HELP!! Mother budgie attacking and killing babies!

[Tashaaa]

In all of my 17 years of breeding English Parakeets, I have NEVER come across this!

I have a beautiful pair of budgies that give me the most beautiful babies... This was to be her second - and last- clutch of babies for the season. Her first clutch, everything was just fine! Here on her second clutch (3 babies), the oldest of the nest left the nesting box 2 days ago. I go to feed them this morning, and I find the youngin mutilated on the cage floor, and the mother covered in its blood! I separated the mother from the dad and 2 kids (One left the nest today, one is at least a few days away from leaving), but the father will not feed the crying baby in the nest! So now I'm trying to figure out how to handfeed a baby that does not want me near it (I'm no stranger to handfeeding).
Has anyone had this problem??? What do I do?? WHY did she do this??? I'm just dumbfounded that she became so aggressive!

 

[noodles123]

This isn't totally uncommon-- let me get you some links...I am sorry for your stress and I hope you read these for detail! Wish there was more I could do!

https://hari.ca/hari/research-facil...cine-pediatrics-housing-feeding-baby-parrots/

http://www.parrotforums.com/breeding-raising-parrots/74363-so-you-bought-unweaned-baby.html

http://www.parrotforums.com/breeding-raising-parrots/54987-before-i-start-breed.html

 

[Talven]

There are several reasons for this sort of behaviour. She could be hormonal and wanting another round in the nest box. Budgies will breed year around so she could be trying to force the chicks to fledge. She could have decided that the chick was "flawed" in some way and decided to cull it. She could have just decided to do it for the sake of doing it. Female budgies can be and often are nasty aggressive birds during their hormonal broody periods.