Day 105 – 16/08/2015
Remember this motley crew......
Well look at them now!
The normal Skyblue in the front of the photo is the second eldest chick.
In the center of the photo you can see the youngest chick which is an Opaline Skyblue, this youngster is a hen. So I now know that the cock is also split for Opaline.
At the back of the nest box on the left you can see an Opaline Light Green hen, she is third chick (you can see her on left of the photo above).
You can also just see one of the yellow chicks at the back of the nest box on the right.
This is the eldest chick which has left the nest.
As you can see it is a normal Skyblue.
This yellow chick has also left the nest box.
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Day 104 – 15/08/2015
Nothing to report today.
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Day 103 – 14/08/2015
Cage number 2 Pair number 2 (was Pair number 6).
1st egg laid today due to hatch - 01/09/2015.
This pair are definitely Light Greens split for Yellow as they produced the two yellow chicks!
They seemed to be taking a long time to go back down again, so moving them has certainly done the trick!
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Day 102 – 13/08/2015
Cage number 4 - Pair number 4.
Looks as though only three eggs this time.
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Day 101 – 12/08/2015
Nothing to report today.
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Day 100 – 11/08/2015
Cage number 4 - Pair number 4.
Still no fourth egg.
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Day 99 – 10/08/2015
Nothing to report today.
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Day 98 – 09/08/2015
Cage number 4 - Pair number 4.
Their fourth egg has not been laid.
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Nothing to report today.
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Cage number 4 - Pair number 4.
3rd egg laid today due to hatch - 25/08/2015.
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Nothing to report today.
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Cage number 4 - Pair number 4.
2nd egg laid today due to hatch - 23/08/2015.
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Nothing to report today.
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Day 92 – 03/08/2015Cage number 1 - Pair number 1
Their seventh egg of their second round was laid today, hatching date is 21/08/2015.
1st egg laid today due to hatch - 21/08/2015.
These didn't lay any eggs so moving them to a different cage seems to have helped!
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Day 91 – 02/08/2015
As there have been lots of problems with the pairs this year I decided to move the pairs that were not doing very much into different cages this seems to have worked....so far!
To start with, pair number 2 which were the Mauve cock and Skyblue hen that didn't seem to want to lay again I removed and put them back into the flight.
I cleaned and disinfected the cage & nest box then moved pair number 6 up into this cage. These are the Light Green/Yellows.
Having now cleaned and disinfected cage number 6, I decided to use this cage as a nursery cage and moved the two youngsters which I had fostered to pair number 1 (the Yellow cock & Light Green/Yellow hen) as they were old enough to be taken away.
Pair number 4, I removed and put them back out into the flight. I cleaned and disinfected the cage and nest box and moved pair number 3 into this cage.
I have cleaned and disinfected cage number 3 but currently it is empty as I have not got a pair to put in here at the moment.
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Day 90 – 01/08/2015
Cage number 1 - Pair number 1
Their sixth egg of their second round was laid today, hatching date is 19/08/2015.
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Day 89 – 31/07/2015
Nothing to report today.
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Cage number 1 - Pair number 1
Their fifth egg of their second round was laid today, hatching date is 17/08/2015.
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I need to start thinking about removing the two chicks from their foster parents in cage number 1.
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Cage number 1 - Pair number 1
Their fourth egg of their second round was laid today, hatching date is 15/08/2015.
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Day 85 – 27/07/2015All chicks in cage number 5 are doing well!
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Day 84 – 26/07/2015
Unfortunately I have report that the chick I wrote about on Friday Day 82 - 24/07/2015 has died today. It had been fed but the hen did not brood it (sit on it to keep it warm), and without it's nest mates to huddle up to it could not maintain it's body warmth. I did the breathing test on it in my hands to make sure it was dead before I removed it but there was no sign of life.,,,another sad end to a short life.
Cage number 1 - Pair number 1
Their third egg of their second round was laid today, hatching date is 13/08/2015.
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One of the chicks from pair number 5 (which was moved to pair number 6 and moved back to their original nest box in cage number 5) appears to be a blue!
The picture here shows the wing feathers coming through and they are white (although in the photo they appear to have a yellow tint to them as the light is on due to it being a dark rainy day today).
This means that both the birds of pair number 5 are split for blue. If this proves to be the case the chick will be a skyblue as both the parents are light green.
The second eldest chick is also looking like it could be blue but it is still a bit too early to tell for certain at the moment, but another couple of days should be enough to confirm one way or the other.
This chick and one of it's siblings is definitely yellow!
This means that both of it's parents are split for yellow....so I did at least get one of the pairings right!
The parents for this chick are pair number 6. They are both light green/yellow and are only distantly related so it was a good pairing.
It remains to be seen how much green suffusion will appear on it and it's sibling. If I am really lucky it will not be very much if any but when yellows are bred from greens they do tent to carry more green then is desired.
The best pairings to produce good coloured yellows without any green suffusion on them is to pair the purest yellows together but as I am only just producing yellows and building up the numbers I can only pair using green/yellow birds.
Hopefully next breeding season I may have enough unrelated yellow birds to pair yellow to yellow.
