# Diet for parents when chicks hatch?



## type.rst

Hello guys i have some eggs which are due to hatch in a weeks time in my aviary. The parents are on seeds, fresh veg and mineral blocks.

Do i need to feed them any thing else for when the chicks hatch? Or will they be fine feeding the chicks seeds and veg? 

Thanks


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## Bird Junky

type.rst said:


> Hello guys i have some eggs which are due to hatch in a weeks time in my aviary. The parents are on seeds, fresh veg and mineral blocks.
> 
> Do i need to feed them any thing else for when the chicks hatch? Or will they be fine feeding the chicks seeds and veg?
> 
> Thanks


*Hello To their diet add...Fruit, Cuttle bone. Very hard boiled egg. Mashed
with the shell. also a wide range of veg & weed plants. Dandelion & grasses with seeds on. Etc. 
Add it now don't wait for the chicks to arrive ....B.J *


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## sangs_becky

hey there  you need to include some more foods into their diet, while getting ready to feed their chicks you have to introduce your tiels to soft foods. I usually give them these soft foods along with their regular seed diet all the time not only when they are breeding.

the soft food include :-

*sprouts* (wheat, mung beans, chick peas,millets, white corn, corn) my tiels love wheat sprouts, you can even sprout their seed mixes. Please avoid sprouting soy beans it is not good for your birds. 

*egg food* :- you need to wash the eggs clean and make sure there is no dirt on their shells, boil them for 20 mins at least (i boil them for 20 mins exactly and i get a good dry mixture) and remove the shells microwave them for a minute or two and put them in a blender and make a them into tniy bits, then mash the eggs or add veggies like shredded carrots, green peas, corn, small cut pieces of brocoli and feed them to your birds ( you can add your tiels favorite veggies and that would make them show interest) this is a must food for breeding pairs as they get their calcuim from shells and protien from the eggs and of course the vitamins from the veggies. You can also give them egg food when they feed chicks but make sure you *do not add the egg shells when they are feeding their chicks*. You can also add cooked brown rice to the egg food or also feed it separately with veggies
Do not leave the egg food for long hours as it would become spoiled which in-turn would affect your birds health. 

*soaked gorats*- soaked in a container with water for twelve hours can be fed to the breeding pairs every day , i even feed wheat berries soaked for sixteen hours in water.
This can be fed as the first thing in the morning as you can serve them fresh from soaking them over night but please follow the mentioned time only then it would become soft enough. 
You can also try soaking their regular seeds for twelve hours over night and feed them fresh in the morning
*Do not refrigerate any of the soaked seeds, soak small quantities and offer them as a fresh food the very same day, if stored for more than a day the soaked seeds would start to develop fungal molds which is very harmful for the birds and their babies.*

Unless you feed your birds a wide variety of food they may need a supplement while they have babies. You can buy premixed breeding formulas or mixtures, or parakeet chick feeds from some pet shops if you do not have the time to make your own food. If your birds only get the regular seed, this is hard for the babies to digest and they may not survive or may become weak. They can also get crop impaction from not being able to digest the seed without the additional crop milk from the hen

Good luck


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## type.rst

Thanks for the replies guys. So are all these foods for the parents or the chicks?

Would the chicks survive if they are being fed just the seeds? As i have tried many times an some of the breeding parents wont go near anything but the seeds and the cuttlebone.


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## Bird Junky

Hello Yes start feeding now to parent birds. Sorry
should have made it clear.....B.J.


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## type.rst

Just out of interest can the chicks survive on just a seed diet if their parents refuse to eat anything else?


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## nassrah

The answer to your last question is at the end of sangs becky s post.Good luck x x


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## roxy culver

> Hello To their diet add...Fruit, Cuttle bone. Very hard boiled egg. Mashed
> with the shell. also a wide range of veg & weed plants. Dandelion & grasses with seeds on. Etc.
> Add it now don't wait for the chicks to arrive


I'm sorry but I wouldn't feed boiled eggs every day...especially with the crushed egg shell included. We had a member who had a bird's throat get sliced open due to the egg shell. I offer once a week only because there is so much other things in it (fat etc) that's its not good to give every day. And tiels don't like fruit, they aren't fruit eaters so that's a waste of time. The advice sangs becky gave is good, try offering pellets as well, once its been soaked its considered a soft food and very easy for babies to digest.


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## type.rst

Do i dice all all the veg i to small peices or do i mash it all up in a food blender?

Thanks


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## tielfan

> Do i dice all all the veg i to small peices or do i mash it all up in a food blender?


The best way to serve vegetables is to find a format that your parent birds will actually eat and give it to them that way. Some birds will eat mash; some like pieces in a cup; some like whole leafy greens hanging up in the cage. 

