Baby cockatiels

[Kirby]

Hello!

I posted a couple of months ago about our unsuccessful handfeeding with a baby cockatiel that my birds abandoned right after it hatched. It was a really heartbreaking experience - and a couple weeks later, Molly and Leo had another egg. We didn't have much hope for the babies since Molly and Leo didn't do so great with the first clutch. There were five eggs total, and four of them hatched.

The first egg turned out to be infertile, but the second egg hatched on April 16th, and there was such a difference between the way this baby acted compared to the ones from the first clutch that we had tried to handfeed. It was sitting up and demanding the parents to feed it - low and behold, they did. The third egg hatched two days later and it didn't show the same kind of strength that the first baby did - it died the next day. The fourth egg hatched two days later and it acted just like the first baby - very strong and demanding of the parents.

Here's a picture of the first baby when it was four days old.

The fifth baby hatched on April 21st. It's egg was much smaller than the others, and the baby seemed weak from the start. However, Molly and Leo fed it and took care of it, and it's alive and thriving today. All of the babies are doing wonderfully. The oldest baby opened it's eyes yesterday, and the second oldest is getting ready to open his eyes within the next couple of days. Molly and Leo taking care of these babies has been such a relief - I have high hopes for them. They're doing great. :)

Here's the oldest baby as of yesterday - it's little eyes are opening, and it's starting to get coloration on it's wings.




And here's an attempt at a group shot from yesterday too - the oldest baby is in the middle, the middle one is in the front, and the youngest is in the back.

[Jannabellsmom]

Awwwwwwww Babies are so precious. :)

[KDK241]

They are so cute! Glad to hear everything is going well this time but sorry to hear about the baby that died. Sometimes it just takes the parents a little time to learn what they are supposed to do. It's also possible that they abandoned the first baby because they knew there was something wrong with it and it wasn't going to make it. Congratulations!!

[Ashling]

wow congratulations! When I bred budgies, my cockatiel Peanut was so intrested in the babies, and would sing to them whenever I checked on them and held them- or chanced to peek into the box himself! I cant wait to get an aviary so he can have some babies of his very own! Your going to have a great new batch there!