The picture on the right shows the inside of the nest box of cage number 5.
It contains the two yellow chicks (from pair number 6), the two possible blue chicks (from pair number 5) and what could be are two more yellow chicks (they could be green opalines as they are still too young to tell for certain) as you can see one of the chicks (in the foreground on the left) has been feather plucked but you can just see the yellow wing feathers coming through and it's skin is quite a light pink colour so it's looking promising so far.
These two chicks are the ones which I had to move when they had just hatched from pair number 5 as the hen was not feeding them, their two eldest siblings died so I was not going to chance the same thing happening with these...I am glad that they were moved as they are very nice looking birds!
The chick on the left is the eldest by 2 days.
Their body colour is quite pale at the moment but hopefully when they have their first moult at 3 months the colour will be more of a green colour.These two chicks are from the first round of eggs from pair number 5 which pair number 1 have been rearing. The 2 possible blue chicks and the 2 possible yellow chicks are their younger siblings so what colours these 2 are carrying I will not know until I am able to test mate them when they are a year old.
With all the swapping around of chicks from one nest another and back again I hope that you have been able to keep up....oh happy families!
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Day 82 – 24/07/2015
Cage number 1 - Pair number 1
Their second egg of their second round was laid today, hatching date is 11/08/2015.
I have to mention that the fifth (last) chick from pair number 5 which I moved to pair number 6 seems to be behind in it's development. Each time I have inspected the nest box it is always away from the rest of the chicks.
Without the warmth of it's nest mates it is getting cold (chilling off) when this happens chicks stop moving (they look as if they are dead but seem to go into an unconscious state) this results in them not calling to be fed and so just get weaker and weaker.
If you find a chick like this don't assume that it is dead, even if you find it on the floor of the cage (sometimes one is dragged out by accident by one of it;s parents) but by cupping it in your hands and gently breathing on it (not blowing) it will usually start to move and so you can then replace it back into the nest.
When inspecting the nest box of pair number 6 I noticed that the eldest two chicks moved there from pair number 5 appeared to not have any nest feather (it's a greyish soft down) it looks like one or both of the adult birds are clipping it off, this is called feather plucking, I decided to move them back to their original nest in cage number 5 as they are older now and their original parents should feed them with no problems.
I have to mention that the fifth (last) chick from pair number 5 which I moved to pair number 6 seems to be behind in it's development. Each time I have inspected the nest box it is always away from the rest of the chicks.
Without the warmth of it's nest mates it is getting cold (chilling off) when this happens chicks stop moving (they look as if they are dead but seem to go into an unconscious state) this results in them not calling to be fed and so just get weaker and weaker.
If you find a chick like this don't assume that it is dead, even if you find it on the floor of the cage (sometimes one is dragged out by accident by one of it;s parents) but by cupping it in your hands and gently breathing on it (not blowing) it will usually start to move and so you can then replace it back into the nest.
When inspecting the nest box of pair number 6 I noticed that the eldest two chicks moved there from pair number 5 appeared to not have any nest feather (it's a greyish soft down) it looks like one or both of the adult birds are clipping it off, this is called feather plucking, I decided to move them back to their original nest in cage number 5 as they are older now and their original parents should feed them with no problems.
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Day 81 – 23/07/2015
Nothing to report today.
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Day 80 – 22/07/2015
Cage number 1 - Pair number 1
Their first egg of their second round was laid today, hatching date is 09/08/2015.
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Day 79 – 21/07/2015
Still nothing to report today.
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Day 78 – 20/07/2015
Nothing to report today.
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Day 77 – 19/07/2015Nothing to report today.
All still seems to be working well so far.
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Day 76 – 18/07/2015Nothing to report today.
Only that all seems to be well in all of the nest boxes.
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Day 75 – 17/07/2015Cage number 5 - Pair number 5
Their fifth and final egg has hatched today....yep...you've got it....I have transferred it straight to pair number 6! But she is still rearing the two chicks that I transferred to her and they are doing very well.
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Day 75 – 16/07/2015Cage number 5 - Pair number 5
Their fourth chick has hatched today and I transferred it straight to cage number 6.
The two eldest chicks which I had transferred to this pair from pair 6 are still doing well, as you will remember the hen's feeding problems she will only feed older chicks but not newly hatched ones.
Using older stronger chicks to try to get her to feed properly hasn't worked so far for newly hatched ones but at least she knows what to do with older ones. I can only hope that on her next round she will get the hang of it!
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Day 74 – 15/07/2015The eldest chick in cage number 1 still continues to go in and out of the nest box.
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Day 73 – 14/07/2015Nothing to report today.
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Day 72 – 13/07/2015The eldest chick in cage number 1 keeps leaving the nest and then goes back in! The hen is still tolerant with this at the moment but I need to keep a close eye on the situation.
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Day 71 – 12/07/2015Cage number 5 - Pair number 5
I am please to say that both the chicks transferred from pair number 6 are being fed.
And pair number five's 3rd chick has hatched today.
Cage number 6 - Pair number 6
Both the chicks from pair number five which were transferred yesterday to pair number 6 are doing well. However, pair number six's own chick which hatched a day or two ago sadly I have report died today.
