# Wonder how this will work out



## Jess (Jun 20, 2010)

I have a cockie chick that hatched out last Thursday, growing well etc...
This morning I had a look at the other eggs, I picked up the smallest put it to my ear and could hear a chick inside chirping and thumping the egg, I've just had another look and the chick has hatched! Looks really funny next to one that's 5 days old. I'll have to keep an eye on them, hopefully the little one won't get pushed out, shouldn't do as it's a cock bird and his two wives. He can't have hatched long ago, he's sitting up but has that wet look about him.
I think he might have white fluff.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Cingratulations on the new hatches 

I would just keep an eye on the little one over the next few days. Of there are still eggs in the box that is good to act as something to lean against and a additional heat source. The main thing you want to watch for is the consistency of food in the crop. Since the other chick is older the parents may also feed the younger chick the same consistency which may be harder to digest. The crop skin is transparent and if the contents look too solid and not much fluid (crop will feel hard and tight rather than soft and flexible) then a few supplement feeding a day with a very dilute formula will be helpful to get additional fluids in the body, which will aid on digestion, etc.


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## Jess (Jun 20, 2010)

Thanks! this little one today was quite a suprise. The other eggs are still in there and I'll leave them there for now. The thing about food consistancy is what bothers me as well, I notice they tend to favour feeding pieces of sweetcorn to the babies at first but I make sure it's cooked through to make it soft. I've got kaytee formula and have fed hatchlings before so that will be okay. I think the biggest age gap I've had before was about 4 days but three were 3 chicks that time. I found I had to lift the smallest to the parents during the first few days because he was getting pushed out.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

OK...take care with the sweet corn that it doesn't gunk up on the face or inside of the mouths of the babies. it can be a source of problems if it impacts in the throat and blocks food from entering the crop or cuts of air for breathing. When giving any soft food types for the first 10 days check the face and mouths so that they are free of deby and gunk.


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## nwoodrow (Feb 13, 2011)

The easiest way to test the crop for the right consistency is to gently push on the crop if it bounces back, its fine, but if it takes a bit to bounce back you will want to give it a supplemental feeding of a 1 part formula to 6 part water, about .2-.5cc's and then gently massage crop to get the liquid to mix with the solid seed.


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## Jess (Jun 20, 2010)

Hmmm, I was concerned the little one might get pushed out the way by the bigger one but it seems the parents are a bit reluctant to feed the new hatchling at the moment even though he was bobbling about chirping for food. They are keeping him warm though. I've just given him a little amount off the handrearing spoon (that's how I tend to feed hatchlings, they suck the food off the spoon) not too much but he has a nicley rounded crop. Once he latched on it was alright but it's always tricky at first when they are bobbling about!

By the way he is white and is very small, not suprised as the egg was small.


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## Jess (Jun 20, 2010)

The cock bird and the other hen have gone in now, see if they feed him when he begs next.


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## nwoodrow (Feb 13, 2011)

hun the parents wont feed it for the first 12 hours


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## nwoodrow (Feb 13, 2011)

feeding a chick prior to that 12hours can cause devastating effects.


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## Jess (Jun 20, 2010)

I'm gonna have to disagree. I've bred a few chicks over the years, I've known the parents to feed the chicks within half an hour but usually it's after a couple of hours after hatch. Kaytee suggests 1 part formula 6 parts boiled water for a hatchling which basically makes it like flavoured water, it's mainly to keep the chick hydrated and to give it a little bit of energy. He's just had his second feed as the first one had gone through and he was begging again.


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## nwoodrow (Feb 13, 2011)

ive been breeding for 10 years and not once have i seen my parents feed prior to the 12 hour mark. and i have my parents conditioned well enough that i can check in every couple of hours i also listed for the feeding sounds. i even assited a chick in hatching at 7 am one morning and was checking throughout the day cause this is the first assist hatch with this pair and the first time i saw babe with a full crop was 7 pm.

