so frustrating!!!

[indy]

I have a pair of Lutino Fischers that are about 14 mnths old. The previous owners had purchased them when they were young, but sold them to me because they had relocated back home overseas . I have Had them for about 8 mnths and had laid a clutch of 3 eggs ;D. 1 had hatched but on later inspection the chick was dead with it's beak and feet chewed ? I had a pair of Red Collared Lorikeets that were 3 yrs old who did the same thing to 3 clutches of chicks and it was always right after they were out of the egg . Has anyone a clue why? I have heard some birds do this to get a feeding response or any response for that matter from the chick, could this be why?

[billspets]

hello indi
i think there may be other factors to this me i would be lookin at mice or rats as they will do the same thing
regards
bill

[indy]

I am 100% sure that it isn't rats or mice, because i have about 20 other pairs of birds in the same area, and usually if there is anything foreign about the cages the birds definately let you know, it also happened in about a 1hr time frame and i was around that area during this time.

[hillcresttiels]

Sometimes Indy i have heard of birds mainly Tiels that have lost a mate or partner or chicks in the nest only to find that toenails and feet have been chewed on and was asked my opinion in which i could only think of two reasons and one was that they didn't know better and two maybe a lack of protein was the cause. I dont think it has anything to do with feeding responses.Unfortunately if it's the latter and it has happened more than once they do aquire a taste which the only remedy is too not allow the offenders to breed again! cheers

Frank

[petiel]

I had the same problem once with a pair of PlumHead Parrots. The chick hatched and about 1hour later I check it and it was dead with its feet bitten off. I was told the birds may have been brother and sister.

[hillcresttiels]

Petiel I have a Brother/Sister combination that have been the most bonded and one of the best foster parents i have! i let them mate, but as soon as the eggs are laid they are replaced with fertile eggs from problem pairs and the originals are discarded,my point being that inbred birds can have some nasty ramifications if allowed to rear their own but doesn't necessarily makes them incomplete parents.Unfortunately the chewing of toenails is very similar to the feather plucking trait either diet ,boredom or bad habit!

Frank

[indy]

Petiel i always was told it didn't matter if you breed related birds as long as it wasn't the sixth generation, i have a pair of cockatiels that are brother and sister and haven't had any problems with their chicks. Getting back to the fischers, i don't think it is diet related because they are on pellets, fruit, vegies, and seed. They have shellgrit, cuttlebone and mineral blocks, and i don't think it is boredom either because they have their toys swapped once a week and get fresh branches to chew on every second day, i don't have a clue why, maybe they are just inexperienced.

[hillcresttiels]

Hi Indy my post in no way suggests i inbreed I do practise Line breeding but thats totally different. Breeding brother to sister is a good way to produce a magnitude of problems thru your aviaries not to mention all the genetic mishaps.If your happy with the diet and you believe their protein intake is ample remembering a good source of protein is sprouts and eggmix, and not much else except for a few vegies then you will find that the trait will be hard to rid off as i have seen this in very mature birds. Find out which of the two if not both are doing it and removing them from breeding maybe your only solution. . cheers

Frank

[kim1]

There are probebly a lot of reasons why it happens,but I feel if the birds do it to the first clutch give them another go if they do it again then they shouldn't be trusted, I don't breed mine if they do this, but you might need to farm the eggs out to other parents if you really want chicks from these birds, I have heard of breeders treating this sort of thing by feeding dry dog food or insectivor foods at breeding time, I guess those cases must have been due to a lack of protein or something.

[indy]

Since this is their first attempt at breeding, i think i will give them another chance and see if the same thing happens, if so i do have another younger pair that i might split and pair up with the problem pair. I guess you can only try!! I wonder if it has anything to do with them being moved to a cage by themselves? The previous owners had them in a colony situation, i have never bred birds in an aviary colony, they are all in suspendeds 1 pair per cage, but i wouldn't think this would affect their breeding because this is their first attempt. I am at a loss of what else it could be, i am giving egg & biscuit so it can't be lack of protein.

[hillcresttiels]

Well then unfortunately Indy it might be a bad trait splitting the pairs up will identify the offender if it occurs again! in most cases i have seen it seems to be the hens that are the culprits good luck

Frank

[linda040899]

I've been reading the messages in this thread and have a couple of comments to make, based on my own personal experiences.

In terms of breeding, 14 months with some lovie mutations is still very young. Most lovebirds make the best parents when they are about 18 months of age. You may want to try waiting a few months before you let them try to breed again.

I would also put them in a different location. I've added new pairs to my aviary, only to find that the parents killed the babies in the first clutch. All my breeding cages are fairly close together so my thoughts were that the other nearby birds were viewed as a threat to the survival of the chicks. Rather than taking the risk of harm coming to the chicks, the parents killed them. Once I relocated the parents, the next clutch did just fine.

Linda L.
Lovebirds Plus Aviary