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Day 70 – 11/07/2015
Cage number 5 - Pair number 5
This hen is still not feeding her own chicks so I have had to transfer them both to cage no. 6. I also transferred the eldest chick in pair number 6 nest box to pair number five.
Cage number 6 - Pair number 6
Hen is feeding the chicks from pair number five.
There is a lot of transferring chicks from box to box at the moment just keep the chicks alive and to try to get the hens to feed properly. This is not usually something that I have to do in past breeding seasons so it is not a common problem....but it seems to be happening this year!
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Day 69 – 10/07/2015Cage number 1 - Pair number 1
The first chick left the box today!
Cage number 5 - Pair number 5
2 chicks hatched!!
1 chick transferred from cage no, 6 in an attempt to get the hen to feed as she seems reluctant to feed newly hatched chicks.
Cage number 6 - Pair number 6
3rd chick hatched today.
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Day 68 – 09/07/2015Nothing to report today.
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Day 67 – 08/07/2015
Cage number 6 - Pair number 6
The second chick has hatched today, it's crop appears to be almost empty at the moment, this is not a problem as the chick can survive almost a full day without being fed but as it only hatched today a hen does not always feed straight away.
Looking at the first chick it has quite a full crop so I think that the hen will do her duty in feeding both chicks well but I will be keeping an eye on the second one over the next 24 hours.
Cage number 5 - Pair number 5
The first chick of this pair is due to hatch tomorrow....we will have to wait and see!
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Day 66 – 07/07/2015Cage number 6 - Pair number 6
The first chick has hatched, and appears to be doing well.
The hen seems to be feeding it OK so far.
Both the cock and hen are keen to get back into the box when I am inspecting it which is a good sign that they will attend to their chicks properly.
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Day 65 – 06/07/2015Cage number 1 - Pair number 1
These are the two chicks which were transferred from pair number 5 as the hen was not feeding them.
As you can see, the gamble has paid off!
Both the chicks are doing very well, they are being fed by the hen and growing nicely.
At this stage it is still too early to know what sex they are.
At five weeks old the chicks will be starting to flap their wings, by doing this they are building up their wing muscles ready to leave the nest at six weeks.
This is the same chick, as you can see it's wing feathers have grown and opened but they will still grow longer in length.
Cage number 6 - Pair number 6
This egg is a day late in hatching which usually means that the hen did not start incubating until the day after it was laid. This is not unusual, but it does throw out the date recorded on your record cards!
You can see the first chick of this nest just hatching.
Just inside the egg shell you can just see the beak, it has what is called an "egg tooth" which is just a white blob on the ridge of the beak which it uses to cut through the inner membrane and then to score the shell.
It will score the shell all around the egg and then push itself out. This takes hours to do and you can hear the chick piping inside the egg while it is hatching.
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Day 64 – 05/07/2015Cage number 6 - Pair number 6
The first egg should be hatching today!
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Day 63 – 04/07/2015Nothing to report today.
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Day 62 – 03/07/2015All the birds in the breeding cages are feeling the heat today!
The two chicks in cage number one are panting with their heads out of the nest box.
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Day 61 – 02/07/2015Nothing to report today.
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Day 60 – 01/07/2015Cage number 5 - Pair number 5
Second round.
Sixth egg laid today, hatching date - 19/07/2015.
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Day 59 – 30/06/2015Nothing to report today.
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Day 58 – 29/06/2015Cage number 5 - Pair number 5
Second round.
Fifth egg laid today, hatching date - 17/07/2015.
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Day 57 – 28/06/2015Cage number 1 - Pair number 1
These are the two chicks transferred from Cage No 5 - Pair No 5.
The eldest is 20 days old and the younger one is 18 days old.
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Day 56 – 27/06/2015Cage number 5 - Pair number 5
Second round.
Fourth egg laid today, hatching date - 15/07/2015.
Cage number 6 - Pair number 6
Sixth egg laid today, hatching date - 15/07/2015.
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Day 55 – 26/06/2015Nothing to report today.
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Day 54 – 25/06/2015Cage number 5 - Pair number 5
Second round.
Third egg laid today, hatching date - 13/07/2015.
Fifth egg laid today, hatching date - 13/07/2015.
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Day 53 – 24/06/2015Nothing to report today.
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Day 52 – 23/06/2015Cage number 5 - Pair number 5
Second round.
Second egg laid today, hatching date - 11/07/2015.
Cage number 6 - Pair number 6
Fourth egg laid today, hatching date - 11/07/2015.
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Day 51 – 22/06/2015Nothing to report today.
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Cage number 5 - Pair number 5
Second round.
First egg laid today, hatching date - 09/07/2015.
When I transferred the third chick and the fourth egg to pair number one I also moved two of their clear eggs into the nest of this pair.
The aim of this was to keep the pair in their breeding cycle, by not laying their second clutch off eggs to soon otherwise if I have to move them I would not have any pairs at this stage.
Fortunately, as I had to replace pair number six they have laid their eggs at the same time so if I need to move pair fives eggs or chicks I may be lucky to have a foster pair to move them too.
