bobcullen79 1,495 Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Hi All. Right, a friend of mine has a breeding pair of barn owls, but the male eats the chicks as they hatch. So this time he has removed the eggs and is hatching in an incubator. But now the chicks are dieing after their first feed, up to 12 hours later. All the temps are fine and he has been waiting 24 hours after hatching before feeding, as has been recommended. He`s pulling his hair out cos he knows a bit about the game, but this is getting the better of him. Any Ideas or sensible suggestions chaps? Y.I.S. Bob. Quote Link to post
jasper65 6 Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Hi All. Right, a friend of mine has a breeding pair of barn owls, but the male eats the chicks as they hatch. So this time he has removed the eggs and is hatching in an incubator. But now the chicks are dieing after their first feed, up to 12 hours later. All the temps are fine and he has been waiting 24 hours after hatching before feeding, as has been recommended. He`s pulling his hair out cos he knows a bit about the game, but this is getting the better of him. Any Ideas or sensible suggestions chaps? Y.I.S. Bob. I never leave any for 24hrs Bob before giving them their first feed, generally its no longer than 12 hrs and not before 6hrs, they're usually dried out and up and begging by this time . first feed is normally some chick leg muscle minus any bone, cut this down to match head sizes and give them about 6 at the most for the first feed just to get the stomache turning over. the meat off a chick leg <Lactated> is easy for them to digest for the first few feeds, after that they get somthing more substantial, give them some bone later by about 48 hrs.... all I can say is the hygien is critical at this stage as the chicks are immune deficient, I know its not very Hygenic in the nest environment but it pays to play safe when doing it atificialy........ it could be all sorts of things causeing problems Bob, even infection in the egg can manifest itself at hatch... Jasp Quote Link to post
bobcullen79 1,495 Posted February 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Thanks for the reply Jasper, I`ll let him read it. I spoke to him on the phone this morn and he almost said word for word what you have just said apart from the time spans. Strange. Thanks again. Quote Link to post
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