Naturally, when one is experienced, you know when a chick can safely stay out of the box permanently, but many of those new to the fancy, do not. At around four to five weeks of age, one or more of the fully feathered chicks may be found on the floor of the cage and because they are fully feathered, one automatically assumes this is perfectly normal. However, you have two points to consider, Firstly, look at the density of the feather - can you see any areas of flesh through the feathers? If you can, the chick has to go back in the box quite definitely. If you cannot, the next point to look at are the flights - the seven primaries, and the secondaries which are adjacent to them.
If there are any minute signs of the nutritional disorder, French Moult, all the primaries and secondaries, including the tail feathers, must be removed one by one. If this is not done, as I will explain, the birds may never fly. Should you see any such cases, act as I say and then leave the affected birds on the floor of the cage, even though they may be a little young in the normally accepted sense. The idea is to get those 'diseased' chicks feeding of their own accord sooner than they would normally do. Should the birds be clear of French Moult, look at the length of the tail. If it is between a third and two thirds fully grown, the chick must go back to the nest box. If however it is almost full length - that is the age where it is safe to leave them out to fend for themselves.
We now come to a most difficult problem to counteract. Sometimes at this time of the season and also towards the end of the second round, the fancier will go into his aviary after a day's work, and find that the first chick out of the box has been very badly mauled or is dead. It may be obvious which of the two parents is the culprit, or it may not. The two questions which come to mind, after the initial strong irritation has passed, is why did it happen and what do I do now?
The reason for this occurrence is simple. The breeding cage is the territorial area of the adults, particularly the cock. He defends that area against all dangers, if he is able to.
Since the start of the early sexual activity between himself and his partner, the hen has gone to nest, devoted all her energies to rearing her brook and may not have allowed any mating to take place. The cock is quite alright, though perhaps frustrated, while the chicks are in the nest. Cocks, particularly very fit ones, are a real problem when the first chick emerges into the territorial area from the nest box. Very quickly, these cocks attack the 'intruder' with a ferocity that is difficult to comprehend. The result is often a chick with most of its face gone, perhaps only one eye left, or even a gigantic hole in the skull and the chick very, very dead. Old hands will say at this point - "Yes, and it's always the best chick", and very often that is true. If you see the cock's face covered with blood and the hen's face clean, the remedy of removing the cock and leaving the hen to continue with the survivors is obvious. But what if the hen is the culprit and she is starting to lay her second round of eggs?
The answer here is to transfer all the 4 week old chicks and the cock to an adjacent empty breeding cage, placing the chicks in that identical design nest box which is fixed in the same position. This is easy if you have the drawer-type nest box favoured by myself and many other fanciers. Given this action, the cock will settle down quite easily and carry on with his job, provided you let him visit his partner for a while each evening for a short period. This is a good technique, but watch the eggs while this evening mating is going on. Sometimes a cock will go into the nest box and smash all the eggs while he's out on 'parole'. He is used to seeing chicks in his 'cell' - not eggs!
In rare cases, both the cock and the hen are attackers in the territorial area. What do you do then, when there is nowhere else for the chicks to be reared? In this situation I would remove the hen, leaving the cock and chicks together. "Yes, but he'll carry on and attack the next chick, won't he?" you'll be saying. Well, in fact he won't and you should be O.K. Once he realises his female friend has gone, his aggressive attitude will change. He doesn't have to defend the region, because the 'sex factor' has been reduced. There are exceptions, but in nearly every case the cock bird will 'cool it' and all will be well with the remaining youngsters.
How exactly you can find out in advance if any birds are going to attack while you are out at work, is difficult to state. Other fanciers may have better solutions, but if we have bred a 'super chick' which is aged about 4 weeks, the worst chick in the nest is put out on the cage floor, in an evening, as a test case. It is better the worst one is damaged rather than the best one. The chick need not suffer too much, if you keep your eyes open while you are doing your rounds.
Finally, but still on the subject of death, there are many beginners and novices who are totally lost as to what action to take when one of the parents is found dead on the cage floor at any time during the period of the two rounds of breeding. The action you take depends on the situation. If the hen dies and you find the eggs are warm, obviously you write on the eggs and transfer them under other hens to where the eggs are of similar age. If they have become dead cold - STILL TRANSFER THEM! Very often the embryos are not dead and they will still hatch, even if they are delayed. It is always well worth a try. If the hen was sitting on chicks and they appear dead, don't give up hope. Often they too are in 'limbo' hovering between life and death. Transfer them to an incubator, if possible, for speed, or, if you do not possess one, transfer them after warming them slowly in front of a fire. I've often sat and watched T.V. for an hour with 'dead' chicks in my hands and the end result is often more satisfying than the programme I've been watching! Big, fully feathered chicks can be, of course, left to the cock to finish feeding.
Should the cock by any chance die, while breeding is in progress; again the situation at the time, decides the action. If the hen is on eggs or chicks up to the age of say 3 weeks, I would prefer always to transfer. Only with chicks over 4 weeks of age would I leave the hen on her own to finish feeding. At that age it is dangerous anyway to transfer such chicks since they are a 'threat' to another nest and may be attacked. However, If Craig or I are forced to do so, we always clean the feet of such big chicks to remove any adhered excreta and then rub in the dried excreta from the foster nest into their feathers especially around the head and shoulders. Not a pleasant thought, if you dwell on it, but the foster parents are less likely to react to one of their 'own'.
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