If your birds feed earlier than thats great, i know breeders who have bred for 25 years that hatch eggs in incubators and they dont feed until 20hours after hatching, cause the chick has the yolk to work on.


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## Jess (Jun 20, 2010)

I'm not a regular breeder so it's been different pairs at different times and I swear they feed them within the first couple of hours or so, like I say one hen fed the chick within half hour of hatch. The kaytee feeds have to be very watery for the first couple of days, 0-2 days old it's really more like a very very watery soup than a feed. I lost my very first chick 11 years ago most probably because a breeder friend said to me the chick wouldn't need feeding within the first 24 hours. The pair hadn't bred before and didn't feed the chick and it died within 12 hours, sometime during the night. I'll never know if it was due to not being fed/hydrated or if it was something else but I wouldn't risk it again.

The breeders who have been breeding for 25 years, I'm not having a go at you I have to question why they are taking the babies away as eggs or at hatch for not good reason and if they aren't even hydrating the chicks within 20 hours they are lucky the chicks make it, they could easily dehydrate and die or get crop problems. You are much betrer listening to advice from srtiels than people like that, they maybe out of touch as in not moved on in 25 years, some people don't progress and learn. To me there is no subsitute for a warm parent bird. If I have to assist the parents with feeding this chick for a few days or a week even I'd much rather do that than pull it. The baby stands a much better chance being kept as natural as possible.


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## huson (Feb 23, 2009)

Not sure this is related, but I had incidences where the youngest chick out of a clutch of 4eggs die due to malnutrition. It often get pushed aside and cannot eat solid food that the parents are providing for the older chicks. Since the solid food cannot probably be digested, some remained in the crop and cause sour crop.


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## huson (Feb 23, 2009)

I have seen my cockatiels feed the chick within 12 hours after it hatched. I think it is really depends on the parents. Just like how all parents raise their children differently wink.


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

A breeder I worked for only fed after the chick had it's first poop which was about the time their down was dry. This was to ensure that the digestive tract was moving and working correctly. It's true that chicks can live for 12 hours on the absorbed yolk, but that is bordering on the maximum amount of time, not the minimum.


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## nwoodrow (Feb 13, 2011)

the breeder who incubates and hatches eggs is because their pairs lay more than the pair can handle and they dont have enough foster parents who arent sitting on thier own eggs at that time. i had a pair who didnt feed a chick in the 20 hour mark and it passed, but the second chick hatched and they fed withing 12 hours, the first chick was really small and probably never even peeped at the parents for food, i didnt notice in time because it was only when i woke up that the 20 hour mark was hit and it had already passed, so i assume it was a weak chick cause the other one was just fine.

And i have talked to srtiels when i was worried about a foster chick and she said between 12-20 hours


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## Jess (Jun 20, 2010)

I checked on the chick early this morning and he/she had been fed by ones of the hens during the night or early hours, I could see a tiny bit of sweetcorn and possibly seed it in the crop, not much there so I gave the watery feed to help it go through incase it needed it. Just glad the hens have accepted the chick as it was the cock bird in the nest when he hatched. Being such a big age gap between the chicks I was worried about rejection or because he was white fluff while the other has yellow. I'll keep an eye on the chick and feed if he needs it. When he starts catching up with the other one in size it will be a bit easier.


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## Jess (Jun 20, 2010)

Before I went out this morning I saw the yellow cinamon pearl hen feeding him, when I came back in I checked on the chicks and Dad was in the nest. Both babies looked like they were being fed but when I took the little one out to check his crop was empty so I gave him a feed. He has taken to the spoon well, pumping on it now. Still making up the watery feeds, has to be like that from 0-2 days then after that it can be a bit thicker.


