FINCHforum

I called my husband in this morning to see the new fledglings. He's not as into the birds as I am but he loves me...so he comes to see. The three fledglings are SO unique in color and different from each other. It's still a question as to who their mother is as the father mated with two females...one nest. What a menagerie! He also started attacking her and pulled out all her back feathers so I had to remove him yesterday. The babies are screaming a lot today. I'm concerned about them getting fed enough by her. She's very thin. So we go in, they're all screaming, the mother is sitting there looking like we mothers have looked many a time when all the kids are screaming at the same time and you're counting to 100. So I say..."Feed the babies...damn it!!!" My husband, ever the comedian says..."Which one is "Dammit?" The bird was unnamed until this point. I am not naming her Dammit. She's just too pretty. She may have that name a few more days though.

Ooh...be careful! Those crazy names tend to stick!

I've ended up with some pretty odd pet names as a result of one liners like that! LOL

I have a pug whom we affectionately call Pee Pee. (His real name is Piggy....curly tail, cobby body, snorting, you get the idea.)
It arose while he was a puppy and he was a rampant leg lifter. So we'd clap and yell to interrupt him. We'd yell, "No pee pee in the house!"....which got shortened to "No pee pee!".....which got even more shortened to "Pee pee!"

As a puppy, he didn't know his name yet and the poor kid started to think his name was Pee Pee. (Which sounds a heck of a lot like Piggy, so I can see how it would be one and the same to a dog's ears). He responded to it and it just sort of stuck.

Back to birdies.....
You've got to share photos of your new fledglings! And Dammit!

Do you think you could supplement them a bit?
Or do you think it could help to put dad in with the babies instead of mom?
I've heard the dads often do a lot of the feeding at this age and I've found that to be really true with my guys.

Oh geeze that's too funny about your pug. I can see how that could happen. The names do sound alike. Dogs are really smart. My Australian Cattle/Border Collie answers to her name Kady...and Fifi which isn't her name at all. My nephew who is 11 likes to rename everything, and everyone. He's a nut. He named one of our turkey's Roy (his favorite one), named our bull Douglas. He renamed our nephew Jeff (His real name is Keegin) but he will answer to it. He's only 3. So now half the time I call the dog Fifi and half the time Kady. She answers to both. Heck, if I spell "e-a-t" she understands. And if I spell b-r-o-c-c-o-l-i, she understand, so I shouldn't be surprised. I could supplement them, but I'm always so afraid of aspiration. I could put the father in who is a much better feeder...and I might, but I think I am going to give him up so it's hard to make that decision. Not sure what I should do. But looking at her, she's very thin and now with all the feathers missing, it may give her a break to not have to feed them. It's only another week or two. Hmmm! About posting pictures, I have such a problem with that. I don't have a good camera. I will work on it.

I'd be concerned about the female being thin & maybe the babies not being fed enough.

Oh wow that's too funny !!!! Better change that name before you start using it!!!! Mia is right , they stick. So come up with something other than "dammit" !!!! Lol ;)

I'm concerned about her too. What a night!!! I've been in there most of the afternoon/evening trying to figure out what to do. The first chick was born a week before the other two who were born a week later, one day apart. The first chick was in the food bowl today, is very strong so I'm not worried about it. The second and third fledged the same day. One of them is very weak, I think too weak to even cry out much for food so the other one gets fed more. I looked in it's crop and there was one seed. First I put it in with the father thinking maybe he will feed it, and the baby cried out, but the father ignored it. Mind you, he's in the sick cage, the only cage left because he got booted last night. All the while I was trying to think of what to do. Then I took the two healthier babies out, put them in with him, put them in another room, put the weak one back with mom. I was desperate and grasping at straws. She had to not see or hear her other chicks because she was ignoring this one. The chick began screaming to be fed. Mom kept going in and out of the nest fast, seemed to fast to be feeding it, but I went in later and checked it's crop and there was a good amount of seed in it. At least that will get it through the night until I can figure out what to do tomorrow. I may have to supplement that chick. I also noticed, that chicks back is missing a good amount of feathers at the top of it's tail. Someone is picking on it. Brian, you're right. I don't know why I haven't named her yet. She's snow white with black tear drops. I just haven't done it for some reason. I tried a few names but nothing seemed to stick.

Wow, I laughed so hard at the first post! Then, I remembered you have a problem. I think I'd put fresh eggfood and soaked seed and millet out for the fledges. I would supplement the youngest, if mom doesn't feed him, but since they are fledged, they'd probably resist handfeeding at this point. Therefore, the easy to eat food and a shallow water dish can help them wean quicker than they would if mom was feeding them well. She probably is tired and needs a break. I hope they all stay healthy and wean quickly.

