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Post by lovemytiels on Nov 22, 2004 8:36:57 GMT 10
Hi all. A guy came to me yesterday asking if I would take his pair of breeding cockatiels as he didn't want them anymore as they have had 3 clutches of babies & they killed all the babies from each clutch. This was the only pair of birds in his avairy. I was his last hope otherwise he would have had them killed & I wasn't about to let that happen not that I needed more cockatiels. My qestion is I have been breeding cockatiels for about 7 years which is not long I know but I have never heard of Tiels killing their own babies. They are a yound pair. Has anyone else ever heard of tiels doing this? I have separated them & the male is in with my spare males the female with my spare females & so far their is no problems with them.Cheers for now Anna  |
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Post by Catbird on Nov 22, 2004 11:50:01 GMT 10
Anna, in my 10 years I've never had a parent kill their offspring, nor have I heard of it from other cockatiel breeders. I have heard of other birds getting in the nest and feather plucking or attacking the chicks, but as you said there were no other birds in there. I have however had a problem in the past with rats getting the chicks. But the rats would go after the eggs as well and not wait until the eggs hatched.
Its hard to say what could have killed the chicks without any more information.
Perhaps there is a fatal gene at play? The birds may be related?
- Claire
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Post by lovemytiels on Nov 22, 2004 16:17:25 GMT 10
Hard to know Claire if the birds are related as he bought them from a bird place that I know. But he said it was definately the parents as the last lot of babies were mutilated & the parents had the blood on them to prove it so he said enough was enough as they were also killing the baby quails. To tell the truth I was flabbergasted to hear this & a bit in shock as I have never know tiels to even harm each & I have colony breed before with no serious harm . A few beak fights & squabbling over nest boxes but that is all. Well I won't be breeding these 2 birds but I couldn't let them die.
Cheers for now Anna.
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Post by leeroy on Dec 7, 2004 21:16:39 GMT 10
hi, from what i have seen & read about birds that have this problem.if they are paired up & in cage by them selves. 90% of the time one of the parents or both have been hand reared? these birds that are hand reared are not imprinted with how to feed their babys ? it is well known about this problem in most hook billed birds. you can foster their eggs as a 100% solution for the problem? in a colony set up there will be the intruders lurking around for sure? there are exceptions too? leeroy
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Post by lovemytiels on Dec 8, 2004 4:15:46 GMT 10
Hi Leeroy, these birds were deffinately not handreared but were avairy breed birds. Most of my breeding pairs of tiels have all been hand reared by me so I can't say that any of them have ever been bad parents & don't know how to look after their young. Maybe a first time & young pair will muck about with incubating the eggs for the first time but after that they are attentative parents who feed their babies well. I have heard that there can be problems with using handrears for breeding but I prefer to use them as they are still friendly when I go in the avairy & they seem very proud to let me see their eggs & babies. Perhaps I have just been lucky that way. I have had more problems with avairy breed birds than with my hand rears re looking after babies & feeding them. Cheers for now Anna Olive
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Post by pollyparrot on Dec 8, 2004 4:20:05 GMT 10
hi there !my handreared pair just hatched 2 bubbies and the parents killed one and booted the other i dont think they meant to but being handreared they didnt seem to know what they babies were so now i have a little fellow to rear he is just 2 days old but doing well
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Post by lovemytiels on Dec 8, 2004 9:08:12 GMT 10
Oh Vicki, I am so sorry to hear that. I know how hard it is to h/rear a liitle one from this age. Perhaps the next time around they might be better parents. Was this their first time?. I suppose at this stage I have been very lucky using my hand rears for breeders but I know not everyone has had success. I wish you well h/rearing the baby & hope that maybe next time around the parents will be better. Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 go's for them to get it right & I try to make sure that there is an experienced pair breeding around the same time just in case the babies need to be fostered. Good luck Vicki. Cheers for now Anna Olive
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Post by pollyparrot on Dec 8, 2004 9:31:23 GMT 10
thanks i have done many babies from this age so thats not to bad but with work its to difficult so iam passing bubby on to a friend of mine its so funny to see such a little ant like creature pumping away for it food its a little miricle ,i didnt really expect these two to breed they were a pair id handreared for my dad and he passed them back to me when he got sick i didnt even realise they were actually sitting as they always slept in the nest boxes i might let them have another try next time but if they dont do well ill keep the boxes away from them byeeee  |
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Post by therese on Dec 23, 2004 6:40:17 GMT 10
Hi we woke up all excited to find one of our little eggs hatched, our cockatiels have laid about four times in the past year but never hatched anything. So we were so pleased, only to then watch the father bite it and shake it to death I have now removed him as there is still one egg cherping. WHAT SHOULD I DO ? We only have the two cocketieal. and never hatched any type of birds before. Therese  |
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Post by AussieBirds on Dec 23, 2004 8:17:46 GMT 10
Seperate him from the babies Imediatly he is trying to get the hen to mate again and she is giving all her attention to the new babies. I'm sure that other members that are far more knowledgable than I am will help you out with some more information and suggestions.
John
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Post by therese on Dec 23, 2004 11:19:20 GMT 10
Thanks John, I have got them separated now. How long should I leave them separated? will the hen need his help if the other eggs gose well there will only be one baby to raise can the hen handle that alone? Regards Therese first time baby bird mum  |
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Post by hillcresttiels on Dec 23, 2004 14:32:10 GMT 10
Hi Therese are you sure the male killed the chicks as what you have descibed is similar to the feeding procedure by cockatiels it is not very common that they kill them.Having seperated them the hen will raise chicks if they are already born but she will most likely not do the incubating during the day which will kill the embryo if she does then you are in luck and she should feed them a hen can handle 2-3 chicks with no problem as long as the food supply is kept up.i strongly suggest you read the post on feeding sprouts as it will assist her greatly cheers Frank  |
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