Apparently I am terrible at candling eggs

[Erin1979]

My parrotlets laid 4 eggs, at around two weeks after laying I used an LED flashlight to check for fertility, and I only saw two with red vessels. I thought that was perfect, my sister had been begging for one and I was fine with having another to keep for myself.. Well, today I peeked in at my two little babies that are now 4 days old and saw a THIRD baby!! I am going to be so busy.
This is my thought; I would like to take the oldest two at two weeks old for hand feeding and I am tempted to leave the third baby for the parents to raise or possibly co-parent.
I've never co-parented before and I would like to try it.
How do parents normally react to removing some babies and leaving one? I thought I heard once that they could possibly abandon the other but, I don't know if that's just one of those myths. I would check on it constantly to make sure that it was being fed of course.
Anyone with any experience in this?
I could also just take all 3, the youngest would be 10 days old when I went in for the others. I won't hand feed under 10 days unless it's an emergency.

Although I was just expecting the two, I'm pretty thrilled with the third. He/she is a little surprise.

 

[greymatron]

That's so exciting! I bet they are adorable!

 

[Erin1979]

They are super cute, like itty bitty naked chickens the size of bumble bees.

 

[~Tiko~]

Would love to see pictures of them when you are able to get some! I have been wanting to get an parrotlet but have not found anyone close that has any. They are all adorable!

 

[Greycloud]

I have bred parrotlets in the past. I wouldn't remove them until at least 14 days. Mine did fine with removing 1-2 babies and leaving the others for the parents to raise. I will tell you this. Parrotlets can be like little amazons. They are very protective of their young. Be careful removing the babies because you may get bit. You will also need a very small nipple to go on the syringe to feed them. They will need frequent gentle handling as you raise them or they can easily revert back to being wild or shy of humans.

 

[Erin1979]

I've raised/hand fed parrotlets before, once before. Different circumstances though. The mother had become weak, her first time. They spent roughly 5 days in the hospital. The vet had me take the older baby home, which was 10 days old and we kept the youngest with the parents there. The vet ended up taking him as well, 2-3 days later, and also gave him to me for hand feeding. The youngest was supervised constantly by the hospital, until I came to get him. I didn't have to worry about him then.
It's a bit different, I don't have the vet standing over my shoulder this time.

Parent Parrotlets are like piranhas when guarding their babies

I have used a syringe and even a tube/gavage before, but with the parrotlets, I actually prefer a spoon. It's messier but, it's comfortable and they take to it pretty well. I either use a small bent spoon or human baby spoons.

This is the youngest baby from last year.
[video=youtube;mWTA-st8wnc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWTA-st8wnc&feature=relmfu[/video]

He and his sister are still here.

 

[Greycloud]

 

[SandraK]

No parrotlets but tiel & gcc experience and I don't pull the chicks (I work full time). I've let the parents do most of the feeding but made a point of handling the babies on a daily basis once they are partially fledged and have their eyes open My tiel parents are used to me so they don't give me a fight but the gccs are parents first and fids second - they had to get used to me checking their kids out. You can still have very tame birds without having pulled them.

 

[DQTimnehs]

That video is adorable! Maybe you could get a doll spoon that would be smaller. Or demi-tasse spoons or collector spoons.

 

[Bridgette]

Anxiously awaiting pics of the new babies!!

 

[Erin1979]

Probably around the 27th I'll be posting lots of pictures Right now they are just featherless pink blobs that like to wake me up in the middle of the night, crying to their momma.

 

[Erin1979]

I give up. I guess I just candled the last two eggs too soon. I now have 4 babies. Luckily, I have good & experienced people wanting to adopt a baby and most are family or neighbors, including my kids' pediatrician, who made me promise to call if I or my sister changed our minds. He has Cockatiels and his wife wants another small bird.
Now I guess I will be running out and buying my husband and kids a bunch of TV dinners, cause I am going to be pretty busy.
I'll probably have an early check up on the entire family in the next week and a half.
I'll be posting pictures and updating.

 

[birdlover82]

Congrats on all the babies. Can't wait to see pictures.

 

[fidsmom]

Look forward to seeing pictures of them. They must be so tiny now.