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A new baby-problem, parents ready to move on?

Lillemor

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Now the ckicks are moved, and they both seems very happy about it. They spent the first hour eating, exploring the coffee-table, and sleeping on my husbands chest.


We hear no screaming from the parents, so I guess they are ok with the ckicks moving as well. :)
 

Monica

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The reason for Gwaine's "female" coloration is because he's a pearl pied. I don't see cinnamon, so he must be split cinnamon and lutino. Has his back colorations changed at all?

Peggy looks to be cinnamon split pied?


Mini is a cinnamon pied. I'd say he's a little male! (because I don't see pearl coloration)


Baby being a lutino (insert pearl, maybe pied?) makes her a girl.
 

Lillemor

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Thank you so much for your explanation @Monica , that makes sence :)

The chicks are doing great, playing, exploring, cuddling.
But mother started screaming a few minutes ago. My daughter said it has been going great until now.
She seems a little stressed, searching for her babies. Hopefully the stress will pass shortly.


Added: .I forgot to answer the question. No, his back-colorations has not changed at all Winge ny daughter got him.
 
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tielluver

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Very cute. I had about the same situation, never intending to breed and did not think there were chicks in the eggs, but we ended up with 3 babies in 3 days. I use fake eggs too. Our parent birds are wonderful parents, did everything. But, at 5 weeks old, right after they got all their feathers and started to fly, mom pulled the feathers on head of each baby, one at a time, when she finished one she went to the next. After that she did not do it again, and the feathers grew back in. But mine never attacked the babies like yours seem to be doing. I think separating them is best thing for a while at least. There seems to be a connection between them getting all of their feathers and flying that makes them want to pluck on baby's head. good luck
 

Monica

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I guess the best way we can tell he's a male (beyond perhaps behavior?) is due to his tail feathers... the feathers are mottled, not striped. Visual pearl males will retain mottled tail feathers as adults, although it's minimal. As an example, a picture from @srtiels / JustCockatiels.net / Susanne Russo - the male on left has mottling on his tail feathers. Now Gwaine obviously has more! They might molt to a lesser degree within a few years or it may remain the same because he's a pied.





I had a pied hen and you can see her striped (and kind of mottled) tail feathers here.




I still have my first tiel, a cinnamon pearl pied. On her non-pied tail feathers, they're striped!






Fun fact from Susanne Russo / Just Cockatiels - not all pearl hens will have striped tail feathers! They wont be a solid color like a normal male, either. They'll be clear with a dark center. (might make your head spin)





The best example of the "clear" tail feathers can be seen in this photo below, and I just love this image! A gorgeous pearl hen!

may30 | 05-30-09: Meet Jewel, my brother's pearl Cockatiel. … | Flickr




- As far as the mother being distressed.... sadly, that's kind of normal.... the pair are inexperienced to say the least, so it's normal for things not to go well the first time around... or first few times. They are, after all, her babies, even if she doesn't know how to care for them.
 

Lillemor

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@tielluver Thank you :)
Good to hear about your experience, and that everything went fine in the end.
I believe Peggy is exhaused. Father hasn't helped at all, and beeing a single mother, feeding, preening, cleaning, protecting... It is hard doing it alone.

@Monica Thank you so much!! This explains why everyone thought Gwaine was female. It's easy to make that mistake.
And you are right, that pearl hen was beautiful!!



Our night has gone very well. Peggy (mother) quickly calmed down, and slept through the night. The little ones did the same.
 

barry collins

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I also had suprise babies and I was thrown in at the deep end and at about 25 days in. My parents started plucking and dad got impatient and then mum also just abandoned the babies so I was left as a dad of 4 cockatiels.
I also used fake eggs on the next clutch and I hand fed exclusively until around 9 weeks old and kept them in a cage within earshot of the parents and after a few weeks in the parents had visiting rights and we're fine and now I have a flock of cockatiels. 2 years on and they are all good friends and spend all day together in an outdoor aviary with no issues.
You have got good advice from here and are doing a great job.
 

