New Babies - New Parents - Lots of Questions

[saragoescrazy]

One of my zebra pairs has laid four eggs, and one of them looked like it just hatched - they ate the egg that the baby came out of - and then started what looked like pecking (but not like hard or anything) the chick - the chick rolled over and just as I was watching (and I had my hand under the nest) she fell into my hand, we cut a hole in the side of the cage since the nest is in a strange spot... and we put her back in...

Now, they'll sit on her but still "peck" her a little bit - is this normal? /

Also, if they abandon her is there any recipe for feeding the little babies that I can make? I'd love to try to save whatever ones I can!

Sorry first time baby finch parent here myself so I'm clueless!

[atarasi]

When I had Zebras, I had never heard of parents softly pecking their newly hatched chicks. That's just odd to me, however, birds are smarter than you think. If the chick is sick, sometimes a parent will remove it from it's nest because it knows from early on.

Hand rearing a chick might be more trouble than you think. You'll need to get a brooder to make sure the temperature is correct. Brooders aren't cheap. Then you'll need to feed it every 2 hours until it's about a week or so old. As harsh as it sounds, it might be best to allow nature to determine what's doing to happen with the babies. Not all birds are good parents, but they often learn from each attempt.

The problem I see with hand rearing or fostering is that you are not allowing the parents to learn to be good parents and you may be raising a chick that may in turn be a bad parent. In the wild, bad parents can't reproduce themselves.

Good luck, I hope they don't abandon the entire brood.

[saragoescrazy]

When I had Zebras, I had never heard of parents softly pecking their newly hatched chicks. That's just odd to me, however, birds are smarter than you think. If the chick is sick, sometimes a parent will remove it from it's nest because it knows from early on.

Thanks for the response, I think - well, it almost looks like they're trying to preen the chick - but, the chick doesn't have feathers so I have no idea. The chick is still in the nest since we put her back in... so I guess that's a good sign? Do the parents feed much in the first day or so, or do they do that later on?

Also another kind of strange question, I'm not sure what day old chicks are supposed to look like - but the chick has trouble sitting up - she kinda lays on her side, and rolls over and everything - when I saw her anyways - I haven't seen her really since, and the parents are both in the nest sitting on her and the other eggs... so I can hope that's a good sign...

But yeah, the bottom of her is kinda round, I assume that's because of being in the egg and everything but is it normal for them not to have any balance like in the first bit of time?

Oh, and the parents both ate the egg, is that normal or does the chick usually do that? I'm kinda clueless! Thanks for helping!

[livinonaprayer]

One of my zebra pairs has laid four eggs, and one of them looked like it just hatched - they ate the egg that the baby came out of - and then started what looked like pecking (but not like hard or anything) the chick - the chick rolled over and just as I was watching (and I had my hand under the nest) she fell into my hand, we cut a hole in the side of the cage since the nest is in a strange spot... and we put her back in...

Now, they'll sit on her but still "peck" her a little bit - is this normal? /

Also, if they abandon her is there any recipe for feeding the little babies that I can make? I'd love to try to save whatever ones I can!

Sorry first time baby finch parent here myself so I'm clueless!

Well, you're not alone. We're also first timers and possibly heading toward the same situation ourselves soon. The feedback from experienced finchers and breeders is soooooo appreciated. All the reading and research can't compare to first hand experience. Folks on this forum have helped me a lot.

[Sally]

I never saw the pecking you describe when I had Zebras, but then I have never been one to look in the nests much, so I really haven't a clue what goes on in there. The parents do eat the shell. In the wild, if they tossed the shell out of the nest, predators would know there were new babies inside, so it is a preservation sort of thing. Our caged birds still do some of those instinctive things. The babies will have a yolk sack which is absorbed the first day, that is their first nutrition. Then the parents start feeding the chicks.

There are excellent articles at the Finch Information Center, linked at left, on breeding and handfeeding. Also, be sure and read the species information on Zebras, it will help you a lot.

If you ever need a brooder, you can make your own. I got a small plastic carrier in the reptile section of the pet store, the kind that are like a small plastic aquarium, with a vented top. Then you tape a heating pad to the bottom and up the sides a little. Get a small thermometer and hygrometer (I think I got those in the reptile section, too), the kind that stick on the inside of the carrier. Fold up a small handtowel for the bottom, fashion a small bowl out of paper towels for the babies to lay in, and you're all set. You can control the temps somewhat with the heating pad, though I've heard that the new ones auto shut off after 2 hours, that would not be good. You control the humidity by rolling up a wet washcloth or two, and place them at the ends of the carrier.

If you have to handfeed, be aware that you will lose a lot of sleep--they need to eat about every two hours at first. I used Lafeber handfeeding formula.