Hello! Egg-stealing quails and baby cockatiels.

[melissa]

Hi there!
My name is Melissa and I would love to introduce my flock.

I have two cockatiels named Cheeky and Harry (our lutino girl; we thought she was a boy until she popped out an egg), currently sitting on four eggs due to hatch this weekend! With them are Molly and Arthur, our breeding Red-Rumps. Our other pet cockatiels include Bambi and Luna, Wayne and Cricket, all I have handraised, and they have the sweetest natures.

We have two young pairs of Princess Parrots, Merlin and Grace - our blue and green pair, and Gandalf and Blanche, our White/Lime and Green/Blue/Lime pair.

Our newest handraised baby is Kermit. His parents laid him and his sister on the ground of the aviary after we removed the nestboxes for the season... Anyway, our two King Quail ended up stealing the eggs and adding them to their own clutch. I walked into the aviary one fine morning and there in the corner of the aviary were two tiny, shivering balls of yellow fluff. I had never handraised a bird from Day One and was quite nervous. Anyway, it turned out better than I expected. We have found a loving home for the girl, but we decided to keep the boy, Kermit.

He is a very little bird, always was small for his age, I think he is/was probably stunted, he had the oversized nostrils and big eyes as a chick, it didn't help that he ended up getting a fungal infection, which I treated. For a while it was touch and go. He weaned at around 10 weeks of age.

At almost 6 months of age he is probably the size of a large budgie. He eats well, gets plenty of attention, and is very clever - he has just learnt 'Pretty Boy' and is practising courtship songs. I love him so much, but I have to ask, is he going to be ok? Any advice?

[avinet]

Hi Melissa and welcome to the Forum.  You have quite a flock there, Cockatiels, Princesses, Red-rumps and Quail.  It must have been a bit of a shock to the quail when the two cockatiel babies hatched and didn't start running around!

It is certainly quite a challenge to raise cockatiels from day one,  and you did well to save both babies.  If the sister of Kermit was a normal size then he must owe his small size to being stunted.  That stunting will usually have been as a result of inadequate nutrition in the egg - possibly the last egg at the end of a breeding season.   My experience of stunted babies is that they do tend to have a shortened life span.  They can live quite happily for a few years, bu then, often for no apparent reason, go downhill quickly and die.  But it is really quite unpredictable - some will live a normal healthy life and reach a good age for a cockatiel.  All you can do is make sure he has a good diet, and enjoys his life.

cheers,

Mike

[melissa]

Hi Mike. Thankyou for the welcome! Whatever happens with Kermit he will be well-loved and looked after.

The only problem I seem to be having with him is that he has broken several blood feathers trying to fly. He definitely has the will to fly, but I don't think he quite has the proportions for it.

I've attached a picture of him below, but for some reason it's sideways. He's just had a bath and jumped all through his food so he's a bit messy. He pretty much has no tail at the moment.

Anyway, Thanks for the reply! Melissa