# figurita question



## ygrowup (Sep 28, 2009)

I just restarted raising birds again after a 45 year lul. My soninlaw got me started in rollers and now I am raising them and old style classic frills and American fantails. I had a figurita cock that survived a mink attack along with some or our rollers. I moved them to town temporarily til we caught the mink. that has since been caught. I bought a hen figurita from Bruce Rhodes in minnesota. He is specializing in figuritas and has some great birds. He told me he always loses one squab @ about 10-12 days old. The pair I now have with his hen just had eggs hatch 3 days ago. One young is already bigger than the other . Hope this is not a sign that one could die. Has anyone had this problem or is it a fact that this happens? If I hand feed is it going to help? I have no experience with figs so just curious.I am also looking for another pair. I have always gotten good info here so thought I would ask here first. Hope this is the right area to post this. Thanks JIM


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Well it depends on how much smaller the other is, if not by much it should catch up IF the parent birds are both feeding well, if you see it is not getting a full crop like the larger nest mate, then take it in and hand raise it. Figs can be a bit tricky sometimes, I have a pair that do better with one baby rather than two, but have a hen pair that I can use as fosters if the timeing is right, now that pair are fine and love to feed babies, one of the hens fed my frillback's babies and they of course were not even hers..lol.. so it depends on the birds. if you really like this pair, but IF they do not seem to be good parents, foster their eggs under a roller pair or another pair you know are good parents. as far as some babies being bigger and another being smaller, sometimes the hen will sit her first egg before laying the second, so incubation is started earlier on the first egg, so that egg will hatch a day or so before the second and then there could be a problem in size as squabs grow so quick.. if that is the case take the first layed egg out and relplace it with a fake untill the second is layed and then put the first egg back in so she can sit them and they will hatch at the same time.. just keep the egg in a cool place and turn it a few times a day and then place it back under the hen and take the fake out.


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## ygrowup (Sep 28, 2009)

Thanks for the update i thought that might be part of it. Today the smaller one looks healthier than yesterday. Its been a while since i hand fed any younguns so i hope they do it for me. I will try to update later as things progress. I really apreciate the posts here and have learned or relearned some of the things I forgot. Thanks again JIM


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