Help with CFW nestlings

[lovezebs]

Hoping the Socies will pitch in. I know they took over my Gouldi eggs, hatched them, raised the three babies who have since fledged and now in the process of teaching them to eat on their own. My Socies are young and have never had babies of their own. Have never fostered before either.

Good luck.

~Elana~

[vienneparis]

afinch
This is their 3rd clutch and they did fine with the previous 2. For some reason, the parents are in a hurry to build another nest this time, right on top of another wicker nest! Hopefully, the societies will adopt the nestlings. I'll see what happens tomorrow.

[vienneparis]

Thaks Elana, keeping my fingers crossed

[Sally]

You have been getting excellent advice already! It's not likely the Societies will take over feeding, though stranger things have happened. It doesn't sound like they are even brooding the babies. Be careful with the heat lamp, as you don't want them too hot either, they will dehydrate. A friend sets them in a Kleenex nest in a plastic box (a little bigger than a shoe box) and just aims a gooseneck desk lamp at the box from a normal height. A 60w bulb should be enough. Tomorrow, if you can get a small digital thermometer at the pet shop (I got mine in the reptile section), that will help you keep more accurate temperatures.

As Ginene has said, feeding every three hours at this stage should be enough. You want your formula warm, but be careful about it being too hot, you can burn the crop that way. Lafeber's or Kaytee is usually available at places like Petsmart. If you can get them used to being fed by you before they fledge, they will continue to beg from you till weaning time.

Good luck with it, and thank goodness you found that fourth one! Please keep us posted, and let us know if you need any more help.

[DanteD716]

I would have left the societies in the aviary and moved the babies into their nest. Now that they have been moved into a new environment the breeding cycle will start over. It is still possible that they will raise them though. I had a sterile zebra male, who fed an abandoned baby for me and he didn't even have a mate or nest built

[vienneparis]

I saw the female society peeking into the nest several times today, but she didn't stay long. The nestlings were hungry so I hand fed them this morning. Hopefully the societies will take over the feeding job soon

Here's the latest photo of the nestlings.

[Ginene]

vienneparis...they look WONDERFUL!!! You are doing great! I truly believe you did the right thing by bringing these little ones in with their nest and a few adult societies. I do not expect the adults to take over feeding/rearing these guys, but if the brood them and teach them to eat/drink after fledge they will be worth their weight in gold! I am still keeping my fingers crossed that they will pitch in with the feeding ;) . Anyway...your babies look wonderful! If you notice air in their crop or the food moving slowly, you can add infant applesauce to the formula. This will aid in digestion and help treat or prevent sour crop. Also, pumpkin puree is a wonderful thing to add to your formula. It will aid in getting picky hand fed babies to eat. So glad to see these 4 babies doing so well! Keep us posted, please .

[vienneparis]

Ginene
Thanks for the advice. Hopefully, I won't have to go the infant food route. I've seen both foster parents taking turn feeding the nestlings. They were making begging sounds pretty loudly this morning. I checked their crops recently and it looked like they were all fed. The smallest of the 4 was begging so I hand fed her a bit. They all looked pretty content when I last checked.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that foster mum & dad will continue the feeding

[Ginene]

vienneparis...AWESOME!!! Those fosters are worth their weight in GOLD!!! I am so happy for you . Thank goodness it all seems to be working out for the best. Please keep me posted...these little ones have been on my mind

[afinch]

Wow that's awesome!

[MiaCarter]

Wow. I'm shocked they fed!
Those fosters are worth their weight in gold!
It can be hard to get them feeding if they don't have babies the same age.

Although they're feeding now, I would **strongly** recommend doing at least 1-2 handfeedings per day as there's a small chance these fosters may not feed through to weaning.

If that occurs, you'll need to take over. But that can be VERY difficult to get a fledgling to accept food if they haven't been handfed consistently until that point.
So I'd feed them at least 1-2 times per day just to keep that door open in case you need to handfeed later.

It doesn't even need to be an entire feeding. Just a couple bites each will do the trick, so they remember that the human is a food source, not a frightening giant.

[vienneparis]

Great news: 2 of the nestlings left the nest today. Let me introduce Fledge 1 & Fledge 2 (they won't be named until I can determine their gender) They're looking strong and have been hopping & flying around the cage. They're learning their way around food and water, and foster mom is still feeding them.

I'm keeping an eye out for the other 2 smaller nestlings. Even though foster mom is still feeding them, I noticed that she tended to pay more attention to the fledglings. For now, I'm supplementing her feeding with 2 hand feedings a day. They still look strong and healthy, so I'll keep doing that until they're old enough to leave the nest.

[afinch]

Super cute!!! (are you gonna show us the parents?)
They look a lot like my CFWs, and fledging at the same time too!

These fosters sound amazing.

[vienneparis]

afinch,
These are the parents, Katara & Aang. They're similar to yours, but not as intensely colored.

[Ginene]

vienneparis...Congratulations!!! They are cutie-pa-tooties!!! I'm thrilled that things are working out so well for you and your little ones. Best of luck to you all