Cage number 6 - Pair number 6
Third egg laid today, hatching date - 09/07/2015.
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Cage number 1 - Pair number 1
These are the two chicks moved from pair number 5.
This is the elder chick of the two, it is 12 days old.
This is the youngest chick it is 10 days old.
Cage number 6 - Pair number 6.
Awaiting egg number 3 to be laid today, all my birds seem to be laying in the evenings so I will check the nest box later.
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Cage number 1 - Pair number 1,
Chicks doing well.
Cage number 2 - Pair number 2.
Only 3 eggs to be thrown out now!
Cage number 3 - Pair number 3.
Still no eggs yet.
Cage number 4 - Pair number 4,
Still no eggs yet.
Cage number 5 - Pair number 5.
Still have the 2 clear eggs from pair 1 which I swopped when I transferred the chicks.
Second egg laid today, hatching date - 07/07/2015.
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Day 47 – 18/06/2015
Cage number 3 -pair number 3.
The new pair seem to have paired now
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Day 46 – 17/06/2015
Cage number 2 - Pair number 2.
Third egg thrown out now!
First egg laid today, hatching date - 05/07/2015.
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Cage number 1 - Pair number 1
These are the chicks which were transferred from cage number 5 - Pair number 5,
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Day 44 – 15/06/2015
Cage number 2 - Pair number 2.
Second egg thrown out now!
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Day 43 – 14/06/2015
Nothing to report today.
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Day 42 – 13/06/2015
Cage number 2 - Pair number 2.
Hen starting to throw the clear eggs out now!
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Day 41 – 12/06/2015
Cage number 3 - Pair number 3.
Nothing happening yet.
The pair seem to be paired but no eggs yet.
This is the new hen that I am trying with the original cock.
The hen before this one I moved to cage number 4.
Cage number 4 - Pair number 4.
This is the hen from pair no 3 which I moved when I made up the new pairs to replace the original ones for cages 4 & 5.
She still seems to go in the nest box and stays there. This is not good if you want to have fertile eggs!
Cage number 6 - Pair number 6.
The birds have settled down and are going in and out of the nest box but I have not seen the cock feeding the hen as yet.
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Day 40 – 11/06/2015
Cage number 1 - Pair number 1.
The fourth chick hatched today.
Chicks doing well so far.
Not much else is happening with the other pairs at the moment.
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Day 39 – 10/06/2015
Cage number 1 - Pair number 1.
So far so good, the hen appears to be settling down to
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Day 38 – 09/06/2015
Cage number 5 - Pair number 5.
The third chick has hatched but I am not sure that the hen will feed it so, I have moved it and remaining unhatched egg up to pair number one as they have all clear eggs. This is a bit of a gamble as I am not sure if this hen will feed the chicks properly.
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Day 37 – 08/06/2015
Cage number 5 - Pair number 5.
The second chick died the today day as the hen did not feed it.
She is a first time breeder so seems unsure as what to do, this does happen, although they seem to know to incubate the eggs they do not always feed their first chicks.
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Day 36 – 07/06/2015
Cage number 5 - Pair number 5.
The second chick hatched the today, this indicates that the hen did not start incubating the first egg until the second day.
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Day 35 – 06/06/2015
Cage number 3.
New hen introduced.
Normal Light Green maybe split for Yellow.
Cage number 4.
New pair introduced.
Normal Light Green/Yellow cock x Normal Light Green maybe split for Yellow.
Cage number 5 - Pair number 5.
The first chick started to hatch this evening but on inspecting the nest box the following evening had failed to hatch fully and had unfortunately died.
Cage number 6.
New pair introduced.
Normal Light Green/Yellow cock x Normal Light Green maybe split for Yellow.
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Day 34 – 05/06/2015
Nothing to report today.
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Day 33 – 04/06/2015
Nothing to report today.
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Day 32 – 03/06/2015
Nothing to report today.
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Day 31 – 02/06/2015
Cages 1 & 2 - Pairs 1 & 2.
It appears that all the eggs from these 2 pairs are clear (infertile).
Cage number 3 - Pair number 3.
The new hen that was introduced to replace the hen which died seems to just stay in the nest box.
No eggs seem to be coming so, I will give them a few more days then I will decide what to do.
One option is to split the pair by moving her to another cage.
I still have another 2-3 pairs which I can try so, will decide later.
Sometimes, a young pair only have a couple of fertile eggs in their first round and sometimes just lay a full clutch consisting entirely of infertile eggs.
But in the case of pairs 1 and 2 both cocks have bred before, but both their hens are first time breeders.
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Cage number 4 - Pair number 4.
Hen died today found her in the nest box when I was doing my inspection.
The cages are now ready to receive the new pairs.
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Cage number 4 - Pair number 4.
Hen is not looking very well, noticed that she is drinking continuously.
I decided to remove the cock. All 4 eggs were cold as the hen was not incubating them.
I also decided to return pair number 6 - normal Light Green/Yellow cock and normal Grey hen to the flight as they were producing eggs.
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Day 28 – 29/05/2015
Cage number 5 – Pair number 5.
All 4 eggs are changing colour.
