# The eggs were good!!!!! She had her first baby!!!!!!!!!!!!



## Reftect (Mar 19, 2013)

I'm so excited my Baby rio finally had her first baby!!!!! She looks so happy and i couldnt be more happy for her!! This is what shes always wanted was to be a mama!!!

The baby is all white gonna be a lutino or whiteface lutino!!! Sooo Excited


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## wandalee (Feb 17, 2013)

How exciting for you!


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## charlieboy (Feb 10, 2013)

very exiting, if the baby is white i would say its a whiteface lutino as normal lutinos are born yellow  post some pics when you can, i love seeing cockatiel baby pics


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

Congratulations grandma L:rofl:L
I also want to see some photos of your new baby


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## Reftect (Mar 19, 2013)

Here's the baby with it's daddy! ;]


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

That's so cute
What mutation is the mother


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## Reftect (Mar 19, 2013)

she is a whiteface lutino. thats what we were hoping the babies were lol but it looks like its probably going to be a lutino.

Thats actually her in my profile picture ;]


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

Is the second egg fertile?


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## Reftect (Mar 19, 2013)

yes the second egg is fertile, but it hasn't hatched yet and we aren't sure if it will ;[ But were hoping it will!!!


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

I hope it will hatch!


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Aww so gorgeous


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## madyrocksin (Dec 10, 2012)

I am sorry i don't want to ruin your happiness, but the baby looks dehydrated to me because of the redness, not sure please check from more experienced members.

As for the baby i think its gonna be split to white face because of the pale yellow down.

BTW the baby is a cute !!


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Your baby is lutino but it isn't whiteface. The down looks yellow in the picture, not white. Totally adorable anyway - congratulations!


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## charlieboy (Feb 10, 2013)

yes tielfan is right gonna be a normal lutino, sooooo cute. congratulations


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

My baby is also a lutino
I can't wait for your second egg to hatch
Keep us updated


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## Reftect (Mar 19, 2013)

We had a rough night. Rio, the female, was taking her shift and all of our birds had a night terror... She broke blood feathers on both sides, we stopped the bleeding but she can't fly.Shes still eating and preening herself and sitting on branches so we think she will make it. Her mate wont let her back in the nest box since then and she is panicking.

We think he may have attacked her, we're going to have to monitor them closely
and she may have to be removed.


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## Reftect (Mar 19, 2013)

Mama bird is doing ok. We cleaned her up and she seemed like she was in pain for about 30 minutes with some mild twitching but she seems to be back to normal now and can fly. We used some antibacterial to make sure her wounds don't get infected

The second baby hatched today at 6am! The daddy is taking care of them both, still not letting the female in the nest box. When we checked on the babies the first one had a full crop but his tummy seemed abnormally large. Is this normal? I've only ever raised budgies and they certainly didn't look like that. 

The first picture is of baby #1 on his back. You can see his tummy. (Sorry a little blurry)
Second picture is baby #2 still a little wet after just hatching! 


On a side note my other pair also started laying. She is a grey and he is a cinnamon pearl. We're hoping for some beautiful babies! Will post pictures later.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

A cockatiel baby should not be lying on its back - I know that budgies often feed the chicks while the baby is on its back but cockatiels can't do this. Tiel chicks should always be on their feet, like the baby in the second picture. If the baby is still on its back, put it in the right position and see if it can hold that position.

I'm not sure if the abdomen is normal or not because I'm not used to seeing the babies in this position. If you can get access to the babies, you can compare the abdomens of the chicks to see if they look similar.

The best expert on neonate problems is Susanne (srtiels) at http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/ICR.unite/ If you're still having problems with this chick it would be best to talk to her.

As for the parents fighting, you might have a bondage pair rather than a bonded pair. If necessary, you can give the mother access to the nest by taking the father out of the cage when it's her turn. It's typical for the male to take the day shift and the female to take the night shift, so it's possible that the male is being aggressive because she's trying to horn in when it's his turn. If you see him come out of the nest for a break during the day, you can see if he'll let her take a turn then.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

The tummy looks normal...and actually the intestines look REALLY good. I've looked at a lot of baby tummies over the last couple years and you always want the intestines to look like that. If they get dark, something is very wrong with the babies so watch for that. But tielfan is right, always make sure the babies aren't on their backs. 

