some advice please.

[chickie]

My 2 year old weiro laid 4 eggs about 3 weeks ago. 2 gor broken during that 3 weeks, one with a chick in. over the last 5 days she has laid a further 3 eggs and I believe by looking at her there is another to come. I am quite concerned as I don't believe it's usual for her to start laying again when she is already sitting. One of the first eggs is fertile and due to hatch any day if things go well. I am feeding her well, she is getting extra calcium and she looks healthy. Should I be concerned and should I take her to the vet for treatment to stop her laying? Please help someone

[Jane]

Ooh that does sound weird doesn't it? I can't say I've had a hen do that I think she would only do that if she believed the eggs to be infertile and was starting again.
Did she turn the nest over? I mean dig around like she was starting fresh?
I think just leave her go and she should hopefully stop after about 5 and start sitting tight again. Keep us posted if you get any more eggs or bubs

[angelicvampyre]

I have had a Budgie do that. I think she thought her first lot was a wasted cause and started the second around I had one chick who hatched about 15 days before the rest of them started to hatch, I was able to pull bub one and foster it to another nest but if you can't do that and you think the gap is going to be to big them you could always try and hand raise the oldest one

[chickie]

Oh dear they seem to have abandoned the bub now and fixated on the 4 remaining new eggs. I decided to remove it as dad bit the tip of his beak, not sure how accidental it was. it bled a little but seems ok now but not sure to what extent things may have been damaged. This happened first thing yesterday, Xmas day, and I have very little in the way of food so I searched the net and came up with something of a formula and a home made brooder. It is 01.55am on boxing day morning and I am about to feed again. We have survived til now but don't hold out a great deal of hope. My skills are not the best and I work fulltime so bub will have to come with me or hubbie. I work today so a very nervous hubbie will feed and care for it. Wish us luck.

[vankarhi]

Cockatiels are not hard to look after. Keep him warm but not hot. If he is panting or looks uncomfortable he is probably too hot. If he is shivering then he is probably too cold.

I used hot water bottles with my tiels in the past (before I had the internet) and I did not lose any but mine were at least 3 weeks old when I got them. So they were at least half feathered.

As for feeding make sure the food is warm but not hot. Too hot can cause crop burn and too cool can cause the crop to slow down. I used to use thermometers etc but now I do the wrist testing now.....just like testing a baby bottle before feeding to a baby. Depending on the age of the baby it should be on about 3 to 4 hourly feeds at about 3 weeks of age. Make sure the crop is still nice and spongy and not tight when it is finished feeding and do not feed until the crop is empty or almost empty.

Some people say they should not be empty ...... others say they should, but I believe they should not be empty for long periods of time. As long as they are almost empty and there are no issues with their crop and as long as they have emptied fully at least once during a 24 hour period (usually over night) then they should be ok.

As for formula.......I would recommend any good brand that can be bought from a vet or the pet shop. I use Roudybush at the moment and have used Kaytee with good results. I do not like avian science just from my own personal experiences with it.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[vankarhi]

I just re read your original post and I think your baby is only a few days old??? It should be on 2 to 3 hourly feeds. How is it's feeding response?? Is it a strong begging/feeding response?? That is a good sign if it is.

I forgot to say that hygiene especially for such a little one is of the utmost importance. I boil my ustensils or at least soak them in boiling water before and after feeding.

[chickie]

Yes the bub is 5 days old now. We have managed over 48 hrs. We are feeding every 2 hours at least. We now have commercial feed. I have passwells. I have read so much info online that I am at a loss to know which is best. Every pet shop I went to today suggested Passwells (probably because it seemed to be all they had) so I will try it. I mixed as stated on the packet and it was so thin the bub was after more 40 mins later and the crop was empty. I thickened it slightly and we just about go 2 hours but I won't thicken anymore just yet. He/she feeds very well and stretches up as soon as you expose him. He weighs 5grms today and we feed him 0.4--0.5mls each feed The signs are good but we really don't know what we are doing and so all fingers are crossed.

We are using a hot water bottle to keep him warm but it is a nightmare keeping the temp right. Hubbie bought a heat pad so we are waiting to see if it will be suitable to use, the temp is staying around 33.6C and that's with a cardboard shoe box. I won't transfer him until he's a couple of days older.

All advice is greatly appreciated and thanks for all so far

[vankarhi]

sounds like you are on the right track. I have never used Passwells so I can't comment on it, but I think others like it.

Do not thicken his food too much, a breeder friend of mine said that dehydration is big killer of young handraised birds by inexperienced people as they think they need to thicken the formula instead of just feeding a little more. As he gets older give him more formula (not thicken too much more). I have mine fairly runny for the first day while the chick adjusts to the new food from me and not its parents, then I thicken slightly but it is still fairly runny, not watery and not too thick. I have never raised one so young. The youngest I have raised was 2 weeks old (not a tiel either but an eclectus but the care would be the same, just the amounts of food and the ages of milestones would differ). It is hard to describe how thick to mix or not to mix. But it sounds like you have it right at the moment so try to keep it at that thickness and just very gradually ...... feed him a little more formula. I would try to have him on 3 hourly feeds by 1 week to 10 days and then 3 to 4 hourly feeds by 2 weeks, then maybe 4 hourly by 3 weeks etc. Tiels wean around 6 to 8 weeks (although I had one that took months to wean lol I kept giving in to the pleas for "feed me mummy" lol). If I remember rightly I think my tiels were on 3 feeds a day by about 4 weeks.

Good luck and it does sound like you are on the right track. Heat pads are supposed to be very good.

[chickie]

Well, the poor little might lost his battle for life yesterday. Maybe we did something wrong or it just wasn;t meant to be. He was with hubbie as he had to take him to work and it was there he died. Hubbie was devastated and me the same. We had concerns the day and evening before but were not really sure. We learnt so much from him. I have buried him under the bottle brush tree in the front garden. Thanks to all for the advice.

[vankarhi]

Sometimes these things happen. It is sad but at least you tried.