BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Birds More about my baby budgies day 2 of hand raising.

[size:11pt] [/size] [font:Comic Sans MS] [/font] [color:#CC33CC] [/color] Day 2: Both Budgie Hatchlings are doing great, They hatched within 12 hours of each other yesterday (one am and one pm). We have named them Baby A and Baby B, there are 3 more eggs, one of which has a little peck mark so I think it should hatch soon. The Babies have been fed every 2 hours through the night and have doubled their weight in 24 hours. I did read in another post that hand reared budgies (from hatching) should not be fed until they are 12 hours old. My little Baby A wasn't fed until around 10 or so hours old because I was waiting to see what mum Spotty was going to do. Baby B was fed from about an hour maybe 2 after hatching and I would like to tell every one that Baby B is easier to feed, looks for food more eagerly than Baby A and is more active than Baby A. (That may well just be Baby B's disposition though) :) Will post a photo once I figure out how too. Thanks

How exciting! If you want to email me the picture I will be happy to upload and link it for you. (I want to see the babies:) You will see where it is linked so that you can use it elsewhere. you will find the email in my bio.

Diana

Here are your babies - what sweethearts!

Thank you so much Diana ... I have just fed them and Baby D is nearly out of it's egg too now. (once my one year old Master is asleep I will update every one on how the babies are doing) Thank you again :)

Anytime, I was happy to do it. I hope you all enjoy the darling sweet babies.

Wow, what an awesome experience this is. :) Baby A is now 4 days old, weighs a little over 3 grams, and likes to try and eat my fingers. Baby B is 3.5 days old (12 hours younger than Baby A), Baby B had a little set back with being off his food one night, B only weighs a little over 2 grams, he is very quite now and doesn't chirp, peep or squawk much. I actually didn't think he was going to make there for a little while. Baby C is 2 days old and weighs a fraction more than Baby B at 2.3 grams, this one is a steam train there is no stopping C. C also likes to attack my fingers at feeding time. (note; A and C look very similar, the only way I can tell them apart at the moment is by weight, until they are big enough to keep a ring on their leg or get feathers I guess. Both A and C have flesh coloured eye areas (their eyes are still closed), B and D have the same eyes being dark blacky/blue/purple) Baby D hatched this afternoon, weighing in at 1.7 grams. I am guessing that is quite normal/average for baby Budgies as all of the babies weighed 1.7 grams when they hatched. Like I mentioned up a little Baby D looks just like Baby B and as with the other two I can only tell them apart by weight and size. Baby B and Baby D seem to have yellow skin especially on their bellys. Is this normal? I have no idea? I have noticed in the last few days that after hatching the babies seem to be quite exhausted (don't blame them) but once they recover there is no stopping them. They scoot around every where in their tub, even hiding under the paper towel it is a lot of fun to watch them :) They also make little tunnels in the wood shavings. I had read some where that they lay flat on their backs for the first week or so ? these little guys don't. I'm off to try and get some sleep. Til next time Take care all x Sara

Hi Sara - sorry I haven't been in the forum for a few days - I hope you got my e-mail message shortly after you took over the handfeeding duties. I'm so happy that the babies are thriving under your care, as handfeeding newly hatched babies is a LOT of work (as you have figured out) But like you say - it is an awesome experience!

HI every one, wow things have been so very hectic here. I'm very sad to report that Baby B passed away today. B had been unwell for quite a while now, not gaining weight or moving around or making any noise, I tried to make him comfortable and keep him warm and fed but in the end it didn't help. Also, the last egg didn't hatch so I only have 3 baby budgies from 6 eggs. Baby A is 11 days old (I think) and weighs 5.3g. Baby C is 9 days old (I think) and weighs 3.4g, Baby C is having trouble digesting food at the moment so C is having a little more water in its food and water by itself. But still seems chirpy and active. Will have to wait and see I guess. Baby D is one week old and weighs 3.5g. If some one could help me with advice about my hen spotty (the babies mother) would be so welcome. I was wondering if she would repeat the same behaviour if she lays again? Just for background, spotty laid 6 eggs, when the first one hatched she threw it out of the nest box, I put it back in the nest box and when I went back to check in a little while she had thrown out an egg that wasn't ready to hatch and it busted killing the chick inside. At that stage I removed the eggs and chick. I have taken the nest box away from her at that time too. Also I was wondering if budgies bond with a mate for life? Or can they bond with another mate? I do not think I will give a nest box back to her for a while now (maybe 3 months) does any one have any thoughts on that? Best get off and head to bed. Oh the babies are still being fed through the night. I have managed to stretch the feeds out to 3 hours though which allows their crops to empty. And lets me sleep a little bit more too.

