Help, thoughts wanted ....

some may remember a while ago a "he / she" sat and hatched an egg its its own, ive noticed the last couple of days it has started flirting round other males, and leaving its baby ......today ive noticed the baby has been pecked on its head, not bad, but it means its in danger of worse.

ive taken the baby away and placed it in a nest box so it is safe over night, it is 21 days old so should be ready to start picking up on its own i hope, any thoughts on feeding etc, as i cant risk leaving it to be attacked again .......

David have you not got a pair about same age, just pop this one in with them few times a day but watch over it in case the parents don't like it. Alternatively soak about 50 maples in a cup of hot water overnight, pop them down it's throat 3 x times a day but also put a pot of mixture in its nestbox along with water. Dip its head in water every time you feed it.
When feeding make sure the maples go right to the back of its mouth and not down windpipe or it's finished. It will come along ok either way mate.

barnie wrote:

David have you not got a pair about same age, just pop this one in with them few times a day but watch over it in case the parents don't like it. Alternatively soak about 50 maples in a cup of hot water overnight, pop them down it's throat 3 x times a day but also put a pot of mixture in its nestbox along with water. Dip its head in water every time you feed it.
When feeding make sure the maples go right to the back of its mouth and not down windpipe or it's finished. It will come along ok either way mate.

Better maybe to just give 50 odd peas & then warm water from a syringe afterwards etc. Easier all round from my experience here . End of the day thou at 21 days & it should be able to fend for it self I suggest.

......mean 50 maples over 3 feeds, not 50 maples each time x 3 feeds, it'll burst . It will quickly become tame also but can become over reliant and run around floor at your heels squeeling for hand feeds

barnie wrote:

......mean 50 maples over 3 feeds, not 50 maples each time x 3 feeds, it'll burst . It will quickly become tame also but can become over reliant and run around floor at your heels squeeling for hand feeds

OK if you have plenty of time on your hands maybe etc Barnie for a working man thou at times it could just be a problem I suspect. End of the day hunger will soon teach it what's there to eat, if it's got half a brain in it's head I suggest at 21 days.

yes should be picking at stuff at that age true.

had a few ybs which had to be hand reared if it was me i would put a pot of breed and wean in the box make sure its quite full and some water to make sure you dip the birds beak a few times,but i would hand feed it on the evening/late afternoon with soaked peas or beans until its crop felt full ,then you would be encouraging it to feed for itself during the day but insuring by feeding in the evening that it at least gets a good meal...within a week it should be feeding itself ,make sure it gets water so when you hand feed dip the ybs head in the drinker ,one of our one loft ybs was reared on the floor around 19 days it was on the drinker stand as i had been dipping the beak i do it with all the one loft ybs so they know where to get a drink as soon as they leave the nest,some ybs are more forward than others atb

just put it in with an older pair with one yb, both parents fed the baby straight away, watched them for 20 mins and seems they have taken it under their wing (so to speak), both babies huddled together on the nest box.

will keep a watch out during the day, see if they are ok with it, hopefully they will solve a big problem for me, only another week and it should be able to take care of its self .