I would like to commence this article with a few words on heating the birdroom. For the average fancier, I would strongly recommend electric heating is chosen. This can be acquired in various forms with built-in thermostats, or you can have tubular heating positioned as required with a separate thermostatic control placed elsewhere. Oil heaters, are too great a risk and over the years many birds have been lost from fumes emanating from such appliances. I would never be happy with one of these in my birdroom. Budgerigars which are in condition will breed quite well in winter without any heat, as long as they have light to lengthen the day to feed their young. Before the 1939-45 war, when I could not afford the electricity bills, I still had plenty of youngsters hatched out by Christmas, even though the drinkers were nearly frozen solid. The hens used to put their beaks into the ice and thaw out just enough to have a drink, but I confess it wasn't much fun attending to my birds at night in an old overcoat.
While sitting on their eggs some hens sweat a great deal, especially during the winter period. This makes the inside of the nest box very wet and can lead to what I term 'nesting pneumonia'. This causes the hen to become ill and she leaves the eggs, or youngsters, to go cold. You can check the differences in temperature between the inside of your nest boxes and the birdroom, using a thermometer. Imagine afterwards what it would be like jumping out of bed in a morning and dashing outside in bare feet! Sitting budgerigars in ice cold aviaries face the same problem. Poor nest box ventilation is the cause of the problem and therefore it is essential that all your nest boxes should have a number of 3/16 inch (4.8 mm) holes drilled in them, near the top. If you use heaters, as most of us do today, do not close ALL your windows and air vents to keep out the cold. Although the intention is good, it is bad practice to stop the flow of fresh air, no matter how bad the weather may be. I always have two air vents open - one at each end of the aviary to keep the air circulating.
Dead-in-shell is not only caused by poor ventilation and lack of humidity. It can also occur when your hens have been disturbed during the night when they are forced to leave their eggs until dawn rises. If your birdroom has side windows, make sure that any lights cannot shine in when your room is in darkness. You should always have a pilot light on at night. Car headlights can be a problem when you or your neighbours return home late. Often birdrooms are sited behind one's garage and when these car lights shine in the birdroom, the hens think it is morning and leave the nest. The light is then suddenly extinguished resulting in cold eggs, which eventually are thought later to be dead-in-shell. For these reasons I prefer roof lights, but if you have side windows fit them with curtains or outside shutters, for use after dark.
Every year many young ones are lost because their mothers will not feed them. This is often the case with first year parents. They hatch out the chick and then sit very tight in order to protect it. Being small, and situated among the remaining eggs to hatch, it cannot wriggle enough to be a nuisance and prompt the hen to feed it. I inspect my nest boxes at least once a day and when I find a newly hatched chick which has an empty crop, I make a point of checking it again about an hour later. If it still hasn't been fed I transfer it to another hen that is feeding well with newly hatched chicks also under her.
To identify the 'transfer', you can mark it on the wing or back with a felt tipped pen. When the original hen hatches her next chick, she will often feed normally, but if the same problem occurs you can either transfer again or introduce a 4-5 day old chick under her which has a full crop. The movement from this youngster often prompts the hen to do her duties. She will feed it, and the newly hatched chick, without any more trouble.
It is easy to tell if a youngster has been fed as one can see the blob of milky white fluid in the crop. Do not however be rushed by thinking it is wind in the crop. Many beginners fall into this trap. Wind in the crop looks like a water blister which is semi-transparent and a chick with this problem can easily die. The cause is the hen who is trying to feed a tiny chick BEFORE she has started to make her own crop milk. Later on she will give the correct milk, but it is then on top of the wind as it were, and is then of no danger to the chick. Wind can easily be removed, without pain, provided there is only wind in the crop and not food. Place the chick on its back in the palm of your hand and gently press the blister between your thumb and forefinger. As soon as the chick opens its beak, some air will escape. Release the pressure and repeat until all the surplus air has gone. Replace the chick in the nest and generally the hen will feed correctly.
If however, you have a chick with wind, and food on top of that wind, you cannot use this method as the youngster can easily choke. What I do is to take a needle which has been sterilised in boiling water and carefully puncture the 'blister'. I then squeeze it gently so that the air escapes. Put the chick back under the hen and the 'hole' quickly seals. The food then flows normally. I have saved many chicks in this way and they have eventually grown up to be very good youngsters.
Sometimes you will find that chicks stop growing after a few days. They have broken seed in their crops, instead of crop milk, so that they are unable to digest. They slowly starve and turn a white putty colour before they die. Again the problem is the hen not feeding correctly. Watch for this problem. If noticed early, chicks can be transferred quickly to other nests where they will recover. I suggest you also keep your eyes peeled for youngsters becoming crushed at 8-10 days of age. Splayed legs that remain rigid, are often a symptom. This problem occurs when all the eggs have hatched and the hen is trying to keep the smallest offspring warm by pressing down on the older youngsters. I always keep a few clear eggs available and I make sure that two of these, warmed first, are put in alongside the nest of chicks. These prevent any further crushing.
I often transfer chicks to even-up nest sizes because it gives the later hatched tiny ones a better chance of survival. This applies especially to pairs which have hatched five or six chicks. Ensure you keep a close record of all transfers either by marking, ringing or placing chicks in a nest where their colour can easily identify them later.
"© The content of The Best of Budgerigar World Volume 1 is copyrighted and may not be used for any purpose without prior permission. However, Internet links are most welcome".