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Tips, tricks & Advice (budgie edition)

Bunchobird

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Hello,

I have recived a budgie egg from a fellow friend that had too many budgies. Her pair laid 9 eggs and I decided to take one. On this thread, I am requesting advice, tips, and any tricks on feeding, cleaning, housing ect. I am just asking for people who have previously hatched out parrots. Iv'e never done this before but I do have prior hand feeding experience, but not with a parrot as small. Do yall have any prefered formula? If you do not know, I do have a solitary female parakeet, just throwing that out there. Is there any way she could be a foster mom?

thank you!
 

Mizzely

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Is letting the mother hatch the egg and care for it a few weeks an option?

Do you have an incubator?
@Zara ?
 

Bunchobird

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Yes, I do have an incubator, no that is not an option as the owners of the mom and dad are out of town and they are under the care of a family member.
 

tka

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Do you have an avian vet who is experienced with the care of neonates? Unfortunately babies who are handreared from a very young age are prone to slow crop, yeast infections, issues caused by the environment (too hot, too cold, too dry, unsuitable brooder) and issues caused by the formula being at the wrong temperature. It is ESSENTIAL that you recognise the signs of something going wrong and have access to experienced 24/7 avian vet care. You just need to look through previous posts on Nursery Rhyme Drive regarding the care of very young babies to see how often things go wrong and how quickly babies can go downhill and die.

I doubt your solitary female will foster a chick. Unless she's in breeding condition and laying eggs herself, I don't think she would be interested. Rearing chicks is hard work and usually requires both parents' care and attention, so it's a lot to demand from a single bird (assuming she is even interested).

There is also the issue of socialisation. Young birds learn how to be birds from their parents and siblings. They learn how to preen themselves and how to understand birdy body language. Birds who are raised in isolation may become too oriented to humans and not be able to make friends with other birds. This leads to problems later in life.

Please consider whether incubating an egg with the intention of handrearing a chick from hatching, in isolation and without its clutchmates, is in the bird's best interests. It's one thing if the chick was abandoned or injured by its parents and a human has to step in to save the chick's life but that's not what's happening here. More and more breeders are encouraging their breeding pairs to raise their chicks for at least the first part of the chicks' lives or are co-parenting with the parents because they recognise that this results in happier, more emotionally stable birds who are better able to deal with the stresses of captive life.
 

Zara

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How old is the egg please?
If it is a fresh egg, I would destroy it.
If it´s approx a week old, stick it under your hen iand see if anything comes of it.
If it´s nearing hatch day, then I think it was cruel to have removed the egg from the nest, you will need to incubate. I have no advice on incubating eggs, I don´t know how to do that nor want to do it.
Remember that eggs are very fragile and delicate. And a hen really is a little robot that is able to detect egg temp, humidity of the nest, know when to rotate eggs, know when to chill eggs and when to bring them back under. Everything has to be just right, and a hen can usually do it all with no problems. You will have to keep track of all of those things.
Another thing to keep in mind is, you moved the egg. So it could be damaged or now non-viable.

Her pair laid 9 eggs and I decided to take one.
Iv'e never done this before
In the future, maybe don´t do that?
Even if you could incubate an egg to hatching, it is incredible time and effort, precision and patience... for a budgie? They are one of the most bred bird in the pet trade.

Tell your friend;
9 is a large clutch, so you would wait a week, then candle all eggs, remove any non-viable ones. Once the chicks hatch, monitor closely and supplement feed chicks as and when needed (would likely be the youngest ones needing that). Once the nest box gets cramped, removing the elder chicks will create space and the hen will be able to feed the younger ones again.
Never give any eggs away to anyone.
 

Bunchobird

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I do have an avian vet that is specialized in neonatal care, they happen to live about 10-15 minutes away from me. I cannot give the egg back to the hen because they are on vacation, and the eggs is about 5 days old. also i posted this for anyone with previous experience to share with me what they have learned, not for negativity on my decisions.
thank you for your concern.
 

