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Problem Parents?

Learning89

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So I am 100% new at this whole breeding thing and I would definitely not consider myself a breeder, however, my birds are breeding. I have two Quaker Parrots who decided to start having eggs at the bottom of their cage. I gave them a nest because I couldn't clean the cage with eggs on the bottom of it. Long story short they did have 12 eggs total and between myself and the parents we ended up with 0, even though they were fertile. Mom sits on the eggs the whole time while dad feeds her and sits watch outside the nest. But as the babies started hatching they were eating them. Not while they were in the eggs but waited until the chicks hatched to eat them. Has this happened to anyone? Is their anything I can do to try and prevent it? Any ideas would be helpful! Thank you in advance!
 

JLcribber

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Hankmacaw

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If that was one hen having 12 eggs, she will very likely be low on calcium. She needs to go to the vet and get an exam and probably a calcium shot and supplements.

Like John said breeding is not a casual hobby. You are dealing with lives.
 

rocky'smom

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please stop, separate the 2 birds right now, let female eat as much as she wants too. get her into avian vet asap. if you do not know what you doing, which obvious by your post, then Stop right now. you can kill your female, from lack of calcium, egg binding and many other illness, if you do not know what you are doing.
if we sound like we are angry, we are. what horrible thing to do to innocent babies. PLEASE STOP trying to breed your Quakers.
 
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saroj12

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What a horrible fate for the babies. Please stop. You can get fake egggs at dummyeggs.com
 

iamwhoiam

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Agree with everyone else that the best thing to do is separate them or replace the eggs with fake eggs. If you continue to allow her to lay eggs and if they are eating the babies you will need to remove the babies and feed them from day 1. That means feeding about every 1-2 hours even throughout the night in the beginning.
The Science of Handfeeding and Weaning the Baby Parrot | The Parrot University, llc
I would not recommend doing this.

This kind of thing (eating babies) does happen in nature but there is no reason for it to happen in your home.
I knew of someone who let a pair of red-bellies continue to breed, lay eggs and the pair would chew off the babies' toes. I told her to stop but she didn't listen until she went through a few clutches of babies with missing toes and then she finally separated the pair. Please don't let this continue. Do not let them have any more babies.
 

karen256

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Sadly, nature is harsh and in the wild, where food, minerals, ect. are in short supply, parents will sometimes eat babies that for whatever reason, they think won't survive. Sort of their way to recycle the resources and be able to try again.
It's possible the chicks died after hatching, or were weak and unlikely to survive; it's also possible that there was too much disturbance at the nest, although that's more unusual, especially if the parents are tame - wild birds may eat babies if they think predators have gotten to their nest, though. It's also possible the mother had a nutritional deficiency after laying.

Of course, even though this isn't unnatural behavior, it isn't something you want happening again. I would remove the nestbox for now, provide plenty of calcium for the female, and try to get them into the vet for some bloodwork to help figure out if there's a dietary deficiency. Also, it's a good idea to provide a highly nutritious diet to them, but I would ask your vet about offering protein. It takes a lot of protein to produce eggs, so a low-protein diet could have been the problem - but suddenly increasing the protein in their diets may promote breeding behavior, which you don't really want now.
After 12 eggs, the female really needs to rest and you should do all you can to discourage egg laying at least until next year... if she does lay, give her fake eggs to sit on. Don't try breeding them until at least next year and only if you can get an all clear from the vet. But really, quakers are relatively common birds, so there's no reason to breed from problem pairs.
 

Learning89

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I would like to start with I bought these birds as pets in march and they started laying eggs. I have already pulled the nestbox and I'm waiting on the fake eggs I bought on amazon to get here and I have cut their lighting in half which is hard to do in Alaska this time of year. I wasn't "hobby" breeding. I have two jobs and I take college courses online. I bought birds that weren't breeding prior to me getting them and I came here for advice. Thank you everyone for your nice non judgemental advice.
 

WendyN

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All of my birds are boys so I don't know much about pre/post "natal" care of the mom bird. Will your female eat some kale or brocolli to help replenish her calcium levels?
 

Learning89

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She will eat a little bit but whatever I feed my boy he regurgitates to her and he loves kale and spinach. Neither of their behaviors have changed.
 

Just-passn-thru

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I would like to start with I bought these birds as pets in march and they started laying eggs. I have already pulled the nestbox and I'm waiting on the fake eggs I bought on amazon to get here and I have cut their lighting in half which is hard to do in Alaska this time of year. I wasn't "hobby" breeding. I have two jobs and I take college courses online. I bought birds that weren't breeding prior to me getting them and I came here for advice. Thank you everyone for your nice non judgemental advice.
Sorry you felt attacked , folks on here are a passionate bunch. And of course, tend to put the welfare of the birds first.
 
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Learning89

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And I agree with them 100% but I didn't plan this. I got them on Craigslist and they were a bonded pair that wasn't laying eggs and in Alaska they are $300 to buy a green Quaker from petco so I chose to buy them on Craigslist for $400 for both. I apparently care enough to ask the questions. I have spent countless hours on the computer researching and I thought maybe I could get some information here rather than a bunch of people who forgot that they weren't parrot experts right away. But for the people who actually gave me some information, I genuinely appreciate it. Thank you.
 

iamwhoiam

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They are a truly a bonded pair and it looks like they adore one another. You are taking steps in the right direction by decreasing the amount of light, ordering the fake eggs and pulling the nestbox. I hope it works.
As for a bonded pair not having clutches of eggs.... Sometimes there are no eggs but sometimes it takes the female a while to start laying eggs and sometimes the female might not lay in one environment but will start laying in another one. My bonded pair of red-bellied parrots took 9 years to have their first clutch.
Sorry if you felt as if you were being attacked/chastised.
 

Learning89

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Thank you, like really thank you for your response. I guess I have one more question.. will momma be okay if I separate her from jujubee if they won't stop having eggs? He's very outgoing but she has been pretty timid since I got her.
 

Learning89

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And I knew that I would be attacked when I posted on here but google and bing and yahoo only give you so many answers and I called some vets and they didn't have very much information for me.. so my last resort was to reach out to strangers.
 

Just-passn-thru

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Thank you, like really thank you for your response. I guess I have one more question.. will momma be okay if I separate her from jujubee if they won't stop having eggs? He's very outgoing but she has been pretty timid since I got her.
I'm not an expert about breeding, but I do know that if you separate she may still continue to lay but they wont be fertile. And possibly allow her to sit on them till she get tired of them , then you could remove the eggs this may fulfill her need to lay eggs for a while.
 

Just-passn-thru

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And I knew that I would be attacked when I posted on here but google and bing and yahoo only give you so many answers and I called some vets and they didn't have very much information for me.. so my last resort was to reach out to strangers.
Again sorry for the misunderstanding , sometimes when things get posted it may e interpreted the wrong way.
 

WendyN

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She will eat a little bit but whatever I feed my boy he regurgitates to her and he loves kale and spinach. Neither of their behaviors have changed.
That is good.
:gogogo:
 

Just-passn-thru

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One more thing you could try...Try to google Quaker parrot breeders, try calling and explain that you purchased a bonded pair, that is laying eggs and eating the baby's ,but you had no intention of breeding, and if they can give you some advice on how to curtail this behavior.
 

Learning89

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One more thing you could try...Try to google Quaker parrot breeders, try calling and explain that you purchased a bonded pair, that is laying eggs and eating the baby's ,but you had no intention of breeding, and if they can give you some advice on how to curtail this behavior.
I actually emailed a few breeders for advice surprisingly not one responded. I will definitely try and call some. Thank you.
 
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