Why would a mom bird want to kill her young bird?

Question

this morning, the mom attacked her young bird. She is on eggs now, but doesn't she know that is her baby? What should I do?

Answer 1

sometimes your offspring drive you nuts. LOL

Answer 2

Some reasons have been given to you which I agree with. However, one of my experiences was a jealous mother. One of my hen rosellas had three babies which she looked after so well. After a few days the male rosella started going into the box and helping to feed the young. He developed a bond with one of the babies so eventually he started feeding her all the time left the feeding of the other two to the mother. The mother then started attacking the baby viciously and we had to take it from the box and continue to rear it ourselves. We kept it in a hospital cage to which the male had access. He helped to feed it as well. It turned out that this little bird was a hen and both the others were males so it convinced us that the female was jealous of her mate spending so much time on another female even though it was her own baby.

Answer 3

After initial mouth feeding the mother bird drives the younger one out to search its own food. It teaches its young the basics and once it knows the young can take care of itself it doesnot have any further attachment to its young ones.
In some animals the young ones are killed by the father as it wants to mate with the mother animal.
This is all natural.

Answer 4

Maybe there is something wrong with it and just like other wild animals the mother will usually kill it. Only the strongest survive, its only natural.

BTW, its only a myth that a mother bird will attack or abandon the baby when a human has touched it. Its true for rabbits though.

Answer 5

the reason a mother might kill here young is because she knows it has some sort of defect. Birds do not usually kill their own unless this is the case. Otherwise you might try taking the birds from her and handfeeding it or them. Good Luck.

Answer 6

being that she has eggs should tell you, it means she will have one more mouth to feed if she keeps it there. It seems cruel but thats the animal kingdom for you. Also if the young chick has come in contact with human scent that will also cause the mother to do this. There really isn't anything you can do unless you want to take the chick and rear it yourself..
Another reason can be if they have birth defects of anykind, or a runt, anything is possible..

Answer 7

There is probably something wrong with it. About 7 years ago we had a cat who had kittens and my daughter woke up to find one on her chest - with no head. Another one had it's leg chewed off. The last of her kittens she suffocated by laying on it. We couldn't figure it out until a neighbor has said they seen her mating with another cat in the neighborhood. They described it and then I knew why she killed her babies. It was her brother out of the same litter she was. The animal world works in ways we'll never understand. Nor should we involve ourselves unless it will lead to death. Say a mother deer gets ran over and the baby is left alone.If that mother bird finds it neccessary to attack her baby she has her reasons. But if you are like me then you will feel the need to save it. They eat mashed up worms but you have to almost literally shove them down the throat.

Answer 8

your question:why would a mom want to kill her a young bird? I have heard that the male bird will kill the young male chicks.Also if the mom is very young they kill chicks.Don't know if true or not. check with a vet or pet store .

Answer 9

the mom would only do this if a human has touched the baby! if the mother continues to do this you are better off asking a vets advice! do not touch or take the bird anywhere unless a vet says that it is okay because if you do touch them the mother will completely abandon the baby and it will die!

Answer 10

its something wrong with the bird that's just nature like with puppies kittens etc if a animal has children or what not not like us but if something isn't right with it they know and they basically put it out of its misery

Answer 11

unfortunately, this is nature. It is ugly, and cruel. If you could somehow get the eggs away from her, and place them in a home made incubator, this might help. Also, I would call my local vet to get further advice.