Dead hatchlings found and abandonment

[Layla]

I found two hatchlings in my bird's nest on Monday and the next day found two more. Everything was good until today-Thursday- when I went to check on them and found what appeared to be a bloody head poking out from the bottom of the nest. I immediately started freaking out so my mom and brother went in and were able to pull its body from the nest along with another, less mangled, small hatchling. The other two seem very large and strong for now, only the first time parents have left the nest now for quite a while and don't seem to want to get near it. While my brother was reaching into the nest to extract the dead hatchlings they didn't seem to care at all and continued to play at the bottom of the cage. What worries me most though is that while there's nothing left of it in the nest, most of the first hatchlings body wasn't recovered, could my birds have done something to it? They were very attentive to if not a tad bit aggressive with them up until now, but now they seem to want nothing to do with their remaining babies. Is there anything I can do to help?

[Layla]

They have a wicker nest and the parents have been removing the hay from the nest all day to the point where the remaining hatchlings are basically sitting on the wicker and it seems like they had pulled through most of the first hatchling that i found sticking out earlier, i can see blood where it was sticling out so i know they pulled it apart but why did they do this? Ive tried to find other cases online of birds doing this to their young but i cant

[Rob]

Layla

That sounds dreadful, sorry to hear about the situation.

What species of bird?

My initial, uneducated/inexperienced, thought is some sort of bug, or mites, got in there.

[Layla]

Rob Theyre zebra finches. After a few hours, they've both rejoined the nest but aren't feeding the hatchlings, just sitting partly on them. I called the local store I got them from and was told to separate and attempt to hand feed them but I'm wondering if the parents will try caring for them again since they're both in the nest again

[Icearstorm]

Layla

One of my society finches at several eggs and hatchlings, so cannibalism isn't unheard of. For some birds it could be genetic (these birds should not be bred again), but for many, it is due to nutritional deficiency. What are you feeding them? Egg and a calcium source (cuttlebone, ground shells, calcium powder, calcium drops for water, etc) should be available for breeding birds in addition to the normal seed. Have you witnessed any feather-eating? This could indicate protein deficiency.

[Layla]

Icearstorm I feed them seed mixed with calcium supplements, cuttlebone, have millet branches all over the bottom of the cage as well as a dish of gravel and supplement for them to eat. I also provide an occasional boiled egg mashed and combined with their seed but this isn't done daily.

[Icearstorm]

Layla

Egg every day would be better at this time, though the rest of the diet sounds good. Many zebra finches can raise babies on just seed, so it would be unusual for them to become cannibalistic with the diet you're providing. It's hard to know for sure what their problem is.