| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 801.1 | BUDGIE BABES | ABACUS::BOURGAULT | | Tue May 04 1993 11:13 | 27 |
| Chet,
Try to feed your keets shaved carrots (use a vegetable peeler and shave
the carrots) as well as canned corn - well drained. Put it on top of
their seed. This is great soft foood for feeding their babies. Let
nature take its course and the remaining eggs should hatch. Don't be
surprised if an egg or two is unfertile or doesn't hatch. Sometimes
new parents will not lay properly on all eggs. But give them plenty
of time just in case the incubation wasn't properly distributed.
As for pulling the young, it is usually about 5-6 weeks when they
first pop out of the nest box (sometimes they sneak out earlier but
keep a close eye on them! The moms (especially the american
parkakeets) start beating on them and could kill them. If this happens
the best thing to do is to remove her and let the father complete the
weaning process if they are not yet eating on their own. Once the
young are out of the nest box, watch their eating habits. Keep
plenty of spray millet on hand since that is what they start nibbling
on. Once you see them cracking seed, leave them an extra few days
to ensure that they are indeed eating on their own. Then place them
in a separate cage for about a week - just to keep an eye on them
and ensure that they are eating well on their own. Then they should
be all ready to go to a new home. About 8 weeks is the best time
to sell them.
Regards,
Denise
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| 801.2 | ALSO... | ABACUS::BOURGAULT | | Tue May 04 1993 11:15 | 6 |
| Chet,
Also, start the babies right away on carrots, corn and fresh broccoli
florets. It's great soft "starter" food. GIVE THE PARENTS THIS TOO!
Denise
|
| 801.3 | baby stuff | USHS05::VASAK | Sugar Magnolia | Tue May 04 1993 12:02 | 27 |
|
Also, my budgie parents appreciated a little bit of chopped hardboiled
egg.
Handle the babies starting just as their eyes are opening (use a
disinfectant on your hands first to avoid spreading disease at this
vulnerable time) and they are beginning to feather. This is a good way
to acclimate them to human contact. Even while still naked and eyes
closed, you can often tell the hens - they will BITE from the day they
come from the egg! Just be careful to avoid drafts and chills on your
chicks and keep the handling really short at first. They will learn to
crawl on your arms and snuggle in your shirt in short order!
As soon as they are completely feathered out and beginning to wean,
clip their wings. All babies should have wing trims before going to
their new homes.
Now is also the time to think about whether you want (or need, in the
case of some states like Colorado, I believe) to close-band your babies
- this will need to be done at about 10 days old.
/Rita
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| 801.4 | | GERBIL::DUPONT | | Tue May 04 1993 13:01 | 11 |
|
Re: Handling the babies.
If I remember correctly my book said that the eyes
would open around the 7 day mark +-. Will the mother
let me remove the babies and then place them back
again?
chet
|
| 801.5 | my experience - your milage may vary | USHS05::VASAK | Sugar Magnolia | Wed May 05 1993 12:31 | 19 |
|
chet,
Depends on what you mean by "let you" and on the nature of the hen.
She will continue to feed and care for chicks that have been handled
(at least all of mine always did). Depending on your hen, she may
either leave the nestbox and get as far from you as possible, or may
try and bite you, so watch your fingers!
/Rita
PS: My breeder hens were all untamed, and all ran away. When cornered
and caught (we gave over 20 untamed budgies oral ivermectin for an
outbreak of scaley mites once!) they all bit like the dickens,
though!
|
| 801.6 | Egg Mania!!!! | GERBIL::DUPONT | | Wed Jun 23 1993 13:00 | 16 |
|
The good news is all four eggs hatched and were
raised w/o a problem.
The bad news is she has started laying eggs again...
and the 9th one was laid yesterday,(means she might
not be done)!
My book says on average a clutch will be 3-5 eggs.
Has anyone experienced this large of a clutch. Will
momma be able to raise this many? Any wisdom here?
chet
|
| 801.7 | | GLDOA::SEXTON_C | Riding the wind waves ... | Wed Jun 23 1993 16:14 | 13 |
| Chet,
In the past two weeks, two of our female keets have hatched 13 babies!
One six and the other 7. I removed the largest babies as soon as their
pin feathers were in, and am hand feeding them (there was nearly a week
difference in hatching dates of the oldest to the youngest, so the
older ones were much larger). I worried that the mothers wouldn't be
able to feed them all successfully.
All the babies are chubby and healthy. Maybe you could consider
sharing mothering duties when this large clutch hatches.
Cindy
|