Ask Lafeber

It would be best for the babies if they were in some type of container to keep them close together.  When babies can snuggle together, it helps in many ways. The first benefit is that they keep each other warm.  However, baby birds also need the touch of their clutch mates to keep them healthy neurologically. This is extremely important for a baby bird’s development.  It can be compared to the infants in Romania years ago.  There were so many the infants who did not have enough caretakers to provide them with the physical, mental and neurologic stimulations. Many of them did not function will in society. The same is true when baby cockatoos are taken away from the parents to be hand fed before their neurologic development has matured.

I suggest getting a container similar to a plastic butter container and put something at the bottom that provides traction for the babies’ feet, similar to Easy Shelf Liner in the bottom of the bowl.  It’s a little rubbery and provides excellent traction for their feet as they grow.   Their little bones are very soft right after hatching, and they need to have the traction for their legs to develop correctly as their bones grow and get harder. Without good traction, baby birds can develop splayed legs, and they will not be able to sit on a perch without corrective surgery. Make sure to hollow out the middle of the shavings as if you were digging a hole to plant a flower in. This will help keep the babies snuggled together. At this stage they need to avoid being able to wonder away from clutch mates. They need to use those calories for growing and not wondering off. If the parents have other eggs, put the babies and eggs in the container all at once.  Put everything in the same place where the eggs were laid and step away where you can observe things to make sure the parents don’t reject them.  They should be fine but it’s always best to keep an eye on them to be sure. Once you see both parents are taking care of things by feeding and keeping the babies warm, then leave them alone as much as possible. Try your best not to interfere until the babies have opened their eyes and are feathering out.  If you can keep your interactions with the parents at a minimum by only providing fresh food and water daily, it will help them stay focused on the babies.