Month old Baby Finch Seperated

[CactusJohn5]

We (my wife and I) have been keeping Zebra finches for almost 10 years, we have had about 15 babies throughout the years and currently had 8, so we decided to let them have 2 more babies as they are about 4 years old and we wanted to keep the "bloodline" going. So about a month ago we let them keep 3 eggs, and 3 babies hatched, unfortunately about 2 days later we noticed one of the babies had passed. Fast forward to today and we have 2 fluffy month old babies!!! They are fly/hopping around and makes lots of noise. UNFORTUNATELY i noticed the mom chancing around one of her babies today, when i got up to figure out all the commotion, i realized that the baby was bleeding pretty badly on the back of the neck and the mom was pecking her pretty aggressively. In 10 years i have NEVER seen this in person.

So thankfully we have a "medical" cage set up and 2 females living peaceably in it, One had a broken foot and the other has a bathing issue (she doesn't like to take a bath).

So i have a couple of questions. #1 WTH why did the mom do this?
#2a can the baby eat on it's own yet? #2b can i hand feed it somehow?
#3 what are the odds of the females feeding the baby?
#4 There is some blood on "her" neck should i treat it somehow or just let it heal on it's own?
#5 thanks in advance for any tips or advice!

[Flight Feathers]

At one month old this baby is probably too young to be weaned. They don’t usually get weaned till they are 6 weeks old (although some do wean a little earlier) there probably isnt a lot of chance that the females will feed it so For now you will need to hand feed it. You can boil an egg and mix it with water or buy some hand rearing formula. Good luck!

[lovezebs]

CactusJohn5

Hi,

Sorry to hear about this incident.

Regarding the wound, I would clean it up with some peroxide and put a dab of antibiotic cream on the actual spot.

Regarding the baby eating or being fed...
Zebra babies usually wean at between 4-6 weeks, so baby if he's a month old should be pretty close.

At this stage, it's difficult to start handfeeding, as babies usually will not accept food from you.

As to your 2 other hens, I honestly don't think they will feed (but stranger things have happened).

Another option, is to place this chick with the father in another cage, allowing Dad to feed him until he's weaned.

If that doesn't work, then offer this little fellow soft food at the bottom of the cage, such as grated hard boiled egg, minced greens and spray millet. Also make sure that there is a very shallow dish of water available., and keep a very close eye on it to see if he's eating and drinking.

Good luck.

[Fraza]

CactusJohn5 is the nest still in the cage maybe she’s getting agressive because she wants to re breed, if it is still in their you could try taking it out and seein if that works

[CactusJohn5]

Overnight updates.

So as expected the 2 females were like, NAH you can eat on your own, just do this. And the baby is "eating" she is able to SLOWLY take a seed and crack it and "eat", but she isn't drinking.

So we moved BOTH babies into a new cage and are going to move dad over too so it will just be the 2 month olds and dad for a couple of weeks.

The wound is really gross, we didn't realize how bad it was. We are going to try to use a warm q-tip on it when she is relaxed and has eaten, shes had a stressful last 2 days.

Thanks for the advice i really appreciate it.

[Icearstorm]

CactusJohn5

If the father doesn't feed it in the next few hours, you will need to get the baby some water. There are several ways of doing this:

Float some millet (spray millet could be good) in a shallow container of water; the baby might get some water when it tries to eat.

Feed moist food; egg, broccoli, green beans, etc. The baby will probably need to see other birds eating the new food before it eats it.

Fill a syringe or other container with water, and stick the tip of the bird's beak in the water; it should then drink. Try to hold the bird where its head is horizontal while it drinks. This is probably the easiest way to tell the bird is getting water, though some birds will not drink from being too stressed by you holding them.

Spill water on some newspaper or paper towels, and the baby might try to drink from that. I had a juvenile gouldian that didn't know how to drink from the water dish, but it did figure out how to drink the water I spilled on the floor.


If the bird is lethargic but not fluffed up, it is probably dehydrated. If it is fluffed up, it could be hungry or ill, as well. If the bird is acting normally, then it should be fine for a bit longer.

[CactusJohn5]

Great news guys, we were able to get "dad" even though we have 3 males that all look almost identical! As soon as he got in the cage, injured baby started begging and he feed her, and in the last hour has feed her 2 more times.

So i am content with her eating and drinking, i am now concerned with the wound. Maybe n a couple hours i want to try to clean it. I'll let you know how that goes.

[Icearstorm]

CactusJohn5

Alright, that's good to hear! It sounds like everything's under control.