Hopefully the parents work out their issues, but it could be very possible that they are bondage not bonded pair. I'm hoping this isn't the case though.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Check to see if the older baby has food in its crop. If it was on its back for a long time it may have missed some meals, and might be too weak to beg normally from the parents. You can restore its strength with a little assist feeding - scary at this age, but once it has recovered the parents will take over. There's info on assist feeding neonates at http://www.justcockatiels.net/assist-feeding-chicks-in-the-nest.html

When Buster and Shodu first started nesting, I had to put him in a different cage at night because otherwise he would go into the nest in the middle of the night and interrupt Shodu's shift. When he came out of the nest in the daytime to get some food, he would chase her around viciously until she went in the nest - he wanted to make sure those babies were being tended! When he was ready to go back she would come out peacefully. They have now worked out a routine - he stays out of the nest at night, and in the daytime she automatically goes in the nest when he comes out.


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## Reftect (Mar 19, 2013)

I'm pretty sure the birds are actually bonded. This is not the first clutch they have layed only the first successful hatching. This is the only time we have had problems with them. They have always gotten along peacefully until the night fright. He actually is not aggressive towards her anymore instead it seems like she is abandoning the clutch. As i said she is a chronic egg layer and she often gives up or abandons them due to habit i guess. Sometimes we can put her back in the box ourselves and set her back on track, but this time she has no interest in staying in the box and even pecked at one of the babies so we stopped putting her in there and she hasn't went back in since. The male keeps coming out to eat and seems like he wants her to go in but she has no interest in the babies anymore. He's feeding them and taking care of them so so far they are doing fine. 

We will also be watching to make sure they are not on their backs as we didn't know that was a problem. Thanks for the info.

I'll post another update later to let you know how they are doing.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

The male should be able to handle the babies on his own just fine. You can help him out by assist feeding if the babies need it. Good luck!


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

The hen may not know what to do since this is her first successful hatch, and if something frightened her in the box she might be nervous about going back in. If the male is behaving peacefully now, just leave her in there and maybe she'll regain her interest in the clutch. If he starts chasing her around the cage, he might actually be trying to chase her into the box, so wait a bit and see what happens before you intervene in that.


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## Reftect (Mar 19, 2013)

When we woke up this morning neither parents were sitting in the nestbox. One baby seemed to have a full crop and the other was empty and cold so I pulled him and hand fed him some formula. I checked the babies again just now and it's the same scenario. The older baby has a nice full crop but the smaller one is not being fed. When I examined it, it looked strange to me. It's crop has a small amount of food (the crop looks similar as I just hand fed it) and it's contents were very dark almost black.

I need some advice on what to do. Do I leave the baby and let his crop drain in case he has sour crop or do I hand feed him again so he doesn't starve during the night? The parents are clearly feeding the other one and I'm just not sure which call to make here.

UPDATE: I witnessed the daddy feeding the second chick and when he did there was a little black seed on his face. I looked at the Nestling food I am using and it does have black seeds in it. Could it be possible that it's just full of these seeds?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

It's possible that the parents are preferentially feeding these seeds to the babies, or at least to the younger one. Are you able to tell whether one or both babies are digesting the food in their crops? 

Are the parents keeping both babies warm now? The chicks usually seek warmth and will clump together even when the parents aren't in the nest. But they do back away from the warm center to poop, and sometimes they get "lost" on the way back which can lead to the baby getting chilled. If you arrange the bedding in the nest box so that it's a downhill slope toward the center from all sides, it will help prevent this from happening. Make sure that there aren't any little pits in the slope where the babies might get stuck. Just in case it's helpful, here's our sticky on nestbox bedding: http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=27688

Babies that have gotten chilled will sometimes have crop problems as a result. The very best person to advise on crop problems is Susanne (srtiels). She doesn't visit this forum too much any more, but she has her own forum at http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/ICR.unite/ So if it seems like the chick is still having problems, please talk to her about it.

She also has many articles on her website about crop problems and other development problems. Our sticky at http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=27514 has descriptions and links to some of these articles, so if you need help when no one is available online, these articles can be very helpful. We also have a sticky on how to empty the crop if you don't have a crop needle at http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=32584


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## Reftect (Mar 19, 2013)

As far as I know the oldest is digesting because it's crop size fluctuates. I'm not positive on the smaller one as it's crop always looks the same size. I have seen the parents feeding both of them now.

It seems to me like the parents have worked out their issues. There was one bad night where nobody was sitting on the babies because I think the female wanted to change shifts. Now she stays in the box during the day and he takes the overnight shift which is the opposite of the incubation period. They seem to be back on track. I'm hoping that one night didn't damage their crops but I'm going to need some more observation to figure that out. I ultimately decided not to hand feed the smaller one to be on the safe side since I saw the dad feeding him. Hopefully now I can sit back and let the parents do their jobs. I'll post some more pictures when they are a little older. Thanks for all the information!


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

If you weigh the babies every day on a gram scale you'll know whether they're gaining weight or not. You won't get an "empty" weight with parent-fed chicks, but you'll be able to see the general trend.


