What do I do?!!

31 Oct 2011, 11:17

Hey everyone,
I have a pair with 3 hatchlings (1 x 3 day old and 2x 4 day old). I checked the nest yesterday and all was well- checked again today to try and get some pics and found the parents had covered the chicks with nesting material! I uncovered them, but the 3 day old was dead, 1 of the 4 day olds seems ok (started begging for food, but has an empty crop as at midday), the other 4 day old was stone cold, but started moving slightly once it had warmed in my hand. I've put the live ones back in the nest, but I'm concerned that the parents won't look after them, based on the empty crops. Is there any chance of hand raising them? Should I leave them to see what the parents do?
Cheers
Niki

31 Oct 2011, 11:27

What I have done in the past if the parents were not feeding was to leave the young in the nest and top them up as needed. It worked if the parents were still going in the nest as it gave the chicks the energy to beg loudly which stimulated the feeding response in the parents.

Good luck.

31 Oct 2011, 14:54

Cheers for that! I checked the nest again, and the female was in it, so I'll leave her to it. They were both very weak though, so I'm not hopeful.

31 Oct 2011, 15:05

fingers crossed they feed the chicks, did they still have excess to nesting material or did they use what was in the nest already to cover the chicks? if u had some extra in there i would take it out straight away to stop the cock bird from building and let him concentrate on feeding the young.

good luck

jarryd

31 Oct 2011, 15:12

They are currently in a breeding colony with other pairs, so they had access to nesting material. I took quite a bit out of their nest, so fingers crossed that at least the stronger one makes it.

01 Nov 2011, 09:11

Sadly, they both died overnight. Their silly parents sat on them, but didn't feed them

01 Nov 2011, 10:05

Thats a shame, sometimes it can take a clutch for the parents to get the idea they need to feed these squirmy pink things.

01 Nov 2011, 10:32

Yeah, its odd because they had been feeding them, as they had nice full crops two days ago, but then the parents clearly got a bit confused! I'll intervene if I see it happen again, I think.