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Day 27 – 28/05/2015
Still no eggs from pairs 3 & 6.
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Day 26 – 27/05/2015
Still no eggs from pairs 3 & 6.
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Day 25 – 26/05/2015
Cage number 1 – Pair number 1.
Seventh egg laid today, hatching date - 13th of June.
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Day 24 – 25/05/2015
Still no eggs from pairs 3 & 6.
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Day 23 – 24/05/2015
Cage number 1 – Pair number 1.
Sixth egg laid today, hatching date - 11th of June.
Cage number 2 – Pair number 2.
Sixth egg laid today, hatching date - 11th of June.
I had forgotten to mention yesterday that the first eggs of nest 5 are changing to the 'Pearly white' colour now.
Still no eggs yet from pairs 3 & 6.
Day 22 – 23/05/2015
Cage number 4 – Pair number 4.
Fifth egg laid today, hatching date - 10th of June.
Cage number 5 – Pair number 5.
Fifth egg laid today, hatching date - 10th of June.
Still no eggs yet from pairs 3 & 6.
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Cage number 1 – Pair number 1.
Fifth egg laid today, hatching date - 9th of June.
Cage number 2 – Pair number 2.
Fifth egg laid today, hatching date - 9th of June.
Cage number 4 - Pair number 4.
Fourth egg did arrive yesterday!
So, the hatching date will be – 8th of June.
Cage number 4 - Pair number 4.
Fourth egg did arrive yesterday!
So, the hatching date will be – 8th of June.
Still no eggs yet from pairs 3 & 6.
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Day 20 – 21/05/2015
Cage number 4 – Pair number 4.
Fourth egg hasn't arrived yet!
Cage number 5 – Pair number 5.
Fourth egg laid today, hatching date - 8th of June.
Still no eggs yet from pairs 3 & 6.
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Day 19 – 20/05/2015
Cage number 1 – Pair number 1.
Fourth egg laid today, hatching date – 7th of June.
Cage number 2 – Pair number 2.
Fourth egg laid today, hatching date - 7th of June.
Cage number 5 – Pair number 5.
So, the hatching date will be – 6th of June.
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Day 18 – 19/05/2015
Cage number
4 – Pair number 4.
Third egg
laid today, hatching date – 6th of June.
Cage number
5 – Pair number 5.
Third egg
hasn’t arrived yet!
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Day 17 – 18/05/2015
Cage number
1 – Pair number 1.
Third egg
laid today, hatching date – 5th of June.
Cage number
2 – Pair number 2.
Third egg
laid today, hatching date - 5th of June.
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Day 16 – 17/05/2015
Cage number
4 – Pair number 4.
Second egg
laid today, hatching date – 4th of June.
Cage number
5 – Pair number 5.
Second egg
laid today, hatching date – 4th of June.
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Day 15 – 16/05/2015
Cage number
1 – Pair number 1.
Second egg
laid today, hatching date – 3rd of June.
Cage number
2 – Pair number 2.
Second egg
laid today, hatching date - 3rd of June.
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Day 14 – 15/05/2015
Normal Light Green/Yellow Cock x Opaline Light Green/Yellow Hen.
First egg laid today, hatching date – 2nd of June.
Cage number 5 – Pair number 5.
Normal Light Green /Yellow Cock x Normal Light Green/Yellow Hen.
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Day 13 – 14/05/2015
We have eggs!
Cage number 1 – Pair number 1.
Normal/Opaline Yellow Cock x Normal Light Green/Yellow Hen.
Normal/Opaline Yellow Cock x Normal Light Green/Yellow Hen.
First egg laid today, hatching date – 1st of
June.
In seven Days I will be able to tell if the eggs are good as the shell will change to a pearly white.
In seven Days I will be able to tell if the eggs are good as the shell will change to a pearly white.
Cage number 2 – Pair number 2.
Normal/Opaline Mauve x Normal Skyblue Hen.
First egg laid today, hatching date – 1st of June.
Day 12 –
13/05/2015
Boxes still empty……no eggs!
Day 11 –
12/05/2015
Hum......eggs?......nope!
Day 10 –
11/05/2015
Still no eggs!
Day 9 – 10/05/2015
Still no eggs yet.
Day 8 – 09/05/2015
The Pairs have paired, still going in and out of the
boxes….but no eggs yet.
Day 7 – 08/05/2015
Disaster! Pair number 3, when I was inspecting the nest
boxes I tapped gently on the box but the hen didn’t come out…the cock bird did
but seemed a little bit distressed. I lifted the slide only to find that the
hen had died.
There was no evidence of any kind of injury so I am not sure
as to what is the cause of death.
I have two other hens that are not related to the cock bird
that I can use as a replacement so I decided to try him with one of these. They
are both normal Light Greens but only one of them I know to be a Light
Green/Yellow so I have put her in the breeding cage.
These are now 7 days behind the other 5 pairs, if I have any
problems once the eggs have been laid or when they have chicks I should still
be able to foster using the other pairs.
Day 6 – 07/05/2015
Cage number 4 – pair number 4, not sure what is happening
here!
Cage number 5 – pair number 5, this hen is the only one not
going in the nest box so far.
