# First time taking care of baby birds, Plz help with any tips!!!



## Saxonmalone (Jul 19, 2011)

I bought a female cockatiel to try to breed with my little buddy Scooby doo, thinking it would take a while I was surprised to catch them mating 5-6 days after meeting lol so I put up a nest box made out of a shoe box. I did not put any bedding in it... They ended up laying 4 eggs in there. I then put ripped up paper towels in there to protect them from breaking, I later found out paper towels are not propper bedding material. 3 of the 4 eggs have hatched and i put pine shavings in there as bedding today but only all around the babies because im not sure if i can move the babies or the unhatched egg. Ive been putting extra food, water, and cuttle bones out for the parents and im pretty sure the babies are being fed but am not sure how to tell if they arent. I realize I was a unprepared for the babies and should have checked the forums earlier but im willing to do what ever to make sure these guys are happy and healthy. Any advice would be apreciated. And am I alowed to pick up the babies and or egg to put bedding under them? Or will the parents abandon them or are they to fragil to touch? The oldest one is 5-6 days old.


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## Saxonmalone (Jul 19, 2011)

Also where do I get bands from? And whats there purpose?
Thx in advance!!!


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

It's OK to take the babies and the remaining egg out temporarily so you can put bedding in the nestbox. Step 1: put the parents in a different cage so they won't be too upset that you're messing with the nestbox. Step 2: Put the babies and egg in a bowl or other container that has paper towels or some other kind of padding in it (paper towels are OK for this use since it's very temporary). Step 3: put two or three inches of bedding in the nestbox and make a little bowl in the center to hold the babies and egg. Step 4: put the babies and egg in the nest. Step 5: put the parents back in the breeding cage.

Look at the base of the babies' throats. If they are being fed you will see a food bulge in the crop. The bulge is small at this point but soon the babies will be eating so much that their crop is bigger than their head.

The parents prefer to feed soft foods to the babies, so provide lots of high-nutrition soft food. This includes pellets (the parents eat them dry then drink water to soften them up), organic multi-grain bread, soaked or sprouted seeds and grains (see http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=9019 for info), vegetables, high-nutrition cooked foods, and small amounts of cooked scrambled egg. You don't have to provide everything on the list, just make sure there's a reasonable balance of nutritious foods.

The pictures are a little hard to see but it looks like you have one or two babies with white fuzz. These are whiteface chicks, and yellow-fuzz babies aren't whiteface. It also looks like at least one baby has pink eyes. This is a lutino baby, and if the mother is not lutino this baby will be female. If you post pictures of the parents we might be able to provide more information on what colors the babies might be.

Bands aren't necessary unless you're a show breeder or live in a state that requires them. It's a form of permanent identification for the bird, and it has to be put on when the baby is still pretty young. Bands can be ordered from organizations like the National Cockatiel Society, but you might not be able to get them in time to put them on these chicks. Most people don't use bands since there is a risk that the band will get caught on something eventually resulting in injury or even death.


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## Saxonmalone (Jul 19, 2011)

Thx you so much, i was trying to get the mom off an all seed diet but she isnt tame yet and its made it much harder. The dad Scooby doo will eat anything I eat though so I have been giving him penuts, broccoli, apple, celarie, and his regular seed diet. I just started to sprout some seeds today and plan on going to the grocery store also. Sorry about the pictures, my camera phone isnt that great. Ill try to get some better pictures when the last egg hatches. Also if the last egg doesnt hatch should I still leave it in there? Ive heard it will help keep the other babies warm? Would it be ok to hold the babies for 5 minutes a day to get them used to humans? Or should I wait? Heres Pictures of the parents. The one with a black face and black beak is the mom and ive been wondering what kinda mutation she is. And then Scooby doo is the yellow faced one. Hey thank you so much again you probably saved my bbys from getting splayed legg.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

Mom is a normal grey split to whiteface, and dad is a normal grey split to whiteface and lutino .


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Yes, both parents are normal greys and we know about the whiteface and lutino splits because of what we see in the nestbox. There might be more splits too, we just have to wait and see what happens when the chicks feather out. (Split means that the parents are carrying the gene but do not show the color themselves)

It's OK to hold the babies, but they aren't too aware of their surroundings until their eyes open at the age of 7 to 10 days. But once their eyes open they are VERY aware, and at first they will hate you with a passion because you aren't a cockatiel, and will scream at you like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcMKZtr4NeM

I'm not sure that holding them before their eyes open makes any difference. Once their eyes open, holding them will teach them to trust you but it will take a few days. They will learn to like you faster if you can do some co-parenting (leaving the babies with the parents most of the time, but handfeeding them once or twice a day for socialization purposes). 

If the other egg doesn't hatch you can leave it in the nest until the babies are old enough that they don't constantly clump together any more. BTW it's normal for the parents to stop sitting on the babies when the oldest one is about a week old. At this point the babies can maintain their own body temperature well enough, and in the wild the parents would have to start spending a lot of time out of the nest finding food to satisfy their hungry children.

P.S. Lutino means that the bird doesn't have any grey coloring, like Mims and Teela in my signature. Whiteface means that the bird doesn't have any yellow or orange color. Adult females and babies will look like Shodu in my signature. Adult males will develop a bright white face.

A whiteface lutino bird will look like Snowy in my signature: all white with red eyes. If your pink-eyed baby has white fuzz, this is what she will look like when she's older.


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## Saxonmalone (Jul 19, 2011)

Heres some updated pictures of the babies


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## Saxonmalone (Jul 19, 2011)

And thx once again Tielfan, youve been so helpfull.


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