First chick has hatched

Last night the first budgie hatched. Now how can I be sure that the chick is being fed when the hen doesn't want me anywhere near her nest box? Everytime I try and sneak a look she gets very upset and I'm afraid I'll make her break her eggs or something. She laid six eggs in all. Should I go ahead and check the box against her wishes or leave the parents alone and hope for the best? I'm really worried here as this is the first clutch. Thanks for any advice you can give me. The male is going in the box frequently as well. I sure hope they are feeding that baby!

 

Hi and congratulations.
My females protest aswell when i try and check on chicks and eggs i was told to use something like a rolled up newspaper to gently move the parents away.

If the parents are feeding the chick well you will notice its crop is full of food it can sometimes look like seed sometimes it just looks like yellow goo in its crop.

The crop is the chest part of the bird this should be full all the time as the birds usually feed every hour or so.

Most birds do not feed there chicks till the day after the hatch this is normal as this is the time the rest of the yolk that was in the egg transfers into the the chick.

A hungry chick will screech all the time but if the parents are still sitting the eggs chances are they are feeding the chick correctly.
Make sure there is plenty of soft foods like boiled egg, Boiled Pasta, Boiled brown rice, whole wheat bread or you can purchase EMP or CeDe egg food which is designed for handfeeding and weaning of chicks this can be placed in a seperate dish near the nest box and the parents will feed this to the chicks it contains all the vitamins and minerals the birds and chicks need any good petstore will sell it.

Mike

 

Congrats, good luck with your budgies, if you can post pictures, please.

 

Thank you Mike for the reply. I feel much better today because they seem to really be taking good care of the baby. It hatched at 10.30 pm on Jan. 31 and is still doing well. I thought the eggs would hatch closer together or I guess it is possible that the other eggs aren't fertile but looks like they would be. I'm going to wait as you have suggested but at what point could I assume the other eggs aren't going to hatch? Thanks for your help!

 

Hi nameless. I will have to reveiw the instructions about posting pics here as I would love to share some pics. Thanks.

 

Count 25days after the last egg was laid if they have not hatched by the 25th day they are not fertile or the embryo's died which does happen usually with the first clutch.

Hopefully the others will hatch good luck and glad all is going well with the chick you have..

Mike

 

Thanks again for your help Mike. Things are still going well with the chick. Very happy about that.