Ask Lafeber

How is it safe for a pair to feed it’s babies

Dear Lafeber!
I hope this message finds you well. My yellow ringneck pair has been feeding/rearing it’s four babies since 17/01/2022. All four babies are growing very well. We serve soft food (boiled egg, soaked whole grains including lentils, pulses etc) fruits and vegetables (beans & guava), boiled corn, corn and mix seeds etc each day in almost five to six serving. Being inexperienced, we don’t want to hand-feed babies. I request you to guide me by answering the following questions:
A. Will the pair (specially mother) feed all four babies until they are out of nest box and start eating on their own becoming self-dependent?
B. If yes, will feeding, until all four babies are proper self, be safe for the pair’s health particularly the mother who has to feed all four babies for almost 7-8 weeks?
C. If yes, whether health-wise the pair will be able to breed again in this season once these babies are proper self?
I have all supplements of Vetafarm (D Nutrical, Soluvite D breeder etc) Versele Laga (Calci-lux, Ferti-Vit and Omni-Vit etc) which I use twice or thrice per week.
Thanking you in anticipation

Hi Wajahat,

You are taking great care of your breeding pair and chicks. All of the foods you offer, as well as replenishing the foods throughout the day, are very important to help the parents care for the chicks and fed them properly. So often the chicks are lost because the owners do not provide enough food for the parents. Parrots only breed in the wild when the season is right for good weather and abundant food. If something changes, causing the food to become scarce, the parents will abandon the chicks in the interest of self-preservation. So having abundant food in a good variety, as well as nutritional supplements is vital to the chicks’ survival.

As long as you continue what you are doing, the parents should feed the chicks to independence. There are no guarantees in breeding, but all the signs are good so far. The parents are designed to do this, and they are receiving nutritious and abundant food from you, so there is no reason to think they can’t feed all four chicks for the duration. When the chicks have most of their feathers, they will start to venture out of the nest box. Once you see all four chicks have come out, go ahead and take the nest box down, or if this isn’t possible, block off the entrance. This will discourage the parents from trying to nest again before they have weaned their chicks. That is an age in captivity when some chicks die, because the parents go back to nest again. So removing the nest box as soon as all four can leave it is really important. At that age, you can also place all of the foods the parents are eating in shallow dishes on the cage floor, to encourage the chicks to start self feeding. This will take pressure off the parents and help with the weaning.

Once all chicks are weaned, they need to be moved to a new cage. If you are finding homes for them, and someone takes two, make sure they understand that they cannot let them breed if they end up being male & female. Likewise if you keep any chicks, do not let them breed with each other when old enough, or any related offspring from later clutches – never let related birds breed. After the chicks have been move out of the parents cage, you need to wait for 6 months before replacing or opening up the nest box. In the wild, they only have one clutch per year. In captivity, you can allow 2, but only with a 6 months rest in between and continue feeding a nutritious diet. You do want to stop feeding eggs or high protein foods during this rest period, and stop giving any breeding and calcium supplements until it is time to let them breed again.

Congratulations on your success! I hope all continues to go well.

Brenda