# The bayby's coming!!



## PlanetaryCancer (May 12, 2014)

Well, this is my first ever fertile egg, there's only one from the clutch of four, and it has pipped and I can hear little peeps! So exciting! I know we're not out of the woods yet, but I am completley freaking out in elation! I really hope this little fella makes it. How great! Come on little birdie, gooooo go!!


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## SoCalTiels (Oct 8, 2013)

That is so exciting! Hope all goes well  rooting for you and the little one.


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## Ftest (May 18, 2013)

That would excite and terrify me all at the same time. Good luck keep us informed of the wee one's progress.


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## PlanetaryCancer (May 12, 2014)

Thanks guys! I am scared, but enthusiastic, I will keep you posted.


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## Chipper&Trillie (Sep 1, 2013)

Can I ask how you tell apart fertile eggs from not fertile? Somebody told me that I can look at the eggs with the flash light. Is this a good way? 
Do they incubate from 21-30 days, is this correct? 

I hope everything goes well and you will have a baby soon! Do they make noises while being in the egg?


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## PlanetaryCancer (May 12, 2014)

THE BABY IS HERE!!! I was at work when it happened  but who cares, the baby hatched and is healthy. I was just wanting to be around "incase", and just to be there (who am I kidding). Yep at 4:45p.m. I got a call from home with the good news! A new tiny little critter was being huddled by two very protective parents. So far so good. I will post a pic ASAP, when it's not too intrusive for me to get a picture. Woooo!!!


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## Darkel777 (Jun 7, 2013)

I would get a bag of handfeed just in case. First time parents are kind of hit or miss. They may not be very successful the first time and need a helping hand.


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## PlanetaryCancer (May 12, 2014)

Hi Chipper. This is my first baby, infact it's the first fertile egg I've ever gotten so my experience is limited but I have learned a lot. The way I can tell if an egg is fertile or not is after about five days of being laid the fertile eggs stand out from the infertile ones by looking solid white where the infertile eggs will have a slight pinkish hue to them, this can be seen with the naked eye. I don't think it's foolproof, but that's one way I was able to tell. After having two fruitless clutches before this last one, I noticed the difference promptly when I got a fertile egg. And yes you can use a flashlight but it dosen't have a very small focal point for the light which means it won't "beam" light into the egg and light it up very well, especially when the the embyo develops further and blocks more light. Unless you use a "penlight" or some other small type of flashlight I would recomend getting a "candling" light. With a light at the forth to fifth day you will be able to see a network of little "spider web" veins if it is fertile.

As for incubation times, I can say that research and help from this site have suggested 18-21 days (from the time the egg actually starts being incubated). My egg was laid on the 9th of this month and hatched today. I've read, though, tha if it is especially warm they may hatch a bit sooner.

Hope this helps a bit. Others on this site know way more than I, so it does help to ask around. And if others want feel free to corect me or elaborate on what I have said.


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## Darkel777 (Jun 7, 2013)

Chipper&Trillie said:


> Can I ask how you tell apart fertile eggs from not fertile? Somebody told me that I can look at the eggs with the flash light. Is this a good way?
> Do they incubate from 21-30 days, is this correct?
> 
> I hope everything goes well and you will have a baby soon! Do they make noises while being in the egg?


16-24 days is a better estimate per egg. As a clutch they could take 30-34 days to all hatch but it depends on the hen. Some hens ignore their laid eggs for a few days and incubate them all at once in which case, all will hatch by the 34th day. Other hens will start incubating immediately when the first egg is laid which results in the more drawn out hatching scenario. A difference of up to 8 days between chicks.

Chicks only make noises after draw down just before and during the hatching process. Draw down is when the chick separates from the membrane and starts to pip. At that time, the chick is also drawing in the blood from the eggshell and the yolk hence the name "draw down". During draw down, its important not to help the chick as it will bleed to death. You will hear "peeping" noises from the eggs when that time comes. Monitoring when they start to chirp is very important to knowing when to assist hatch. Do not assist hatch unless you are confident they have drawn in the blood and the yolk. If during an assist hatch you see red plump veins, cease any attempt to assist immediately as it will inevitably kill the chick.


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## PlanetaryCancer (May 12, 2014)

Hey Darkel. I have some formula just in case. I hope they will feed the baby for at least a week before slacking off, if they do slack. I have read that the first 1-2 weeks are an important time for the babies to get emmunizing bacteria from the adults. I believe I've heard it kicked around that you can buy some type of bacteria for the same purpose, but I don't know if that is true.


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## Darkel777 (Jun 7, 2013)

PlanetaryCancer said:


> Hey Darkel. I have some formula just in case. I hope they will feed the baby for at least a week before slacking off, if they do slack. I have read that the first 1-2 weeks are an important time for the babies to get emmunizing bacteria from the adults. I believe I've heard it kicked around that you can buy some type of bacteria for the same purpose, but I don't know if that is true.


General probiotics will do the trick, but preferably you would want some made specifically for birds. I have never had to do this, but I would assume only a teaspoon or so per batch for two or three chicks should get the job done. Just enough to promote good bacteria growth in the gut which is something parents unquestionably pass on to chicks.

