Baby cockatiel

Question
QUESTION: I have two cockateils 1 male one female the laid 5 eggs the first egg hatched on  12/10/07, the baby is doing great he's getting huge,now I have two more of the egg's hatching should i remove the oldest baby or leave it in the nest??? Please Help i've never raised babies this young

ANSWER: Hi, Vicki,

Merry Christmas!

Obviously, some of the eggs are not going to hatch, as the eggs should have hatched every other day starting 10 Dec (depending on when the eggs were laid and when incubation started).  Do you know how to handfeed baby parrots using a handfeeding syringe and baby parrot handfeeding formula?  Do you know how to care for baby parrots?  If not, then the only choice you have is to leave the oldest baby with the parents.  You'll need to watch the younger babies carefully...check on them at least once per day...to see if they are being fed well enough.  Parent birds usually feed the oldest bird first and since this bird is so much older than the others, the others may not get fed like they should be fed.  If you know how to handfeed, I would recommend pulling the older baby out completely for handfeeding and allowing the parents to care for the younger babies.  Since I don't believe you know how to handfeed, you'll just need to leave all the babies with the parents.  Watch them carefully.  In the meantime, you may want to educate yourself on handfeeding in case you need this information.  Visit my website for some information:  www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html
www.birdchannel.com is also a good website

The internet/www is full of information on handfeeding.

Chrys

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Is there possibility of the adult birds or the oldest baby eating the new hatchling? I found an egg in the breeding box the looked to have hatched but there is no baby.

Answer
Hi again, Vicki,

I would suspect this egg was one of the eggs that was not going to hatch.  There may not have been anything inside the egg to begin with and the adults may have broken it open purposely because of this or accidently while moving around inside the nesting box and/or feeding the oldest baby.  Since the adults didn't hurt the oldest baby, I see no reason why they would harm another baby.    

Chrys