FINCHforum

I have two birds that have had a second litter of babies. They laid 4 eggs and 3 hatched on 11/10/2017. Two of the babies are growing up just fine. I have a 3rd that's growth has stunted. It still looks like it just hatch out of the egg. The parents continue to feed this little bird as normal. The gullet is always full of seeds. It is completely thriving and it has survived two falls out of the nest quite a distance for that little bird. It remains solid and hearty and the falls have not affected it as I can see so far.


** My questions are:

• Why is the 3rd hatchling not growing / developing / maturing?

• What can I do to help?

Jesse Sk

Are you sure that baby #3 hatched at the same time as the other two?

To me it almost looks as if he might have hatched from an egg that was added to the earlier clutch as an after thought by the parents.

I would definitely keep a close eye on him, and make sure he doesn't attempt to fledge when the other two do (which should be any time by the looks of things). He is way too young and immature to leave the nest as yet.

He looks fine to me, and as long as he continues to beg, and the parents continue to feed him, I think he'll be okay.

I would add some hard boiled eggs to their diet, as the extra protein and nutrients are essential to chick growth and developement, along with some fresh greens and spray millet.

I've seen this before, It will catch up eventually. Watch though when the others fledge to make sure it is still being fed.

Hi Elana,

Good question. Here are all 3 hatched within in days of each other.

Nov 10th


Great suggestion. I bought Quiko Exotic Egg Food Supplement for Finches. The parents are loving it

Thanks for your quick reply
-=Jesse=-

Hi Lori,

Thanks, you give a me great relief to know this can happen. I check in as much as can 24/7 on that little bird.

And thanks for your quick reply
-=Jesse=-

Jesse Sk You've gotten some good advice already, but I wanted to welcome you to the forum! The Quicko egg food is great, but my personal opinion is that you can't beat the real thing--hard-boiled eggs. You can mash that egg and add some of the Quicko to dry it out a bit. I mash the egg shell and all, but others will remove the shell, dry it out a bit, really crush it small, and then feed it separately, usually along with the other minerals.

Jesse Sk

Hi Jesse,

Has the little fella grown any in the last couple of days?

Elana,

I will give that ago.

Thx
Jesse

Hi Elana,

Doing great!

Here is Chicken Little at 32 Days. Chicken Little's 2 siblings are in and out of the nest. Chicken Little's parents continue to feed this little bird as normal. The gullet is always full. Has not feel out of the nest. All is good.

Cheers
-=Jesse=-

Jesse Sk

Although slowly it looks like he's coming along. Societies are so dedicated. His beak does seem odd shaped with the sharp curve at the end.

Going to be interesting to see how he feathers out.

Babs exactly what I was thinking he looks like a mini eagle wish I got a shock like that I’m desperate to see his outcome Jesse Sk when you have a bird like this you always end up getting more of a bond with it are you gonna keep the little fella

Jesse Sk

"Chicken Little" lol. Love that name.

I'm glad to see that he's doing well and coming along nicely. He looks bright and alert and well fed.

Regarding his little beak, it does have an odd tip to it . At some point, you might have to trim that tip back a bit, to even it up with the bottom part of the beak . This will help if he runs into problems with eating as he gets older.

A normal Society beak should look like this:

Thanks Elana,

For all the tips. I keep and eye out for all this. More pictures as things change.

The name came from my 11yr old daughter. He got the name the 1st week; as he was the smallest of them all.

Cheers
-=Jesse=-

Howdy Babs & Fraza,

"gonna keep the little fella" I reckon so. We keep such a close eye on him. I'll keep y'all posted

Cheers
-=Jesse=-

Strange how we all differ, which is a good thing. I would definitely not want to keep the little one, because there I don't want his / her genetics in my flock. If I had to keep it, it would be separate from my other societies. It is normal for a hatchling to be mature enough to be able to leave the nest after about 20 days. To my thinking there must be something wrong with it's genetic makeup and I would not want the fault to be perpetuated in the offspring of my birds. If a human baby is not growing properly, doctors would run extensive tests and would 10 to 1 find something wrong with one of the major organs.

I keep birds because I love birds and I really like breeding them, but it is also important to me to breed good quality birds. I get a lot of pleasure out of watching them, and seeing their interaction, but I really get a kick out of breeding the more difficult species.

I don't know if the little one would be healthy, but I certainly not allow it to breed.