Mom eating baby

[Sigadils]

Hello,

I am new to this forum and have a question.

I have a lovely pair of budgies who now have their first clutch of eggs. They had 4 eggs and yesterday the first chick hatched. When I looked in today, I could see the chick from yesterday, an open eggshell and a single head, that was all that was left of chick no 2. The other two eggs have yet to hatch.

I am pretty sure the mother is to blame since the front of her chest had splatters of goo on them. Why would she do this? The other chick seems to be doing fine and already has tiny little fluff growing. Do I need to worry she will do the same to the other two chicks if they hatch?

thank you for your advice, this is the first time they (or I for that matter) have a clutch.

 

[Lwalker]

 

[peppermint]

i dont know the first thing about budgies, or how most birds behave when they have babies.
however i heard hens would do this one to the other, or to their own chicks if they sense there is something wrong, as a way to stop the disease from spreading. i remember reading something similar about crows too, like the crow parents would push a baby crow out of the nest if they feel said baby will not make it.
it doesn't always mean they carry an infectious disease, but it could also be a malformation within the baby bird - but like i said, i haven't have a clue.

maybe talk to the avian vet about it also? over the phone first, and then in person if needed?

 

[karen256]

They will eat chicks that die or that are sickly and likely to die - it's their only way to keep the nest sanitary and recover some of the energy spent in producing the egg. Sometimes, difficult or easily stressed pairs may eat chicks with little provocation (nest disturbances), but budgies are usually good parents and it sounds like the other chick is doing fine, so I think it's more likely like that the second chick simply died or had a birth defect. This happens occasionally even with the best of care.

 

[camelotshadow]

Watch...don;t watch...try not to disturb them but try to keep an eye for the next eggs but little you can do to raise such small chicks yourself anyway...

Good Luck...

 

[RandyMiller]

I agree with camelotshadow Some animals and bird kill their babies if they are deformed or weak. http://forums.avianavenue.com/index.php?members/camelotshadow.4807/

 

[Kristina M]

 

[melissasparrots]

Most of the time in my experience, the parent is cleaning up after a chick that died. However, cause of death can be trampling the babies due to poor nest box design or anxiety at interfering humans. Sometimes also parents that are distracted because of interfering humans won't focus on keeping the clutch huddled under them and other basic good parenting skills and let one chill, develop a poor feeding response and die. Then they eat it. Sometimes its just bad luck. The chick took too long to hatch, died part way through without getting out of the shell all the way and the parents cleaned up.