Upon hatching, egg food should be given three times a day in addition to the regular seed mixture. The first feeding each day should be given as early in the morning as possible. See “[Egg Food]” under “[General Care].” Fresh greens may be fed daily. Newly hatched youngsters require very small amounts of food. “Feed little and often,” is a good rule to follow. You will soon be able to judge the amount, bearing in mind that quantity should be increased as the youngsters grow. When the nestlings are about six days old their eyes will have opened, and when they are around ten days old the partition can be withdrawn and the cock allowed to rejoin the hen. However, if the hen is not feeding the young as she should, or if she doesn’t stay on the nest sufficiently to keep the chicks warm, the cock should be allowed to return at once.
Many successful breeders prepare “soaked seed” for morning and evening feedings for the hen and nestlings from hatching time to six weeks later. Prepare by putting a little of your regular seed mixture to soak at the morning feeding. Then, at the evening feeding, stir this well, strain, and put to soak again in fresh water. On the following morning, stir, rinse in fresh water, strain, dry, and this “soaked” seed is ready to use. Soaked seed for the evening feed is started each evening, strained, put to soak again each morning, and in the evening strained, rinsed, dried between paper towels, and fed.
Soaked seed often does wonders for a nonfeeding hen, and it is valuable for chicks after they are separated from the hen. As the birds gain in age, gradually increase the seed proportion and cut down soft foods, until they are about six weeks old. At this age they are able to crack their own seeds, and the regular French’s Bird Seed and Biscuit may be given them together with feedings of egg food about three times a week until they have completed their moult.
THE SECOND ROUND
Between sixteen and twenty-one days after the hatching, the hen will probably show signs of wanting to go to nest again. Place the second nest in the opposite corner of the cage, and stuff bits of fresh nesting material between the cage bars near the new nest. Be sure that enough is allowed, otherwise she will pull feathers out of the young birds. When the hen lays her first egg, it should be removed as before, and Round One repeated. As soon as she takes to her second nest entirely, the chicks from Round One and the cock should be moved to the other half of the cage, and separated from the hen by the wire partition.
Although a very vigorous hen and a good feeding cock can hatch three or four nests in a season, best results are had by not allowing more than two. If the nesting is finished early in June, the parents and chicks will be in condition for the moult in late summer. The added strain of more than two nests will likely make the birds unreliable for breeding the following season.
DO NOT BE SURPRISED IF
—A nestling falls out of the nest the first few days. When this happens pick up the young bird and warm it in your hands for a few minutes and then, if it is alive, place it back in the nest.
—One or more of the eggs do not hatch, though fertile. Sometimes a chick is too weak to pick through the shell which may be unusually hard due to excessive dryness if the hen does not bathe. Should many of the eggs turn out this way, put a few teaspoonfuls of common salt, or even rock salt in the bottom of the nest pan, below the lining, as this will attract (and retain) moisture from the air. There are many other reasons why fertile eggs do not hatch, most of them indicating a weakness in the embryo. However, one of the most common causes is chilling of the eggs due to the hen leaving the nest for too long a time. A sudden cold spell may have the same effect.
—One or more of the hatchlings are found dead in the nest. Remove at once. Accidental smothering or crushing by the hen is likely the cause, or if the eggs hatch out over a period of two or three days, the first hatchlings may be getting practically all the food. That is why you should remove the first two eggs, so that all hatch as nearly as possible at the same time.