RingNeck Squab Help!

[NikiS20]

Laying went without a hitch...but today...my little ones completly hatched and all day long, my birds would sit them, but not feed them. I have since taken my two little lovies into my home and am feeding them a mixture of water/bread/and boiled egg that i read about on www.petdove.com and i was wondering if there was any other recipes out there i could make at home until I can get up to the petstore and purchase some actual dove formual? I really hope these babies make it, i don't blame the adults, it's there first time after all, but i'm soo frusterated and hoping they'll make it. They're under a warm lamp, and laying on snuggly cloth made in a nest-like form and seem to be doing well. Should i feed them whenever they peep for food or only every 2 hours? Only the one squab peeps, it's soo quiet though that my mom can't even hear it, i can though and from that and his body movements i can tell he's wanting fed but i don't want to over do it. I've raised many speices of birds before but never doves. I also have pigeons that i'm hoping reproduce someday so as you can see i'm alittle serious about these little guys. Please any information you can give me on care for these little ones would be greatly appreciated, i wish my pair could have done it themselves but all they seem to know to do is sit. Should i try and reintroduce the squabs tomorrow or just keep them in my care? Thank you for any information or websites you can give me on this subject.
Niki

[TAWhatley]

Hi Niki,

I think I would try putting the babies back with the parents and see what happens. Newly hatched chicks live off the remnant of the yolk sac for some period of time after hatching. Don't know how long .. maybe 8-12 hours??? Perhaps you were a bit too quick to pull the babies. If the parents will feed them even for a few days that will be a big, big plus in their health and development even if you do end up having to pull them again and finish raising them.

If you are going to feed them by hand then you definitely need a baby bird formula for them and need to add probiotics and perhaps some additional protein in the form of human meat based baby food for the first 5-7 days.

Terry

[NikiS20]

Thank you for your replies, i did put the squabs back in with the parents and today i checked and both babies had passed on. I guess they just didn't know what they were doing.
Hopefully if theres a "next time" this doesn't happen again.

[Feefo]

Hi Niki,

I am so sorry! That is an unexpectedly tragic outcome. I will e-mail you the Mac Milk diet so that you can be prepared for if the parents fail the next time. You will also have to prepare an incubator that can keep them at 80- degrees.

Please check you e-mail.

Cynthia

[maryco]

So sorry to hear about the baby

Mary