# momma plucking baby feather/down?



## hootie497 (Jul 13, 2011)

Ok I have had 5 babies hatch. But i think i have a problem.2 of the babies are a week old and all there down is gone.I'm sure I caught mom plucking this morning.the otheres still have there fuzz for now.Question is should I do something will she really hurt them? Anyhelp please and thanks ...

Cheryl


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Parent birds (especially hens) will often pluck the babies when the parents want the babies to leave the nest so they can lay a new clutch. But your babies are too young for this so the problem might be something else.

Breeding birds have an increased need for sodium, and plucking is sometimes related to sodium deficiency. If your parent birds are good about eating vegetables, you can add sodium-rich vegetables to the diet such as celery and chard. Or you can give them one of those salt wheels made for rodents:










Hopefully this will solve the problem. Shodu goes berserk for red chard when she's breeding, and stopped plucking her babies when I started giving her more of it. She looks like a bloodstained velociraptor when she's eating it:


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## hootie497 (Jul 13, 2011)

Well that sure would explain why they go nuts and i mean nuts when i give them a saltine cracker in the mornings..they attack me for it..I was telling hubby this morning what they are doing.I have only had these birds a month to give them a good home.The whole works.I will try to get out tomorrow and find them a salt wheel. TYTYTYTYTY


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

The most experienced breeder on the forum (srtiels) used to give her breeder birds bread with salted butter to help meet their sodium needs. Now she gives them salt wheels instead, but you could go the bread and butter route if you wanted to. Just make sure it's whole-grain bread, which provides a lot more nutrients than white. It's usually not recommended to let birds eat saltines, although in this case it would actually provide a nutrient that your birds need. But saltines are usually made with white flour, and a more nutritious salt source is more desirable.

Edited to add: how is their diet in general - do they eat pellets and vegetables? If they don't, it would be good to get some cockatiel-sized Nutriberries while you're getting the salt wheel. Nutriberries are nutritionally equivalent to pellets but they look like seed balls, and most cockatiels take to them pretty easily. If your birds go for them right away, it will provide some good solid nutrition for them and their babies at a time when they need it the most.


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## hootie497 (Jul 13, 2011)

Ok got them a salt wheel this morning and they went crazy over it..Hope they don't over do it. Got them some rainbow chard and they ran from that.Hope they will at least taste it.Should I leave the salt wheel in there??Wow they seemed like they needed that real bad.


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## hootie497 (Jul 13, 2011)

Will get them the nutraberries soon as I can get to the city.Have seen them in the pet store.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

They should reduce their salt consumption after they've gotten what they need. But it's possible that there will be a time lag between getting what they need and them realizing that they're satisfied. It wouldn't hurt to limit their access to the salt wheel, for example putting it in the cage for only an hour a day until they're more moderate about eating it.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Since they went crazy over the salt wheel I would remove it, especially if it looks like they ate alot of it at once to feed the babies. The reason why is because if they eat an excess from the wheel they could feed too much to the baby at once and cause some problems. What I would suggest is to assist feed the babies in the nest. What you would do is to mix up a small amount of diluted formula and carefully (meaning not to fast, and watch that they are swallowing it without difficulty) feed them this. What it does it to get more fluids in their body, if you suspect they were fed too much salt.

You can moderate their intake of sodium, if they are still plucking by toasting a piece of Honey Wheat bread and lightly buttering it, and give the parents 1/4 piece at a time to eat. This will help to satisfy the parents need for sodium/salt, and it is not in excess when they feed the babies. As to the Swiss Chard, you can clip a piece of it near an area where the parents perch so that they get used to seeing it and get curious and nibble on it. All they need is just a few nibbles.


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