Last night I realized an egg apparently hatched since I could hear the familiar baby sounds coming from the cage and sure enough there's a baby. I went through this a month or so ago with disasterious and heart-breaking results.

I'm already freaking out and worrying about the baby.

The good part is that this baby is from a different mom and dad. The dad is very attentive, whereas the other ignored mom and baby altogher.

The bad news is that mom has layed all her eggs in a hollowed out parakeet toy - I think it's called a cozy keet - it's basically a small log where the birds can chew out the soft wood interior. It's about 9 inches long and 3 1/4" wide. Mom's in there with baby and about 5 other eggs. Does anyone have any ideas? There's a empty nesting box in the cage but for some reason no one ever wants to nest in it.

I'm afraid if I move mom and baby and eggs she might abandon it alltogher. I'm also afraid of the baby getting trampled and squished in the cozy keet log - and there's diffentely not room for more eggs to hatch. Oh boy....I can't take another baby dying..

Sorry for whining...this has been an emotional week anyways- my seventeen year old son went to live with his dad (his choice) and I feel pretty useless.

Geesh, Sorry you have to go through it again. Sounds like you're a little paranoid because of the first time around. I would be too. But it does sound like this mom and dad are better so it should go better.
I would think you are going to HAVE to move them. And it is just a myth about touching babies and the parents not wanting anything to do with them again.Just be very gentle when you do it.
Hopefully someone with experience will be on to give you some advice. Or you could always call your Avian vet and they should be able to advise you

bump

I would move the baby and eggs to the nesting box with some bedding in it. The mom will probably hear the baby's calls and go to it. I am no expert though...

I would not stress too much about a new baby... budgies have been doing this for ages! They know what they've got to do.

I would move the keets into the nestbox and see what the parents do.You might have to add nesting hair but be careful touching the eggs and babies.I will keep in touch with you about this.

Angel had no problem when I moved her into a different cage with only one egg hatched and four incubating, and all hatched (four babies survived). Be very gentle when transferring them all, put them all in the same spot and momma right next to them.

i wish i could have baby keet eggs to tend to of my own well i hope it goes well

you are certainly not whining!!! being a mom is the worlds hardest job. you sound like a very concerned and loving mom, to me. splits can be sooo haed. you have as much control there as you do with what your birdie babies do. it is a very hard road, but it smooths out eventually (or so i'm told! lol) please don't loose heart or give up. your babies... two legs or two wings need you, no matter what you think. hope all goes well. keep me posted. hugs : )

kksuns has what sounds like very sound advice. good luck!

In my opinion, I don't think the cozy keet is a bad place. Parakeets in the wild make their nests by hollowing trees, so the cozy keet log emulates this nest. Your keet chose that nesting place for a reason I guess.
However firstly consult with an avian vet as suggested.
Also here in Mexico some we have those cozy keet logs. They are considered to be Parakeet's nests and I have seen couple of people with breeding keets using them as nests so that's why I think that it isn't much of a problem. But you have 5 chicks right? I think a good strategy is just move the hatched babies to the nest box, making sure mom and dad are feeding them there, and leave the eggs in the warm log. It is your choice though, I don't have any experience breeding. So better ask the vet.