cannibalism

[mikeb]

my plum heads first baby hatched today and the male ate him does anyone have any idea why he would do this? i'm feeding them well with vegetables, fruit, & cockatiel mix and when i bought the pair i saw that years babies & the breeder never mentioned anything & i think he would have if this had happened to him thanks for any input mike

[dog_glenn123]

Hi Mike,

Did it hatch or did the male break the egg open?
Was it alive at first or was it killed?

How old is the male and the female?

Ta Glenn

[mikeb]

not sure of age i only know he has fathered young for 2 years before and i don't know if egg hatched or if he cracked it to get the young. the eggs should of started hatching yesterday or day before i looked a few hours before and none had hatched when getting ready to feed my birds i seen him eating something that i didn't now what it was when i walked over to the cage i seen half an egg shell on bottom of cage and he was eating the baby. i have a pair of irn with eggs that should be hatching now also and 1 egg is clear so i'm thinking of taking it out and put the other plum head egg in it's place do you think that is a good idea ? maybe the plumheads will lay again and the ringneck will think it's 1 of her babies if it hatches thanks mike

[mikeb]

took out clear ringneck egg and replaced it with the plum heads' this morning checked this afternoon and it appears that she hasn't noticed the size difference because when i saw her off the nest i looked and it's still in the pile now it's the waiting game ! hopefully the plum heads will lay again because with more than just 1 egg i can take the chance and see if it happens again THANKS for the help guy's i can never have too much info!!!! mike

[mikeb]

could the male have known that the egg wasn't going to hatch and cracked it open to eat the baby ? the egg i put with the ringnecks hadn't hatched as of yesterday and should have hatched tues or wed it looked a lot darker than the ringneck eggs almost black like by just looking at it. well i checked this morning and it's gone or buried under the shavings but i did find a baby ringneck hopefully it's a (df) violet and the next two hatch !! thanks mike