PLEASE HELP!!!

[cknowles]

My pair of gcc's had a clutch of six eggs, five hatched but the fifth died two days after it was born. So I took the first two and left them with two, well yesterday there were two baby chirps, but today only one. I just checked on the an hour ago and I only found one baby. I don't know what to do, do I search the bedding for the other one(mabey it was burried), and take the other one out, or do I just wait and see what happens to the live one? If it is the younger of the two that is alive it is 8 days old, if it is the older one it is 10 days old. What do I do please help!

[Michael]

First of all, this is not the place to be asking. You should have had information and counseling from an experienced breeder before even attempting breeding. It sounds like the breeding pair are inexperienced parents and doing a poor job caring/feeding the babies (unless there is something else going on). Your best bet is probably to get in touch with a local breeder or hand feeder and let them take the remaining chicks to raise by hand in lieu of the parents.

As for the missing baby. If it is really gone rather than out of sight, could be that it died and was eaten. Do you have other pets? Could there be mice or other pests that could get in?

[cknowles]

This is their second clutch, they raised three last time.

[liz]

If this is their second clutch why did you take their babies?

Clean the nest area and give their babies back. You can always do supplimental feedings if you think the parents are overwhelmed.

[cknowles]

I took them because I wanted to raise tame babies why would I put them back? I would have done coparenting but my pair doesn't like nest box intrusions, they aren't the most tame pair.

[cknowles]

To Michael, no their are no mice or anything. I have a cat but the gcc's are in my room with the door shut, and their cage is on a stand that she cant climb. And I thought about them eating it but how could they eat it over night? It was either 8 days old or 10 days, I'm not sure which one it is because I don't have the body to compare to the live baby.