Today's saga...I tried to put the male back. I know...not normally a good idea. But I had my 10 year old male that is the most ornery thing going and I've done the "in the cage, out of the cage" shuffle with him a million times with various mates. One day he hates her, and the next day they are in love. Of course in his 10 year life, he's only had a mate for 2 years (she died) and his present mate he hated, now loves, who is with him only a few months. Maybe it's senility that caused him to accept her now. Okay...getting off the point. The male, of course started to pluck the female again, so now what to do?! I took HER out. She needs a break. She needs to fatten up and grow some feathers. He needs to be watched carefully with the babies to make sure he's not the one who plucked the weak chick. That chick has been really hungry today but has seeds in it's crop, though not many. I tried to supplement it. Forget it. I need a pry bar to get it's mouth open! I didn't remember about soaking seeds. That's a great idea! I will put egg food, and I have a food with the tiniest of black seeds that might be good. I will be watchful today and see what happens. Thanks all!

Fledges will try the millet, eggfood, sliced veggies, or the freeze dried bloodworms, since those all are easy to eat until their beaks get strong.

Corkysgirl --- Good call on taking mum out for a bit. Hopefully dad will do a good job, with no plucking!

Deborah's idea on the millet, egg, veggies and bloodworms is great.
My little one is all over the millet and eggs. Millet was the first thing she tried.

As an aside, I think that is *hilarious* about your nephew naming everything. He's my type of kid! I name everything too.

I had to chuckle at your dog's name, as our latest doggy additions were rescued together. Their names are Fiona (JRT) and Caitlin (Yorkie). Fifi and Caitie (sounds like Kady, I think) for short!
It's crazy how many words dogs can learn.
It hit me last night with this: we always look out our back slider at night to see the cats and other creatures at our feeding station. My husband says a very distinctive "Hello, babies!" when they're out there. Caitie loves yelling at them from the slider and last night, she woke from a dead sleep in the bedroom and high-tailed it into the kitchen to yell at them, grumbling all the way! Little twit knew exactly what "Hello, babies" meant!

Yes, she's not happy today, but I had to do it. The weak one still doesn't have a lot in his crop and is still weak. I soaked seed, gave them eggfood, but only the oldest will eat. I just have to pray the chick makes it another week or so until it starts eating on it's own. I didn't see the dad plucking the babies. My nephew is really funny. We actually have the same name. He's "boy Corey" and I'm "girl Corey." It's funny because I answer to his name every time he's getting yelled at...and that's often. All the relatives live 2 miles away on the farm. That's funny your dog's names are so similar to mine. With Kady, we pronounce the "d" more than how Catie sounds. We had to do that because my niece...down the road, is named Katie. My family is so big, we've got most names covered. Yes, dogs are very smart indeed!

I know, it's a weird post! You would understand if you read the post with the heading "Her real name isn't Dammit!" For four months or so I've not named my snow white zebra finch with black tear drops below her eyes. Then today it hit me. I was waiting for the ahah moment. I don't like to just name my birds. She was flying so gracefully and looked just like an angel. Not only that but I thought back over the time I first saw her. She was in a cage filled with finches that had their feathers plucked, bedraggled, and she was just sitting off to the side, trying to stay away from the carnage. I brought her home and she definitely had some wear and tear, feathers missing on her back and some broken on her wing. I had to treat her with S76. I was not her friend, catching her, putting it on her. Then I give her a mate who hates her! Then onto the next mate, and he's no prize either! He has the worst song of any bird I've ever heard, but she endures. Me, not so much! They mate, have babies, and he turns on her. He too decides to pluck her back bald and she once again has no feathers and looks worse than when she came here. But she's still beautiful, and she will be more beautiful when her feathers grow back. She will look just like an angel. He, just may go to a happy home, where he can sing his song to someone else, who may appreciate it more. I hope he doesn't pluck their feathers out, but if he does, they can name him appropriately because he too has no name!

Corkysgirl

I've merged the two topics together. 'Her name really isn't "Dammit"' and '"Dammit's" new name is Angel!' are now one, so that other members will be able to follow the story more easily.

And Angel is a much nicer name, though Dammit did have its place!

Aw, poor Angel.

I like her new name!

Poor girl has had a hard go of it lately, it sounds.
I hope life gets better for her, with a new mate who appreciates her!

Yes, poor thing is just watching the father with her babies, longingly. I'm just going to wait to see how they grow, which will make a good pair for her, but not mate her. Or if I decide to mate her, I will mate her with the one I'm sure now is from the other female if it turns out to be a male. (Remember the saga, "Two females, one nest, same father." But, as I sit here, I'm saying no more babies. I can't even count how many times I've said that. The chicks are doing better, even the weak one, though it's definitely not getting fed as much as the others. At least it's holding it's own today.