Zara

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about 5 days old
Young enough to destroy IMO.

vet that is specialized in neonatal care, they happen to live about 10-15 minutes away from me.
But will they be there every step of the way? Telling you when to turn the egg, when to alter temp or humidy. And whatever else needs doing to care for the egg¿? Will they answer your call and help you multiple times a day?
It´s great to have such a vet nearby for emergencies, but you also would also need a mentor, someone who has the time and is willing to be there every step of the way.

Incubating an egg is a big decision. A lot of time, money and effort, not to mention the knowledge required to do it, I´m sure newbies must have to research for a long time plus find a mentor/guide to be successful. Giving it a go is not acceptable.

not for negativity
Being real and honest is not negativity.
 

tka

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I've seen your post history and desire to hatch out eggs.

With respect, this is something that's for your benefit and not the bird's. Even people breeding incredibly rare parrots like kākāpo encourage the parents to rear their own young. They don't pull chicks for handrearing unless the chick is in trouble and likely to die without intervention. The simple reason is that handrearing a chick from hatching is dangerous, there is a high risk of the chick not surviving, and because exclusively handreared chicks don't learn how to be birds. That is something that will affect them for the rest of their life. It simply isn't in a chick's best interest to be raised like this.

I don't know about incubation beyond that it's best to let a hen do it. Eggs are exquisitely sensitive to humidity and temperature, and a hen will move eggs around in the nest to ensure that each egg gets optimum care. Eggs also need to be turned regularly to ensure that the chick develops correctly inside the shell. If your incubator doesn't automatically turn eggs, you've already potentially made a mistake that will kill the chick.

I assume you don't have mentorship otherwise you wouldn't be asking for advice on a forum.

All I can say is make sure you have your brooder set up, make sure you have the correct equipment to measure humidity and temperature, make sure you have aspen shavings to the correct depth, make sure you have all the supplies you need for handfeeding (including the equipment needed to keep everything sterile and a bain marie), have a gram scale, have rehydration solution on hand and make sure you have at least a couple of hundred dollars ready for when you'll need it. I believe @PoukieBear said she spent $800 on a chick that sadly passed away so I suppose that's a ballpark figure for how much you should have. If you're a minor, I hope your parents are willing to pay this kind of money and understand that it is very likely that they will need to.

You need to learn, extremely fast, how to recognise the first signs of something going wrong. The baby will need immediate veterinary attention. They are so small and fragile that they go downhill very fast. You do not have time to mess around or make mistakes.

Read everything on this subform, ESPECIALLY the threads where the chick died.

Caring for a chick from the moment it hatches is honestly my worst nightmare. I would never, ever seek to be in that situation. It worries me that you don't seem to understand what you are trying to do, and it will be the chick who suffers.
 

Bunchobird

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So my hen is a super hormonal and broody, she took the egg, she is sitting on it, and seems to be caring for the egg, I have a nanny cam in the nesting box, and a temp and humidity montior in the nesting box. My only concern is if she will struggle with feeding the chick and not be able to care for the chick.
 

BananaBird

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So my hen is a super hormonal and broody, she took the egg, she is sitting on it, and seems to be caring for the egg, I have a nanny cam in the nesting box, and a temp and humidity montior in the nesting box. My only concern is if she will struggle with feeding the chick and not be able to care for the chick.
Did the egg end up hatching?
 

Bunchobird

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no, she hopped off of it at day 14.. She must have had a reason. By the time I was able to cande it it was day 15 and had already passed. I wasnt going to put it in the incubator, i didnt want to end up raising it.
 

Britnicorn

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It’s for the best. Most people that find themselves having to raise a chick from hatching end up with a lot of heartbreak. You can even see it in this forum, most of them don’t make it… it’s a very rare chance that newly hatched chicks will survive in human hands. I’m not sure why you would want to put yourself through that
 

Bunchobird

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It was for the best. I jsut got a baby parakeet that I think is a male, I saw it at the store and I KNEW it was the one. I got it like 10 minutes ago
 
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