URGENT help needed quickly please

[freda]

**** everyone, I do hope someone can help me quickly, i have quite a nasty situation going on, in brief, i have a air of lovies, first two lots of eggs produced a live baby each time, which i have kept, this last lot produced 3 live babies, who are ready to come out of the box, yesterday one did come out and was attacked nastily by the eldest baby, he is around 7 months old now, we put the baby back in the box, then this morning the same thing has happened again, what is strange is that mum or dad do nothing to help? I have another cage, so who do I seperate from who, also if I do seperate will it be possible, eventually t put them all back together, I have got homes for two babies when they are old enough, whats your suggestion, should I consider rehoming the eldest baby who is nasty with the second eldest who is rather timid, I wouldn't like to re home the youngest as I rather like her, I think but maybe am wrong that the eldest is in deed a boy and the younger one is a female, she is a lot lighter in colour (even the baby that came out of the box today is redder than she is now) ad that makes me feel shes is indeed a girl, also she was very close to dad but then if it is a female could that be a problem afterwards with jealousy with mum?
Hope someone can give me some ideas ASAP, I am going to prepare the cage for the inevitable sperating but who?

Many thanks
Freda

[shylevon]

OK I'm here to help, but I am confused. How many birds are in the cage with the baby that was attacked? Are there more birds than just the parents? If so, do you have another cage that you can separate all birds, leaving the parents and the babies in the present cage?

[shylevon]

Oh, I see you just logged off.

Well, now that I have more time to type... Remove the birds that are not the parents or the newest babies from the cage that holds the nestbox. You will be able to reintroduce them later, but the immediate concern is helping the baby that was attacked. These attacks will continue each time the baby leaves the nestbox, so separation is essential. The other birds will kill this baby if they can, as they will continue to bully an injured bird, usually to death.

If the birdies are peachfaces, you will not be able to determine their sex by their color or behavior. Only DNA sexing is accurate, or the laying of eggies. It is up to you to decide which birdies you want to keep and which to adopt out, but until you make the decision and find suitable homes, you need to protect the present flock, especially the tiny ones.

What have you done to care for this little wounded baby? A visit to the vet will be in order for advice on curtailing infection and to tend to any injuries. Poor little sweetheart. He really does need to be kept safe, and apparently the parents are not able to do so. Birds in the wild have natural instincts about protecting their young, but sometimes tame birdies do not have the same mechanisms.

[freda]

thanks for the quick reply, I actually have in all 7 birds thats including the 3 new babies, so mum and dad and two youngsters from seperate births.
The baby that was attacked thankfully wasn't hurt, I held it for a while onece I caught it and it seemed fine, its heart wasn't even beating fast. Why should the big brother attack like that, he does seem an aggresive bird and since watching him more can see that he is aggresive to his younger sibling as well, I found it strange that mum and dad did nothing

[linda040899]

Hi Freda,
I'm glad that the baby from the nestbox was not injured! It could have easily been killed. I agree with Shy. The parents and the babies in the box can stay in the cage but the others have to be moved. You can try to re-introduce them at a later time. While you would have thought the parents would have defended the babies, that's not always the case. The babies are just coming out of the box and the parents are letting them learn all on their own.

Shy,
FYI. Freda's parents are both Lutino Peachfaces.

[shylevon]

The older brother bird doesn't know he is a brother. He just sees another bird that he will be competing for food with later in life. Heck, my sister would have eaten 'me', while my bones were still soft, if she knew what was to come.

This little guy needs to feel secure enough to come out of the nestbox whenever he likes, or he will probably grow up to be a very timid birdie.

[freda]

yahnks all for the replies, I have been off line for 2 days a lorry pulled my phone cable down, I did seperate for a day, but was uncertain as to which was the big baby and dad, any ideas what I can do to identify them, I am really frightened to stress the youngsters more, each time I try to remove the baddie the babies get really upset and i see them in the box, head pointed to the sky in the corners, we still have one that has never come out on its own, it is so difficult to see who is who, when seperated the one on his own shouted to the others all the time, mums I don't know if they are timid or not as the bird that was left with her went into the box and didn't injure the babies but yet at night he was outside whereas normally he used to sleep inside with mum and babies, as I have said its so difficult to see who is who any ideas