1st baby cockatiel died

[Pussygalore]

thanks everyone, we do have a spare aviary so once all this is out of the way I think we'll get another male for the lonely female and separate them into 2 pairs putting the new male and female that hasn't laid into the other aviary and leaving the established pair on their own, they can always go back together later in the year. I don't know if there was any food in the baby it was so tiny, but as its survived since sunday it must have been having something but I just think it was smothered or overheated. They are only young adults and this was their 1st attempt had there not been the 2nd female they might have managed better, I'll leave the other eggs another week or so as it seems means to take them away and they might hatch if they do we'll risk upsetting them all and remove the spare female, she can come in the house although won't like it, it might give the others a chance, god if anyone gets funny citters its always me anyway thanks for all the tips.

[Lolly8]

Very sad news.Can't help you but I hope you'll find solution.

if the others do hatch, keep a eye on the crop of the babies, you can tell if they are recieving food or not, the crop should always have food in it, they are transparent at that age,
and feed the adults plenty of soft foods so they have something to give the weens

[Pussygalore]

please can you tell me what you mean by soft foods, they have a big bowl of assorted fruit and veg/greens everyday which they love, their normal seed mix, milliet and we hang seed grasses in there when they are available, do you mean the bags of egg food? if so how do you feed it? as it comes or wet, many thanks

the fruit and greens are great you can use the egg food, but dampen it you can also feed some chopped up boiled egg, plain cooked pasta, porrage oats [with water not milk]

sorry but, not every one feeds the fruit and greens and only give the poor birds seeds but i can see you have their diet well covered, so hope you dont mind me giving you the 3rd degree, on behalf of the animals and i can never help sticking my nose in

[Sylvia1]

Hi Anne - Linda is right - you need to feed the egg food mixed in a cup with a little hot water until it is soft crumbs. Replace this with fresh 2 or 3 times a day as it quickly goes rancid. How many nesting boxes do you have? I would suggest putting up another two - at the same height so as to avoid competition on the highest & best! (sorry if this has already been covered and I missed it).

[Pussygalore]

there are 4 nesting boxes in the avairy all decent sized and we have 2 lineolated (the ones nesting) and the 3 cockatiels 2 females and 1 male but hopefully soon to be 4 with another male, then split the 2 pairs using the other aviary so they have one each. Both avairy's are big with heated indoor area and big full head height flights, our birds and animals are always spoilt, the fruit given is cherries/apple/grape/kiwi/plums/orange and whatever else we find and the veg is usually mixed salad leaves, herby leaves, brocolli,grated carrot,spring green,rocket/ peas,sweetcorn and others depending on whats in the fridge and in season in fact they eat better than us, we have a small farm shop near us and on a sunday he'll let us have the food that gone out of date etc so we never know what we end up with, but the cherries are brought all year if we can get them as the linelolated love them. They also have their mineral blocks, cuttlefish, oystershell grit and often a vitamin supplement in their water, the seed grasses come from the meadow in the park where we live and they love to get on them, oh and their branches are apple and pear from the orchard, I don't think theres much they are missing

[Sylvia1]

Sounds like you have enough nest boxes! Here's a link for simple care, including food for the chicks http://www.pricelessparrots.com/breeding-cockatiels.htm. Good luck on future babies