FINCHforum

My zebras have been raising their five chicks for almost two weeks and all has been going well. I checked on them tonight however and it seems that one of them is not responding and I can't see the lungs moving. :'( What do I do? This is my first ever clutch. Do I remove the chick? How do I do it without disturbing the other chicks? I have an enclosed bamboo nest. They won't fledge for another week and a half or so. Do the parents typically remove the chick on their own? I worry about it rotting in there with the healthy chicks. Thank you!

Parents usually throw out dead chicks when those are still very small, but may have trouble with a bigger corpse. Remove it using a long tweezer or something.
Definitely don't let it rot among the living ones.

In the future, switch to using a nestbox with a top or side you can open for easier control.
Zebras should be fine with it.

garylancelot

How are things going?
Have you found a way to remove the dead chick, or did the parents take care of it?

How are the other infants doing?

lovezebs

Thank you for checking!

The other chicks are doing really great. They are almost as big as their parents! Albeit they haven't many feathers yet, but their tail feathers are coming in nicely and they match the patterns of their parents.

As far as the chick we lost, I decided that I would remove it the next day after work. When I go home, I found it on the floor of the cage, meaning the parents had discarded it at some point during the day. As far as I can figure, it was probably the youngest and weakest. I think it probably just didn't get fed enough in trying to compete with the others.

Thank you again for checking in!!!

garylancelot

When we raise birds, we have to be prepaired for some heartaches.

Sometimes we can save and handfeed underfed chicks, and sometimes we can't, it is just the waynature works (survival of the fittest).

I'm glad to hear that the other babies are growing and thriving.
Some pictures, would be nice

The best of luck with your growing little family.

lovezebs



The nest is a bit messy from mom and dad, but I'm going to clean that as soon as they fledge (which should hopefully be in a little under a week from now).

Their little tail feathers are matching their parents' and I LOVE it!!!

Why I love and am obsessed with finches so much, I will never understand...