Suspicious Hen

[birdsandbun]

Hello All
I am hoping to get some advice from anyone experienced with breeding. My pair hatched two eggs April 14. I think she has been plucking their feathers ( she also plucked hers during incubation) but she is also feeding the babies. She is being very aggressive, flying into my face, flying places in the house she never goes to and fighting with the male. I took the chicks out to try to hand feed them a few day’s ago and keep trying but they will not open their beaks for the formula. It looked like their feathers were coming in a bit the night we kept the chicks away from her but because I don’t know if they are getting any food from the syringe when I try to put in their beaks, I put them back with mom.
Called two vets. One didn’t get back to me and the other said all you can do is try to feed them yourself, not much help.
They are basically naked on their backs with some wing and tail feathers. From what I have seen on budgie pages they should be much more feathered.
Any advice? I am so afraid for these babies.
Thank you

[clt80]

Budgies can grow feathers at different rates. I had 4 eggs hatch a few years back, the first 3 grew feathers quickly, the 4th was bald for weeks and weeks.

If mum is plucking their feathers then maybe remove her and see of dad will take over the feeding, they should be getting to the point they'll want to fledge from the nest box and go exploring. This is when dad would teach them to crack seed anyway.

[Hezz]

The hen can also pluck the downy feathers from the chicks. sarah*glittergirl2212 had this problem with her clutch a few years ago. She might be able to help you with what she did to prevent any more damage. Sorry I can't stick around to help.

[birdsandbun]

Thank you for the reply. I searched back through the posts and read as much as I could find on the topic.
Dad won’t help unfortunately and babies won’t take the food from us. So I will just have to monitor mom for damage .
Thank you all again, I truly appreciate your thoughts.

[sarah*glittergirl2212]

Hi there, sorry to have found this so late birdsandbun . I remember Pixie plucked her babies and someone on the forum I think "BB" asked me if they looked "oven ready", if this is a good description of your chicks then exactly the same thing has happened that I experienced.
This can be a result of stress for a first time mum so I was told and Pixie had 6 hatch so i assumed that yes she was stressed about the demands of motherhood.
The good news was that all the feathers re grew perfectly and all the chicks were fine. If the mother is still feeding them then leave them with her, she may not pluck them again. If she looks like she is plucking them you could possibly apply a small amount of petroleum jelly to the babies skin. This is harmless but mum won't like the texture and it may discourage her. Every hen is different but this MIGHT help you and I hope it does. Taking the chicks away is a last resort as mum may not want them back if you are unsuccessful feeding them. You could put a bit of millet in the nest box, it will give mum something else to peck and possibly the chicks can copy and feed themselves a bit too.
Please tag me if you want to ask anything else

[birdsandbun]

Hi Sarah!
Thank you so much for your reply and helpful suggestions. I am sorry it’s taken me so long to respond. It has been a very stressful past few weeks. We ended up keeping the chicks with the hen because she was feeding them but having to monitor to prevent attacks and plucking . The babies are now mostly full feathered and eating seeds on their own!
They are in a separate cage from mom because she will pluck them. She is hormonal and i saw her trying to make a nest in my desk drawer. The male was following her around the cage trying to mate so they are each in their own cages.
So now I have three cages. Dad is quite happy on his own and the chicks are happy in their cage but mom seems to be going nuts. Ally
Of screeching. I moved her away from the others and gave her lots of attention and new toys but she seems unhappy.
Io hope it passes and one day she can be with her partner but not breeding. The best case would be for the four of them together in the big cage but I don’t know if that will happen.
I am exhausted and frustrated by this hen!! But thankful the chicks made it and are looking better each day.

[Hezz]

Stay strong and don't give her what she wants right now. You don't want her producing another clutch at this stage. Give her plenty of things to destroy, no treats, and make sure she gets more night than day time. These should all help to break her hormonal laying cycle. Good luck!

[sarah*glittergirl2212]

I'm so glad the babies are fine, but very frustrating for you regarding the hen's behaviour. Personally I don't think you should breed from this hen again (if you can prevent it) as she hasn't taken too well to motherhood generally by the sounds of things and a plucked chick this time could escalate to a badly injured or killed chick in the next clutch. Hezz has good advice about the hen's environment, I hope she soon settles and gives you some peace. Try and enjoy your gorgeous chicks too in the mean time

[birdsandbun]

Hey lovely budgie helpers! I just wanted to post that the two babies made it 😀 we had a virtual consult with our vet and he reassured us we were doing the right thing. We ended up keeping the babies away
from the hen except for a couple of feedings per day and then we would offer formula as well. They are now about ten weeks and strong and feathered. We kept them in a separate cage from the parents but the parents visited them when they were out of the cage through the bars. We recently allowed the babies to go in the flight cage with the parents and they seem to be all together now. The mom has still not returned to her normal self. Pretty aggressive and plucks her feathers. I have the second cage open for her to go to for alone time but she always wants to go back to the others. Dad is now doting towards the female chick. Follows her and grooms /feeds her. Is this normal? Is he finding a new potential mate
The little boy is adorable and clumsy and no one grooms him. I am working on finger taming him. He seems like he needs more attention from humans. Any advice about housing these birds?

[Hezz]

Yay; well done for bringing these two chicks to fruition. Not an easy thing in the circumstances. Take Dad away from the hen chick. You don't want in-breeding and best to stop anything before it can start. What happens if you allow Mum and Dad to be together?

[birdsandbun]

Hi thanks for the reply. The hen seems to tolerate the male.i am thinking now that I should separate them into pairs - mom and dad in one cage and the siblings in the other in the same room. Or would separating by sex make more sense?

[Hezz]

Keep the young ones ogether, and give the parents their own space.