Allison & Parker

[OutlawedSpirit]

Allison and Parker, one of my parrotlet pairs, have been sitting on eggs for a little over two and a half weeks now. 18.5 days if you want to get technical. She laid the first egg the 5th of March and has been sitting tight since day one.

I had figured that if the first egg was fertile I should expect it to hatch no later than Saturday, the 25th, since that would be day 20 and parrotlets tend to incubate for an average of 19 days. However, I think I may have a baby in the nest today! I don't know for sure because I don't want to push mom off the nest right now, and she guards if ferociously, but it sounded like baby peeping coming from the box just a little bit ago.

Granted, it could have been one of the parents making noise that my brain is just saying is baby noises because I'm inpatient and am looking forward to having babies again, but I'm hoping it was baby peeps. I also take it as a good sign that if it was, they didn't last long which probably means momma is feeding it.

Although I plan on handfeeding the babies, I would really prefer not to have to handfeed a day old chick. I would if I had to, and I am prepared to if necessary, but I don't want to. I definitely think they are better off staying with the parents for the first couple weeks.

I will update this thread when I find out for sure if baby number one has arrived yet or not. :jumping40

 

[itzjbean]

Oh my gosh, how EXCITING!!!! *Squealllll* I ove babies, and I'm also a believer of leaving babies with parents until a couple weeks of age, best of both worlds! Way to go, birds!!!

 

[EllenD]

As soon as mom and dad leave the box block it off so they can't get back in and check on the baby to make sure he's OK.

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

 

[Violet_Diva]

I know the feeling! It's sooo exciting! Can't wait!!! Good luck!

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

False alarm. No baby yet, just six eggs. It is still a day or two early. It wouldn't be out of the normal range for the first to hatch today, but still more likely that the first will hatch tomorrow or even Saturday. Don't worry, I will keep you updated.

@Ellen, the couple times I have checked the nest to make sure everything was as it should be, I've had to move mom off of the eggs. I have not seen her off of the nest in weeks. I know she does come off of it to do her business and such, but she is really good about sneaking out to do it when no one is around. So I literally cannot catch her out of the box.

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

We had chick number one hatch either yesterday evening or this morning! So exciting, I just love babies! I am completely unsure of how many eggs are fertile in this clutch. Unlike with my budgie parents, I am not very familiar with this pair, so I haven't been very pushy with getting them off the eggs long enough to candle them at all. I figure I'll know in the next two weeks how many were fertile depending on how many chicks hatch. From what I saw when I saw the little one this morning, it looked like his crop was full, so everything seems okay so far. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[wrench13]

Oh man, parrotlet chicks, they must be teeny tiny things. Little puff balls. I dont know how anyone who breeds can sell or give the chicks away - I would be chin deep in parrots.

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

Oh man, parrotlet chicks, they must be teeny tiny things. Little puff balls. I dont know how anyone who breeds can sell or give the chicks away - I would be chin deep in parrots.

You'd think that, but there is a weird sort of pride when someone else wants one of your babies. It's like when you put a bunch of time and effort into making something that you give to someone for their birthday or Christmas or something. It's like, that was me, I did that, I made that, all me! I know, probably sounds weird, especially since it is a living thing, but it's true. Any good breeder can tell you that a lot of time, effort, love and tears go into the parents, so the chicks really are like a work of art.

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

Baby is still doing well today. I just checked on him a little bit ago. I didn't see much of him, since mom isn't into sharing, but I did see that he was wiggling around under her, so I know he is alive and moving around well. Obviously I don't know that he is a boy at this point, but I hate referring to babies as "it" until I know, so I tend to randomly assign genders just for the sake of being able to refer to them as something that sounds more like a living thing and less like an object.

 

[Violet_Diva]

Yay for baby!!! Can't wait for mommy to let you see baby properly so you can share with us (I'm selfish I know) <- But who doesn't want to see a tiny parrotlet baby?!?

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

Yay for baby!!! Can't wait for mommy to let you see baby properly so you can share with us (I'm selfish I know) <- But who doesn't want to see a tiny parrotlet baby?!?

Don't feel bad, I'm selfish and want to see too. Of course, mommy is the real selfish one, keeping baby all to herself. Just kidding of course.

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

Well, we are now up to 4 healthy seeming chicks. I feel bad harassing mom as much as I am now, pushing her out of the nest every day, but I don't have too much of a choice at this point, especially seeing as how her clutch seems to be at least mostly fertile.

I still have not been able to catch her out of the box at all. Not first thing in the morning, not at night, not at various times in the middle of the day. So to check babies, I've been forced to gently push her off of them so I can check them. I want to know as soon as possible if the clutch gets to be too large for her to take care of properly so I can pull a baby or two to ease the strain on her. So far, all 4 babies look like their being fed well, and are developing well, so I am leaving them with mom. Large clutches just make me worry more than small ones do.

If I think about it next time I move mom, probably later tonight to check baby number 4 again, since he just hatched this morning, I'll try to have my phone out to snap a picture for you all when I check the babies. I'm not intentionally keeping them all to myself, I just don't think about pictures when I'm trying to make sure babies are fed and okay.

 

[YUMgrinder]

pics pleeeeeeeease!

 

[Kentuckienne]

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

As promised.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

 

[YUMgrinder]

OHH MYYYY. can I have one pleeeeeeeease lol

 

[Violet_Diva]

Gosh - amazing tiny little fuzzy jellybean babies!
But they grow so fast, I do love watching baby birdies grow
Thank-you kindly for sharing!
Can't wait to see more

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

Gosh - amazing tiny little fuzzy jellybean babies!
But they grow so fast, I do love watching baby birdies grow
Thank-you kindly for sharing!
Can't wait to see more

They are such itty bitty jelly beans, and I don't think my budgie babies were this little, even though my main pair were rather petite. With my budgies, a few days after every one finished hatching, I pulled everyone from the nest for the first time for a few minutes just to change out the bedding and clean the nest box to keep it sanitary, but I'm almost scared to with these itty bitties. Even the oldest baby, who is almost a week old already, still seems so tiny!

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

OHH MYYYY. can I have one pleeeeeeeease lol

Well, I certainly don't plan on keeping all of them... not if I want to keep my wife too.

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

Well, we have 5 little fuzzy jelly beans, although the oldest aren't as little now. It seemed like they stayed tiny forever, then grew like weeds over night. Although I guess babies of all species tend to grow in spurts like that so it's not really surprising.

Just waiting to see if egg number 6 hatches today. I won't really be surprised if it doesn't, I have not had a hen hatch out an entire clutch before. Usually with 6 eggs or more, I've always tended to have a couple that weren't fertile, but she has hatched out all the others so it may.

I'm just glad that between her and Parker, they seem to be having no issues taking care of a large clutch, so I haven't had to start pulling any of the babies yet to help them out. I would be more comfortable doing so at this point if I had to since the oldest is over a week old, but I'd still rather leave them with mom and dad for a full 2 weeks as long as I'm able to. So far I've been able to, mom and dad are keeping up with them like champs.