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Pictures I'm worried about my baby budgie. Please help.

Merrin Jam

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Merrin James
I'm new here, so I'm sorry if there's a format I'm supposed to follow.

(S)he, who I've named Momo, was born a little over 2 weeks ago. I did everything I could to not intervene and just let them look after my budgies' kids themselves. The first blow came when a week old kid fell from the nest that we didn't know was overcrowded with 5 babies. That baby, unfortunately was found dead, followed by the rest 3 later. A few days later, Momo fell down into the food tray. The parents were feeding it while in the food tray and the baby looked healthy and still does.

When Momo dropped down, about 4 days ago, both the parents were fighting to feed it, the father, Mr. Dumpling was doing most of the job. The mother, Screechy, kept plucking off the soft white feathers on Momo's body, so Dumpling just shooed her away all the time. I tried to put Momo back in the nest, but (s)he always managed to drop back down without hurting itself.

So I fixed up a smaller nest nearer to the bottom of the cage and put Momo in it, seeing as Dumpling and Screechy was okay with the baby not being in their own nest and was feeding quite nicely as well. I regretted that decision when I realized my folly. I have a cage that fits on a huge platform on the patio outside of my house and so, all 10 of my budgies are in it. It's breeding season right now, so filled with 4 very hormonal female birds ready to lay eggs, including screechy who was done by that time. The rivalry gets very heated at times. I don't want to have to move some of the pairs to another cage to lay their eggs cuz it's significantly smaller.

Fearing for Momo's life if (s)he was to get in the middle of that, I shifted Momo to the incubator inside my house to get him out only to take it to the cage and let the parents feed him, a miracle I wasn't expecting.

Day before yesterday, Dumpling got out of the cage while I was cleaning and flew away. Cons of having the cage outside of the house, I suppose.

Ever since then, the responsibility to feed Momo has fallen on Screechy. And she's doing...good. Would've been better if she wasn't so much more interested in fighting the other budgies who dare come near the nest she was occupying before. She is way violent and territorial than any other females I have and that's taking a toll on Momo. Screechy flies off every now and then, leaving a screaming Momo to beg for food with a half filled crop. I tried doing this often so that Momo's crop is never empty for long except at night. But it's just getting annoying. Screechy loves her baby, don't get me wrong, but it's heartbreaking to see Momo cry on while his mom is doing something else.

So I tried to hand feed him. But my oh my. He's too old to accept a hand feeding syringe now. He won't open his mouth if it's the last thing he does and I don't want to force him. My fear comes from having a past of baby birds dying from Pneumonia due to food stuck in the trachea.

I woke up today morning and took Momo to his mom and she fed him, again crop half full. But Momo's screaming is less intense now. Seems more broken, if you know what I mean. Like sore throat, if you will. I'm not sure I should be concerned about that.

My main reason for this very lengthy essay is that Momo has been tired and sleeping all day today i.e. from 6 in the morning to now, about 11 before noon. This is not normal for him. He is very active usually.

He is attached to my hand for sleeping too, so not moving around and just sleeping on my hand, while adorable, is very concerning given his usual behavior.

Do any of you have a suggestion to get him to hand feed? What should I do about the mom? Is sleeping so much okay? Thank you for your time :)
 

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Zara

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When Momo dropped down, about 4 days ago, both the parents were fighting to feed it, the father, Mr. Dumpling was doing most of the job. The mother, Screechy, kept plucking off the soft white feathers on Momo's body, so Dumpling just shooed her away all the time. I tried to put Momo back in the nest, but (s)he always managed to drop back down without hurting itself.
I haven´t read the full post yet, but wanted to stop here to talk about this.
If this ever happens where the mum is plucking the chick/s, she needs to be taken away from them. Given that dad was doing a good job feeding and caring for the chick, you could try putting them in a cage together away from the mum under very close supervision. If that doesn´t work out, the chick needs to be pulled for hand feeding. Most people don´t plan on stepping in with a chick so young, but unfortunately these things do happen.
As for Momo keep jumping from the nest, they could be trying to get away from mum because being plucked is painful.


My main reason for this very lengthy essay is that Momo has been tired and sleeping all day today i.e. from 6 in the morning to now, about 11 before noon. This is not normal for him. He is very active usually.
Possible malnutrition? Or tired?
Not getting fed properly at this age really is a big problem.

What should I do about the mom?
Put her in a cage on her own. Away from the other pairs so she is not pestering them.
As for Momo, Screechy has proved to be a sub par mother and so I would just cut the contact. Move Momo into the brooder and you take over completely. Your mother hen could be tired, or not interested in the chick, not uncommon. She also just lost her mate, so that could also take a toll.

