# Rejected baby



## Melissa2208 (Feb 28, 2013)

GUYS!!! (and girls)

I need some advice, as quick as anyone can manage. My cockatiels have successfully bred 4 babies, fortunately, the first three are fine (at the moment). Baby #4 hatched just this afternoon, with a bit of help from myself (the egg had been pushed out of the nest and was starting to get cold rather quickly  so I took it upon myself to remove it, hoping like heck that baby was still alive, Thank heavens baby was, I could hear chirping). It's been a few hours and baby seems to be doing alright, but the other three are looking extremely well fed, and are chirping nice and loud. Little baby is not so loud. I'm hoping that everything will turn out fine, and baby will get fed by parents, as that would be the best outcome for all invloved... However... If it doesn't turn out this way (I plan on keeping a close eye on things just to make sure)... I'm in need of serious help! Can anyone offer any advice as to how to deal with this situation(if it comes to that). What have you done to keep baby warm, and how many times a day should you fed and how much and how do you help this little fighter keep going?

I'm really not wanting to lose any of them, and I don't have any experience with hand rearing, so I'm hoping not to need do develop that just yet.

Any advice would be unbelievably welcome


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

The first 12-24hrs the parents wont feed the baby because its still getting nutrients from the yolk. But they should start feeding it after that. What you can do to help is assist feed at this point. The other babies are much bigger and thus parents have thickened up the formula they are feeding which can lead to the youngest becoming dehydrated. Coconut water will help greatly in this because its very good for rehydrating. You can give it a drop at a time on its beak so it gets some (that's all it will really need at this age.) If the parents don't feed it, you can mix some formula in with the water and feed every two hours til the parents take over. I would leave the baby with the parents for warmth and just pull it out to feed it. I had to do this with a baby and the parents took over after two days. Its going to be tough, its every two hours even at night that the baby needs to be fed. For now just help with hydration. Good luck!


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## heyholly (Nov 8, 2012)

I recently posted a thead about getting some advice on brooders and got some fantastic feedback. If you end up pulling the chick, maybe take a look at it


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

I know it's a bit late now, but you might want to bookmark this article on assist hatches in case you ever need it again: http://www.justcockatiels.net/assist-hatches.html You were very lucky this time; just cracking open the egg can be fatal to the chick if it isn't at the right stage yet. 

If you scroll down to the bottom of that page you'll see a bunch of pictures related to assist hatching. The pictures on the last row talk about what it looks like if the yolk has not been fully absorbed and what to do about it. The middle picture in the second to last row shows what it looks like when the yolk has been fully absorbed. It would be good to compare your baby to these pictures to make sure everything is OK yolk-wise. Normally the yolk is fully absorbed before the baby finishes hatching, and since this chick had a little help it's possible that this stage wasn't fully completed.

P.S. The article at http://www.justcockatiels.net/assist-feeding-chicks-in-the-nest.html talks about assist feeding, including information on newly hatched babies who aren't being fed by the parents.


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## Melissa2208 (Feb 28, 2013)

Yes, I'm aware it can be fatal. But I knew that if I didn't give the wee fighter a helping hand he wouldn't be a wee fighter too much longer. I spent a fair time waiting, and encouraging him to come out on his own. The yolk was all absorbed, so no harm done  Parents have been feeding baby  YAY! And baby is looking healthy and strong


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## Melissa2208 (Feb 28, 2013)

Would you be able to give me a link to that?


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## Melissa2208 (Feb 28, 2013)

heyholly said:


> I recently posted a thead about getting some advice on brooders and got some fantastic feedback. If you end up pulling the chick, maybe take a look at it


would you be able to give a link to that? Cheers


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Here's the homemade brooder thread: http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=38243


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