# Whats normal?



## hcfm (Jul 20, 2010)

Hi all

Its a while since i posted - the last time was when Molly & Freddie were playing in the nest box.

Well they now have 3 chicks who are 29/30 days old.

1 of the chicks was considerably smaller than the other two but wsa still growing so i left him and he seems to come grown to the size of the others.

the chicks are now standing on the edge of the nest box and popping their heads out and theres also flapping going on in the nest box,

however one thing is concerning me is that one of the chicks is completely bald on her head (i thinks she's a she, she is my eyes anyway lol) and when she does pop out both parents seem to pluch the back of her neck.

Any ideas?

They also seem to be discouraging the chicks coming out and start to push them into the box, is this natural??

thanks in advance for your help

andy x


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## amue155 (Oct 13, 2010)

Im my opinion at that age the chicks are trying to explore. 
They are not ready to leave the nest yet and fledge and the parents know this. they should have another 2 weeks or so before they leave the nest. around 5-6 weeks is fledging time for tiels. 
If the plucking gets bad to where the babies are starting to bleed or the parents are getting a hold on their wing pins, I would say you may need to pull the babies to handfeed.
Ive some baby tiels with SERIOUS feather folicle damage because of being plucked in the nest box. 
The parents just dont want their babies to come out yet and they are trying to prevent them from doing so. 
I would say its not a problem right now, but just keep an eye out. And if one falls out immediately put him back in the nest box, he could get too cold by himself, or the parents may not feed him on the cage floor. 
Hope this helps!


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## hcfm (Jul 20, 2010)

Thanks for that

The strange thing is that the bald chick has not long fell out of the nest box and then climed up the cage back onto the top of the nest box.

Will put him back inside. 

If he keeps doing it do i just keep putting him back?

Thanks

Andy


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

*If he keeps doing it do i just keep putting him back?*
*----------------------------------*

Usually at about 4 weeks the tiel babies will be able to climb in and out of the nestbox. If the baby does get out, leave it be, it should find it's way back in.


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## hcfm (Jul 20, 2010)

Thanks for that srtiels

one of the babies flew out of my hand this evening when i was gettimg them out to clean the nest box! he flew quite a distance actually, took my by surprise!!!

i noticed though that all three babies have been plucked - specifically their heads/crests area -

whats the best thing to do?

andy


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

The plucking is the parents way of trying to get the babies out of the box so they can start another clutch. If the plucking isn't hurting the babies there's no reason why they can't be left with the parents.


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## hcfm (Jul 20, 2010)

thanks roxy

just worried in case they're damaging the chicks

have actually caught mum and dad copulating again this evening so now its all making sense!!

will have to cover them up earlier than i have been doing and try and stop them getting ready for a new clutch


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Its really hard to prevent double clutching good luck!


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

I agree with Roxy....the plucking is just trying to get them to fledge, and the pair is going to go another clutch...whicjh is normal with tiels. The male will do most of the feeding to the chicks once they fledge and he will try and show them where the food bowls are. At this age the babies are able to go in and out of the box.

Will you be hand-feeding them or letting the parents wean them out?


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## hcfm (Jul 20, 2010)

I was hoping to let the parents rear them with me handling the chicks on a daily basis to try and tame them a little.

i hope if i've done it right that the signature picture is the chick that was out yesterday but the parents are plucking down the back of her neck now.

If i decide to hand feed them, how often should i do it now, they 30/31 days old?

I really do appreciate everyones help.

Andy x


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

If you let the parents wean and you are handling them it will be about 5-6 weeks from now by the time they are completley weaned. As to the plucking that will also stop once the babies spend more time out of the box.

If you decide to hand-feed at this age you will hand feed 3 times a day. I started another thread 'Hand-feeding Chart' There is some helpful info in that thread....


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## hcfm (Jul 20, 2010)

Hello again everyone, thanks for the help so far.

Needing some advice again please LOL

The chicks are now 37 days old and all three are out of the nest box and pottering around. The plucking does not seem to have stopped at the moment, but it seems that its mum who is doing the plucking and my partner says that yesterday she did make one of the chicks bleed.

So my question is would it be appropriate to move mum to a separate cage next to the current cage or would this cause too much stress for all as they are copulating multiple times a day again. Also, i've noticed that dad has tried to copulate with one of the chicks LOL

The chicks are eating some seed and still being fed primarily by dad as expected. One escaped as i was sorting the feed and water out the other day and flew quite a distance!

Any ideas would be gratefully received

Regards

Andy


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