Painteds did it again

[Craig52]

My gut feeling is the saints are the problem,when i was breeding them after they had finished building their nest they would line it with anything they could find that was dead,including dead young from others.Maybe they stole the the young painteds and dropped them to wait till they died before they used them to line their nests.
I believe they do this to deter preditors from taking their newly hatched young and most of these dead things are placed in the cocks nest above the breeding nest. Craig

[Jayburd]

The aviary is quite small, and it is a bit crowded, but I have yet to witness any territory fights over space of nesting materials... Usually it's just the male jacarini protecting his nest.
I hope it's not the saints, but I think you're probably right Craig. Ive heard the same thing, and apparently they also use preadtor poop. If only the used the pigeon droppings instead!
The baby this morning had ants on it, another spray of coopex methinks....

[E Orix]

Julian
Do you still have those Doves in the aviary
While I doubt very much that any seed eating Dove would harm any thing, they could be disturbing the breeding birds.
Because of their size compared to your finch species it would be like an Elephant moving around.
As for chicks being moved the breeding birds will move them if already dead.
Maybe the Doves are roosting close to the nest at night and the parents can't get to them for a final feed or
being able to keep them warm so at dawn they may eventually get to the nest and the chicks may already be dead.
My Painteds are excellent parents once the eggs hatch.I do not feed termites but other live food and I can't ever remember seeing
the Painteds in my live food trays.
The parents would be the last ones I would blame.To me it's not diet but disturbance.There is always a reason.

[Jayburd]

Thanks David.
Yes the doves are still there, but rarely if ever go in the shelter section, as it is quite heavily brushed. They're nesting again at the very front of the flight, and roost there at night. They do flap around (and will be gone soon), but they're not disturbing the immediate area of the nest, or the feeding stations.
That goes for the parents at any rate. The two dependant young that have fledged, I don't know where they're sleeping. I will check it out tonight.

[Brooksy]

Sorry, Jay, devastating stuff...

Brooksy, don't keep us hanging: who was the culprit in your case?

It was a gold finch hen

[Mortisha]

I just lost 3 young painteds like this about a meter away from the nest on the ground.
Wish I had noticed earlier, they would have been old enough to hand raise Poor little things.

[elferoz777]

mine got dropped but were old enough to retain their warmth and the parents still fed them...

Mine just jumped under cooked...

Thats a shame they have been chucked out

[BlackCobra]

I had cutthroats kill bengalese babies to take there nest.