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).