Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The oldest one, died tonight. I took my other 2 babies out and am not sure what to do. There tummies seem to be very full and am not sure if to start hand feeding them. Is it best to keep the mother with them? can anyone give me some advice

Unless you are a trained and experienced handfeeder it`s definately best to leave the babies with the mother for now. If they`re not fully feathered, they need mama`s warmth to help them maintain their body weight. If they get too cold they`ll be unable to process the food in their crops and die. (Accidentally heating them to much will also kill them).
They also need to be fed often, and around the clock.
Babies will occassionally die, especially with first time mothers. But they`re still better off with a mother who is instinctually and physically prepared to meet their needs then a completely novice handfeeder.

It wouldn`t be a bad idea, though, to consult with avian vets and breeders in your area for help. Perhaps they can help you determine why the baby died, and if it posses a danger to the other chicks. (You would likely need to bring the family and the dead baby into the vet`s for this). Perhaps the breeder will be able to take the chicks in and feed them himself, for a fee, if you decide to pull them from the mother. Perhaps the vet or the breeder can teach you about handfeeding young chicks.

But unless/until you know how to handfeed chicks of their age, they`re definately better off in mother`s care.

What are you feeding the parents? Its important that you give them the proper food so they can feed their chicks well. They need soft foods like bread and beans and such. I don't know exactly what is best but I know seeds don't cut it. They are too tough on babies.

I second what itdead said. Leave the babies with the parents. Consult an avain vet ASAP.

Also The father is still there right? Fathers are very important in raising these young.

It takes a lot of knowledge to raise these little guys to maturity.

I have help from people who have raised baby chicks before so i'm right in that department. I've been giving the parents an egg and bread mix. But one of the babies has some blood marks just under it's wings looking as if one of the parents has attacked it, and I think it was the mother. And i'm pretty right with keeping them warm and such as it's now summer and really hot

That's good to hear. It sounds like you are being a good breeder. What are blood marks?

the blood marks kinda like a love bite, that blood is there at the surface under it's little wings but I let the mother back in with them and I watched her and she was only kinda nudging at them to put there heads up so she could feed them so it's all ok now, but I think the parents are over feeding them so i'm putting the babies aside away from the parents for a few hours in-between feedings

This is a tough call to make. Parents aren't always good at raising babies, especially novice parents. Some of them will not keep the babies warm or feed them; others will mutilate and kill their babies.

Have you had the dead baby necropsied to ascertain why it died? Even a minor veterinary exam of the body may show if the baby had an infection, was not fed, had crop impaction, or died from injuries from the parents.

The stomach doesn't tell you a whole lot about how much parents are feeding the baby. More to the point, what do their crops look like? If the parents are feeding the baby well, it should have a largely puffed appearance when full, and gradually empty between feedings. A crop that does not empty may indicate sour crop, which can be fatal -- in extreme cases, you can see gas bubbles inside the crop foaming around, and the bird may regurgitate foam.

A firm crop that does not empty may indicate crop stasis, and that the parents are not keeping the babies warm enough and that their digestion has slowed and stopped == also with possible fatality. The babies need to be kept around 90-100F when naked. On the other hand, if TOO hot, they will lie more stretched out, become bright red in colour, and possibly pant. Dehydration can set in, and again, be fatal.

If there is nothing in the crop, it may be that the mother is not feeding the babies.

So you can see there are many possibilities as to what has happened. I would be concerned about bite marks on babies as this usually escalates once started. If you wait too long, you may be removing dead babies.

If your mentor breeder has any pairs that are raising babies at the moment, you might want to consider fostering them.