FINCHforum

I'm sure that this has been covered before but; a zebra fledgling has left the nest today (after being put back a few days ago when I was sure it wasn't ready) and although mum and dad are being attentive, I haven't observed it being fed yet. This isn't my main concern but the mother appears to be pecking at the baby and removing feathers instead of feeding it. Any ideas why this is happening? They are in a mixed aviary but no one else is bothering it and it seems ok otherwise.

i had canaries that did that after babies fledged to feather their next clutch/nest. It was irritating, but you ended up having to separate them so they couldn't do it. In the wild the babies would probably leave and go on their own. Perhaps mom is telling it to leave?

In the canaries we had, we just put them in a separated breeder cage so they could be fed by parents through the cage bars if need be. Usually works.

I have seen the situation where a chick is either white or pied, and the MOTHER would become aggressive to it. I don't know why, the white/pied color would trigger the behavior in the mother, but I have seen it happen enough times that I noticed the pattern.

Then I have to separate the birds
- dad with the white/pied chicks
- mom with the others

Sometimes parents will pluck babies to get nesting material/feathers for the next nest/clutch.