# Parents plucking baby



## oriphius (Aug 8, 2012)

So I stuffed up as the caretaker of my birds. Little Derpy was born healthy and happy. All was good. Until his parents started to pluck his feathers. It started with his head. But now it has traveled past his neck. While the two feed him, I do not think that they are as caring as they should be. This is more than likely because they have started to have another clutch. Momma only has one egg so far. I have taken the moment to seperate Derpy from his parents. They are in their cage while he is outside of it. My question is plainly what do I do? I really do not want there to be more babies. I want to keep Derpy. Is this possible with his parents being so mean? How exactly do I do the whole supervised feeding thing? How often? He is over a month old. I think he is close to being two months old. When does he start to eat by himself. This is the first and hopefully last baby Cockatiel I have. I want to keep him desperately. I want him to be able to live in the same cage with his parents. Will they leave him alone once he is able to take care of himself? Or would I need him to be in an entirely new cage? Why is this so hard?


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## Korvia (Aug 3, 2012)

Let's start off with no you didn't mess up, it's hard to prevent a second clutch, now if you don't want anymore babies you can shake, boil eggs or poke a small hole in the bottom of them and drain them or you can replace with dummy eggs. Do not just take them away or Momma will lay more to replace those.

I'm not completely sure on this one but I think little derpy cannot be in the cage with parents while they are sitting on another clutch, little derpy might get hurt.

So someone correct me if I am wrong, but little derpy should be fed 2x a day at this age 7:00am and 7:00pm, 11-15ccs. Information here http://www.cockatiel.org/articles/handfeeding.html I think you can start offering him seed in between feedings as well.

For plucking, depending on how bad momma has plucked and if she has damaged any feathers, little derpy should feather back up in no time.

I don't think they will have a problem with him after they are done nesting, but to be on the safe side you should plan that he'll need his own cage.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

They're plucking because they want him out of the nest so they can focus on the new babies. If you don't want more babies, boil or shake the eggs vigorously as they are laid and once they finish sitting on these shaken/boiled eggs remove the nest box. 

Plucking doesn't hurt as bad as it seems it would. Derpy is okay. 

Do you have a scale? You need a gram scale to track Derpy's weight and so you'll know how much to feed him. Do not feed 11-15 cc. Cockatiel Cottage has some terribly outdated information and they refuse to take the time to update it (we've asked). 

First you want to weigh your baby on an empty crop. He's probably somewhere between 70-90 grams, depending on his age and his genetics. Let's say he is 75 g. You want to feed him 10% of his body weight. So you would feed 7.5 cc formula. 
You need a food thermometer because the formula needs to be about 104* F. Too hot will burn the crop and too cold will cause slow crop. 

Are the parents still feeding him even though they're plucking him? I kind of think if they're only plucking, and aren't damaging the skin..then it may be best to leave him with them...especially if you're not experienced hand feeding. The dad bird plays an important part of teaching the chicks to eat and drink.

And whether or not Derpy can live with his parents will depend on the size of the cage and how the parents act once their hormones die down.


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