question about separating young Scarlet chested parakeets

[finchandlovebird]

Today Dad was chasing Pasta unmercifully; so I removed the little guy.
Pasta hatched 9/23, fledged 10/22, & I removed him today, 10/20.

First clutch was Spaghetti;
he hatched 8/4, fledged 8/30, & I had to remove him 9/21.

I put Pasta in with Spaghetti today. Removed the nest box from parents' cage. One chick remains & he/she is being chased now.

Does Dad only chase the male chicks? Is this normal behavior to have to remove the chicks? If the remaining chick is a female, will Dad leave it alone?

Hope Cindy can chime in here, as she seems to be an expert on SCP.

[cindy]

yes the fathers if wanting to mate again will (not all parents are like this) chase offspring if they sense the young are males. They generally are gentle but you do get the dads that are territorial... it is a good idea in general to remove the young about a week or two after weaning completely from the parents flight. This is provided that they are completely weaned, no begging or feeding. It is a good idea to remove the young once completely weaned if you allow the parents to double clutch. You need to pay particular attention to them being completely weaned before removing, if they are not but look like they are eating but only going through the motions they will go down quick.

I do not allow double clutching, I found it very taxing on scarlet parents. Bourkes are bit more hardy and can usually handle a double clutch. This being said it also depends on the parents...some work as a team feeding others just the father does the brunt of the feedings and with two back to back clutches scarlet males tend to tire out. I give about 3 months of rest between the 1st and second clutch for those parents.

Most young grasskeets fledge and start exploring food dishes but not fully taking in what they need and still depend on the parents to feed them.

If dad is chasing unweaned young that have fledged, remove the nest box, if that does not work then remove dad and let mom finish out the feeding to wean... watching this very carefully since it is dad not mom that does the brunt of the work feeding the young to weaning. I have on occasion had to supplement with one pair's young and wean them out.

[cindy]

Babies that you think are weaned but are merely going through the motions of playing with the food in their mouths and not actually eating...look for signs of sleeping to much, squinty eyes, sitting on the bottom and not real active, thin body mass, small scant droppings.

Babies not drinking yet on their own, the belly skin takes on a darkish pink reddish color, squinty eyes, sleepy. legs look dehydrated, wrinkly not smooth.

[cindy]

the one that fledged on the 22nd you removed today, the 30th not the 20th... was it eating completely on it's own and drinking... add extra soft foods and dried egg food to the dishes. They usually will wean off on food like this faster.

Mature male scarlet can on occasion kill or seriously injure other males in a flight that they see as a threat to their hen, nest box.

[finchandlovebird]

yes, Pasta was removed today, 10/30. Got the date wrong.
Cindy.......thanks SO MUCH for your advice

[finchandlovebird]

can we assume these ones that were chased by Dad, were males????

[cindy]

Possibly but to be 100% you need to DNA or wait until they start to color out around 6 to 7 months... those little red feathers popping out will be your sign they are male. The line under the wing is hit or miss and not always reliable since young that are sex as to looking to be males based on the partial line are 50/50 some do sex out to be boys and others hens... partial lines can change. The young with no line and the underside of the wing is totally gray are better certain to be males. The ones with a thick continual line (thickness is about the width of a pencil) are likely hens.

I hang onto the young until after 6 to 7 months before selling, by then you should know the sex, anything young that are not colored out by 8 to 9 months are likely hen... again to be certain DNA is hands down the way to tell early on.

I have watched mine, most my pairs do not mine the offspring in with them, a few do. The ones the males chase usually tend to be boys. I have had a hen chase a youngster around, turned out to be a hen. Keep track and see if they do turn out to be boys.

[cindy]

If you want you can get a picture of the underside of the babies wings, label them with numbers for each baby and we can see if we can guess the sex, to see if when they color out they method was accurate.

[finchandlovebird]

how's this Cindy?

[finchandlovebird]

that was Pasta.
Here is Spaghetti, the other kid a little older

[cindy]

those are one of the ones that can be iffy...I have seen the lines disappear which is a male or it turn out to be a hen, with those broken or faded lines I recommend waiting or DNA.

let me get you a link to show you sexing by lines...

[cindy]

on the site, see the underside of the wing, it is gray void of the white line, the hens have a good solid thick line... they also show one of the lines that are broken, dotty... the author also comments about those not being a guarantee the sex is male.

Personally I could have swore ones with the broken lines or faded lines were males by behavior or look to the mask but they turned out to be hens.

No more guessing with those I wait until they mature more
http://thesplendidbourkebirdblog.blogsp ... y-sex.html

[finchandlovebird]

Cindy, I don't have bands. Is there any way I can mark Pasta & Spaghetti so I know them apart???? Spaghetti, being the older one, has a darker beak.

[finchandlovebird]

Cindy, what behavior of the bird makes you think it would be a male.

ALSO, why DNA when you can just wait 6 - 7 months for colors?

[cindy]

It is just based on my observing them.. the stance, how chattery they are, my male young chatter away at times, hens are usually quietier. Males are more bold, a little bit more active.