Society father bird is terrorizing babies and mother

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HillbillyFinch
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Society father bird is terrorizing babies and mother

Post by HillbillyFinch » Sat Sep 15, 2018 12:05 pm

Need help fast. They were perfect society parents through the hatching and early feeding and now that the babies are nearly 4 weeks old they have turned into buttheads. They started sitting on the eggs before they were all laid so there is 4 days difference in the babies ages. They quit feeding the youngest ones early and the youngest ones have been going around begging to be fed. The mother quit feeding anyone two weeks ago and seems to be in a foul mood, no pun intended. Well now the father, mother and 3 babies have all their tail feathers ripped out. A 4th baby has part of it's tail feathers gone and one baby has managed to retain all of them. I suspect the father is ripping out feathers to line the nest for another brood because he has been mating the mother several times a day. She is running away from him. Caught him chasing her around cage bottom and she is hiding behind the water cup. My favorite baby was begging for food and he acted like he was going to feed her then suddenly struck her hard in the chest.

I can't tell which babies are male and female yet or I would separate them into two cages. I read though they need to be 2 months old at least before you separate from parents for them to be properly socialized. Should I just put the butthead in a cage by himself? I have a new smaller cage I just need to get a table or something to put it on.

This is the troublemaker-Image


Here's the whole family after they started fledging and I put them all in a container so they wouldn't keep falling out of overcrowded nest.
Image

wildbird
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Re: Society father bird is terrorizing babies and mother

Post by wildbird » Sat Sep 15, 2018 10:01 pm

Take the male (father) out, and just put his cage anywhere before someone gets killed. The female might start feeding everyone if he is gone. Are the babies eating at all on their own? If they are, provide some millet and you can shred some hard boiled egg, mix in some millet or use store bought dried egg food. The hard boiled egg should not be left in for more than two hours. Dried egg food can stay in. Keep millet available to them. You can get a small kitchen shredder at a grocery store. If they don't eat at all on their own, and the female won't feed them, you might have to. It is very unusual for Societies to act this way. Are you sure the male is a Society? He does look pretty big.

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lovezebs
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Re: Society father bird is terrorizing babies and mother

Post by lovezebs » Sat Sep 15, 2018 10:43 pm

HillbillyFinch

Why don't you simply remoove the father to another cage?
~Elana~

Linnies~ Canaries ~ Zebras ~ Societies ~ Gouldians ~ Orange Cheeks ~ Shaft Tails ~ Strawberries ~ Red Cheek Cordon Bleu ~ Goldbreasts ~ Red Brows ~ Owls ~ Budgies ~ Diamond Firetails ~ Javas ~ Forbes Parrot Finches ~

HillbillyFinch
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Re: Society father bird is terrorizing babies and mother

Post by HillbillyFinch » Sat Sep 15, 2018 11:54 pm

wildbird

They were sold to me as a mated pair of Societies, so as far as I know he is a Society. The babies are eating some seeds, I think picking out the millet, and Lafebers pellets. The youngest babies don't seem to be eating much so not sure how they are sustaining themselves since I don't see them being fed either. I offered a small piece of spray millet today and the babies were terrified of it and fly off.

Something I forgot to mention is the father bird would eat poop off the nest and feed it back to the babies when they were a week old. Right after they first fledged several times I saw him eating tiny downy feathers when he found one. He slurped it right down like a spaghetti noodle. I thought how can he not die from eating that but he is still alive. Is this normal? Thought maybe he is just recycling protein even though the pellet food and the seed mix are very high in protein. He also eats a lot of egg shells so shouldn't be caused by a mineral deficiency.

wildbird
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Re: Society father bird is terrorizing babies and mother

Post by wildbird » Mon Sep 17, 2018 10:47 pm

Eating feathers is usually a sign of the need for protein. The egg shells are mostly calcium. Do you provide any hard boiled shredded or mashed egg? Even dry egg food store bought would help. The hard boiled egg would need to be changed out in two hours so it won't spoil, but dry, store bought egg food can stay in. The younger babies might eat some of the hard boiled egg too. You could mix a little millet seed in with it.

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