and would like at least a few successful clutches before I even consider it. Both parent spend time in the box and assume feed the chicks, I just don't want to upset anything...

 

[brighteyes]

Wow thank,s for the insight !
Also interesting Q.
Hope all goes well wondering what color they will be ?
Cheers *

 

[IcyWolf]

Congrats! They are super cute. I agree with the others, if the parents will tolerate it, try to clean it really quick, I can't imagine it's too good for them to be sitting in all that poo, and babies poop A LOT! You may also want to try and hook up with an experienced hand feeder that can teach you to feed. It's not all that hard once you know what you are doing and are confident about it. There are many methods to handfeeding too and it's good to try a few and figure out which one works best for you(in my opinion anyway). It would be a good thing to learn even if you don't plan on handfeeding anytime soon, that way if the parents would reject the babies and stop feeding them you would be able to take over. Good luck and please keep us posted, babies grow so quickly!

 

[australianaviculture]

Thankyou everyone, I'm planning to clean out the box tomorrow as quickly as possible, I will remove the chicks, then the poop and then put in a little more saw dust. The chicks are from a Albino male and Pastel Blue female it has been suggested that I will get mostly Pastel Blue or variations but I think one of the chicks will be albino (very light colouring with pink eyes)

 

[henpecked]

You should get mostly blue ,any albinos should be females.Unless any of the parents are split and then no telling what you'll get LOL

 

[australianaviculture]

Just thought I better follow up for anyone interest in the end result. I did clean out the box a few days ago with no negative results to date