Help!! I have a bird emergency!

[bridget503]

My female parakeet has been laying eggs since Feb, and none of them have been fertilized, so I haven't worried about them, plus the mate was breaking a lot of them. Her nesting box is in my kitchen cabinet(yeah, weird, but she likes it in there) and I just got home from work tonight, and am making dinner, and I heard peeps coming from the cabinet. Yes, we have a baby. Now what do i do? It's 10:00 on Sunday night, will it be okay with her, or do I need to do something?

 

[Riio]

What?!!! Well I guess a congratulations are in order!! I would think (mind you I have 0 experience in this area) that leaving her to do her motherly thing would be best. Plus I think Ive read quite a lot that even "hand raised" babies are not pulled from the parents for a few days to weeks after hatching. Also if there are more eggs they could hatch still like one a day. Anyways best of luck, I hope someone with experience in this area will chime in to help. Please keep us updated on the new lil baby(s)

 

[bridget503]

I was thinking the same thing. I've been checking on them, and she seems to know what she's doing, feeding, warming, etc.

 

[MikeyTN]

Are you serious? Having them in the kitchen cabinet? You guy must let him fly free. It's actually quite unsanitary to have them have babies in your kitchen cabinets. The babies poop A LOT!!!! Are you providing her with calcium supplements? Mineral blocks? The parents would actually eat those up while eating their regular food and feed it directly to their babies. Parakeets are actually excellent parents. The father is the one that does all the work right now feeding the baby and the momma. As long as your providing him with lots of food and clean fresh water he will care for them. But next time you should really think about giving her a nest box if you were to let them have babies. You also need to try caging them after they're done with this batch if they already had several batches of eggs already. It's not good for the mother to constantly lay eggs as it will deplete her body to the point that it might kill her.

With parakeets, even if the mother does die during this period, the father can rear the young on his own.

 

[bridget503]

They are in a nesting box, she just likes the cabinet. I had it velcroed and taped shut, but she always finds her way in there, so I just gave in. I'm going to move the box to another cage, away from the others.

 

[Birdlover11]

Just give them a mineral block and lots of food and water , the parants will take care of the babies

 

[bridget503]

Are mineral blocks better than calcium supplements and charcoal grit? Because they have those in their food dish.

 

[Birdlover11]

What's charocoal grit ? Budgies don't need grit.

 

[IcyWolf]

I'm confused, so there is a nestbox in your kitchen cabinet? Are your budgies just free flying in your house or do they have a cage?

 

[MikeyTN]

Are mineral blocks better than calcium supplements and charcoal grit? Because they have those in their food dish.

IF you want something like grit, get crushed oyster shells as they will provide calcium supplement. But get the mineral block and cuttle bone anyways, they will know what they are!!!!

I am also a bit confused? Are they using a nest box inside the kitchen cabinets or are they just laying in the bare cabinets?

 

[Remy]

Congratulations! I reeally wanna see some babies in a kitchen cabinet.

 

[bridget503]

Ok, let me explain! I have 3 cages, but they only like to sleep and eat in them. My boyfriend said "they're birds, they need to fly", so they fly, the lovebird hangs out on our shoulders, the keets sit on my head, but Periwinkle has always liked the cabinets. Like I said, they are velcroed and taped, but she's a very determined bird, and gets what she wants. Early in mating season, I found an egg in my cabinet, so I went out and got a nesting box and nesting materials. She wanted no part of that, so she emptied all the food from the dish and made that her new nest. Then, she stopped laying for a while, and started flying with the others again. Next thing I knew, she was getting back in the cabinet. And then another egg. So I set up the box in the cabinet, and she's been a happy little bird ever since, and then Sunday, the baby. Today we moved the box to the empty cage, but she's not happy, and is kind of neglecting the baby, so I'm worried about that.

 

[MikeyTN]

Ok, let me explain! I have 3 cages, but they only like to sleep and eat in them. My boyfriend said "they're birds, they need to fly", so they fly, the lovebird hangs out on our shoulders, the keets sit on my head, but Periwinkle has always liked the cabinets. Like I said, they are velcroed and taped, but she's a very determined bird, and gets what she wants. Early in mating season, I found an egg in my cabinet, so I went out and got a nesting box and nesting materials. She wanted no part of that, so she emptied all the food from the dish and made that her new nest. Then, she stopped laying for a while, and started flying with the others again. Next thing I knew, she was getting back in the cabinet. And then another egg. So I set up the box in the cabinet, and she's been a happy little bird ever since, and then Sunday, the baby. Today we moved the box to the empty cage, but she's not happy, and is kind of neglecting the baby, so I'm worried about that.

Since she's having them in a nest box then it's not as bad. You don't ever move them when they're on eggs or feeding chicks. They will abandon them!!!

 

[bridget503]

Update on my birds in the cabinet--the last egg hatched today, so I now have 2 babies in the nest box in my cabinet. The first one is getting big!

 

[Karigan]

Wow! You have to send pictures! This kind of reminds me of my cat. She wasn't fixed and just had a litter 4 months previous, so we didn't think it was possible that she could give birth again, but before we could get her to the vet, BAM! I don't think she even knew because I found five of them all over the house and I even had to cut the cords! I had to hold her down for ten minutes while they nursed before she figured it out. You just never know what animals are going to do, huh?

 

[MikeyTN]

They do grow fast! You should take a picture of the nest box in the cabinet plus the babies, that's a interesting thing to see for sure!!!! I've heard of people whom let their birds fly free in the house and they had nest all over the house and having chicks....

 

[Remy]

We demand pictures! :-D

 

[MikeyTN]

I just remembered the pair I took back not long ago, in their previous home I was told they were having babies in the sock drawer.....I can only say OMG.....

 

[Dharmawaits]

Gertrude!! The bird had a baby in my sock again. Actually that would kind of be a crappy start to your day when you think about it.

 

[bridget503]

I have moved the nest box out of the cabinet, and into a cage. Mommy seems to want to spend more time with my other birds, but still goes to feed them, and so does Daddy. The first one is 3 weeks old, and the second one is 2 weeks. They're really getting big, and are so cute!