Day 5 – 06/05/2015
The birds are now more relaxed when I am feeding them and
when I am inspecting the nest boxes.
Day 4 – 05/05/2015
Some of the pairs are now pairing up the cocks are now
starting to feed their hens.
Day 3 – 04/05/2015
Most of the hens are now spending more time in their nest
boxes. The cocks are also going in and out and spending time with their hens.
Day 2 – 03/05/2015
The birds are now showing signs of interest in the nest
boxes, the hen in cage number 3 has already cleaned most of the pine wood
shavings out of her box!
Day 1 – 02/05/2015
Not much happening at the moment, all of the birds are
settling down to being in the breeding cages. I have started my routine of
feeding, replenishing the old water with fresh and inspecting each nest box.
I tap gently on the box a couple of times before lifting up
the slide this gives the hen warning and avoids her suddenly panicking to get
out of the box, while I am doing this I talk to the birds all the time.
This will be my routine from now on until the end of the
second round, making sure that I try to do it around the same time every day.
The Breeding cards have been filled in for each pair, cage
number, nest box number, colours of each bird ie Yellow cock x Light
Green/Yellow hen and date paired.
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PAIRINGS FOR 2015
02/05/2015
02/05/2015
Now that the cages are ready and I have been watching the birds to make
sure that they are in breeding condition (the cock birds have been for a number
of weeks now, but I have been waiting for the hens), the wait is now over.
Before catching up the birds I prepare the cages so as not disturb the
birds more that they need to be whilst they are settling down to their new
environment. I have filled up the seed pots. grit pots and water fountains. I
have also placed a millet spray in each of the cages – six in all. Each cage
has an Iodine block and cuttlefish bone. The nest boxes have pine wood shavings
in them to keep the boxes fresh and clean. Sometimes a hen will clear all the
wood shavings out of her box as part of her preparation to settling down on
eggs. When this happens, I usually replace the shavings and after a while she
usually gives in and lays her eggs.
The nest boxes have a slide out concave on the floor of the box, this
is usually made out of either chipboard or these days from MDF. They are flat
at the end opposite the entrance hole but have a bevelled circular section at
the inspection end of the box. This is because budgerigars do not build and
line their nests like most birds do, so the concave’s function is to keep all
the eggs in one place so as they do not roll about in the nest box and end up
in a corner and chill. Also, sometimes when you are inspecting the nest box the
hen may panic and scatter her eggs in a haste to leave the box.
It is a good idea to design your breeding record cards numbered and
dated for each cage, to record the date you paired up the birds, the colours and
varieties of the birds, when the first egg is laid, dates they are due to hatch
and have a remarks box to record any other information about the parent birds
this will help you when are considering next year’s pairings.
Side one for the first round
And an extra Remarks card
The cages are ready so now for the birds!
My aim this year is to breed Light Yellows, Grey Greens and Blues. I
have over the past few years been breeding birds to produce Yellows, I have a
Yellow cock bird which I have been pairing to Light Green hens to produce Light
Green split Yellow. The split birds are visually Light Greens but are carrying
the Yellow colour in a hidden form as Green is dominant to Yellow, so when
describing their colour it is written like this, Light Green/Yellow.
I had another Light Yellow cock bird which I had also been using in the
same way as the first so, I have lots of split Yellows which I can use without
being too closely related. Unfortunately I lost the second Yellow cock last
year but I have a lot of his offspring with which to carry on with my breeding
program.
Grey Greens:- I have a normal Grey hen which I have not bred from so
far, I tried her a year or two ago but only had clear eggs. I think that it was
because I paired her to a cock bird which was a bit too young, so I am hoping
to produce some youngsters from her this year. If I manage to get any they will
be all Grey Greens as both Grey and Green are dominant. Both colours will
appear on the same bird, however, I think that she maybe too old now but she
does look very nice so fingers crossed!
Blues:- My birds are mainly Light Greens, Light Green/Yellow, Dark
Greens and Dark Green split Blue so, I thought that I need to produce some
Blues. I have a very nice Normal Mauve cock bird which I am pairing to a Normal
Skyblue hen which suddenly appeared in a nest a year or two ago. The Mauve is a
large bird and is the darkest shade of the Blue series; the Skyblue hen is
quite a small bird and is of the lightest shade of the Blue series so pairing
these two birds together will produce Skyblues and Cobalts which are of the
light and medium shade.
Incidentally, I used the Mauve last year pairing him to a Dark Green hen
and they produced all Dark Green and Olive Green youngsters which will be all split
for Blue. He is a Normal but is also split for Opaline (which is of a different
pattern marking to Normal) all the Opalines which appeared are all hens as this
variety is what is known as “Sex-linked”. This means that a Cock bird can be
either an Opaline or a Normal/Opaline (the Opaline being hidden) where as a hen
can only produce Opalines if she is visually Opaline).The “Sex-linked”
character produces youngsters of the opposite sex to their parent. I.E an Opaline
or split Opaline cock will produce Opaline hens, whereas an Opaline hen
produces Opaline cocks. If two Opalines are used then the resulting youngster
will be all Opaline cocks and hens.
