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Wondering if anyone as had experience with grey pairs killing their young after feeding them for a week. Very sad that i didn't pull the babies to handfeed but was told that they are good parents.I could not trust them again to hatch out and feed young....What could have caused this horrible thing....

This might sound spooky to some folks, but I have learned that
when you look at babies and then & there THINK about pulling the babies for handfeeding, you might as well do it right away. In every case that happened to me, I lost the babies when I delayed a few days. Other breeders report the same situation.

Once again we all learn the hard way and i really will not trust a new pair with feeding the chicks. Most of my pairs will move aside and let me check on their babies.....Greys may be very different but my timneh pair has never killed babies that i have looked at or touched...Each pair is different.....

I had a friend that had a pr of parrolets that would do that. If you looked in the box the babies were YOURS to feed. Out of everything else she was breeding, 'itels, quakers, and bigger birds - this was the only pr that did that.

It's a learning curve that a breeder has to go through if a seller does not disclose this info.

Thanks for the input with babies being killed. I did speak with the previous owner and she said that we might have made them want to protect the babies and they killed them in doing so.I have pairs feeding babies now and they allow me to check anytime i want. It will be pulled eggs from now on with this pair....

It sounds cruel, but that's how nature works. I would not pull them for handfeeding because that clutch was lost.

In nature they often loose the first and second clutches, they're to inexperienced.
There could have been a number of things that went wrong besides that.

All birds are naturally good parents, besides the first few times when they are inexperienced. They need to learn.

If a pair has gotten the chance to raise their own young several time and still not succeded, they should ´*not* be allowed to breed. Taking their young in for handfeeding will only pass the poor ability t look after young on to the next generation. Handfeeding is infact the reason why so many parrots don't know how to take care of their young today. The loose the ability to do that after a few generations of being "handraised."

Just look at chickens. It extremly hard to find a hen that will incubate her own eggs today. It's that way because they have been hatched in incubators for so many generations.

The same thing is happening with parrots, and fast. Pretty soon no parrot will know how to take care of their young. Any ideas on how we'll be able to save extinct birds in the future, then?

I'm really sorry for your loss, but as i said, it's natural way.
Could something else have gone wrong? were they disturbed by something? what environment were they in? what food dit they get? etc etc.

We figured it was the first clutch since the birds were moved to another location. We could have caused the problem when we checked on the babies also. I was told ( once you check on babies, then we have to pull them to handfeed) SOME PAIRS DO NOT MIND , OTHERS??????

I had this problem too, till I bought a tiny video camera. Now I can check on the babies all the time and not bother the clutch. My whole outfit cost less than 100.00 and got a free tv on craigslist to view the nestbox with.

Installing the camera was easy, involved drilling a small hole and the lens set right into and away from the prying eyes of my CAG's. But be sure you put it high enough and out of their vision or they will natually investigate it... lol.

It just depends on the pair. I had one pair of greys that were excellent parents. Pair #2 would only feed 1 baby, no matter how many were hatched. Pair #3, the male would break the eggs early, and pair #4 would chew the toes off of their babies if left in the next box. I never knew the reasons why, just learned to save babies. I tried different cages, nest boxes, food, everything I could think of. So, I just learned to save babies.

They are weird these greys pairs. We have another pair of cameroons on eggs now. They are not nest dwellers but have placed their eggs in the back of the box. Will be interesting to check on babies or pull them. Hoping for the best....