Sunday, June 29, 2003

We did several things during the time the birds were in the nest that were depending on your point of view, not correct. Here are several of them:

Issue: Nest Box cleaning.

Our vet pointed out that your not suppose to change the bedding material within the nest box. I've heard from several other people, including breeders, that this is ok so long as your tiels are tame and used to you cleaning thier cages, et al. My perspective is that if you aren't breeding tiels and your tiels are tame then go ahead and clean it when necessary. Just don't disturb them too much, maybe once a day, our preference was once every other day.

Issue: Hand Feeding -vs- Parent Feeding.

We let the parents feed and care for their babies. They did a wonderful job of this, and I would be remiss if I didn't point out that not all tiel parents are so good. Even if you let them incubate them, and feed the babies, you still need to check in on the babies at least once a day to ensure that they are doing ok. During the first week, it'd be best to check in on them two to three times a day. The parents normally feed the babies at this stage (first few weeks) every two hours!!. It is very important to feed your parents healthy food, especially during this time. We found that a mixture of soft food, and seeds worked great for us. We put out two plates of food each day, as well as filling their seed bowls slightly higher than normal and giving them a millet treat. The soft food consited of: Corn, Peas, Brocolli, Lettuce, Spinich, Rice (yellow or white is fine).

Hand feeding may become necessary if the parents arn't doing thier job (this happens). During the early stages (around two weeks), the babies will need to be feed every two to three hours. This is done with a syringe, or tube down the throat. It is very important not to feed them too much, fast, or hot. The heat can burn the esophagus, too fast an they can regurgitate it back up into their lungs (yuck, they probably will then die!!), and too much has the same effect as too fast. Remember that this takes time, and lots and lots of paitence. For us this would mean doing the above for each of the seven babies.... nearly impossible for us personally. Again, this may be required... read up on this at the web sites listed in our links section.

Issue: Illness

It's very important for you to check on them to see if they are having problems. You see, the babies arn't born all at once. The smallest of ours was born 5 days after the rest. This means that his older siblings got more food than he did because he was smaller. Our parents were champs because they *always* feed them *all*. Your birds may not be this good (it happens). One of ours ended up with an eye infection that required hand feeding antibiotic medicine to him twice a day. He still is getting medicine to make sure it's totaly cleared up (smaller doses).

Sometime in April of 2003 (around the first week I think... the 1-4th) we noticed a small egg in the bottom of the cage one evening. I think I remember seeing it that morning but I'm not sure.

That's when we began talking about what to do, and given that we had no experience in this. It was when the second egg appeared and I had read something about this that we began to be concerned over what to do.

We ran out that weekend and bought a nest box. You can buy them from PetSmart, Pet Supermarket, or your local pet store. They are about 12" x 12" made out of wood with a small perch inside and a small indentation so that the eggs don't roll around. The next problem was what do you put inside, or do you put anything inside. We found (thorough experience) that paper towel(s) at the bottom of the box with some peat moss (thin layer) works quite nicely. This keeps the eggs moist (necessary), and after the babies hatch it soaks up the babies droppings. Doesn't do much for the smell though :)

We put the (now three) eggs inside the nest box and waited out to see if the parents would go into the box, lay more egss and of couse sit on them (incubate). Turns out our birds were champs and had no problems figuring out what the nest box was for, or how to use it. After a few days, we found 8 eggs in the box. For first time parents, that's a lot of eggs. Normally with the first clutch, they lay 4-6 with 4 being the norm.

During the night of May 1-2nd, 2003 our Cockatiel babies started hatching. It took another full 5 days before all 7 were hatched (out of 8).

Here they are at 2 Days old.
Here they are at 12 Days old.
Here they are at 14 Days old.
Here they are at 18 Days old.
Here they are at 21 Days old.
Around 25 days old, one baby became ill with an eye/sinus infection.
Here they are at 29 Days old.

More about the baby and all the additional fun later...

We didn't start out buying cockatiels at a pet store. Someone else bought them and then realized that they didn't want them. They were sold to a close relative of ours who was staying at our home. After a few months, that person left also leaving the birds in our permanent care. Later on, they were given to us.

We didn't have the full story about the birds, and thought that they were both male, or both female for a time. Wouldn't you know it, at about the time that they became full-fleged adults (about 2 years) voilia there's an egg in the cage.

That where our journey starts.....