Advice Needed On Hand Feeding Chicks

TwoSweetBoys
Brand New Budgie

Posts: 28

Advice Needed On Hand Feeding Chicks Jul 1, 2016 0:16:22 GMT

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Post by TwoSweetBoys on Jul 1, 2016 0:16:22 GMT

I have five baby chicks. The oldest being 4 weeks and 3 days today, youngest being 3 weeks. As they started to come out of the nest my pair started to mate again and became neglecting of their chicks. The dad started nipping at the male chicks when the hen would try to feed them ( which wasnt often ) and would also push them around. I can't have any more babys and they became to distracted on producing another clutch they weren't tending to their babys anymore, so I've decided to take down the box and hand feed them from here on out.

Ive set them up in a different cage with the box, I've purchased the formula and everything els needed. I just attempted to feed them and no surprise they're alittle to scared to accept the suringe yet. I'm doing my research but if anyone has had a simular situation and has any advice/techniques on getting them switched over to hand feeding, it'd be greatly appreciated, thank you!

Hezz
Staff Member

Posts: 34,103

Advice Needed On Hand Feeding Chicks Jul 1, 2016 0:29:54 GMT

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Post by Hezz on Jul 1, 2016 0:29:54 GMT

At between three and four weeks they should be attempting to feed themselves; certainly the four week old one should be. Try putting some formula into a shallow bowl and see how they go. Sprinkle some seed on the floor of the cage so they can learn to crack seed. Also they don't need the nestbox; a hide on the floor of the cage for them to retreat into at night will work just as well. It sounds like the hen was getting them to a stage where they would begin feeding themselves anyway, so they shouldn't need too much encouragement. Also hang a piece of millet in their cage to get used to as well. Millet is easy for them to crack so this is often a good place to start.

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TwoSweetBoys
Brand New Budgie

Posts: 28

Advice Needed On Hand Feeding Chicks Jul 1, 2016 0:44:55 GMT

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Post by TwoSweetBoys on Jul 1, 2016 0:44:55 GMT

The second oldest has been great at eating some seed on it's own already. The others had refused to leave the box but, I'll take your advice and remove it and replace it with a smaller hut & I do already have seed in a dish at the bottom but I'll add more and a formula one. So even the youngest being 3 weeks he should learn from the others to start eating on his own?

Edit: & when putting formula in a dish how could I keep it warm?

Last Edit: Jul 1, 2016 1:07:04 GMT by TwoSweetBoys