Cleaning the nest

[Gouldiandave]

Hi, as a canary a Europea. Finch man converted to a goulddian man
I have a question, hen canaries eat their youngsters poo up till the chicks can poo over the rim at app a week old, i have a gouldian hen with four youngsters at 8 days, today she came out to feed a i noticed her feathers really fowled so put a bath in a while she was bathing i checked the box a it was filthy.
I had a spare box with a nest made so put the young in the fresh box a disaster she abandoned the chicks, as i was out for a few hrs when i got back all four looked dead, but boughttwo back arou nd with heat a fostered them but i wouldnt hold much hope. So the question do i leave the nest alone heavily soiled or did i do the right thing

[lovezebs]

Gouldiandave

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=30911

Here is my experience with moving chicks. I was very lucky, and with first time parents too. It's something that I wouldn't recommend doing lightly.

Re. Your hen being fouled by a foul nest.
I've never had that happen, so I find it odd.

True, Gouldian nests get poopy, but my Canary's nest was not all that clean either (as I recall).

That said, the nest should never be that horribly filthy, that the Mom would get dirty from it. My parents always bathe while they are breeding, and I offer a daily bath of lukewarm water.

[Rox]

Changing nests is not recommended for most birds that are either brooding eggs or have chicks. The parents will often abandon them, as you have experienced.

From my experience, gouldians don't have the cleanest nests. They are often filled with droppings but this is normal. I only ever clean out the nest once all young have fledged.

Good luck!

[debbie276]

You should leave the nests alone or they will likely abandon the chick's or eggs. It is perfectly normal for the nest to look messy. The only time I would be concerned is if the nest smells very bad, then there is a problem. Bird droppings do not smell because predators would find them if it did.
Glad you were able to save a couple of the chick's.
Please keep us posted on their progress
Good luck

[Gouldiandave]

You should leave the nests alone or they will likely abandon the chick's or eggs. It is perfectly normal for the nest to look messy. The only time I would be concerned is if the nest smells very bad, then there is a problem. Bird droppings do not smell because predators would find them if it did.
Glad you were able to save a couple of the chick's.
Please keep us posted on their progress
Good luck

thanks for the replys, another lesson learned

[ac12]

I try to not disturb the nest as much as possible. Especially when I do not know how the parents will react. So for those birds, I may not even close band them, but instead, wait till they fledge, then split band the chicks.

Only with societies will I clean the nest (sometimes), as they will go back into the nest. Although sometimes they act confused for a while, because the nest looks different, cleaner.

[wilkifam]

I never move them to a new box, but I do change the nest material. Have never had a problem, as long as it is the same box, in the same location.

[Babs _Owner]

Gouldiandave

My gouldian babies are surrounded by poop right now. They dont seem to care.

Facinating thing about the poop everywhere, is that oddly it never seems to stick to the chicks feathers (even with my societies).

I dont know if chick poop has some secret sauce in it that keeps it from sticking all over the chicks, but it doesnt seem to soil them at all.

[ac12]

Babs
My YB chicks fledged, and I saw that their feathers were DIRTY with a thin coating of dried poop. They seem to be gradually cleaning themselves off, now that they are out of the nest.

[debbie276]

If you consider that no one is cleaning their nests in the wild then it makes perfect sense that they have developed a way that isn't harmful to the chicks. Most chicks will poop to the outside edge of nests.

[Stinch]

Compared to society and zebra finch nests, gouldian and canary nests are SPOTLESS

[lovezebs]

LoL....
I have ever been lucky enough to have a spotless nest or nest box. Usually these things are poopelized to the max by the time chicks fledge (one of the reasons I like recycle, and to use disposable cardboard boxes). With nests, if you're lucky enough, they contain a lot of nesting material, and you can chuck that out, with the nest remaining reletively clean.

However, I have never had chicks come out of the nest dirty, nor seen any poop on the parents. I guess the parents clean the chicks if there is any feather soiling, and they themselves bathe, so they are never dirty.