Help! why are my hecks chicks dying?

[Howldaloom]

I have two pairs of hecks. They are now about a year old. They are good layers but do not tend to sit so i have tried to put them under society finches.

But i have candled them and out of 15 eggs only one did not die in the shell. Then the baby hatched and the societys raised him untill a week old. I checked on them today and the baby had his legs in the air so i immediatly removed him and put him on heat. He was very emmaciated so i tried to tube feed him once he warmed up but within 20 mins he had died.

My hecks have a very good diet so im puzzled as to why this is happening? They get charcoal, buttlebone, oyster shell and grit plus a vitamin supplement in the water every other day. They also get a finch mix with niger seed. egg food, sproated seed and live food plus brocalli and basil every other day.

Did the society stop feeding that last chick because they knew it wasnt one of their own or was he just weak anyway? Could it be an iodine deficiency? Should i add iodine to their water once or twice a week??? I have not successfully bore chicks from either pair of hecks yet? Could it just be their age?

I have another egg growing atm and want to put it under the parents that have just lost the chick. Im worried that they will reject this one aswell.

What do you guys think of this?

[Howldaloom]

Im leaning towards iodine defiency.

I recently found a TINY egg smaller then a pea in the hecks nest. I have NEVER seen that before?

Also the young chick looked like he was fitting in the nest, and when he died he looked like he was fitting. Signs of iodine defiency.

I do have soluble iodine for birds. But how often do you treat birds and then use on a weekly basis?

[Buzzard-1]

How closely related are the birds?

[Howldaloom]

I bought them as a pair from a breeder. I specificlly asked if they was related and he said no. So going by the bredder not at all.

He seemed pretty trustworthy as he did tell me that the owl finches where related which i bought at the same time

[gomer]

Could be to much human interference with nest inspections etc.

[tonytoast]

My Hecks have had about a dozen or so nests (most times with the sound of young) the past couple of years and only three attempts have resulted in young leaving the nest (yesterday being one of them). I too am unsure as to why many of the young have died in the nest but I put it down to other birds sticky beaking or not enough live food.....I offer termites a couple of times of day BUT for the past three weeks I have been offering them 3-4 times a day...maybe this is why I had two young yesterday???

[vettepilot_6]

Howldaloom...Hecks being a livefood feeder when young are hatched, maybe you need to feed bengalese more protein to rear young? TonyToast don't think they have access to termites in UK.....

[Howldaloom]

I have maggots and flys crawling around my birdroom *they chuck them everywhere -_-* alot of the time and mealworm beetles. Getting protein into my societys is never a problem. Keeping up with their protein intake is never a problem. Plus there is alot of protein in eggfood and sprouting seeds which they also get fed.

[Pete Sara]

seriously . my hecks hated nest inspection . I have found smaller eggs in clutches of first time breeders, live food was never an issue I would get clutches of 4 without it...as long as they have plenty of seeding grasses...pete