Chicks being beaten.

[Ricardo Ronsini]

Hi.

I have a problem here, one of my gouldian pairs is spanking their chicks, the babies' heads and eyes are swollen, with some wounds, and missing some feathers. I suppose the female is to blame, as she is spending less time in the nest, and i only see the male feeding the youngs now.

Two of the chicks are about to fledge, the third seems to be a little behind of his siblings.

I suspect she wants to mate again, so i placed new nests in the aviary today, but in case that doesn't work, would it be better to remove her?

I'm afraid the male would abandon the chicks if i take the female out.

Any advices?

[Babs _Owner]

Ricardo Ronsini

Look around her nest. what is making her angry and territorial to the point of turning her anger on her kids.?


I suspect privacy is the biggest issue, solitude. Goudlians dont breed well with a lot of traffic.

Those kids are too old now to be tossed. Something outside is making her angry.

[lovezebs]

Ricardo Ronsini

If the babies are being injured you may need to remove them and hand feed, or you might end up with blind chicks, or maimed chicks, or worse.

[Ricardo Ronsini]

Babs lovezebs

Thanks gals.

I do saw another pair invading their nest, and removed them right after that, to avoid any annoyance, but i believe it probabily was the trigger of such vicious behavior.

[Ricardo Ronsini]

Sorry, i meant "i did see"

[Babs _Owner]

Ricardo Ronsini

Was it the rival pair attacking the kids? I've never heard of gouldian parents attacking their own young at a late age in the nest. They just usually abandon. They may drive them off with aggression after weaning them......When they are sitting on another clutch.

I suspected something was up, because when gouldians want to mate again, they will do it right there in the nest with the kids.

[lovezebs]

Ricardo Ronsini

I hope that this is the problem.

Do you have enough nests for everyone?

[Ricardo Ronsini]

Babs

You are right, today i was watching the birds to try to figure out what is going on, and i saw another female flying from inside the nest with some feathers on her beak.

The problem is that the same female has chicks of her own, so i can't just remove her.

It is very odd, her chicks have about the same age of the ones she is attacking.

[Ricardo Ronsini]

lovezebs

Yes, i have added some extras.

[Babs _Owner]

Ricardo Ronsini

Pile on extra food. Veggies, loads of millet and boiled egg. Put out more feeding stations. Possibly the rival hen feels the need to kill competition for food. Thats the only motive I could think of for nest raiding when she already has a nest with her own healthy chicks.

If that doesnt work. Let us know. Maybe others have ideas as well.

[Ricardo Ronsini]

Babs

I already am providing them with lots of egg food, hard boiled eggs, seeds, pellets, veggies... I can't see why she would think that there isn't enough food.

[lovezebs]

Ricardo Ronsini

I would try to add some extra nesting material, including some soft feathers from another source.

The only other choice you have is to remove the attacking pir and their nest to another flight. They may or may not abandon, so be prepaired to hand feed just in case.

[ac12]

This is one reason why I do not colony breed. Too much chance of disturbance from other birds.

At this point, I see one of 2 options.
- remove the pair with chicks and their nest to their own spearate breeding cage.
- remove the attacking hen and her nest to a separate breeding cage.

Neither option is good, as it could result in the parent abandoning the nest and chicks.
So you need to be prepared to hand feed, and hope that the chicks begging will convince the parents to feed the chicks.

gud luk

[w.l.]

Chicks about to fledge will most likely refuse to be hand-fed by a human even if abandoned by their parents and about to starve.
Most young birds at that age already see humans as a threat unless regularly handled from earlier on.
Or have you had different experiences with Gouldians?
And even if they accept being hand-fed, it's quite a chore and not something to be undertaken lightly.

[lovezebs]

w.l.

It's a battle, but it can be done.
After the initial couple of days of downright nasty arguments and force feeds, they do come around and will accept feedings.