Some feeds claim to help immunizations for growing chicks. But I am not sure that there is much merit to the claim that the parents give immunizations to them. Articles that claim this, refer to what parents feed them as "crop milk" which is something found in flat bills not hook bills like cockatiels (or at least I have no evidence that they produce this it isn't in any of my books). I have also hand fed chicks on day one and they have survived without these immunizations (albeit at a lower rate than if parents raise them).

It could just be that maybe there is some immunization from the parents, just what they are feeding them is not crop milk. This is just something I have to study further.


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## Darkel777 (Jun 7, 2013)

Just going off a quick google search it brought up srtiel's page which seems to authenticate my suspicion.

http://www.justcockatiels.net/assist-feeding-chicks-in-the-nest.html



> Please bear in mind that the parents do not feed solid foods after the first few hours of hatch. *The chick is digesting the yolk which contains nutrients and immunities passed on from the mother.* At first they will give the chick a dilute fluid or water, which can be seen by a small bulge at the base of the crop.


Sounds like immunities are passed to the chick when it absorbs the yolk at hatch time. Not from being fed by the parents.


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## PlanetaryCancer (May 12, 2014)

Well everybody, the baby is doing great! The parents are awesome. At first the male was a better father than the female was being a good mother, which made me a little uneasy. She seemed uninterested at first then as the male took over she started follwing him into the nest box. She was still a little apprehensive and wouldn't stay in the box alone with the chick. But after awhile she got more comfortable. I don't know whether it was just maternal instinct kicking in, or if Crackers showed her what to do or a combination of both. I can't get pictures posted because I'm a technological dunce.  It's on a zip file but it says it's too large for this forum. But it is a yellow fuzzball with pink feet, and yesterday I could swear that the center of it's black eyes were pink too but today they seem dark as well. The parents are feeding it on their own which makes me happy, and they are keeping it nice and warm. I noticed that the crop does not empty between each feeding, so I'm wondering if they are feeding it too much... Or if they do a mock feeding just to satisfy a chick who thinks it's hungry. Maybe someone can help out on that. Meanwhile I'll mill around the internet to see what I can find out. Thanks for all of your help and support.


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## PlanetaryCancer (May 12, 2014)

Thanks Darkel, you are a wealth of knowledge! I really appreciate your help and advise.


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## Nimra (Aug 4, 2014)

I love chicks. But ho about feeding the baby by yourself? It will be more blinded with you later. That is why I am getting so excited about the female I am about to buy.


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## Nimra (Aug 4, 2014)

I meant bonded not blinded. Sorry.


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## PlanetaryCancer (May 12, 2014)

I am still debating whether or not to hand feed the baby. If I do I will wait at least two and a half weeks before I start. I know it's a lot of work but atmy job I will be allowed to bring the chick with me in a brooder so as not to miss any feedings. I am on the fence at this point, especially since the parents are doing a good job of caring for the youngster. I think it's a popular belief that hand feeding will bond the baby to you more and that if the adult birds raise the chick, it will pick up both good and bad habits from them. For example, it will learn how to drink and what to eat which is good, but if your adult birds are seed junkies (like mine are) then the baby will learn that from them and might miss out on learning to eat fruit and veggies. Also if your adult birds are hand shy the young one will pick up that habit as well. It is my understanding that if you hand raise the chick you will be taking on a great deal of responsibility, beyond just feeding times, food temps. and the slew of possible complications that can come with hand feeding (eg. slow/sour crop, crop burn, aspiration, etc.). You will also be taking on the bird's education. But as far as bonding goes, I've read that you can get similar effects by just hadling the baby little by little at the appropriate stages for the appropriate lengths of time respectively. For me the jury is still out on this decision. I need to do more research and weigh the pros and cons.

That's all I've got on the subject for now. Good luck with you new birdie!


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## blueybluesky (Jul 9, 2013)

Congrats on the new chick, it's so exciting when you get to see them grow 

When it's the parents first ever chick I usually prefer to let them raise the chick the first go around so they can learn how things are done but still be prepared if they need to be pulled. You can still get friendly and tame babies when the parents raise them just by handling them very often, mine are hand shy (aviary tiels) but their baby Bear will land on my hand whenever she gets the chance, plus I find it to be better, the parents do the hard work while you get the fun stuff 
But that's because the thought of hand feeding kind of scares me a lot


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## PlanetaryCancer (May 12, 2014)

Lol bluey, I like that. Let the parents do all the hard stuff, and you have all the fun. Sorta like what they say about being an Aunt or Uncle, or a grandparent. My birds are doing such a god job of taking care of the baby that I probably will let them raise and feed it. Plus what you said about letting them raise the first chick/s makes a lot of sense. I will probably only pull the baby if there is some problem down the road. But I will be handling that little ball of happiness a lot, when appropriate of course. It's decided! lol. Also it wouldn't hurt for me to keep learning as much as I can on hand feeding before I try it. I've read that if you don't have experience you shouldn't consider hand feeding unless you have to for some reason. But I sort of subscribe to the school of thought that you have to start somewhere, although it can't be stressed enough that you should be shown what to do and how to do it... Maybe I can find someone in the area I live that has experience with this to show me when they get a new bunch of hatchlings. Thank you all for your thoughts and advise! Here are the baby pics.!!


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