Can new babies stay in large aviary w 40 other birds

[rainbow lightfeather]

Hi. I have an outdoor aviary w approx. 40 adult lovebirds and the aviary keeper just informed me today that two of the birds just had 4 kids. This aviary is a about 18ft tall by 17 feet wide by 20 feet long. There are about 50 nesting boxes high up on the walls-at a height of 6-9 feet from the ground. Is it safe to leave the bird babies in the nest box that they have been born in, even though it is very high above the ground, and if one of the babies were to accidentally fall out of the box or fall when trying to first learn how to fly, i would imagine they could be injured? Also, do lovebirds kill each others kids sometimes, like gorilla's and chimpanzees do? Or do the mother or father kill the babies sometimes, like gerbil parents do? My instinct would be to move the mother and the kids into a small cage until the kids are a bit older and seem to be able to fly, so they don't plummet to their death right out of the gate on their first flying lesson. However i can imagine that moving them in this way could stress out the parent- bigtime. If they SHOULD be moved to a smaller cage, do i move the papa along w the mama- or just the mama and kids? Does anyone know about this type of thing w lovebirds? Is it cool to let nature do its thing and not interfere, or should i put them into the safety of a smaller cage for the first weeks of their lives until they can fly? Are the babies usually fine being reared in a larger space w many birds? Do they run a serious risk of getting injured from falling from the box upon their first flying attempts? I have been searching the internet for 18 hours now , trying to find any info on this situation, and have not found anything. I appreciate any advice. Thanks much.

 

[Terry57]

Is this the first time that any babies hatched?
If they are the only babies in the flight, I would suggest moving the babies , the mother and the father into a cage of their own. The father helps feed the babies so you should definitely keep them together unless they are fighting. Parents sometimes do kill their young, and whichever parent did it should be removed if that happens, but you may have to help the Mama feed.

Parents sometimes kill their young because they know something is wrong with the baby. Other times they aren't mature enough to care for the babies so they kill them.

 

[rainbow lightfeather]

Is this the first time that any babies hatched?
If they are the only babies in the flight, I would suggest moving the babies , the mother and the father into a cage of their own. The father helps feed the babies so you should definitely keep them together unless they are fighting. Parents sometimes do kill their young, and whichever parent did it should be removed if that happens, but you may have to help the Mama feed.

Parents sometimes kill their young because they know something is wrong with the baby. Other times they aren't mature enough to care for the babies so they kill them.

I was away for the past year from the aviary due to travel restrictions w corona and just returned last week so i have only been able to observe the birds for a few days, but i never thought of checking for eggs or babies. I was most concerned that the aviary itself was being properly cleaned and maintained and checking that the food variety and quality and water quality had not deteriorated in my absence. The aviary keeper told me that 10 babies were born in the past year, and those babies are the first to be born in the aviary in 4 years. And now there are 4 new babies who are the only babies in the aviary at this moment, although the keeper told me that several birds have eggs. I was not able to get to the location of the aviary today to see if any birds are sitting on eggs, or if the eggs are infertile, but i will do in a few hours when dawn breaks here. For now, yes, they are the only babies on the scene, I will take your advice and move them temporarily to a smaller cage. But do you think this will totally freak out the mama and papa? They are really not tame unfortunately. The core aviary group of birds used to be tame until i split last year and then my old keeper had to quit while i was away because of travel restrictions- he was not allowed on the island where the aviary sits due to quarantine, so out of desperation i had to hire a local islander to take care of the birds- and i can see by how ferile they have become that he is NOT a bird person. He was very good w feeding and cleaning, but he does not have that connection w birds that an aviary keeper should have. So i know the mama and papa will be really freaked out by having humans be able to approach them closely through the bars of the cage- if for no other reason than just to feed them. Do you know about baby lovebirds when they learn to fly in nature? Do they die alot from plummeting to their death if they don't pick up the flying thing on the first go? I would imagine that this must happen a huge percentage of the time because their nests are high up in the trees. Is this something that i should expect if i do not move them? I was trying to figure out if i could move the cage down to a foot or two above the floor, but as you know, birds HATE being down low like that and the mother and father might not want to use the cage if like that. I have a plastic wood floor in the aviary. i could try to put padding- like TONS of saw dust and pieces of coconut skin shavings and that coconut or bamboo hair-like fibre stuff and soft, big banana leaves on the floor in case they fall when trying to fly, but i don't know if that would be good enough to prevent injury. Do you think the parent birds' hearts and nerves will be cool w having humans suddenly able to approach them when feeding to w/in a foot or two? THANK YOU , SERIOUSLY, THANKS MUCH FOR YOUR HELP AND ADVICE. ROCK ON.

 

[Terry57]

Okay, this changes things in my mind. If there were babies born, and now there are eggs in other nest boxes, I would leave the new babies with their parents in their nest box. It doesn't sound like the babies will be in danger from the other birds.
Baby birds do fall sometimes, both before they start to fledge and after. Is it possible for you to put something below the nest box that would catch them? Perhaps some sort of tarp?
Soft stuff on the floor may help, but it is an awful long way down for a baby. If there is a large pile it may work, but then there would be a chance that the baby suffocates in there before anyone notices.
I so hope the babies are going to be okay, fingers crossed for you

 

[rainbow lightfeather]

Okay, this changes things in my mind. If there were babies born, and now there are eggs in other nest boxes, I would leave the new babies with their parents in their nest box. It doesn't sound like the babies will be in danger from the other birds.
Baby birds do fall sometimes, both before they start to fledge and after. Is it possible for you to put something below the nest box that would catch them? Perhaps some sort of tarp?
Soft stuff on the floor may help, but it is an awful long way down for a baby. If there is a large pile it may work, but then there would be a chance that the baby suffocates in there before anyone notices.
I so hope the babies are going to be okay, fingers crossed for you

Great idea! I will put a tarp below the cage - that is an excellent idea!....Or something solid enough to stand on, but soft enough to allow the babies to have a soft landing just below the cage ......GREAT IDEA. I will construct something this morning. Thanks again for your advice. You saved those little birds from alot of stress and trauma. Cheers for that.

 

[Terry57]

Great idea! I will put a tarp below the cage - that is an excellent idea!....Or something solid enough to stand on, but soft enough to allow the babies to have a soft landing just below the cage ......GREAT IDEA. I will construct something this morning. Thanks again for your advice. You saved those little birds from alot of stress and trauma. Cheers for that.

My pleasure, I hope it works
Please let us know how the babies are doing, nothing better than good baby news!

 

[rainbow lightfeather]

My pleasure, I hope it works
Please let us know how the babies are doing, nothing better than good baby news!

Will do. Thank you very much again. Tarp is an excellent solution. Cheers