Moglet's First Journal

[moglet 0]

Wow! My first breeding Journal. Very excited about by bird's goings on

 

Firstly I had several pairs set up.

 

First pet type pair (Sparkles and Cosmo) had 6 fertile eggs, only one hatched. I learned the hard way to put in lots more nesting material after Mum has started to lay so the eggs don't roll around if she startles. Red (the baby) is 3 weeks old today, and looking like a light green dom pied like its Dad. It's gorgeous. I have posted updated photos of it under the breeding page "welcome to Red".

 

Second pair - Maiden albino pair. Just starting to fluff around with the nesting box when disaster struck. I was rearranging the bird room and had two cabinets in the door way leading to the verandah, I was RIGHT THERE vacumming and a ~!@#$% butcher bird slammed into the cabinets. Before I realised (I didn't hear it over the vac) both albinos had fluttered out of the cage in the hole where the nest box had dropped in when the butcher bird impacted. I went dashing outside with a net, but we back onto a big park and by the time I had vaulted the fence and had located the cock he was dead and the butcher bird was starting to yank out his feathers. I never found the poor little hen. I was so devastated.

 

Third pair - a beautiful big normal grey and a gorgeous sky blue hen. I bought them both from the same breeder and the cabinets too, so I put them in together in the cabinet as both looked beautiful and she was in season. Within a week she was laying, and then I realised the Cock was wheezy. I got him onto Triple C but he died in a few days. The hen sat on 6 eggs for about the next ten days before she decided it was just too much and ditched them. I really didn't think they would survive as by the time I realised she'd stopped sitting they were very cool. I popped them under another pet type hen (Possum) that was about the same stage and had six of her own eggs. I'd candled them and it looked like at least 5 were fertile. When I candled Possums own eggs a few days later, I realised they were ALL fertile too, so if every egg hatched she would have 11 babies!!!! Not goo for a maiden hen. So I sneaked the foster eggs one by one over the next week to be under Sparkles with her single chick.

 

She accepted them and I was totally amazed to have a baby hatch this last Tuesday.... then another yesterday! She has three more foster eggs and big fat Red to look after now. But she seems to be coping very well and all three chicks are well fed. The foster father is just brilliant and so diligent, so I got very lucky with these eggs. I am hoping they will be gorgeous quality chicks given their parents looks. Here is a picture of 'Lucky' the first foster egg to hatch this Tuesday, it was taken a few hours after hatching. It has quite a bit more fluff than Red had on hatching.

 

 

Fourth pair are pet types. A Cobalt T2 yellowface cock and Mauve dom pied hen. She is a brilliant sitter and I am expecting her six eggs to begin hatching either today or tomorrow with no dramas.... famous last words!!!!

 

Next pair - another large grey normal cock and a stunning cobalt hen. She began laying, but she stopped sitting and is now wheezing too. I have been treating both birds with Triple C they had a full 7 days, now I have sprayed them for several days with a pyrethrum based lice/mite spray at the suggestion of a breeder. The cock never seemed to develop the wheezing and she sounds maybe a smidgen better, but not hugely so. I have removed the nestbox and am just keeping them isolated until she gets better. Any suggestions on treatment from here would be VERY welcome. I have been reading up and am wondering if I should treat her with Ivermectin (?), but am a bit hesitant. She doesn't seem distressed or unwell and they are both quite active, eating voraciously and chattering away, she just seems to be breathing harder than normal, especially after exertion.

 

Last pair - a spangle green/aqua male and a big sky blue hen. She has just laid her first egg on Wednesday, so it's all just starting to go to plan there.

 

I have another pair I think I will set up this weekend. I'm just trying to decide on which hen, I have two in mind.... So I will let you know!

Edited July 29, 2011 by moglet

[Pride 0]

Shame about your albino's but great that your foster hen is very dilligent and turning out to be a great mum

[moglet 0]

Well, we had another 2 babies hatch today, and a new egg! Ginger (sky blue hen) and Gilbert Aqua/green spangle now have three eggs.