It's written all over the net that budgies pair up for life but, I have one hen who's first mate flew the coop followed by the second mate. Both times she was lying on eggs and raised the chicks herself. I gave her a rest by herself, put her back in the avairy and now she's already hooked up with her third mate! She likes the blue budgies by the way.

How is it going? I had to hand raise some baby parakeets and did not have good luck at all. The mother rejected all babies and eggs. I was using an eye dropper to feed them but they all died. What are you using to feed them? They are sooo little.

What a terrible day :( All of my babies died!!! Last night Baby C was starting to look unwell, and since Baby B had started losing weight (before it died) I have been weighing all of the babies before and after each feed to keep track of how much they were eating and if they were gaining weight. Well Baby C slowly started losing weight so this morning I called the only avian vet in town and booked them in to see him. Baby C had to be put to sleep. And the vet gave Babies A and D 2 lots of antibiotics to bring home, at this stage Baby A and D were doing so well, gaining weight and looking healthy and chirping and moving around the tub. When it was their feeding time I followed the Vet's instructions and administered the required 0.01ml of each antibiotic with a little water after each lot to wash it down and then fed them. Almost instantly their little crops plumped up with air/gas, I massaged it out gently and watched in horror as it filled up again whilst I was holding the bird. i called the Vet straight away and told him what was happening, he scoffed at me and declared that he has never seen or heard of a bird having an allergic reaction to antibiotics. (BS) Within 2 hours they were both dead. I am very heart broken, I had grown quite attached to my little babies. I regret 'wasting' $100.00 to take my babies to the Vet and I most certainly regret giving them the antibiotics. Mavis - Sorry I haven't replied to you earlier I have been so busy. I did get your email thank you it was very helpful. I couldn't figure out at the time how to reply so I left it in my 'to do later' list. (sorry) Birdie - Hi thanks for that,I have noticed my budgies don't abide by the rules lol. I have been making some bird toys for my budgies :) Spotty, Angel, Ghost, and Ari. Thank you every one for your help and advice. Now that I have found this great forum I won't be too far away, I'm going to try to take some pictures of my birds to post.

I am so sorry about your babies. Don't forget the page I made for you is yours and I can upload more photos at any time.

Diana

Sorry to hear that baby B did not make it. You've done an amazing job at handfeeding to have 3 survive.

It would be nice if we could predict for sure what the mom would do if bred again - but we can't. It is quite possible that she would do exactly the same thing - but it is equally possible that she would successfully raise a clutch the second try. I had cockatiels that took 3 clutches before they got the idea and raised their chicks. They didn't throw the babies out of the nest though - just pushed them aside in the box once they were hatched.

Budgies have no problem in changing mates. I used to keep a flock of budgies in a large flight and would take out pairs to breed (usually 3 pairs at a time) in a smaller flight. I would watch them to see who was pairing up with who before removing the 3 pairs. It was not uncommon for the birds to change mates even after they were set up.

Oh no - I didn't scroll down far enough to see your last post! I am so sorry to read about the loss of all the babies

Many years ago it was said to not feed newborns for 12 hours but many died. The parents feed them in a short time so I do also. One pair of quaker parrots here don't feed so I take them when they are dried then feed every 1 1/2 to 2 hours around the clock for at least a week. Usually I would pull at 10 days old and feed 5 times a day and not at night. I don't leave with parents when handfeeding knowing they can get upset system if both feed. I put them in a handy dandy brooder also known as a plastic drawer with heater pad and other supplies. I've not handfed keets with most parents doing great with them. They can be taken at 5 to 6 weeks old and be tamed within 10 minutes to stepping up. By now your guys/gals will be well on the way to being weaned Wishing you lots of happy thoughts. LindaC

((( hugs )))

5-6 weeks of age for a baby budgie is too young to be given to strangers (especially if a young child is involved), IMHO. They aren't fully weaned until between 6-8 weeks. I hope you are not still doing that?

I'm new here and haven't had to burp baby budgies; however, on another forum on which I post and there are many, many British breeders they speak often of having to use a crop needles (sterilized, of course) to gently puncture the crop to let the air out. They then add some type of balm to cover the puncture. The Brits are real fanatics about their budgies and put an extremely amount of time into their care, as most are breeders on that particular forum. Don't know if this post will be read, but if so, maybe you could Google "air in the crop." Don't think I'm allowed to give you the link to this forum. Most sites look down on that behavior. BTW, I have 6 budgies and have cared for birds all of my life, wild and tame. New to the forum and looking forward to learning from you all.