Ideally, the parent birds should learn to eat a variety of soft foods before they start breeding, so they will be ready and willing to feed these foods to their babies. Pellets are an excellent baby food; the parents eat the pellets and drink water to soften them up. It can take a long time to teach adult birds to eat pellets, and it's probably too late for your pair to learn it in time for this clutch. But if you can get them eating pellets sometime in the next year, their future babies will benefit. 

I give my breeder birds a small amount of scrambled egg every day while they're breeding, and twice a week when they're not breeding. A small amount is good; a lot can cause problems.


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## Dreamcatchers

I would not give eggs shells ever to a pair of birds feeding babies. The shell, no matter how small you think it has been ground down, is still going to be sharp and can slice a chick's throat or crop. If you want to be sure they are getting enough calcium, there are other things you can offer.

My birds, which I have several pairs feeding babies now, get fresh chopped greens, birdy bread, toasted whole wheat bread and the occasional scrambled egg in addition to seed and pellets. Yes, a chick can survive on seed from the parents alone however, it is risky and not recommended, especially if they are a new parent pair. 

Get them to start eating other things. There are many resources on this site to encourage a bird to eat healthy items. Start now before the babies are hatched and you will find that your babies are healthier and happier and your parent pair will be less stressed and healthier.


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## type.rst

Yes thats great info guys. Ive got most of the stuff an have put them in the aviary. Last question why is it important to toast the whole grain bread? 

Thanks


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## tielfan

> I would not give eggs shells ever to a pair of birds feeding babies.


Egg shells qualify as a type of grit, and I don't give any kind of grit to birds who have tiny babies in the nest. I know someone on another forum who lost a whole clutch of tiel chicks because the parents fed them grit and impacted their crops. I do offer small amounts of grit at other times, but not egg shell. I'm worried about the sharpness of the edges, and also about a larger than average piece possibly becoming a choking hazard.



> why is it important to toast the whole grain bread?


It isn't necessary. I give my breeding birds organic multi-grain bread straight out of the package - untoasted in other words. I do tear the bread into smaller pieces so it's easy for them to manipulate.


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## Dreamcatchers

I just toast the bread to keep it from getting mushy and packed into the rest of the mash that I give my birds. They all eat from big bowls and can often stomp on their food. Having untoasted bread makes for "cement" when it is combined with the rest of the foods I offer.


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## Twodee94

sangs_becky said:


> hey there  you need to include some more foods into their diet, while getting ready to feed their chicks you have to introduce your tiels to soft foods. I usually give them these soft foods along with their regular seed diet all the time not only when they are breeding.
> 
> the soft food include :-
> 
> *sprouts* (wheat, mung beans, chick peas,millets, white corn, corn) my tiels love wheat sprouts, you can even sprout their seed mixes. Please avoid sprouting soy beans it is not good for your birds.
> 
> *egg food* :- you need to wash the eggs clean and make sure there is no dirt on their shells, boil them for 20 mins at least (i boil them for 20 mins exactly and i get a good dry mixture) and remove the shells microwave them for a minute or two and put them in a blender and make a them into tniy bits, then mash the eggs or add veggies like shredded carrots, green peas, corn, small cut pieces of brocoli and feed them to your birds ( you can add your tiels favorite veggies and that would make them show interest) this is a must food for breeding pairs as they get their calcuim from shells and protien from the eggs and of course the vitamins from the veggies. You can also give them egg food when they feed chicks but make sure you *do not add the egg shells when they are feeding their chicks*. You can also add cooked brown rice to the egg food or also feed it separately with veggies
> Do not leave the egg food for long hours as it would become spoiled which in-turn would affect your birds health.
> 
> *soaked gorats*- soaked in a container with water for twelve hours can be fed to the breeding pairs every day , i even feed wheat berries soaked for sixteen hours in water.
> This can be fed as the first thing in the morning as you can serve them fresh from soaking them over night but please follow the mentioned time only then it would become soft enough.
> You can also try soaking their regular seeds for twelve hours over night and feed them fresh in the morning
> *Do not refrigerate any of the soaked seeds, soak small quantities and offer them as a fresh food the very same day, if stored for more than a day the soaked seeds would start to develop fungal molds which is very harmful for the birds and their babies.*
> 
> Unless you feed your birds a wide variety of food they may need a supplement while they have babies. You can buy premixed breeding formulas or mixtures, or parakeet chick feeds from some pet shops if you do not have the time to make your own food. If your birds only get the regular seed, this is hard for the babies to digest and they may not survive or may become weak. They can also get crop impaction from not being able to digest the seed without the additional crop milk from the hen
> 
> Good luck


I'm just making sure. So I can help by feeding the babies formula and the parents can still feed them seeds?


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