Do parents stay in the nest once the babies hatch?

[Rob]

So far my only experience is with society finches, who love to be in nests. I have a pair of firefinches who have been sitting on eggs, and they should have hatched the last couple of days. Last night they were both out of the nest, and I assumed they got spooked. The male eventually went back in, but I haven't seen the female go back in yet, and tonight again the male is out with her flying around.

I'm now wondering, is this normal behaviour? Do they only need to go in to feed them now? Should I be worried at this point?

Thanks

[Icearstorm]

Rob

Birds usually brood their chicks for the first several days, so there should be at least one adult in the nest most of the time. Depending on the temperature, they can both be out for a bit, though one of them will usually concentrate on eating so they can feed the chicks, rather than aimlessly fly around.

[cindy]

Parents should be sitting on newly hatched chicks for warmth, they do not feed the young right away since the chicks live off the egg sac attached to the belly, this should absorb with 24 to 48 hours if kept warm, if parents are not warming the absorption is slowed down, bacteria can set in and around the egg sac. As long as one or both sit steady on the chicks after hatching that is fine.... fires are sensitive, do not like to be bothered much.

[lovezebs]

Rob

If the chicks are newly hatched, one parent or both should be in the nest with them to keep them warm and safe. Once the chicks are feathered, the parents may stay out, only spending time in the nest sporadically, but feed on a very regular basis.

Are you hearing any begging when the parents go near to the nest?

If there is no begging, then the eggs may not have hatched yet.

If they are flying around and not going into the nest at all, then they may have abandoned the nest. Give them some more time to settle down and hope for the best.

Good luck.

[Rob]

Thanks everyone. I'll keep monitoring and updating. The male was in there this morning again, so I'm thinking the evening is just his time to stretch his wings and get out of the house for a bit, so to speak. And the female I haven't seen go in, but she does look inside from time to time, so it's tough to know if she's fully abandoned or not. Quite peculiar behavior.

[haroun]

I know that the african finches start spending the night outside the nest and leave chickd alone at 10th day cause of the heat african night but did not do that so early just after hatcheling day chick will for sure die

[Rob]

haroun

Thanks for the info. It's just the evening, not the full night. About 3 hours I'd guess, and then he's in there all night from around 10-10:30 onwards, and I suspect throughout the day (he's still in there when I leave for work, and when I get home from work). It used to be the female that stayed in around the clock, accept the odd times when she'd come out and he'd go in instead.

Also of note, my lighting is on a very weird schedule, because the light/timer was set up for an aquarium and since they showed signs of wanting to breed from day one I never bothered messing with anything because it was working for them and I wanted to leave it alone.

At 6:00am a light comes on, pointed directly at the cage, and goes off around 10:00am. There's a lamp that I manually turn on around 8:00am, and there's ambient sunlight in the room when it's sunny outside during the day. The light comes on again at 5:00pm and then off again at 8:00pm, but the room is still lit by lamps until 9:00pm, and then the room is dimly lit until around 10:00 pm. Between 8:00 pm and 10:00 pm they are quiet active, while my lavender finch that shares the cage sleeps right at 8:00pm.

[cindy]

Babies often are not loud enough to be heard until about day 3 to 5... often newly hatched young are very quiet beggers making sounds only the parents can hear.... by the time you hear them slightly they are a few days old.

[Rob]

This morning I found a baby in their food dish. It's still alive, but crops aren't full. I'm looking into how to hand feed, but for now I've moved it in with the society finches in hopes that they decide to feed it. It looks a few days old.

I was able to get peak in the nest, without distrubing it, from afar (it's a side entrance nest, and not very deep) and I could see 3 more eggs. The other day I only saw one other egg. Could they be starting a new clutch already? Would that be why they tossed the baby?

[cindy]

sometimes parents can sense if something is wrong with the baby, they will not feed. does the baby still have the egg sac on the belly? belly gray, discolored, feed and top of the head white?

before handing it off to fosters check the baby over.... warm it in a brooder at around 94 degrees and dilute some hand feeding formula to a watery consistency and give a drop to hydrate.

[Rob]

cindy

Here are some pictures I took. Is that the egg sac on the bottom end? I have a heat lamp above the cage where the nest is. I gave a little bit of watery egg food through a syringe.

[cindy]

needs to be at 94 degrees right were the baby is.

[Fraza]

Rob if I was you I would try the society’s ive always used society’s to raise abandoned ones and they are good with them they can’t resist but feed a chick

Maybe even the eggs they have stuck them into the society’s nest and let them start fresh