When a Chick is not fed

If you are starting to breed birds then at some time you will encounter the problem of hens which do not feed their young. Some times this is because they are young themselves and just need pointing in the right direction. Whatever the reason you must try to solve it. Over the years that I have been breeding budgerigars I have found the following methods helpful.

When a hen hatches her first chick check that it has been fed. Before you do this check that you have no strong smell on your hands, e.g. hand cream, after shave lotion or any thing like that. The last thing you want to do is change the smell of the nest box. If you do the hen could quite easily leave the nest for good, leaving chicks and eggs to grow cold.

If you cannot see that the chick has been fed by just looking into the nest box, then carefully pick up the chick and lay it on it's back in the palm of your hand. You can see the milky liquid in the throat of the chick through the skin. If you can see this then all is well. Return the chick to the nest and leave until the regular time you check your nest boxes. If the chick has not been fed then replace it in the nest and check again in about an hour. If it has still not been fed then some of the following ways can be tried.

1. Remove the chick from the nest and place it into a nest where a hen is feeding young chicks about the same age. Try to find a nest where you will be able to identify the chick at a later stage. E.G. by placing a black-eyed chick into a red eyed nest or by placing a mark onto the chick. This can be done with a felt tipped pen. It will not hurt the chick. If you are going to leave the chick in the foster nest for any lengh of time then you must re-mark the chick with the pen each time you go into the nest box or the mark will rub off and you will lose it. Once you have done this you can then place into the nest a chick that is about four days old making sure that it is sufficiently fed before you move it. This chick is strong enough now to ask for food and at this stage the hen will most likely start to feed it. If all is well then the original chick can be placed back into the nest after about 24 hours. If the hen is still feeding the 2 chicks when the 2nd of her chicks hatch, then check for 24 hours and if all is well them move the older chick back to it's parents. The problem is usually solved by this stage. If you think she is not feeding the older chick then move it back to it's own nest and and leave the young chick where it is. Repeat the procedure when the next egg hatches and if successful then move the first chick back.

2. If you experience this problem and you have no where to move a chick to, then the only thing that you can do now is to try and get some food into the chick by hand. This sounds harder than it actually is. It can be achieved by the following method. Firstly, warm just a small amount of milk, either baby milk or milk you drink. If it is full cream then add just a touch of water. You only need about 1 teaspoon full in all. Add to this just a tiny bit of egg yoke, which has been boiled. Again you only need a small amount. Now all you need is a matchstick or something similar which will hold a droplet of liquid on the end. Now you are ready. Remove the chick from the nest and place it on its back in the palm of your hand. Dip the matchstick into the milk and egg and then gently tap the beak of the chick. The chick will open its beak and you will be able to see the liquid trickle down into its throat. Repeat the procedure and when you think that there has been enough offered and the chick looks fed, then replace it back into the nest with the hen. Repeat the procedure after a couple of hours and hopefully after one or two feeds the hen will take over. If she does not then at least you can say, "you tried". Fresh feed should be made up each time and the egg yoke can be stored in a refrigerator for 24 hours.