I have 2 sets of breeding pairs and they are both doing the same thing, killing all of their babies. either they have torn their beaks off or they starve them or they will not sit on them once they have hatched. they are also bitting off their toes and arms. it is so sad. iam currently handfeeding 3 babies. I have also taken out the breeding boxes until i can figure out what is going on. their is nothing wrong with these babies. everyone of them looked totally fine. also one of the mothers gorged one of the babies with whole bird seed, it was not regurgitated. I have taken the male out of the cage to see if it was him. still happening. can someone with experience please help me?
2006-12-08 08:39:25 · 10 answers · asked by rosemarie o 1 in Pets ➔ Birds
Are the pairs in the same cage? Are they still young? It is usually the female that kills babies. Mostly is there is something wrong with the baby. Giving babies whole bird seed seems to be inexperience. Give the parents soft food to give the babies. I use pronutro it is a wheat cereal for human that I mix with water, they don't seem to like giving hand feeding formula or crushed pellets to babies. Because both pairs are doing so I would think that it is diet related. A balanced diet of mostly cooked parrot food, fruit, veggies, pelltes and only a little seed with added vitamin, mineral & calcium should change this. A seed only diet may be the cause as the hen is unable to satisfy the hunger of the babies and is so taking out frustration on the baby. I have not had the killing of healthy babies only those that where not perfect. I would think that these babies you have to handfeed now. For the future change to a mixed diet over a period of at least two weeks and try again. If the parents are less than a year old I would suggest allowing them to mature before trying again. In warm places the parents do not sit all the time with the babies, but they should be feeding them not allowing them to starve.
2006-12-08 08:57:26 · answer #1 · answered by Angie C 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Do you have the two pairs in the same cage? If so, give them each a HUGE cage of their own. If they have sufficient space without interference from other pairs, they will be less aggressive. I had one male that required free access to the entire breeding room or he would attack his mate and the chicks. Once he bit the toenails off one of the chicks. Once they start this behavior, you need tor emove the chicks right away or you will likely lose them all.
Also, have you ever had a successful mating? I ask because you say they fed the baby whole seed. Usually the food they feed the babies will look like whole seed, but it is in fact partially digested hulled seed kernels. It is normal to see seeds through the wall of the crop.
2006-12-08 08:49:45 · answer #2 · answered by Robin D 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Whether you may see it happening or not, I have found through my experiences with colony breeding that it doesn't work with any parrot species. Even though the other birds may not be invading the others' nesting box (they may be invading it and you just don't see it), the parents may be purposely harming/killing their babies because they feel they are in danger. This is Mother Nature.
I found this information on this site.
http://experts.about.com/q/Birds-General-2349/cockatiel-chicks-1.htm
Separate the pairs into their own space (cage).
2006-12-08 09:51:06 · answer #3 · answered by Lynn D 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Your going to think I am nuts but what color is the room they are in? I found white walls or blue walls made ALL birds aggressive!
I had at one time 30 birds I am not a breeder but they had other ideas. I learned real fast what a pipette is and how to use it. I ended up hand raising 5 cockatiels with zero experience. Once I painted the walls of there room to (and this is no joke) Light Emerald Green my whole bird family became mellow and happy. I had cockatiels,finch,doves and love birds all in the same room.
2006-12-08 08:49:55 · answer #4 · answered by Diana T 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
do you have any other birds with your cocktails, because this happened to me we found out it was actually the cakarikis that we had. Also breeding sometimes involes alot of fighting between birds so the breeding pairs may have killed the others young
2006-12-08 11:26:09 · answer #5 · answered by jm_girling 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
a lady cockateil can lay eggs at 2-3 years. even if she is on my own and not using a mate she will be in a position to nonetheless lay eggs, they only are not fertile. If she lays those eggs only save them on a shelf for tutor. If the eggs are fertile, she will be in a position to hatch them herself.
2016-11-24 23:38:15 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My pair did the same thing, so I had to pull the babies out for hand-feeding and I was soo tired. Hand-feed them and take the nestbox out unless you want to hand-feed another clutch. Get a new pair, that's what I did when I had this problem.
2006-12-08 23:01:30 · answer #7 · answered by aamir925 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This post says to me that you are probably not ready for the responsibility of breeding cockatiels. You should probably take all your birds (parents and babies) to the vet for a checkup, and he/she can give you advice from there.
If you need a vet, you can find one at http://aav.org/vet-lookup
2006-12-08 09:13:08 · answer #8 · answered by CrazyBirdMom 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
http://www.showbirds.com/StrictlyCockatiels/
This is a Yahoo Group site for breeding Cockatiels. T belong to a similar group, but for another speceis. These people can help you!
Good luck!
Steve
2006-12-08 09:06:04 · answer #9 · answered by Steven Keith 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
How much housing room do they have? Sometimes animals will kill their young if they feel they have inadequate space. They may just be bad parents and you will need to remove any future hatchlings immediatly so they are not injured.
2006-12-08 08:43:23 · answer #10 · answered by dolly 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