• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here

Lovebird hatchlings

qsyed

Moving in
Joined
1/6/21
Messages
7
Real Name
unknown
Hi folks,

Any help or advice will be very much appreciated.

So I had a pair of lovebirds which I had bought a year ago as babies and gave 4 eggs around the time of September 19th, first time parents.

2 of them recently hatched and I am kinda clueless on how to take care of them. I had taken the extra precaution to ensure there was no breeding environment, however such is nature that they made their tin food bowl into a nest.

Now that the little ones have come and are coming into this world, I had a couple of questions for their care.

1. Can I leave them as is for the parents to look after them.
2. When should I take them out so that I can provide a proper nest bed to shift them, something that would provide the hatchlings with proper footing to avoid splayed legs, can I take them out, fill the food bowl with wooden chips and then put them back in?
3. If I was to take them out - what is the care, environment like, what is fed through the syringe and how often are they fed, for how long.. Can they go back to their parents afterwards?

Anything anyone want to add please do so...

Thanks again.
 

Attachments

expressmailtome

Ripping up the road
Administrator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
4/15/10
Messages
49,967
Real Name
Matthew
You desperately need to move them to add a substrate that is both safe and will keep them from becoming splay legged. That is a very serious concern. As for question number three, while some parents will allow this, be prepared to raise them babies completely on your own whether or not you ever remove them as there is always a chance that you will have to.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tka

qsyed

Moving in
Joined
1/6/21
Messages
7
Real Name
unknown
You desperately need to move them to add a substrate that is both safe and will keep them from becoming splay legged. That is a very serious concern. As for question number three, while some parents will allow this, be prepared to raise them babies completely on your own whether or not you ever remove them as there is always a chance that you will have to.
Hi, thanks for the response, is it ok to shift the babies to a proper nest box without the fear of the parents abandoning their hatchlings - or wait till the other two eggs have hatched as well?

Thanks
 

Zara

♥❀Livin´ in Lovebird Land❀☼
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
1/8/18
Messages
31,323
Location
Reino de España
. I had taken the extra precaution to ensure there was no breeding environment, however such is nature that they made their tin food bowl into a nest.
No matter what you do to discourage it, eventually they will lay eggs somewhere and try brooding them. It´s ok, just remember to swap the eggs for dummy eggs or boil the eggs, allow to cool and put back. One of my girls laid an egg on the cage floor yesterday and is brooding it, I´ll switch it for a dummy in a sec so she can carry on and I don´t have to worry over breeding.

is it ok to shift the babies to a proper nest box without the fear of the parents abandoning their hatchlings - or wait till the other two eggs have hatched as well?
It is a gamble. They are living beings so there´s no right or wrong answer.
If it were me, I´d move them all now to protect the health of the hatched. If the adults abandon the chicks, pull for hand rearing (in a brooder).
Bedding should be a few inches deep, of aspen shavings. Coarse pine will do if you can´t find any aspen. Never fine pine (can be inhaled/swallowed), and never ever cedar (toxic).
 
Top