Do any of you have a suggestion to get him to hand feed?
Feed Momo inside the brooder - in dim light, wait for that feeding response, then offer the formula on a spoon. Feed until a full but not packed crop.
The first day will likely be the most difficult when switching to handfeeding (for Momo), but things should get easier as Momo starts to trust the spoon more.
Keep tabs on Momos weight, monitor it, check daily.
If this tired phase doesn´t go after a couple of days of handfeeding correctly, then contact your vet.
 

Merrin Jam

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Merrin James
I haven´t read the full post yet, but wanted to stop here to talk about this.
If this ever happens where the mum is plucking the chick/s, she needs to be taken away from them. Given that dad was doing a good job feeding and caring for the chick, you could try putting them in a cage together away from the mum under very close supervision. If that doesn´t work out, the chick needs to be pulled for hand feeding. Most people don´t plan on stepping in with a chick so young, but unfortunately these things do happen.
As for Momo keep jumping from the nest, they could be trying to get away from mum because being plucked is painful.



Possible malnutrition? Or tired?
Not getting fed properly at this age really is a big problem.


Put her in a cage on her own. Away from the other pairs so she is not pestering them.
As for Momo, Screechy has proved to be a sub par mother and so I would just cut the contact. Move Momo into the brooder and you take over completely. Your mother hen could be tired, or not interested in the chick, not uncommon. She also just lost her mate, so that could also take a toll.


Feed Momo inside the brooder - in dim light, wait for that feeding response, then offer the formula on a spoon. Feed until a full but not packed crop.
The first day will likely be the most difficult when switching to handfeeding (for Momo), but things should get easier as Momo starts to trust the spoon more.
Keep tabs on Momos weight, monitor it, check daily.
If this tired phase doesn´t go after a couple of days of handfeeding correctly, then contact your vet.



Thank you so much for your input. Screechy stopped plucking the feathers a few days ago, but Momo is yet to grow it back. I hope it won't have any other effects.

After writing this post, I took Momo out of the brooder and installed a smaller nest at the bottom of the cage. The change was sudden. Maybe the sound of budgies or Momo's mother? I'm not fully sure. Screechy calmed right down after that too. But after reading up, I am thinking about moving her. It breaks my heart, but it's necessary.

And when I was least expecting it, another female, one whose mate got a stroke and died a couple months ago took over as Momo's mother every time Screchy ever flew after the other females. I have no idea if that ever happens. I'm completely in awe. As far as I'm aware, budgies never really care much for chicks that are not theirs. Every time Momo screams inside the nest, this female, Snow, just rushes over to feed and it's a beautiful sight. Snow was always calm and curious about everything, but this is an entirely new side of her.

Momo is doing good. Even that little while of passiveness scared me, but I genuinely think he's doing much better inside the cage itself. I would love your input on whether that's recommended or not.
 

AussieBird

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. As far as I'm aware, budgies never really care much for chicks that are not theirs. Every time Momo screams inside the nest, this female, Snow, just rushes over to feed and it's a beautiful sight
Google "fostering budgie chicks" ;)
 

MR. Mango

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Plus you’re gonna want to bird proof the cage or move it inside because if one budgie could escape all of them could
 

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I’m not super experienced with breeding birds I only know a little from basic online research :shy::roflmao:

Good luck with Momo though he/she is so cute!!
 

Zara

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I would love your input on whether that's recommended or not.
If it were my birds, I would be putting the little one into a brooder like I wrote on my post. I know it´s hard (emotionally), and we can try and morph perception and asign them these personalities of the hen being a ¨caring mother¨¨ and they ¨love¨the chick etc etc, We say to ourselves it´s cruel we take the young from them, but if we are being very honest, brutally honest, they weren´t good at it, and so it can´t continue. And let´s be real, breeding birds really is brutal, it could even be possible your hen pushed or threw those little ones from the nest. She wasn´t merciful when plucking Momo either.
Definitely keep her away from the little one.

As for Snow, the other bird, personally I would just hand raise Momo at this point as they have already been through quite the traumatic experience. Maybe @PoukieBear will have some thoughts.
 

PoukieBear

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Maybe @PoukieBear will have some thoughts.
Oh you know I always have some thoughts!

First, hopefully I understand the original post. Are you allowing the birds to colony breed? Meaning all the birds are in one large cage and the breeding pairs are not separated into their own cages?

Second, can you explain how you have 5 chicks in one nest and not notice it was overcrowded? You should be keeping a close eye on the nests and cleaning them every day. I find it hard to wrap my head around not knowing there were 5 chicks in there... ?

Third, what type of nests are you using? At this young age, it should be very difficult for a chick to "fall out" of the nest. This leads me to believe that what you are using may not be appropriate for budgies.

Fourth, you really need to reconsider having your birds outside. As you've already seen, it's all too easy for birds to escape and this is a death sentence for any bird that gets out. Not to mention predators and pests that can attack your flock.

A sleepy chick is not good news, especially when they should be loud and active and begging to be fed. What type of formula are you trying to feed Momo? What kind of tools are you using? Are you sure it's the right temperature?
 
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