by Brandibird on Fri Jan 06, 2012 2:40 pm
Update: The babies are now between 5 and 6 weeks old and are doing great....one thing I would like to mention here is that if I were to hand feed again I would definitely pull the oldest chick BEFORE it is 3 weeks of age. I waited until the the eldest just turned 3 weeks that day and the youngest was 2 weeks of age because I was afraid of pulling just the oldest at 2 weeks because of the history of the mom destroying her young...if I were to do it over I would have pulled at 2 1/2 weeks where the youngest was 10 days old but because I haven't hand fed babies that young and so helpless looking I had cold feet about taking on such a responsibility....the outcome of this is that the eldest, which was 3 weeks when pulled, always gave me a hard time at feeding time which still goes on to this day, and when he occasionally sees his parents wants to go to them (which I don't let happen because the mom will attack it) but the younger siblings which I pulled at 2 & 2 1/2 weeks will try to attack their parents but will come to me. All because of a few days of waiting till' I felt I needed to feel confident of handling them. The 2 youngest love their feeding times whereas the oldest, I feel to this day if I didn't force some of the feedings early on the him, would have just let himself succumb because he wanted to only be fed by the parents. The only time I ever heard him cry for feedings is when (rarely) I let him see his parents from a distance which I did to make sure he wasn't ill because he didn't want the syringe....sure enough, he always came to life when he seen his parents so I knew it was a matter of him just resisting the hand feedings. To this day he wants his parents if he sees them from a distance. On another note, I separated the parents as that I feel was ENOUGH breeding from them but low and behold, she is still laying eggs....on the bottom of her cage, no nest box, no partner, she is just only happy laying eggs....even if they are infertile....don't know what to do about her......and it is only 70 degrees in our house this time of year, she is in darkness about 12 hours a day and is still doing this...any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanx to everyone for their past suggestions.