April 21, 2025
Sunconure Kills her Chicks
Hi, I have 8 Pairs of Sunconures. This is my 1st time to breed sunconures. 2 of my females kill her chick after hatching. Kindly help me.
Question:
Answer:
Hi,
Are your birds at least 3 years or older? Younger birds can breed, but are generally not ready to settle down and care for eggs or chicks. They often develop bad habits that are impossible to break, like breaking eggs or killing chicks. If this was their first clutch, it may have been an accident. Parents are still learning, and the first clutch almost always fails due to something the parents do wrong. But they need to learn so it’s best to let them make their mistakes the first time around. Is there a visual barrier between each cage? If a pair feels threatened, they may abandon their eggs or chicks or destroy the eggs or kill the chicks. If breeding pairs are kept too close to each other, they are less likely to produce because they are too stressed out all of the time from the other pairs. In most cases, you should have a barriers so the pairs can’t see each other, and plenty of space between cages. The breeding birds need to be on a nutritionally balanced diet like pellets, supplemented with leafy greens, veggies, some fruit, and now while they are breeding, a daily egg food. This is be a commercial egg food or you can cook an egg with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with the eggs. Offer daily until all chicks are weaned. Breeding birds may need their food replenished a few times a day, especially when the chicks hatch. If a pair feels like they do not have enough food, they will stop feeding the chicks. Your pairs should not be over bred. You need to remove the nest box after each clutch, whether the eggs hatch or not, and rest the pair for 6 months. Forming and laying eggs is very hard on the female, and she needs to be well rested before you allow her to nest again. Finally some birds are not good parents. Rest the pairs that killed the chicks, and you can give the nest box back in 6 months or longer. If they do the same thing, then you probably should not try to breed the pairs again.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
