Bad News :( my lutino hen develop a habit of plucking her babies feathers.

[monching]

Felt so bad when I heard the babies crying inside their nest and when I peek I saw some blood in their pin feathers that just starting to grow. No choice but to pull them all out and just hand feed them. This is the parents second clutch and they are relatively young so I'll just rest them for now, pulled the nest box out together with the chicks and hopefully the mama bird will forget all about it.

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[Terry57]

Aww, poor little babies At least you caught it early

 

[monching]

Yes Terry just got lucky it's my day off, don't know what will happen to them if i'm not home. Thanks.

 

[crimson]

good choice....actually it's really the only choice when the parents start plucking.

adorable babies!!!

 

[monching]

you're damn right Crimson no choice really...now I have 5 handfed babies.

 

[getwozzy]

Very cute babies!!!

 

[crimson]

hey I just noticed your from Toronto, where abouts r u?

 

[monching]

I'm just a stone throw away from Islington Station crimson. How about you?

 

[crimson]

I grew up 10 minutes from there.
now I live just north of Newmarket in Keswick.

what mutation are your lovebirds in your Avatar,? they are gorgeous.

 

[monching]

Wow you're not that far.

 

[RavensGryf]

Sorry this is happening . I hope there is a way to stop it in the future? Do you know why that happens?

 

[crimson]

Wow you're not that far.

45 minutes to be exact

 

[monching]

Sorry this is happening . I hope there is a way to stop it in the future? Do you know why that happens?

Lots of factor..Being over protective is the main reason,one is mama bird don't want us to peak or hold the babies and will tend to bite the babies to death in some cases, some will attack outright in defense of the babies. some is if they smell something from the babies after us holding them mama bird will try to take it off the babies by preening the pin feathers and in so doing it will bleed being pin feathers and once mama bird tasted the blood in it, there will be no stopping her from doing so and babies will end up bald with just flight and tail feathers left and will only grow it back once they got out of the nest and start feeding by them selves. Best remedy is pull the babies out together with the nest box and hand feed them . Let the parents rest by putting them in a colony flight cage to have some exercise, let the mama bird forget all about it before trying to breed them again or just take just the mama bird and let the papa bird do the feeding.

 

[monching]

Wow you're not that far.

45 minutes to be exact

Maybe I can drop by someday.

 

[monching]

what mutation are your lovebirds in your Avatar,? they are gorgeous.

They are sable head clear pied x sable head dom pied

dom as in dominant pied.

 

[MikeyTN]

They don't smell us on the chicks! That's not the reason why they pick at them. They have developed a taste for feathers as they squeeze the juice out of the feathers. But everything else is a possibility!

Good thing you removed them cause I would of done the same thing.

 

[monching]

They don't smell us on the chicks! That's not the reason why they pick at them. They have developed a taste for feathers as they squeeze the juice out of the feathers. But everything else is a possibility!

Good thing you removed them cause I would of done the same thing.

Base on my experience I believe they do smell us, especially if you handle them with a smelly hand. I have a proven breeder that did this kind of behavior every time you touch her baby with a smelly hand or oily hand for that matter. If my hands are clean it's fine. But sometimes it's just the over protectiveness that they vent their anger on the babies 'cause we're out of reach and sometimes they just want to be left alone. They simply don't want to be disturbed. I have a proven pair that will kill all their babies just by peeking at them, leave them be and you'll just see the beautiful babies coming out of the nest( these are my B2B wild type personatus). I also have a pair that will throw all their eggs once you check their nest and again if you leave them be and wait, you'll see the babies coming out all healthy and beautiful.

Again these are all based on my experience for over 15 years

 

[thekarens]

If you do research the whole birds smelling humans and that's why you shouldn't pick up baby birds is an old wives tale.

Birds might not like you disturbing their babies, but it has nothing to do with them smelling you.

 

[MikeyTN]

Thank you thekarens!!! You answer before I could. I've been raising birds for over 17 years and I've encountered lots of things, even what you've been through.

 

[monching]

I respect your opinions on this as I don't do research and mine are all based on my experience on lovebirds alone. I have more than 200 heads of lovebirds back home and all that I said here are based on that. So if they have no sense of smell so be it , so how can you explain the behavior of one of my proven pair that it is okay for me to handle their chicks even pet them provided my hands are clean but if my hands is dirty or some smell on it and I handle the babies the plucking starts as in they want to take that smell or odor off the babies. Always remember there is always this "exception to the rule" thing that is why I reiterated that all that I've said were based on "MY OWN" experience.