Black cheek zebra young

[cindy]

My other pair of black cheek zebras have only two young in their nest both fledged yesterday. I am very surprised but the one baby is already in the seed dish eating seed and pellets. The mom seems a bit bewildered as she is trying to feed the baby and it doesn't seem interested in taking food from her. She is going back and forth from the perch to the bowl, poking her beak in the baby's face, the baby looks at her and puts it's head down into the bowl and continues to eat on it's own. The other chick is back in the nest box, still takes food from mom.

Guess this is a good thing!

[ac12]

I've had that as well.
I had gouldians eating on their own 2 or 3 days after fledging, and zebras that were not eating till almost 3 weeks after fledging. The earlier they eat on their own, the better.

My chicks usually eat the soft hardboiled egg mix first, then graduate to the harder pellets.

[MLaRue]

That was super fast!

[cindy]

Misty, he still is not begging. My husband and I banded the two tonight, he feels plump. The poor mom was jumping from perch to perch to him in the bowl, if the baby even cracked his beak the mom tried to feed him but he would have none of it. This went on even with his/her begging sibling next to himher. I wonder if this is due to just two chicks in the nest.

The other pair still have the youngest chicks that fledged a week ago begging.

I'll continue to watch this little baby, it is just odd.