My Budgies are raising chicks!!

[SilverLining]

Hi,

So I have a small aviary which housed 8 budgies. One couple decided to lay eggs this past April, but the other budgies broke it all. My hen laid 6 eggs initially but they were all destroyed by competing couples I presume.

So I separated them after the incident and soon after, I discovered this 2nd clutch (3 out of 4 eggs that would be laid):

Now I was worried if my budgie pair would make good parents because they are first timers being just over a year old themselves.

Here is the male, affectionately known as Danny Boy:

And here is the lovely hen, Daisy:

At this point, I gave them tons of food, cuttlebone, mineral block and egg food. They seems quite happy and ready to raise a family. I threw in some nesting material in the nest but momma threw it all out. She didnt like any.

Anyway, like clock work, 21 days later, the first egg hatched into this little thing......

And from this point each egg hatched every other day. Unfortunately, the 4th chick got mushed by the others and passed away....so only 3 survivors...

Now, momma and poppa are busy feeding the babies, all day and night, its really cute to hear them "cheep cheeping" in the middle of the night and all day......

And here we are about 3 weeks later...eyes open ready for the world. Here are some pics from today when i was cleaning all the poopies up:

Oldest baby, turquoise/grey/green mix, very special:

2nd oldest baby (looks like momma):

The youngest one, about 4 day behind the oldest, also looks like momma but more yellow:

Hopefully, I can log their growth here and people can give me advice as I go on?

What is funny, is that I have an Albino Hen and a While/Blue boy with 6 eggs in another cage...and I think 2 of their babies have hatched. Will include their pics soon as well!

Thank for looking and have a nice day!

 

[EdwardH]

Congrats on the triplets! They sure are cute.

 

[SilverLining]

Thank you Edward for the nice words.

So I have an update from yesterday as I was able to get some better pics.

I have a question, my old budgie chick, it has a black beak. But why? Is it a mutation or some kind of nutrient deficiency I should address? The other budgie beaks are peachy in color.

So official hatch dates of the 3 cuties are as follow:

Budgie 1: April 26th. (20 days old today)

Budgie 2: April 28th (18 days old today)

Budgie 3: May 1st (14 days old)

Is it normal for the 3rd baby to hatch so late?

Anyway, here are some pics from today:

Babies huddled together (notice the back beak on my oldest):

Budgie 1 aka Lucky:

Budgie 2 aka Dexter:

Budgie 3 aka Popcorn:

I mentioned last time that I had another beautiful pair of budgies on eggs.

My handsome Ivan the male:

My beautiful Albino hen Lucy and her 3 babies, with 3 eggs still to go. Excuse the mess, she doesn't really leave or let me clean the nest box. But i got it cleaned up today.

I guess, I'll get a few more Albinos to add to the aviary...

Anyway, as you can see. My bird house is busy these days. With 4 other parrots and these guys, my days of sanity are numbered.

Have a nice day.

 

[Raixalotto]

Black beaks aren't a worry, some do some don't. I alwsys found that birds with darker colours had dark/black beaks (I used to and still do breed budgies), the last baby does appaer to be a dominant pied
Its not too unusual to hatch 3-4 days after the others, just make sure they're all getting fed (I've had babies hatch as late as a week after the others)

 

[RavensGryf]

Ohh such cuteness! I can never get enough of baby budgie pics

 

[Allee]

Thank you for sharing the story and sweet photos! Precious chicks and healthy beautiful parents. Looking forward to watching them grow.

 

[Terry57]

They are adorable! Please keep the pictures coming