What now? 24 day old budgie

[bellabirds]

We have a 24 day old budgie that has not yet fledged the nest but has been poking it's head out. It's an only chick and mama is very skittish. There is a lot of poop in the nesting box. Two questions:
1) Should I clean the box knowing the mom will likely abandon the bird, or is the baby OK with the poop in there? (She abandoned eggs after I simply peeked in the box.)
2. Once the chick has fledged, will it still be fed by the mama, eat from same dishes as mom and dad or do I provide some other food for it? Also, does it go back into the nest to sleep or can I remove it?

Thanks so much for the help!!

[Hezz]

That is going to be your call, if you feel that the hen might abandon the chick. At this stage it shouldn't be a huge problem, particularly if dad picks up the slack. Once the chick is coming out on its own and won't stay in the nest box, provide a cardboard box on the floor of the cage, upside down with a door cut into it so that it can go in there to sleep. Once it starts to perch (have a perch low down so that you can see when it does start to climb up to perch) it will generally abandon the box and sleep on the perch.

If you don't check on the chick (probably too late for this, but given your past experience, understandable) the chick may develop splayed legs; it might also have a lot of poop stuck to its feet which will cause the feet to grow and develop oddly, so I would be inclined to clean out the nest and give her a shot at continuing to feed the chick. Provide them all with fresh food - once the chick is out of the nest have this on the floor of the cage so that it learns to forage for itself. The male should be involved by this stage and take over the feeding/teaching process.

[clt80]

I agree with Hezz, clean the nestbox if you can and check the chicks legs.

It was the 5-6 weeks when my chicks started to pop their heads out the nestbox to see what was going on. It will become more often, everytime you look their will be a little head looking out. Then one day (soon) the chick will venture out, but will probably want to go back in the nest to sleep at night.

Once the chick is out in the daytime for most of the day I would use a make shift hidey hole for the chick to sleep in (tissue box with hole cut in side) and remove the nest.

Keep an eye on mother hen, if she starts getting broody she will want to lay another egg(s) and may start to attach the chick to make room for her eggs.

[Marianne Marlow]

How is the little chick doing?

[bellabirds]

Thank you for the info! I ended up cleaning out the box and happily report that mom and dad were not spooked enough to stop providing for baby. Legs and feet look good! The chick was biting and clenching and very unhappy about being removed from the nest for cleaning. Should I be doing something to help tame it now or wait? Thanks again!

[Hezz]

Good. While you are cleaning the box on a regular basis, now makes it a perfect time to be getting chicky used to the human factor. You don't need to do much, just hold gently, talk to it, so that it gets used to the human voice, try giving it some mashed egg or moistened eggfood, and generally get it used to being handled.

[clt80]

Sorry I posted a reply on the wrong thread!!! Here it is .....

I did handle the chicks I had, mainly to move them for cleaning the nestbox and to check them (legs, beak) and weighing them once they had fledged so I knew they were eating by themselves ok.

It's a bit different for me as I have an avairy and as soon as they go outside I lose the human-avian bond; not completely but it's not the same. They are not interested in me once they are out in the flock. Saying that it is useful to have them hand tamed if you ever need to give meds as they are not as scared of you.

[bellabirds]

We've taken baby out a number of times now. It is 34 days old and hasn't yet fledged. Mama laid another egg in the box and seems to be be enjoying the grown baby's company. Everything is going well. Is it true that you have separate the male and female or she will reproduce herself to death?

[Hezz]

Yes, it can happen; you also run the risk of the hen attacking the young chick now that she has started another clutch. Unless the chick is very underdeveloped, it should not be needing the nest box at this age. I would be taking the nest box out and leaving chick and dad in one cage. Dad should teach chick how to forage and crack seed, and this is the time to introduce fresh vegetables.

[clt80]

How are things going bellabirds ?

How is the chick?