Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 10/31/2006

Question
I have a pair a parakeets who have successfully had one offspring that lived. The next time they bred they had 4 eggs of which 3 hatched. They lived for a few weeks. We came home one day to find all of them dead. I suspect the father or the order brother did it. This time we have secluded the mother in her own cage and she hatched three eggs. Are we doing the right thing? I know I have seen the father participate in feeding the babies in the past. Is there anything else I should be doing?  

Answer
Hi, Jim.  Thanks for posting!

Sorry to hear about your losses.

How often are you breeding these keets?  You should only allow them to have 2-3 clutches of eggs/babies per year.  Otherwise, the parent bird's health can be affected, as well as the babies' health.  You need to remove the nesting box to discourage breeding.  

The father of these babies should be with the mother.  The male feeds the female (and guards the outside of the nesting box) while the female tends to the eggs and/or babies (and guards the inside of the nesting box).  The male does not feed the babies while they are in the nest, nor does he help incubate the eggs...the female takes care of all of this.  He may go inside for a short time to be with the female, but that's all he's doing!  The female comes out of the nesting box only to defecate and drink, sometimes eat, while the babies are young (she may only come out once or twice per day).  As the babies grow older, she'll come out more often.  

There should be no other birds in the cage with the parents and the eggs/hatchlings.  Other birds in the same cage is asking for trouble.  You need to separate the older offspring from the parent birds, as well as any other birds that might be in the same cage.  

The only other thing you need to think about is handfeeding the babies.  If you don't handfeed them, they won't be tame enough to handle.  Visit my website for more information on this:

http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html

Also, be sure to wean the babies to a good, nutritional, healthy diet.  An all-seed diet is not a healthy diet...seed is high in fat and has little nutritional value.  Information on this is also on my website.

Come back with any questions.

Chrys