Lillemor

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Thank you for sharing your story @barry collins :)
It is realy nice reading a story simular to ours, where it worked out great. A success story. :)

Here everything is fine. The chicks are curious, adventurous, playful, and developing great.
Our plan noe, is to keep hvem here, and reintroduce hvem to the parents when they are (almost) fully weaned, fledges, and are mostly selfsuffisient. :)
 

Lillemor

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Yesterday Baby had her first real flight!! She was airborn twice on monday, but not really flying.
And Mini has started climbing. We never though that this would happend due to lack of grip strength, but he really wanted out of the cage, and he found a way. That was fantastic.

They do not miss their parents at all. And the parents are also happy. :)

Now I must find a new handfeeding schedual.
Until now we have started feeding at 7 am, and then every 4th hour until 11pm. (Due to Minis previous underweight).
But now he is stabile at "normal" weight for his age (82-84 grams), and he is still asleep at 7, so I guess it will be safe to move first feeding to 8 am, and feed every 5th hour until 11 pm? (assuming he still keeps a stabile weight with this regime).
 

barry collins

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Yesterday Baby had her first real flight!! She was airborn twice on monday, but not really flying.
And Mini has started climbing. We never though that this would happend due to lack of grip strength, but he really wanted out of the cage, and he found a way. That was fantastic.

They do not miss their parents at all. And the parents are also happy. :)

Now I must find a new handfeeding schedual.
Until now we have started feeding at 7 am, and then every 4th hour until 11pm. (Due to Minis previous underweight).
But now he is stabile at "normal" weight for his age (82-84 grams), and he is still asleep at 7, so I guess it will be safe to move first feeding to 8 am, and feed every 5th hour until 11 pm? (assuming he still keeps a stabile weight with this regime).
Great news. Just be careful of them flying with a full crop incase they crash land.
They will let you know if they are hungry and after about 5-6 weeks you can relax on the schedule a bit and start to feed them as they demand.
 

Lillemor

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Thank you for your advice @barry collins .
We do not allow flying after feeding.
I'm not comfortalble with "feeding on demand" yet, realying on signals only, since Mini was seriously underweight just 10 days ago. I need a form of routine. ;)
I guess I'm an overprotective foster mum. :)

Yesterday Mini (!) decided to fly, and he did!
The bird we thought would never climb, climbed yeasterday. And today, 5 weeks and 3 days old, never flying before, he flew 6 meters - before he "crashed" right into the blinds (witch are there to protect the birds from the window).
When he "crashed" he scared Baby, that also took off, and there was a few seconds with chaos.
And during that few seconds of chaos, we lost Mini. Suddenly the bird was gone.
We searched every cm of the living room, crawling on the floor, checking under the sofa, behind every pillow, we even searched the hall, and the kitchen.... but the bird had disappeared.
We called our daughter (birds owner) to get more help searching.
After around 15 minutes my husband was in the kitchen again, and there Mini was, looking out from behind som containers.
That was some long 15 minutes!

We usually have curtains separating the kitchen from the livingroom (to protect the birds) but the wire broke just a few hours earlier, so they were down at this moment.

It ended well, but he really scared us for a few minutes there.
 
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Birdie76

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Oh my word!!~! Beautiful birdies and those babies are adorable!!~!

They look older than mine did at that age...
Life Happens....at least they are in a good, loving home!!~!
 

Lillemor

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Oh my word!!~! Beautiful birdies and those babies are adorable!!~!

They look older than mine did at that age...
Life Happens....at least they are in a good, loving home!!~!
Thank you so much! :)

They are some cuties, and it will be strange and quiet when they move back to their real home. Luckily we still will be able to see them every day.


They are so much fun!
Everytime they hear the "food-bell" (ding on the kettle) they start yelling at me.
According to their sounds they are "soooo hungry, haven't been eating for days and weeks" ...
Yesterday evening was no different. They didn't even have time to wait for me picking them up, instead they flew towards me, trying to land on my shoulder (and failed), and when I used too much time filling the syringe, they started eating from the bowl by themselves. They were in a big hurry! :laugh::laugh:
 
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Birdie76

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Sounds like they'll be eating on their own in NO TIME!!~!

You're giving me the Birdie Baby Blues.....and I saw the cutest tiny conure the other day....

...Probably won't though...at least not for awhile. I'd like Sephor to be at least a year old or older.
Not sure he is ready for a sibling....course not sure I'm ready either. This is why I have to stay
away from any place that has birds....
 

