# Remove father?



## wbewitched (Apr 12, 2021)

Hi there. I have a couple of questions. I feel like I did most research prior to babies but now it seems like there's a few things that I can't find the answer to.

My first question is a simple one of cleaning the box. To begin, my hen is literally always in the box when I might have the opportunity to clean. She absolutely does leave the box, but as soon as she spots me (before I even get to the cage) she dashes back in. She's not a nervous bird and doesn't show any stress or upset when I look in the box (with her in it) but she doesn't want anyone going near the babies without supervision. (I should note that there is the pair and another female in a very large cage and none of the 3 are "tame"). Is it fine to clean the box with her in it and just kind of shove her over (while she's pretty much shoved the shells out of the way, I still cannot get them all without physically shoving her out of the way)?If not any suggestions would be welcome. 

As kind of a follow up. The hen also won't allow the father in the nest. He fed her _some_ while she sat on the eggs but she's never really let him past the doorway and now he doesn't even go near the box. At most he and the other female sit across from or on top of the box and will kind of eyeball it when the babies chirp-but mostly the father just ignores the whole thing. Question here is since this is the only clutch we want, and to avoid making sure they don't try to have another clutch before the current babies fledge, is it okay to go ahead and remove him from the cage until the babies have fully fledged...or is it possible that once they leave the nest box he may suddenly decide to parent them?

Finally (for now at least), new issue that popped up today. We have had 4 babies with the oldest about 2(ish) weeks old and youngest about a week(ish). Our hen has been doing a great job. She's super attentive and the babies allseem healthy and are growing well. There was a fifth egg that didn't hatch that I was going to remove when I figured out the cleaning situation. Well. Surprise. Yesterday the 5th egg hatched (we discovered the baby when we checked on everyone this morning). It is obviously quite a bit smaller than (especially) the 2 oldest; should we be concerned or should we trust that the hen will continue to be the great mom she's proven herself to be (of course with regular wellbeing checks)? Also, does this change the cleaning dynamic...should I wait a few days and let this new baby grow a bit before disturbing things?

Thank you in advance for any help/suggestions you can offer.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*There should be no other adult budgies in the cage with the breeding pair and babies.
You need to remove the other female from the cage and leave the father in with the hen.
He should start taking care of the chicks as they grow if he is not distracted by the additional adult female in the cage.
I also recommend you take the time to read all of the stickies at the top of the breeding forum at this time.

Please take the time to read through the Site Guidelines, all of the How To Guides, the FAQs, the Budgie Articles and the stickies located at the top of each section of the forum.
Truly, the very BEST advice anyone can offer you is to take the time to read ALL of the stickies throughout the various Talk Budgie forums as well as the Budgie Articles we have posted.
These are great resources for Talk Budgie members and have a wealth of reliable information which will assist you to learn the best practices in caring for your budgies for their optimal health and well-being.*
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