Baby Bengalese

[JANEVANS02]

Yesterday I moved averything except my zebras to my new aviary, an hour after the move they were all happy and settled so I went into the old aviary where the zebras will live on their own and in one of the nesting pouches I found a live baby bengalese so I quickly cut down the pouch and placed it in the new aviary where I had seen the parents. Throughout the day all was quite and I noticed many finches going into the nest where baby was so thought all was well, however this afternoon I noticed baby was in aviary either on floor or branches continually crying or just sitting there looking rather lost, I put him back into the nest when it was beginning to get dark but he just came out and went on the floor. I fed him boiled egg and put him into my hospital cage white heat in a canary pan and covered him with a knitted cover and he seems quite happy, should I just keep feeding him until he is stronger and able to go back into the aviary or should I have left him there !! ??

My problem is I have quail in the aviary and I was afraid they may accidentally hurt him.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Jan.

[Waxbillman]

hello Jan

thats not good, on discovering the chick you should have put the bengies back into the original aviary, they would more than likely to go straight back into the nest, we all make mistakes though.
how old is the chick?
you may have to hand rear now,

sorry i cannot bare good news

Matthew

[JANEVANS02]

Not sure how old the chick is but it has all its feathers and is flying from one end of the aviary to the other and makes enough noise when it is hungry !!

Jan

[Waxbillman]

oh right, well thats good then, it was obviously old enough to fledge then, you may stand a chance, top the bird up with food, then if you are around all day, put the chick back in with the parents, and keep a solid eye on them, bengalese are noted for being excellent parents to anything, i would their maternal instincts would kick in and they feed it, if not then as i said you'll have to do it yourself, parents don't feed them every second and quite often the chicks will try it on.

good luck and keep us posted

Matthew

[JANEVANS02]

Hi Matthew,

Well since we found the baby on Tuesday things have gone great, we put it into a small hospital cage in canary pan near heater and took it out every couple of hours to feed egg food on end of cocktail stick now all we have to do is put a finger into the cage and he hops on and sits on our finger while we feed him [or her] but today as it was nice we decided to put him into the aviary and see if anyone would feed him when he cried but unfortunately they did not so I went into aviary and put him on my finger and put egg food on my finger and he got the hang of eating off my finger but as the day progressed when he cried for food I started putting him on the back of my hand and food on the back of my hand which he again managed to eat so tonight when we put him back in the hospital cage and he cried for food we placed a "D" cup with egg food in front of him and eventually he decided he had better serve himself.

I know it may not be the right thing but we let him have a little fly around the lounge which he is very good at so we have not fears on his ability in the aviary especially now he is learning to eat out of a "D" cup but he does not go inside to roost so I am going to keep him in a cage in the lounge at night until he is much bigger and let him go out into the aviary in the day so he gradually gets used to things.

Does this sound OK ?

Jan.

[Waxbillman]

glad to read the begie is alright, you have done good work them, put him or her in the aviary when its fully independant, and can eat seed, though i spose it may be good to put him in for short periods to help prevent imprinting

[kenny]

hi jan
well done with your efforts...and i am glad that it has survived..but if you are letting it fly round the lounge make sure any clear glass is covered so it does not fly into it as it could prove fatal!congratulations on getting to the eating seed stage

ken