Now for my six pairs:-
Cage number 1, Pair number 1:-
Normal Light Yellow cock X Normal Light
Green/Yellow Hen.
This pairing should produce 50% Light Yellows and 50% Light
Green/Yellow.
Cage number 2, Pair number 2:-
Normal Mauve/Opaline cock X Normal
Skyblue hen (possibly split for White).
This pairing should produce 50% Skyblues and 50% Cobalts, some of which
should be Opaline hens.
If the hen is split for White then some of the youngsters maybe split
for White (known as Suffused White or Whites of Light Suffusion).
Cage number 3, Pair 3:-
Normal Light Green/Yellow cock X Opaline Light
Green/Yellow hen.
This pairing should produce 25% Light Green, 25% Light Yellow and 50%
Light Green/Yellow.
The youngsters will be Normal cocks and Hens and Opaline cocks.
Cage number 4, Pair number 4:-
Normal Light Green/Yellow cock X Opaline
Light Green/Yellow hen.
This pairing should produce 25% Light Green, 25% Light Yellow and 50%
Light Green/Yellow.
The youngsters will be Normal cocks and Hens and Opaline cocks.
Cage number 5, Pair number 5:-
Normal Light Green/Yellow cock X Normal
Light Green/Yellow hen.
This pairing should produce 25% Light Green, 25% Light Yellow and 50%
Light Green/Yellow.
Cage number 6, Pair number 6:-
Normal Light Green cock X Normal Grey
hen.
This pairing should produce 100% Normal Grey Greens.
Now you need to get into your feeding and changing the water routine.
Try to do this at the same time every day so as the birds get used to you, you
will probably find them a bit nervous for the first few days as they may fly about
in a panic, just move slowly and talk to your birds as you put your hand in the
cage to fill up the seed and grit pots, they will soon settle down. When
feeding, it is better to remove the pot from the cage and gently blow off the
seed husks and top up if necessary.
After the birds have been in their breeding cages for a couple of days
start your nest box inspection routine tap gently on the nest box and wait to
see if the hen comes out, if she doesn’t slowly lift up the slide and she
should come out. Don’t be too concerned if she doesn’t after a couple
inspections she probably will.
It should normally be around ten days for the first egg to appear (if
the birds are compatible with each other). The hen lays every other day and the
eggs take 18 days to hatch, sometimes the hen does not start to incubate her
eggs until the second one has been laid in which case the first will not hatch
on the scheduled date but two will hatch on the day of the second egg’s date. A
clutch usually consists of six eggs but sometimes a hen lays less and another
may lay more. I once had a tiny Hen lay nine eggs in each round and hatched and
reared them all!
After seven days if the egg is fertilised then it will change to a
pearly white so there is no need to pick them up and hold them up to a light or
use a candling pen to see if there is an embryo inside. I believe that this
could be the cause of dead in shell, by holding the egg between your finger and
thumb at the top and bottom you are transferring bacteria into the egg as they
are porous, the result is that the chick dies.
The hen will feed each chick for the first seven days as she produces a
crop milk which is different for each chick depending on their age, the cock
will feed her and after the seven days will also start to feed the chicks as
they will be fed on a seed mix from the cock’s crop. If the chicks are being
fed properly they will double their size every day.
If you intend to put numbered closed rings on your birds then it will
have to be done on approximately the seventh day….if the chick is small or you
try ringing to early the ring will slip off and will probably get lost but if
you ring to late or the chick is large the ring will not pass over the ball of
the foot. If the latter is the case you can try to ring the chick by smearing a
little margarine over foot but be very careful not to injure the chick when
putting the ring on.
By ten days the chicks will have a grey down on them and you start to
see the wing feathers coming through. By fifteen days you will be able to tell
what variety it will be in the case of my pairs either Normals or Opalines. By
twenty days you will know what colours they are going to be, Greens, Yellows or
Blues.
By four weeks they are fully feathered and should be starting to
exercise their wings, there should be the next clutch of eggs in the box
already, and by five weeks they will be popping their heads out of the nest box
entrance hole and deciding whether to come out or not, when they finally do
they may still go back in for a day or two before staying out on the perch.
Sometimes they come out few days too early so I just put them back in.
Once the youngsters are out on the perches the cock will feed them for
a further week or so, watch them closely to see if they have started to feed
themselves, put some millet spray in the cage they will watch the cock and usually
start to peck at this in quite a short time.
Some breeders like to take the youngsters away as soon as they can at
about eight weeks but I tend to leave them a little bit longer if the parents
are tolerant of them, usually until they are ten weeks old. They do not always
go back in the nest box and make a nuisance of themselves but this could happen with possible damage the
second clutch of eggs, if they do you will have to remove them otherwise they
could be badly pecked or even killed, I have never experienced this to date but
it can happen.
The pairings should produce all of the colours, varieties and splits predicted but if the pairs are hiding something else…….then who knows what might appear……we will have to wait and see!
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Cages are ready 18/04/2015
Now that the cages have been washed and disinfected and had
some minor repairs carried out, and the nest boxes scrubbed and disinfected too
we are onto the next stage of preparation before we can put the birds in.