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## nwoodrow (Feb 13, 2011)

hey jess its not gonna matter who was in that nest box when the babe hatched, both my parents were outside when i noticed chick 7 was pipping upside down, and that the pip mark had stopped, i assiseted that chick and then placed back in with siblings and 12 hours later babe had a full crop. and kept a full crop until it was pulled for handfeeding. And before you say anything about assist hatching, i was on the phone with susanne, and she told me to assist it, because it had been 24 hours since i noticed the pip mark and there was no change, babe was fully ready to come out and had pooped in the egg.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Ah...you can debate til the cows come home...but I have learned that if the chick is strong and healthy and shows a feeding responce shortly after hatch the parents will feed it. What they feed looks like a thin watery formula, and this is more for hydration.

I have also incubator hatched and at one time had almost 100 egg (I had moved during breeding season) and I handfed every one thin formula within a 1/2 hout after hatch and they all did fine.

If a parent does feed after hatch it is not the food that is the problem it is the consistency...such as solid seeds, large chunks of food and little fluids or (not good) or a thin water consistency of food (good)

Regardless of if they feed or not the chick is still utilizing the benefits of the yolk absorbed. The yolk contains many of the immunities inherited from the mother. If a pair feeds it is only going to be a drop or so of food until the yolk is absorbed into the intestines.


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## Jess (Jun 20, 2010)

Haven't had to do anymore feeds since last one mentioned, I saw the cinnamon hen feed him early afternoon, just checked on them and both chicks are fed, the day old one looks like the food in his crop is as it should be for a hatchling. The bigger one who's 6 day old has really grown, I've barely had anything to do with that one, didn't need to.
It's a funny situation a cock bird with two wives but it seems to work out well, they have succesfully raised a few babies now, often there's two birds in the nest at a time so the babies benefit from that. The two hens are actually sisters but look very different, one a cinnamon hen and the other a yellow cinnamon pearl with red eyes. I think the white baby is the cinnamons, it's a throwback to a great grandad.

I think initally they didn't feed the chick because they were a bit shocked he'd hatched, they like me probably though the other eggs aren't any good. When I heard the chirping in the egg it wasn't very loud but I could hear him breaking the shell and he hatched around a couple of hours later. He was sitting up and begging and bobbling but the other chick was taking priority, I guess in those situation where there is a big strong healthy chick naturally they will feed that one first, having said that he was fed during the night in the dark so they did find him!

I think there is some confusion over feeding/hydrating hatchlings, when you do a handrearing feed for a hatchling if you do it properly it will be like flavoured water, it's not like a normal feed, bit of water for hydration, tiny amount of food for energy. Either do that or give pedialyte, I give handrearing formula as that's what I have to hand.


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## nwoodrow (Feb 13, 2011)

im glad that little one is doing well now, it must be a relief to you seeing the parents take care of it. i would love to see photos of your little ones if you ever get a chance to take a picture, and i had an egg that i did a tap test in the morning, no movement no peeps, and it hatched not even moments latter and is doing well with mom and dad, ive never had to step in and supplement a chick except with one clutch, mom and dad laid 9 fertile eggs and 7 hatched. by the time those last to hatched mom and dad were feeding a thicker consistency and it wasnt easily digested by the younger 2, i ended up pulling the youngest 2 at 5 and 7 days old cause they still looked like 2 day old chicks even with supplemental feeds of mostly water to soften the seed, one chick got lock jaw shortly after being pulled but the youngest is now 3 weeks old and weighs 32 grams, for something that weighed 5 grams at 5 days of age its picked up alot of growth in just over a week and a bit. i know that parents can give fluids but i also know what that looks like in a crop and until 12 hours old there was nothing in their crops not even liquid.


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## Jess (Jun 20, 2010)

I'm not going to post anymore on this thread now as things are going as they should be. It was just meant to be a topic of conversation not a debate or an argument as a certain member seems to be trying to turn it into. I won't bother starting a thread again in a hurry that's for sure.


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## nwoodrow (Feb 13, 2011)

i wasnt trying to start a debate, i was just sharing what my parents do.


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