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## Reftect (Mar 19, 2013)

madyrocksin said:


> I am sorry i don't want to ruin your happiness, but the baby looks dehydrated to me because of the redness, not sure please check from more experienced members.


How right you were! These babies were definitely born dehydrated causing them severe stunting. I guess this just goes to show you how important it is to maintain good humidity for egg development. I am actually force-dipping my other pair in warm water every day to make sure this doesn't happen again.

With some help they are getting back on track. They are completely away from the parents for several days now. I'm actually posting some videos every few days on youtube on their progress.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_HP4pg2b6M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCUArceo7f4

They are growing slowly but surely.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> I guess this just goes to show you how important it is to maintain good humidity for egg development.


A baby's dehydration is actually based upon what the parents are feeding them after they hatch. Since the babies hatched out of the egg without any complications, the humidity was fine for them. But once they hatched, the parents weren't feeding them enough liquid and this is where we can step in and help out!


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> Since the babies hatched out of the egg without any complications, the humidity was fine for them. But once they hatched, the parents weren't feeding them enough liquid and this is where we can step in and help out!


I basically agree that an uncomplicated hatch is a strong sign that the humidity was OK, at the time of hatch at least. But humidity is a complex issue so I'm not sure that we can completely rule out a pre-hatch problem. 

The AFA Fundamentals of Aviculture II course included a picture of a baby that died in the shell near hatch time due to excess humidity and it looked fat and bloated because its body had absorbed some of the moisture, instead of looking bony like a normal chick. So the humidity can definitely affect the chicks' body. Even if the humidity at hatch time is good, I think it's at least possible that low humidity at an early stage could contribute to development problems. If the humidity is too low the embryo will end up dying in the shell.

I do think it's most likely that this is a post-hatch problem, with the parents not feeding enough liquid. This problem can be solved by assist-feeding some fluids to the baby. Force-dipping the parents in water could potentially backfire on you if it raises the humidity in the nest too much.


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## Reftect (Mar 19, 2013)

My other pair is actually using an open-topped nest box because she is literally afraid to go inside a dark nest box. In the past she has laid eggs in her food dish just so she didn't have to go in there! So we made a homemade open topped shallow nest box that she will actually go in. It's funny shes so tamed I can pet her head while shes sitting on the eggs and it doesn't bother her. Her mate will try to take my finger off though! lol

So with that being said what would be the best way to provide proper humidity without dipping them then? So far the egg development is good with proper sized air sacs (the babies will probably hatch any day now) but I don't want to drown them!

Should I lightly mist over the eggs with a water bottle? Mist the mother? Or any other suggestions for open topped nest box?

PS: The first baby started growing in pin feathers for his mohawk! It's so cute. I'll post another video later today probably.


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

you should give a little mist to the parents and they should be fine


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

You can run a humidifier, hang up a wet towel in the room, or have open bowls of water sitting around to add moisture to the air. If you have a humidity gauge in the room you'll have a better idea of what's going on.

The whole humidity issue is a bit of a mystery to me, because my birds don't play by the rules. I live in the desert where the humidity is typically 5-15% during breeding season, and my parent birds do NOT wet their feathers to bring moisture into the nest. Shodu drives me crazy by taking a bath and then staying out of the nest until she's completely dry. But all the babies hatch out quickly and easily whether I run a humidifier or not. I do run one sometimes but even then the humidity in the room is only about 20-30%. The parent birds are obviously doing something right but I'm not sure what it is. It's possible that your parent birds know more about the situation than you do.


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## Reftect (Mar 19, 2013)

tielfan said:


> Shodu drives me crazy by taking a bath and then staying out of the nest until she's completely dry.


This is the same thing my cockatiel Rikku does. She will play in the water then wait until completely dry to switch back to the eggs. I'm like... what was the point in that? Mystery to me as well. I think only one of her eggs are going to hatch out of 3. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

As for the babies this thread is about...










They seem to be doing alright now. They are still a little off from where they should be but at least they are going to make it. The little one is still stunted and it's skin just won't turn lighter no matter how much I hydrate him. I guess it's just going to be a little mini-tiel. It's feathers are starting to come in if you look at his head you can see the little mo-hawk. I think the bigger one is male because of his very male personality but I could be wrong. He is very vocal and bites me when I don't feed him fast enough, lol.


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

Too cute
It looks like the older one will be a lutino:lol:


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> It looks like the older one will be a lutino


They're both lutinos lol.

They are gorgeous! The smaller one will eventually catch up and be a full sized tiel, it may just take him til he's over year old to do so.


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

roxy culver said:


> They're both lutinos lol.
> 
> They are gorgeous! The smaller one will eventually catch up and be a full sized tiel, it may just take him til he's over year old to do so.


Lol
I wasn't really sure


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