# Cockatiel Chicks Dying 3 to 4 days old



## rtallent6606 (Aug 21, 2014)

Hello I am new here, I have had tiels for 20 years of my life and started breeding about 4 years ago. I have a pair 2 1/2 years old that I rescued from an abusive family about 5 months ago, long story. They were both handfed but now so mean and scared of humans. The female is more trusting now and will let us feed sunflowers seeds to her. They mated for the first time 4 eggs all fertile and all hatched and like clockwork they all died day 3 or 4. They mated in a basket they didn't want a box. They kept throwing out all the bedding so I assumed the chicks were cold. We lost all the chicks, I put a box in the cage bedding and wrapped the box in a blanket. They mated babies started hatching this time 5. First two died at 3 days. Now this time they are warm. They were very red so I have been taking them out and giving them flovorless pedilite 3 times a day, the color came back normal and seemed to be fine. Bellies dark red but other than that perfect. Parents seem to feed every 30 mins. ANd all they will eat it millet and sunflower seeds. Trust me when I say they have a complete buffet of food to choose from. ANd they only will eat from the bottom of cage not food dishes. ALso the seed in the babies is whole seed not chewed up hulls removed but whole. When they die the only thing i notice is some have blood under the skin on the top of head but not all. I am at a loss. Don't know if it matter but from egg 3 to 4 during laying she skips an extra day then 4 to 5 is like normal. Please help and feel free to ask questions. Also I don't know if it matters but all babies have red eyes and white down over whole body. No black eyes or any shades of yellow like the babies from my other tiels. ANd my two other pair have never had a single baby die. I hate seeing babies die and I hate it more with these two because they have built up enough trust with us in a few months to breed and start to let us hold them on their terms. They will even let me go into thier box and hold the babies to give them pedilite. The last owners are reluctant to tell me anything about them. They swear they were the perfect family even though i know otherwise. Thank You


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## Bigvally (Sep 4, 2016)

I wish I could help with this.
I can say that throwing out the bedding from the nest is not unusual, my pair of cockatiels did the same thing.
My breeding pair would NOT use a wooden nest box. they only accept a cardboard box with a door cut in it. I open the top and change the papers daily, more often when they get bigger.
I lost 2 babies with the first clutch. Second clutch I lost one in the egg.
I know it's sad to loose young ones. I am seriously considering separating my breeding pair.
They do a good job of feeding the young except one thing...
They keep pulling the feathers off the babies.
I hope you can get to the bottom of your birdie problem.


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## SilverSage (Oct 19, 2014)

Are you 100% sure they are not related?

Please remove their basket and prevent further breeding until they have been converted to a fresh and pellet diet. Some yield seem to not understand the food new hatchlings need, and the only solution I have found is to feed pellets instead of seeds.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I'd also be concerned that they were related as well. Bird usually feed whole seed, that's not unusual, what's unusual is for them to feed it at this young an age. They sound very inexperienced. Any idea how old they might be? And their mutations?


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## rtallent6606 (Aug 21, 2014)

*answers*

the female is pearl the male is pied, both have bald spots which i have never seen in pieds and pearls, I have tried converting to pellet and they have fresh veggies, they eat it for themselves but not when they have babies only millet. I mean 1 day old babies have whole seed in crops. I have never had breeders like these two. My others needed some help but not like this and I never had babies die let alone full clutches. As for siblings, I will be honest, I didn't buy them so I can't say but they are fully bonded. I guess I asked my question cause i had that in mind also, but I have known others that had babies from incest and they were healthy. If I find its the case, I will not let them breed, not fair to them or the babies or whomever I might sell a baby too. But please don't use my answers to lean an opinion in a direction. I am looking for all options


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## SilverSage (Oct 19, 2014)

My good breeders feed whole seeds, but when the babies are new they feed a liquid instead. I've had a few babies die in that time frame. Keep in mind that I'm relatively new, but I've had success in switching to fresh and pellets ONLY for the first week or so and it seems to have helped dramatically for the pairs that were feeding whole seeds too early.

I would also suggest consulting your avian vet.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

With the bald spots alone I wouldn't breed these two, especially with the pied having a bald spot. The ideal pairing would be to separate the two and pair them with birds that don't have bald spots. Some birds are just not good breeders and that could be the case with these two.


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## gippi50 (Nov 10, 2016)

maybe the bald spots are from picking and pulling feathers each other ?
if so the parents are hurting the babies too, as you told seeing blood on the top of the head;
whole seeds aren't usually a problem if given with liquids and not excessive amount
*too many seeds* all together may fill the crop and the babies cannot breathe and dye, more, fungal disease of the crop (yeast) from stasis is very quick in onset .

Last summer I noticed two parents were giving only seeds to 5 babies but they always used to wet a lot the seeds into the manger and the crops never were filled too much.

I help the parents from the biginning with several kind of foods to see which is best accepted
I saw that boiled egg ( half cut with its shell ) is always accepted and given to the babies

My opinion here is: no experience of the parents in chicks feeding.
to exclude genetic problems it would be necessary to hand-feed the babies from the first day and see if they may normally grow

I quote this:
_Some birds are just not good breeders and that could be the case with these two_


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