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A healthy, attentive hen budgie will do everything necessary to ensure a healthy chick. A proper incubator should work the magic, too. But things don’t always go to plan, and deformed or dead chicks are not uncommon.
Budgie Chick Died
There are a number of reasons why this might happen. In order to avoid it, bear in mind these potential hazards:
- Egg rotation. A hen (or an incubator) regularly turns the eggs, enabling the chick to develop properly. If the egg is not rotated at least five times a day, the unhatched bird’s intestines may stick to the side of the eggshell. An unfortunate chicks afflicted in this way will hatch with its guts outside its body, an ordeal which, needless to say, it will not survive.
- Temperature. If this is too high or too low, the chick will not hatch. Heat will also kill a young bird, while cold will make the hen sit so tightly that the poor chick might be deformed or killed.
- Humidity. If the environment is too dry, the eggs may not hatch. If the humidity is too low a hen may leave the nest to wet her feathers before resettling on the eggs, providing the needed moisture. A budgie bath or shallow dish of water in the cage is therefore essential. A good egg incubator will have humidity control.
A six-day-old budgie chick
- Patchy incubation. If the hen is disturbed, and therefore on and off the nest too much, the chick’s development may be interrupted, and it will be born deformed.
- Shaking. An egg that is dropped from the nest in the early stages of incubation, or otherwise shaken about, will not produce a chick. In the later stages, this kind of violent disturbance can result in deformities.
- Pollution. Toxins in the air, water or food – from sprays, kitchen pans, pesticides, etc – are likely to kill or deform chicks. They won’t do your other birds much good, either.
- Malnutrition. The food supplied by the parents must be top-notch. A chick that dies in spite of a good diet may have suffered from intestinal parasites or some other problem - see the Budgie Health Problems section, above.
Comments
Chloe, 22 June 2021
Hello, I am concerned about my female budgie. She is showing signs of aggression. I am guessing that she might be ready to breed and we are trying to keep her separated from the male that we have, although she has been loose with him and has been mounted by him we have tried to keep them separated. We are concerned that she may be egg bound though and are wondering if you could give us some direction. She seems irritated, a little fatter, has a dirty vent, fluffing up her feathers etc. She is still flying around lots though. Could you give us some direction of when we would need to take her to the vet? Thank you in advance.
Deanne, 3 June 2019
I have 2 male birds and the beek on one always grows too long and i have to trim it.Why does this happen.
Pradip, 25 December 2018
At what age a budgie chick could be attempted for handrearing?
Lilly, 17 November 2018
If the parents get to nervous will they harm the chicks.
Judy, 6 November 2018
My Hen had a clutch of 5 eggs, She sat on them just about full time for a few weeks, and then one by one she started throwing them out of the box. The last one I found in the tray under the newspaper, that's laid out, half a shell with a very tiny chick in it, which broke my heart. Everything was textbook up to the 2 weeks into it. I am giving her a rest now..I am going to breed her again in the spring..