FINCHforum

One of the canary chick is not getting fed. It is the smallest out of five. The parents are good its just the chick is so small the others are getting all the food. What I have done is to start feeding it. I leave it in the nest and feed it. The help I need is what should I feed it? Right now I am using Exact baby bird food. Is that okay? How should I handle this problem?

Acky

You're doing good.
That's the same food that I use to top off my babies when they need it, or when I just feel like feeding babies. My Canary babies have had it, as well as Gouldians, Zebras, and Societies, without any problems.

Just make sure that the parents are also feeding him, because there comes a time, when he may stop accepting food from you.

Good luck.

~Elana~

lovezebs

I fed him 3 times today before noon. The last 2 times I checked him and just a few minutes ago he had been fed by mom and dad. So for now I'll just keep an eye on the chick. If he gets hunger I'll feed again. Thanks for answering me.

This is often an issue with canaries due to eggs hatching days apart so the smaller chick/last to hatch has difficulty competing for food against older siblings. What alot of canary breeders do is replace the eggs with dummy eggs on the morning they are laid, then once fourth or fifth egg is laid they switch them back, doing this results in all the eggs hatching together so chicks are all same age/size.

All you can really do at moment is top up feeding of the smaller chick as your doing

Thanks... I have heard of that. And I do have some fake eggs. So may be next time.