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From: ooblick@intercon.com (Mikki Barry)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: INDOOR: Breeding cockatiels
Keywords: indoor, breeding, cockatiels, chicks
Message-ID: <26DFE1DD.5B21@intercon.com>
Date: 1 Sep 90 16:29:16 GMT
References: <5731@plains.NoDak.edu>
Organization: InterCon Systems Corporation, Sterling, VA
Lines: 11

Your plan to hand raise the next batch seems to be a good one.  Sometimes
a first breeding with an inexperienced hen may lead to some chick abuse.
Often, the first clutch contains many infertile eggs, which may account
for the fact that only two of four hatched.  The hen may be too young and
inexperienced to properly care for the clutch.  OR, the chicks may have
been defective in some way, causing her to actively kill them, or just
let them die by lack of care.  If they were "meant to die", you will find
out by hand raising, since your efforts will have been in vain.  If not,
and its inexperience, you should have some healthy chicks.

Mikki Barry