So, the task is to wash the seed pots, grit pots and drinking
fountains. These need to be soaked in very hot water for about ten minutes or
so and then scrubbed and rinsed out. I just use washing up liquid in the water as
I do not think that using a disinfectant for food and water utensils is wise.
As I am using six breeding cages I have prepared six of
everything.
The water fountains are of the medium size, the seed pots
are of glazed earthen ware and the grit pots are of glass. The white D shaped pots are for feeding soft food and can be hung on the inside of the cage door.
While these are drying I have added the perch (make sure that
it is fixed in firmly otherwise you could end up with a clutch of clear eggs) and
lined the floor of the breeding cages with newspaper and put a couple of handfuls
of pine wood shavings (just the ordinary type that can be purchased in pet
shops or super markets for hamsters, gerbils etc) into the nest boxes.
This
serves two purposes :-
1). Sometimes the nest boxes can get very dirty due to the
hen possibly being a messy feeder or she is not cleaning out the box properly, this can result in the chicks feet becoming caked in excreta which becomes very hard once dried,
there is a high risk of a toe nail being pulled off in an attempt of the
breeder trying clean their feet. I think that it is better to try not to get to
that stage in the first place.
2). It does make the box smell nice and fresh and the chicks
too!
Once all the feeding and drinking utensils are dry they can
be placed in the breeding cages, they should be filled with the seed, grit and
water before the birds are placed in them so as to cause as little disruption as
possible while the birds are settling down. If you are really lucky the hen
will go straight into the nest box and start to prepare for the eggs but keep
an eye on her for if she stays in there and does not come out for mating all
the eggs will be clear.
At the same time place a cuttlefish bone and an iodine block in the cage and you can also hang up a spray of millet.
It is usually better to introduce the birds to their cages
in the morning rather than later in the day to allow the birds to settle into
the routine of feeding and nest box inspection. Some breeders advise that you place
the hen in the cage a day or so before the cock bird is introduced, I have done
this but to be honest I have not seen any advantage or even disadvantage to
doing this so I but both in at the same time.
Normal Light Green Hen
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Cage Maintenance
There are two ways in which you can breed
your birds, one is the colony system where you put up your nest boxes in the inside
flight, usually these are placed on a shelf and all at the same height, this
will allow the birds to choose their partners for themselves and also the nest
box but this can lead to hens fighting over the same box which can result in
serious injuries or even death of a bird. My preferred way to breed with the birds
is by using cages. This will allow you to pair the birds the way you want them
paired in order to produce the colours or varieties which you wish to breed.
If you are intending to show your birds
then you need to be able to control the pairings so as you are not breeding
with closely related birds (this is termed as In-breeding and must be done carefully)
however, using the colony system this cannot be controlled and to be honest
even though you see the birds appear to be pairs the chicks may not belong to the
cock bird that you think!
There are a couple of types of breeding cages,
wooden ones (which I prefer) and all wire ones and many years ago there were
breeding pens. These tended to be narrow but high with the nest box near the
top usually on the back wall of the pen. This meant that the birds had to fly
up to the nest box which kept the birds in a much fitter condition as they will be in the breeding pens for about 3 months if they are to have 2 rounds of chicks.
Before you are able to pair up your birds
for breeding you will have to prepare your breeding cages.
If you are using the wooden ones this will
involve cleaning/disinfecting, possibly re-painting or maybe having to repair
the cage fronts or the cages themselves.
My aviary which is a combined aviary and
birdroom, this means that the birdroom has breeding cages as well as an inside flight with an outside
flight attached to it with an entrance hole for the birds to go in and out when
they please. My birdroom is a small 6ft long by 4ft wide apex shed. I am only
able to accommodate six breeding cages.
The first 2ft are where the cages are housed, three cages high to the left and right of the birdroom door with cupboard space underneath and the remaining 4ft is the inside flight. The outside flight measures 4ft wide by 6ft long but has been shaped to accommodate the path that runs along the side of it.
Along with only a minor repair to two of
the cages (replacing the shelf which the nest box sits on as it was chewed by
the birds last season) my cages only needed to be cleaned and disinfected this
year, but after this breeding season they will probably need to be repainted as
well.
My cage fronts are of the older metal punch bar type and they seem to be needing more repairs these days….maybe it’s time to replace them after this breeding season!
Now we come to the nest boxes. There many
different types of these, some of the more common ones have either lift up lids
or a box within a box known as drawer type but the ones which I use have the
lift up panel on the end with either a glass or Perspex slide behind it. The first
two are usually the ones used by breeders who show their birds and are normally
hung on the outside of the breeding cage. If the bird room is large it’s not
usually a problem but if space is limited they could be easily knocked with a
result of broken eggs.
If the nest boxes are new you should not have
to disinfect them but I probably would anyway. If they are old boxes or they have
certainly been used before they will need to be soaked in a solution of boiling
water with a strong disinfectant added for at least 20 minutes. They should be
given a good scrub and then left to dry thoroughly.
Once the cages have been prepared and the nest boxes and perches have been put into the cages they are ready for the birds!
Hello Dad! Great job, looking forward to the next one!
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