FINCHforum

My baby JUST learned how to eat seeds yesterday on his own. He goes rather slow because he has slight scissor beak but today his Dad was attacking him, and Mom wont feed him.. so I had to move him to his own cage. I am hesitant to move Dad in with him and leave Mom in the other cage because Dad was quick to attack, forcing him to the bottom of the cage, pecking, etc. (This is after days of plucking problems). Dad was still feeding baby today.. but he is also starting to eat more millet on his own. Now that he is alone I am afraid he won't be ok. I don't know how much he should be eating, or how to get him to eat more. I provided him millet (spray, and loose), a seed mixture with dried fruit, egg food, chopped up soft boiled eggs, chopped up broccoli florets, finely minced sunflower and pumpkin seeds (in desperation), and water. I have no idea what else to do. They have been calling back and forth to each other for hours, nearly all day. I don't know if baby is starving because he doesn't beg unless he is right next to his Dad.

(Sorry that I restated this question in a new topic but I wanted to ensure as many people as possible saw it and I need advice ASAP. I cannot hand-feed him as he won't take it. I am going to pick up pellets as soon as I have the funds for it.)

What else can I give him? Or do?

He was born May 20th, fledged June 12th, and just started eating seeds 2 days ago after a few failed attempts.

It is very difficult to try to handfeed a baby once they have fledged, they will rarely accept it. And if the baby has just started eating some on his own, he may not be able to take in enough food by himself. Usually, if you have problems with one parent attacking a baby, it is better to remove the parent that is doing the attacking. Did you try moving Dad to another cage and leaving the baby with Mom? Or if Mom won't feed, even try moving Mom and leave Dad with the baby.

Usually, when the male parent starts chasing/attacking the babies, it is because he wants to start a new nest/clutch and he wants these babies out of the way. Sometimes, just separating the parents will work to get one or the other parent to feed.

My first option, split the clutch into separate cages
- mom with this chick
- dad with other chicks
And the cages should be out of visual contact with each other. You want the mom to pay attention to the chick, not her mate.

Keep an eye on them, if mom won't feed him, you may have to reverse the mix, and put dad with him. This may work because mom isn't in the cage with dad to get him interested in mating again.

And NO NEST in the cage.
A nest is a trigger to breed.

I had to split clutches when one parent (usually the mom), starts to pick on a particular chick (usually a white or pied chick). Then dad gets the white/pied chick and mom gets the others.

Second and less desirable is to "try" to hand feed the chick. As Sally said, this can be very difficult, as they don't associate you with food. Prying open their beak may injure them (although I have done it). And you need to be very careful not to get food down the wrong pipe into their lungs...or they will die.

I had a feeling he wouldn't be able to eat enough on his own. I will try putting Dad in with him tomorrow and monitor them for a while. The cage they were all in was a standard 18 x 16 x 16? So clearly three of them in there isn't a lot of room. I just put baby in a bigger finch flight cage so he has been able to fly around.. and hopefully Dad in there with him will ease some tension. Also.. when I had a problem with plucking separating Dad for a day seemed to calm things down for a few days.. so hopefully I can gain a few more days and get the baby on track! I am worried sick over him!!!! Even if I have to hide Mom in the bathroom for a while she will just have to deal. She didn't wanna be separated from her baby yet she refuses to feed him and almost let him starve!!! It was at the point where the baby was chasing her around, jumping on her, pecking at her, and biting her legs because he was so hungry and yet she just looked around like, "Der???".

Also he is the only baby from two eggs... and the nest has been gone. I also already tried hand feeding him as well. He will not come near me, and if I hold him he will not take the food. I even tried putting a tiny bit on the side of his beak and he licked it away but did NOT want it at all. I don't like constantly holding him because I don't want to stress him and he wiggles away and flies all over the place. I certainly do NOT want to force his beak open and try to feed him that way. I have absolutely NO experience with hand feeding anything.. so I don't even want to try.

Worst case if I HAVE to put Dad in the cage with him in a shift like manner.. I guess thats what I will have to do. Or if I can Macgyver some kind of separation for the flight cage so I can easily put up a divider if need be I will try to do that too.

Are all foods I provided good? And is that an ample selection for a newbie baby?

Typically with zebras mom feeds early on and dad finishes it up and feeds until weaning. Dad usually handles the fledgling while mom takes care of the other young in the nest.

The young fledgling if not eating well enough on it's own and not completely weaned can go light quickly. Either put the baby back until weaned even though dad plucks when the family is together or separate the dad from mom and try putting a barrier up so the parents can't see each other. Watch dad carefully to make sure dad is feeding the baby. Also try adding a dish of dried eggfood for the baby to eat. I would avoid fatty seeds like sunflower.

If you can find some hulled millet (often at a health food store, Whole Foods), that may be easier for him to eat. Though it is funny, that hulling instinct is so strong that I have watched fledglings trying to hull the hulled millet!