This is my hens first clutch two eggs hatch but she is still siting on two more eggs but the chick’s are in the corner by theirs the hen doesn’t seem to be keeping them warmone is about 3 days old he is not sitting up his laying down he is still alive should I be concern
Hi Raquel,
I know this doesn’t help the heartbreak, but first clutches almost always fail. Most never get to the hatching point. But sadly, the parents usually do not successfully raise chicks the first time any hatch. It sounds like your hen is only tending to the eggs. She should have the chicks tucked under her with the eggs. Has the male been sharing the incubation duties? Normally one parent sits during the day and one sits at night. Once the eggs hatch, they still tend to take turns with the eggs and the chicks. Cockatiel chicks are very hard to hand feed and keep alive from day one or even at a few days old. You can try, but they have to be kept warm, and fed every half hour to hour around the clock. And you still will most likely lose them. Even the most experienced hand feeders will lose most chicks when they try to feed them from just a day or a few days old.
I understand it is hard to stand by and do nothing, but if you plan to let this pair breed again, it’s best to leave the chicks with them and hope they learn. If you take the chicks, the same thing is likely to happen next time. Pairs will usually get things right the second time, or with some the third time. But if they fail three times, then the pair should not be bred again. Not all birds will make good breeders.
This is nothing you did – you can have everything set up perfectly and still lose the first clutch. But to be sure, I’ll go over the ideal breeding conditions. The parents should be at least 2 years old. Younger birds really are not ready to settle down and care for eggs and chicks, and they will make mistakes or develop bad habits that can ruin them as breeders when they get older. The parents should be eating a nutritionally balanced diet such as pellets or our foraging diets – a loose seed mix will not provide the nutrition they need. You should also offer dark leafy greens, chopped veggies and a small amount of fruit. When they are set up with the nest box for breeding, you should start offering an egg food daily. There are commercial egg foods made with dried eggs, or you can cook an egg with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with the egg. You will give them egg food before egg laying and until all chicks are weaned. The nest box should be attached to the outside of the cage as high as possible. The cage should be in a quiet, private area where there are no people around them other than to feed them. It is very important not to over breed your birds. They need to be rested after each clutch whether they hatch chicks or not. You need to remove the nest box as soon as the eggs are past due, or after the chicks have left the box. Otherwise the parents will try to breed again right away. If they are still weaning chicks, they may stop feeding the chicks to start a new clutch, and let the chicks die. They should be rested for 6 months, and only be allowed to have two clutches per year, which is one more than they have in the wild. In the wild, breeding season is once a year, and then the season changes signaling the pair to stop nesting. In captivity, we provide the perfect breeding conditions year round, so it is the owner’s responsibility to limit how often a pair breeds.
I’m sorry if these chicks do not survive. This is the sad part of breeding, but it happens to everyone. Hopefully after a 6 month rest, the pair will breed again and take care of the chicks next time.
Take care,
Brenda
