Cuban Melodious - We are getting closer (video May 16th)

[L in Ontario]

Hi Albert, Sad that that breeder "fosters her birds all the time". I only do it when I feel it's a situation of foster or let the bird die but thank you so much for the foster warning re Cuban chicks!! I never knew that about them. I'm so very sorry to hear about your first sea green PP female and her eggs - that's very sad.

I set my alarm to get me up at 5:30 this morning (when I typically get up at 7am) just so I could refill the Cuban eggfood dish. Well it was too late already - another chick had been tossed and died. I'd had enough. I felt around in the nest (which is facing the back of the cage so I cannot see into it whatsoever); and I felt an unhatched egg and a squirmy thing and pulled out a live chick... with a tiny bit of food in it!! Damn again. I know Poohbear said to leave them alone or they would abandon so I figured it would be useless to put it back. I gave it to my fosters since they have 5 hatchlings already. I figured 1 more won't make a difference. I didn't know they feed like Canaries but it was extremely "mobile" in my hand! It moved more than any other hatchling I'd ever held. Anyway that was two hours ago and it's still in the fosters nest now and momma Society is in there too. Good luck to it and to the remaining egg with the Cubans, I'll keep an eye on them.

[lovemyfinch]

I will say a little prayer for the little squirmy

[albert]

Sorry for the loss, and fingers crossed for the remaining ones, let's hope they will do it correctly next round.

Your alarm makes me recall months ago when I had to get up at 3am every night to hand feed a baby gould, it's a beautiful double factor silver, my wife finally chocked him when he was 2-3 days away to be on his own.

[CandoAviary]

Liz, best wishes with your cubans. I knew someone years ago that bred canaries, green singers and cubans. She said they all begged like that but hers raised thier own young without problems. Good luck.

Albert...sorry you lost your seagreen hen and then a handfed too .... sounds like you are having a rough go at it lately. Hopefully the troubles are behind you now.

[L in Ontario]

Thank you Albert. It's hard enough to lose them when parents toss but when handfeeding, I think we get an extra-bond with the chicks. Sorry about your DF Silver.

Thanks Candace.

It is so funny to see the little Cuban beg in the Societies' nest!! He sits up all by himself and begs (tall as can be)!! Then falls over exhausted. I did supplement feed him just now (his crop was empty though the others appeared to be as well) and will check him again in a couple of hours though I will probably have to chase the foster parents off the 6 hatchlings. I did top up the eggfood dish and then left the fosters to it. So far, so good.

The Cuban parents do got back into the nest mostly when I'm not in the room. If I'm in there they are usually out but haven't tossed the last one. I do not know if it hatched or not but they are still eating the eggfood. I won't check the nest but I'll be surprised if they don't toss it tomorrow while I'm out at my mother's for Mother's Day. Timing is not the best right now! Maybe it will be bad weather so I can put it off visiting her for a week? Yeah, that's not right either.

[Domenic]

At least you were able to save one. Now that he's in the societies' nest, PICS!!!!!!

[L in Ontario]

At least you were able to save one. Now that he's in the societies' nest, PICS!!!!!!

Let me try to get him through his first day before I take pics tomorrow afternoon (when I get home again).

Actually! I did take pics already! HA Alright, just let me upload a couple. Be right back...

[L in Ontario]

Okay here's the pic. Not the greatest but the Cuban is the little one right on top of the pile!

I tried to get a photo of him begging but I have to touch him to get that reflex and then by the time I get the camera up and wait a second for it to focus - yeah, he falls down. He can't wait forever... I just hope he survives.

[Domenic]

So cool thanks for sharing that! I was able to pick him out right away. His beak looks a little more elongated than the others. I imagined Cuban Melodious chicks to be very dark. Don't judge a chick by it's adult plumage.

[Finch13]

i had my cuban finches toss 3 out of 4 baby's. i put the last surviving baby with the society's and the next day the baby didn't make it. In my opinion society's and cuban finches feed their young differently so keep your eye on the little baby cuban finch for any changes. Good luck.

[L in Ontario]

Thanks Finch13 - I'll do my best but I guess chances are not in his favour already seeing as the Cubans just beg so differently.

Thanks for the warning though.

[ac12]

I wonder what would happen if the societies had a canary nest rather than the typical ABBA nest box. Then that would put them in a top down canary feeding position. But you have to do this from the beginning so they are used to that nest.

Come to think about it. When my zebras were in the small woven finch nest, at the certain point the chicks were all upright just to squeeze in the nest and the parents were feeding them from the top, walking on their shoulder and heads.

[L in Ontario]

Too bad I can't switch nests now. C'est la vie.

[lovemyfinch]

Do you have an update this mornng on how the little "squirmy" is doing Liz

[Sally]

Sorry for your loss, Liz. Tossing is one of the most frustrating breeding problems to deal with. One thing I found with mine is that about 30 minutes before lights out, I go thru and fill eggfood dishes in every cage that has incubating parents, and overfill the dishes on those that I know or suspect have babies. This way, they still have plenty of food in the morning. But then I still have a few parents that toss--just so hard to figure out what I am not doing for them.

Sorry too for your losses, Albert. The handfed losses are the hardest for me. You put so much of yourself into it, you start to feel you are the parent.