I'm hand feeding Gouldian chick.

[lyzzyjayne]

I am so very sorry about Nicky. Blessings to you and the new one.

[Pukasand]

Sally, I hold you in my highest regards for handfeeding those teeny, tiny Strawberries and Cordons.

My last chick passed too. It was extremely small. Not only was I waking up every 2 hrs to feed, I had the flu. Dizzy, congested, I was in a fog for more than 3 days. Zpack helped. Still gimping and coughing.

I found another one tossed yesterday, but it had a full crop, so I promptly put it back in the nest.

I am not physically or emotionally ready to tackle that again. Going to be alot of prayers, luck and Mother Nature involved now.

Since I have an aviary. There are 3 large bamboo nests in a vertical row, about 8 inches from each other. I can't tell where the chick came from. I think the whole problem is stemming from these bamboo nests. I think when the parents fly out, they accidentally get the chicks caught up with them. I also have one hen sitting on about 15 eggs I'm going to try to post a picture.

After candling the eggs, there were only 6 viable. When this clutch is hatched, all nests will come down and appropriate nestboxes will go in their place. Also, these are first time parents.

The sad state of affairs is that about 8-10 chicks have been lost. Either to new parenting or my fumbling errors.

[Sally]

So sorry you are fighting the flu, Judy, and then trying to handfeed when you need to be resting--too much! Handfeeding is not easy at all, and a lot of it is pure luck. I believe that some losses come from aspiration, some come because the chick was injured when tossed (or fell), and some come because the chick had a problem to begin with. I have learned that some people who have tremendous success with handfeeding do so because they incubate and then handfeed, so those babies were never tossed and were healthy to begin with.

Fifteen eggs! She has either triple clutched, or there are severall hens using the same nest. Hope the 6 fertile ones make it. And I think sometimes with aviary breeding, you can have more losses than with cage breeding, but the birds are still better off in aviaries.

[skyjump100]

Gosh Judy, you really are going through the ringer aren't you! Hope you are feeling better soon and wishing you loads of luck for the reamaining eggs! Sending you lots of warmth and hugs