Lillemor

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Sounds like they'll be eating on their own in NO TIME!!~!

You're giving me the Birdie Baby Blues.....and I saw the cutest tiny conure the other day....

...Probably won't though...at least not for awhile. I'd like Sephor to be at least a year old or older.
Not sure he is ready for a sibling....course not sure I'm ready either. This is why I have to stay
away from any place that has birds....
Hopefully they will eat on their own soon, because now feeding time has become play time, in their heads. :blink::lol:

Sorry to hear that they've given you the Birdy Baby Blues. ;)
I have more "grandma"-feelings.
I love them, I like taking care of them, and it will be quiet and strange when they are no longer around me, but at the same time I'm glad they are not mine to keep.
I can see them as often as I like, but they are no longer my responsibility. (Just like a Grandmother)
 

Birdie76

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I think I was just born to be a Mama LOL...I had a tribe myself. Miss having lil' ones around. Though, now it is the perfect opportunity to become a "Birdie Mama" again! I quit keeping birds when my daughter killed my beloved Cockatiel, Noah....death by crayon to cage while Mama was in the shower. Right then I decided it was too risky having birds along with a tribe of kiddos. I am still heartbroken over my sweet Noah...and that was, gosh, 1999ish? Almost twenty years....since I've had FIDS in the house. I just had wild FIDS after that.

I have no idea what it is like to be a grandma....yet....first grandbaby arrives in December. I'm excited but it is hard as I will probably not be able to go and visit them when he is born :0(

No babies in the house....empty nest syndrome lol....Kids grow up and move out and then rarely call cause they get busy with life and forget. Bird babies are there for the long haul! I'm looking forward to my 15-20+ years with Sephor hanging around.!
 

Lillemor

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I think I was just born to be a Mama LOL...I had a tribe myself. Miss having lil' ones around. Though, now it is the perfect opportunity to become a "Birdie Mama" again! I quit keeping birds when my daughter killed my beloved Cockatiel, Noah....death by crayon to cage while Mama was in the shower. Right then I decided it was too risky having birds along with a tribe of kiddos. I am still heartbroken over my sweet Noah...and that was, gosh, 1999ish? Almost twenty years....since I've had FIDS in the house. I just had wild FIDS after that.

I have no idea what it is like to be a grandma....yet....first grandbaby arrives in December. I'm excited but it is hard as I will probably not be able to go and visit them when he is born :0(

No babies in the house....empty nest syndrome lol....Kids grow up and move out and then rarely call cause they get busy with life and forget. Bird babies are there for the long haul! I'm looking forward to my 15-20+ years with Sephor hanging around.!
Most important: congratulations with your soon arriving grandbaby. :congrats5:

Death by cryon... ouch. I understand why you waited having more birds, and why you feel it's the right time now.

I do not have any grandchildren (yet) but I do definitively not have "empty nest syndrome". The nest is never empty. :blink:
I have my husband and son living together with me, and my daughter living litterally 30 sec away.

And I have several grandpets.
I have Scott (a one year old Chinese crested powderpuff), Peggy and Gwain (the babies parents), Mini and Baby (that must be my Great-grandpets), and until 7 weeks ago I also had my "steph-bird" Charlie (my husbands conure, witch I miss terribly).

And all of these grandpets I see, and take care of, every day, while my daughter is at the university. :)
 
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Birdie76

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It's no wonder you don't have Empty nest syndrome!!-!

My children are a state away almost 20hrs with no way to see them presently except by video phone...and they are always busy.

Thanks for the congrats on grandbaby.

I'll probably be a birdie Mama to the end. Been looking at birds online again...it's like an addiction. Feel free to share lots of pics....
 

Lillemor

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It's no wonder you don't have Empty nest syndrome!!-!

My children are a state away almost 20hrs with no way to see them presently except by video phone...and they are always busy.

Thanks for the congrats on grandbaby.

I'll probably be a birdie Mama to the end. Been looking at birds online again...it's like an addiction. Feel free to share lots of pics....
Sorry it took so long before I replied to your comment. It has been some chaotic days, and I'm exhausted.

I really understand the addiction - beeing a "birdaholic" is not the worst thing to be. :D
 
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