eggs/nest

[chris631]

my hen rica started laying eggs thanksgiving day, gotta admit was not prepared for it.She had been making nests the week prior, so i mentioned to my partner maybe it was time we got them a birthing box. we bought it wensday nite she stared laying eggs thurs(thanksgiving) tonight is egg number 3. my question, she has rejected everything i put in the cage , except for newspaper, no palm, no nesting hair and has become quite nasty and territorial. Now she's never been the most friendly bird, except to me lol, but now she goes after me even if i go to feed them, so is newspaaper enough? sec question, what is more important, handling the chicks or handfeeding? i just read somewhere its an old wives tale that you have to hand feed them , that handling them is more important . the reason i ask is if she won't let me in the cage now, whats she gonna do when i try to take them at 2 weeks:x i know i must sound like an idoit right now just want the best for them, right now she's let lolo feed her(what a beautiful bird)jumped out of the box and is eatting figs and kale, god she's such a women lol sorry ladies thax for any advice, christopher

[bird_luver24]

Chris,
I dont know to much about raising babies or breeding..etc...
But, If you arent an experienced Hand Feeder then I would just let mom feed them and You can Handle them all the time. You dont have to handfeed them for the babies to be tame. You can just handle them regularly away from mom and they will be sweet babies! :) Im sure here in just a little bit you will get much better advice!! :) Good Luck!!

[Janie]

Chris, I have no personal experience with babies but I've been reading this forum for over 3 years and I think most agree that it is always best to let the parents feed the birds and best for you to start socializing them and I think the right time for that is at 2 or 3 weeks but I am not positive, someone else can tell you for sure. If you do have an emergency and should need to hand feed for the chick to survive, that is a good reason to do it but otherwise, I would not. Hand feeding is tricky and it's easy to aspirate a baby or to cause crop burn, etc. Several breeders on this forum have very friendly babies that were not hand fed but were socialized. Two of my lovies were pulled and hand fed at 10 days old and they are wonderful birds but the breeder is at home full time and has been doing it for several years and has the time and technique to hand feed properly. My guess is that my boys would have been just as friendly if they'd been parent raised but socialized daily. My other lovie is a pet store bird that I adopted three years ago and he is just as sweet, if not sweeter, than the two that were hand-fed.

Wish I could answer your other questions about nesting materials but I have three males and don't have a clue other than the mention of care fresh or aspen shavings. I'm sure you'll get advice on that. Good luck! :)

[bellarains]

Christopher,

Welcome to the world of nesty hens. They can be a handful, but isn't beautiful how protective of those precious eggies they are?? Yep, nature at it's finest:)

Janie mentioned carefresh, and that is what I use. You can find this at your local petstore, I know PetSmart has it. Oddly enough, it's usually in the hamster/ferret section instead of the bird section, but hey, they nest too:)

You did say you had a nest box, and since she has already laid eggs, if you put in carefresh, you will have to remove the eggs to put the carefresh in. I would take her out of sight of the nestbox to do this, and when you remove the eggs, do so over something soft, a towel is good. They will break very easily if dropped, so be very careful. Fill the nestbox up to the perch(if there is one, or just below the entrance hole. After you have the bedding in, make a small indention in the middle of it, and then place the eggs back. After all is done, you can put Rica back in the cage, and she will modify that nest to her liking, and you can still provide her with some shredding material so that she can do so.

Good luck with the eggs. Read as much as you can before babies come, and like the others said, handfeeding is something very hard to do correctly unless very experienced. In any case, if Mom and Dad are feeding, who better to make sure they get the right nutrition, antibodies, and of course the love that comes from that process. At age two weeks, you can start taking the babies out for short intervals to socialize with them, and this will help to hand tame them. Socialization is what makes a sweet baby, and the risks of handfeeding just aren't worth it unless necessary.

Let us know if we can help:)

[chris631]

THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU FOR ALL THE ADVICE, I THOGHT I HAD TO TAKE THEM OUT FOR GOOD AFTER 2WEEKS AND HANDFEED THEM, THAT PART SCARED ME(I'VE GOT BIG HANDS AND THE'RE SO TINY,LOL, WILL GET THE CAREFRESH TOMMOROW AND AGAIN THANKS!