My bird's first baby died.....

[kerry-is-my-prez]

i don't think they knew what they were doing and i didn't either.

[BikeWriter]

1. That sucks. What kind of birds are they? What diet are they on?

[kerry-is-my-prez]

2. Cockatiels

I had just bought some exact food.

[BikeWriter]

4. The more varied the diet the better the survival on peepers.

Are you feeding any veggies? A spoon of mixed veggies each day is okay, and we always gave our's greens, as in fresh spinach.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

5. I had some veggies, rice, cereal and fruit - but fed it to the parents.

[BikeWriter]

7. Okay, good. They should be able to handle it.

If not, the alternative is hand feeding them yourself.

[pitohui]

29. not actually true for cockatiels

these are australian grassland birds, a rich diet is wasted on them, most won't eat it & it isn't what they would have eaten in the wild

bird talk magazine often has good advice on tiels

but their diet is never gonna be all veggie & green like other species of parrots

[BikeWriter]

30. Bird Talk is good, yes. Our Teels...

seemed to thrive on their greens and things. Oh, we fed all sorts of things to the Rosella pairs, too.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

3. I read that you have to leave it up to the parents to feed it at first

when they are very small. Is that true?

[BikeWriter]

6. Normally, yes, if they are feeding properly...

The parents have to be on a good diet for the clutch to thrive.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

8. I put veggies and rice out - along with their pellets.

They are into the junk food (seed) and will only eat a little of the pellets. They would eat the rice and the veggies though.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

9. Maybe they had a hard time becasue it was their first baby.

[BikeWriter]

12. That happens sometimes, but feeding is instinctual...

Some combinations of mates cannot raise a clutch, but most will.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

16. Next time - i'll have to get better advice.

It's pretty hard to hand feed cockatiels when they're really young - isn't it?

[BikeWriter]

20. Yes, it is and most breeders don't bother. We successfully...

handfed parakeets out of favorite pairs, though. It can be done, and even a few supplementary feedings makes for some sweet birds. :-(

[BikeWriter]

10. You can restrict the amount of seed for part of the day, if...

they don't seem to eat enough of the other.

[Patiod]

11. Sorry to hear that - went through it with zebra finches

The only one who survived for any length of time had a crossed beak (bottom and top didn't meet - just sort of overlapped)

[kerry-is-my-prez]

13. Maybe some birds are not meant to be parents....

n/t

[BikeWriter]

15. It happens sometimes, but not often.

[BikeWriter]

14. Misshaped beaks is a bad problem with feeding. :-(

[kerry-is-my-prez]

17. Should i have handfed it? - i was afraid i would kill it....

n/t

[BikeWriter]

18. With an inexperienced pair and an inexperienced breeder...

It's often frustrating. I can recall those times several thousand clutches ago. Hopefully the parents will feed the rest of the clutch properly. I'll check and see if any of the bird forums I used to visit are still active.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

19. Next time - i'll have to do that. I also have a bird lady down the road.

Can i bring the baby to her to have her check on it - or is it too risky to take the baby away?

[BikeWriter]

21. It would be better for her to visit you if she will...

That would be your best bet there, because I can only give general advice without seeing the birds.

[Darth_Kitten]

22. So sorry.

:(

[kerry-is-my-prez]

23. Thanks - i feel guilty. I didn't know what to do and am second-guessing

myself.

[BikeWriter]

25. See if you can suck up to the Bird Lady.

Keep your eyes open. If she knows what she's doing you'll soon see it. Watch what she feeds, if she doesn't feed veggies and has dull frumpy looking birds in dirty cages, look for someone else. I used to feed salads of fresh spinach greens, chopped corn on the cob, carrots, and other veggies every day to our breeder birds.
The babies were happy, healthy, and would eat anything you gave them. Would you believe our Amazons loved munching out on well-cooked chicken thigh bones? They'd split them apart for the marrow. Vet trips were virtually non-existant.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

26. Did you feed that to the parents or the babies?

i have that exact stuff for when the babies are young...

[BikeWriter]

27. Very good, if the parents are fed like that the babies...

will grow up accepting any foods you give them. Apples, pears, bananas and other fruits are good, too. Our baby Amazons and Congo Grays would sometimes beg to be brought to the table where they'd get a bite of this or that off a spoon. Mashed potatos and gravy made a mess, but they loved it.

[BikeWriter]

28. Oh, I just remembered sprouts, too. Any sort...

of edible seed sprouts are good for your birds, especially beans, peas, and lentils. :-)

[kerry-is-my-prez]

24. sorry -dupe