dead chicks

[micko and jack]

hi everyone from my earlier posts you will see im new to fantail keeping 1 of my pair were on chicks and after a lot of watching the cock mounted the hen and after reading on the net i put a second bowl into the net box loads of room the birds started to make a nest layed 1 egg and are now sitting on it but killed the 2 chicks did i do the wrong thing putting in a second bowl micko

[jimmy white]

how old were the chicks , micko?

[micko and jack]

about 16/18 days i was very dissapionted they were nicely marked and if i made a mistake i dont want to do it again micko

[DOVEScot]

about 16/18 days i was very dissapionted they were nicely marked and if i made a mistake i dont want to do it again micko

 

Was it definately the parents or could it have been another cock :-/

[jimmy white]

 

Was it definately the parents or could it have been another cock :-/

 

i was thinking the same , micko, , i havent seen a pair kill their own young birds at that age  

[micko and jack]

could have been another cock but the parents were very protactive but no sign of any markings on the chicks as if there were not set on or something i never checked their crops i put a pot of corn and a pot of water into the nest box each day micko

[jimmy white]

are you sure these birds were killed ,,mick,,,no marks on them? could they have died

[micko and jack]

died of what all the other birds plus another 2 chicks ( about 21'23 days old ) all look ok and fly when let out mcko

[DOVEScot]

died of what all the other birds plus another 2 chicks ( about 21'23 days old ) all look ok and fly when let out mcko

 

It sometime just happens for no apparent reason, obviously there is one but as you say no other birds affected or signs of anything wrong :-/

[jimmy white]

sorry micko,,having bother with computer...

 

"dunc",, dovecot   should be able to help you , possibly something went wrong with these two young ones ,,,it can happen , there can be many reasons ,, but at least its good to know the others are ok [wish my comp was  ]

[jimmy white]

i think ive got my comp fixed,,,hope so ,,,   it may be worth just getting an experience fancier to" look the birds  over"  just to be on the safe side , as its not really" normal" for them to die at this age  

[Guest Freebird]

Could this be genetics? Here is a quote from the website below. " Dominant Opal also has a lethal factor associated with it. Homozygous Dominant Opals either never hatch, or if they do, seldom live to fledge. Those extremely rare few that do get out of the nest, almost never live to breeding age. Dominant Opal is now found in Racing Homers, but is still very scarce. It was added in the last twenty years by a few people in an attempt to create white-bar and white check birds. It's much more common in show pigeons of central European ancestry, e.g,. Strassers, Saxon Pouters and many of the German Color Pigeons "

http://www.angelfire.com/ga3/pigeongenetics/index.html

[jimmy white]

looking at that very interesting site , this COULD be possible , but very rare indeed ,,,,,,,,,,but i do remember,in 60 years of keeping pigeons only once did i ever see an albino [pure white with pink eyes]a  freind of mine bred this  albino pigeon from a pair of seemingly normal coloured racing pigeons ,as he was going to put it down ,being a kind of weakling , i took the bird at approx 10 days old ,reared it under another pair , but at 3 to 4 to 5 weeks old this bird was most certainly not going to survive ,it couldnt eat like the rest,never flew at all [i doubt if it could see very much] i hand fed it as best i could , but the bird never survived . a very strange thing genetics ,and a most interesting site,,,allways food for thought

[jimmy white]

looking at that very interesting site , this COULD be possible , but very rare indeed ,,,,,,,,,,but i do remember,in 60 years of keeping pigeons only once did i ever see an albino [pure white with pink eyes]a  freind of mine bred this  albino pigeon from a pair of seemingly normal coloured racing pigeons ,as he was going to put it down ,being a kind of weakling , i took the bird at approx 10 days old ,reared it under another pair , but at 3 to 4 to 5 weeks old this bird was most certainly not going to survive ,it couldnt eat like the rest,never flew at all [i doubt if it could see very much] i hand fed it as best i could , but the bird never survived . a very strange thing genetics ,and a most interesting site,,,allways food for thought