# Coby and Angel abandoned their eggs!!



## kfelton0002 (Mar 12, 2010)

We had to move my birds into our new "breeding facility" today and even though we were as careful as could be with the breeding cages, Coby and Angel have not returned to their nest box. I stayed up their all day to make sure Duke and Daisy were feeding their babies and to keep an eye on Coby and Angel. They were eating and drinking as soon as we got the cage into the new building, but they no longer seemed interested in the nest box. I waited and waited for them to return to the nest and they never did. They usually never leave the box at the same time, and while one is eating and stuff the other takes over complete sitting duty until the other returns and vice versa. 

Considering that two of their four eggs are actively pipping, I didn't want them to go too long without being incubated (they were off the eggs for at least 3 hours.) I fired up the good ol' artificial hen and put the two pipping eggs into the hatching tray and the other two in the turning rack. The humidity is just right for hatching so hopefully when I check on them in the morning I will see a couple of little white fluff balls! (Fingers crossed!)

I replaced the eggs with some fake ones so that if they do decide to return to the nest, all I will have to do is switch them again. My only question is: Will the pair accept a newly hatched chick if it hatches in the incubator if they do decide to return to the nest? I am willing to hand feed the little buggers if I have to, but I'd rather let them do it if they will. Also, my other pair Duke and Daisy's youngest baby is at the very oldest 10 days old and I was wondering if they might accept the newly hatched chicks? That's two questions sorry! I am going to be pulling their two oldest babies soon for hand feeding, so they won't have too many mouths to feed or anything if I do decide to foster the chicks. Once I see that the chicks have been accepted and are being fed, I will pull their other two chicks for hand feeding and leave the fostered chicks with Duke and Daisy to take care of until they are ready to be pulled for hand feeding as well. What do you all think?


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## Berdnerd (May 20, 2010)

Uh oh! Any updates? I hope they'll go back to the eggs


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Ok...the delemia is that they may possibly feed, but the consistency of the food may be too hard for the new hatchlings system to digest.

When a parent feels and hears a chick start to pip this is the signal to start retaining some food in the crop. In doing this there is going to be more fluids, and the solids are going to be softer...this takes a day or so. If the pair has not prefared food in their crop they will feed, but it is going to be denser and harder food. The chick has a hard time digesting this and does not absorb the needed nutrients, in addition to dehydration from not enough fluids.

The same holds true if the chicks are hatched and fostered to a pair with larger babies. You would need to supplement feed the fostered neew hatchlings with a thin formula with added emzymes such as Prozyme or crushed Papaya tablets (small bit added)


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## kfelton0002 (Mar 12, 2010)

Well I checked on the birds this morning and Coby and Angel had not returned to the nest box. Egg #1 has hatched and it is a normal whiteface (white down, dark eyes). I put it with Duke and Daisy's older chicks so that it can be kept warm, and I am getting ready to take some pedialyte up there and give it some fluids. It has crawled up under them so I'm hoping it will be okay. I will assist feed it today with some dilute formula mixed with pedialyte and see how it does. 

My only argument with the chicks having a hard time digesting the seed and stuff from day one is that from the time Duke and Daisy's first egg hatched it was fed whole seed and stuff from the start because that is all they would eat and it is a whopper now. You could see the whole undigested seed in their little transparent crops. Their last chick that hatched was at least 4 days younger than the oldest chicks and were fed the same food as the older ones and it did okay. 

I don't mind assist feeding the chick to make sure it is properly hydrated, but I don't really want to take it completely for hand feeding if the foster parents will take care of it. If Duke and Daisy accept it, I think it will be a lot better off with them then if I were to brood it and take care of it myself. They are such good parents, and have raised numerous clutches together in the past with great success so I feel confident that they will take good care of the whiteface chicks. 

Once the last two eggs hatch, I will pull Duke and Daisy's oldest babies for hand feeding so they won't have so many hungry little mouths to feed. I just hope this little ordeal ends in a happy ending and not a nightmare!! 

Darn birds!! lol
:wacko:


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Congratulations of the new hatch  The good thing is that heat is not as crital once the chick has started to turn in the egg to get ready to pip. Normally the parents will set the egg aside to let it cool down which stimulates the chick to move, and get blood flow going and generate its own warmth.

But...those seeds seen in the crop would have been soaked and held in the parents crop for a day prior to the first hatch. Though you could see them thru the skin they would have been softened, not hard and dry.


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## kfelton0002 (Mar 12, 2010)

So should I pull the chick and feed it and the hatchlings to come until they are a week old or so and then put them in with Duke and Daisy? I will not be able to feed it round the clock if I leave it with Duke and Daisy after today because we are moving. I will be going up every day to feed/water my birds and my husband's dad is going to be keeping an eye on them so if I'm going to have to feed the chick round the clock after today I will need to completely pull it and put it in a brooder. Once it gets a few days old or so I can put it back with Duke and Daisy and see how they do feeding it. What do you think? 

I was just up there a second ago and gave the chick its first formula/pedialyte feeding, which it took like a pro! It is very vigorous and lively so I feel pretty confident that is going to be strong. I fed it until its crop was just slightly rounded and will check on it again in an hour or so. It is so beautiful! 

Another question: when I pull the older chicks for hand feeding, will they accept the hand feeding right away or will they be sort of standoffish (is that a word?) I will be pulling the chicks late in the afternoon and placing them in a brooder over night. By the time for their morning feeding their crops should be empty and they should be quite hungry.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Keeping my fingers crossed that everything works out ok!!!


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## Jenny10 (Feb 27, 2010)

Oh I so hope it all works out ok for you, I will be keeping my fingers crossed for you.

It sounds like the little one is nice and strong, so that’s good.

Jenny


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