Getting chicks out of the nest for banding

[ikhom]

I was reading about how many of you closed band your birds and I hope that I will be able to do it to my birds. However, simple as this may sound, I wonder
What is the right way of getting chicks out of the nest?

Today I tried to put an open band on my 12 day old chick (Green Singing Finch) and I was unable to get the chick out of an open nest with my fingers. And it’s already too big for closed banding. I’ve put some open band on my adult birds, but I’ve never done it to chicks. What do you do with waxbills when I can’t even look inside their nests?

[Finch Fry]

I personally dont band. However, when I need to get a chick moved, I use a plastic spoon. I warm in up in my hands for a few seconds and then scoop it up and transport.

[ikhom]

Thanks Chris,

I do use acrylic spoon to scoop my birds eggs, but I’m afraid to damage chicks’ legs when scooping them. Should I just roll the chick on the spoon? I don’t want to apply too much pressure.

[DVBourassa]

I typically use plastic nest boxes that I can open the top to access the chicks. Then I gently take them out with my fingers. If they're in a nest that's hard to access I band at fledging with the next size up.

[GOULDYGIRL]

How come your not able to get the chick out of the nest? I know when I took my chicks out for banding. I had to be very careful with their legs entangling in the nesting material. Mine were a bit older and almost ready to fledge. With split bands you can wait till they fledge to band them. I decided to do it a bit early so they'd be easier to handle. You don't have to band them right now with split bands, only if you were close banding.

Renee

[L in Ontario]

I was reading about how many of you closed band your birds and I hope that I will be able to do it to my birds. However, simple as this may sound, I wonder
What is the right way of getting chicks out of the nest?

Today I tried to put an open band on my 12 day old chick (Green Singing Finch) and I was unable to get the chick out of an open nest with my fingers. And it’s already too big for closed banding. I’ve put some open band on my adult birds, but I’ve never done it to chicks. What do you do with waxbills when I can’t even look inside their nests?

I don't know what kind of nest or where it is positioned on your cage. I only use nestboxes attached to the outside of the cage that the birds can go in and out of. I can check these nestboxes without reaching into the cage, and I can easily remove babies that need banding.

If you have a wicker nest with a hood - you'll need to remove the nest and "pour" the babies out into your hand. I do not recommend ever using wicker hooded nests for any bird.

Let us know what kind of nest you are using - that would help greatly.

[CandoAviary]

Chicks are actually incrediblely sturdy. I have rolled/slowly dumped them from bamboo nest, picked up with 2 fingers from nest that had tops that open. Also have picked chicks that were slung to the cage floor or actually slung out of the cage bars onto the floor far beneath, cupped them in my hands to warm cold bodies and either hand fed or gave to society finches in their nest. They went on to thrive......
Like I said, these wee ones are sturdier than people realize.

[Sally]

Candace is right on with this one. We are terrified of hurting them, but they aren't nearly as fragile as we think. They can survive a lot of falling out of nests--it is the laying on the floor till cold that kills them more often than not.

[nixity]

I agree, they are resilient little boogers.
Like Candace, I came home one evening and while I was on the phone and sweeping, noticed a baby had somehow been drop-kicked out of the cage and onto the hard wood floor - from nearly 4' up..
And it was sitting there squirming on the floor begging as if nothing had happened.

I think baby birds in general are pretty tough - think of wood duck babies who always plummet from tree nesting cavities after hatch to follow their mothers to water ..



I usually just grapple them with my hands :\

[ikhom]

Dianna,
in this particular case I have an open nest. I can take the nest out of the cage, but I would rather get the chicks out of the nest one by one, when the time is right, rather than taking the nest out of the cage every time I need to band a single chick and stressing the parent. If I have to take the nest, than in the future I will think about setting my nests the way that it would be easy to remove and put them back.

Renee,
Maybe it sounds silly, but when I tried to pick the chick with my finger it went deeper into the nest and I was unable to grab it by the sides. The Green Singing Finch’s nest cup schematic is bellow.

As you can see, it is quite small and with the birds inside there is not much space for my fingers.

Liz,
I’m not sure what you recommend as a nest for waxbills. All of mine preferred wicker nests like this…

or this….

or they made their own nests like this…

where I don’t have a chance even to look inside without it breaking apart or using special equipment…..or using a vacuum .

[Sally]

My waxbills love the tubular nests, or making their own. My CBs make such deep nests that you can only get a finger or two inside, and can't reach the bottom. Most of my birds get closed banded on the day of fledging, since I can't get to them before that.