Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Background--I'm an old hand at raising poultry. Been doing chickens and ducks most of my life (35 of my 50 years). This however, is different.

This evening we discovered that our pair of lovesick budgies actually have a hatchling. It's pink, bald, eyes are closed and it's ugly as all get out.

What is my role in all this? Does she need help? So much is written about handfeeding that it makes me wonder if I must.

Thank you.

You definitely do not need to handfeed the baby. The parents should do quite well on their own just make sure to offer them good healthy foods during this time adding in more soft foods than usual, (oatmeal, cooked sweet potato, even scrambled or microwaved eggs) to help with nutrition. I would suggest if you want the baby to be tame, (much easier if parents are tame) to start handling the baby once it gets a bit bigger and a partial feather covering. Budgies are usually easier to handle even when not fully tame but if the parents are wild it may be harder to have access to the babies. At first just handle for very short periods of time gradually extending them. As long as the parents have been caring well for the baby this should not affect them at all.

Many people think handfed babies are tamer than others but well socialized parent fed babies are just as tame sometimes even more so. Completely hand raised babies know no fear or caution of humans and seem more likely to "test" as they get older. Parent raised/socialized babies have their parents caution around humans but are used to the contact and companionship of humans so do not usually go through as much of the testing stage (IMO).

Thank you very much!

I checked it again today. The eyeballs are much more prominent and there are some tiny pin feathers starting.
I'll post photos periodically, but I don't want to annoy the parents too much. (I am also checking on the unhatched eggs. There are few things worse than incubated rotten eggs.)

Another one hatched sometime between yesterday morning and this morning.
There are two more eggs. Any chance that they will hatch?

It will depend greatly on how far apart the eggs were laid. I have heard of birds waiting several days in between each egg and having as many as 9 days in between the first and last hatching. I know the chance of rotten eggs is awful as well but I would try for a few more days since there were how many (5?) days between the first two hatching.

The nesting box is getting disgusting. Will the parent birds clean it out or do I need to step in?
If I need to, how do I do it with as little disruption as possible?

Mamabird, two chicks and the two unhatched eggs.

I read that the box is getting quite dirty. The smaller chick shouldn't be handled or out of the box yet. Usually nesting thread and cotton fluff (like the polyester stuff inside pillows) are used to build a nest, but budgies won't always do that. What we did was fold a soft, clean dish towel and put it in the bottom of the box. I would do that when the smaller chick is about 3 days old. You can pick the older one up for short periods of time now so it can be placed on the towel. When the towel is folded so it's about the size of the bottom of the box, start putting it in and gently nudge the smaller chick onto it. Make sure the edge of the towel is under the small perch (if your box has one). It doesn't seem like the other 2 eggs are being incubated by the mother, but wait a few days to be sure since they don't rot that quickly.