 

The third foster egg under sparkles hatched today. A lovely healthy bird name Billie. Possum and Whizzbang also hatched their first baby, my 5 year old niece has named it Gem, I will train it up to be her special friend and she is sooooo excited. So there was much oohhing and ahhing in our house this morning.

 

I have posted a picture below of the two babies that hatched this morning. I thought it was interesting to see the difference between a pet type baby (on the left) and a showbird quality baby (on the right). The size difference is not as noticeable in the picture, but Billie the showbird baby fostered under Sparkles is much bigger and fluffier already, and they were both only a few hours old at the time I took this picture.

 

[Taylor 0]

Seems like you've had some bad luck. Butcher birds sit on my porch but my dad created a curtain of sorts to stop it

Hope everything goes well for you.

[Pride 0]

Great to see some luck go your way. i love your budgies names.

[moglet 0]

Thanks Pride, we love our pets... there is much todo in our house when a new friend comes along that needs a name. It has to be the RIGHT one. The best one we had was an awesome duck my son named Duck Vader

 

We had another one of Possum's and Whizzbang the Terrible's babies hatch yesterday. The first only hatched on Saturday so I wasn't expecting another until today. It's name is Tink. Whizzbang has always been the ratbag of the flock, so it's funny to see him being so sensible and looking after his family.

 

So now we have big fat Red, who is looking like a lovely normal light green, and the three foster babies (Lucky, Junior and Billie) under Sparkles with Cosmo as her mate. There are two more eggs, but I'm not sure they will hatch. But hey, I didn't think ANY of them would hatch so I hope I am wrong.

 

Now Poss and Whizz have two babies - Gem and Tink, with 4 more eggs.

 

Lots of noisy baby chicks and busy parents. It's so lovely to see them growing and developing. The kids are just amazed and can't wait to see the changes everyday.

[**KAZ** 0]

Great photos

 

This one

 

would make a great avatar or signature

[moglet 0]

Thanks Kaz, I need to colour balance it, it looks like it's a bit jaundiced. I took it under fluouro lights which always causes colour cast issues.

 

This looks a bit better and I worked out how to make it a cool signature.... man I better get some work done today!!!

 

Edited August 1, 2011 by moglet

[**KAZ** 0]

Very cool

[Pride 0]

I agree love the sig.

[moglet 0]

I was amazed to come home and find the fourth foster baby has hatched. I am sooo glad I saved those eggs. They are from the first show quality pair I have and I am really excited to see what the babies are like. Lucky, the oldest is beginning to really fluff up now. Sparkles and Cosmo are doing brilliantly and they all have bulging crops.

 

Red is stealing hearts in our house. She is so friendly now when she comes out for a cuddle. Very relaxed, grooming and nibbling at our fingers curiously. She is starting to poke her head out of the nest box now, and was 4 weeks old last Friday. The little foster babies crowd underneath her now when Sparkles is out of the box.

Edited August 2, 2011 by moglet

[splat 0]

She is adorable, I am pleased you saved your eggs.

 

What happened to reds photo or was I just seeing things. need glasses so bad. lol

[Pride 0]

I agree is red the one in your sig.

[Nathan da budgie 0]

Hey guys, im having trouble, my firs chick, should of hatched on the 2, of augest, but hasent, i amw aiting a few more days, but dont know, if they are going to hatch, I might rebreed them next year

[Pride 0]

Nathan you shouldn't try to start a new topic in someones elses topic just be patient and wait till someone reads yours. but anyway it may have been infertile or maybe you got the days mixed up.

[moglet 0]

I rung my first two birds ever today. Wahoo. yes I am a dag.... I rung Lucky as it is 8 days old today, and realised since they are big babies I need to do it sooner. Another day and I wouldn't have gotten the ring on. So I rung Junior too.

 

I have been TRYING to wrestle with photobucket. It was doing something weird to my new picture of Red I was attempting to post last night. Sometime photobucket works like a dream and again today I'm going mental with it trying to load. Now it will load up everything EXCEPT the upload button. I've tried emptying the cache and ditching the plist (I'm on a mac), but it wont play ball tonight. Grrrr. I have some great new pics too!

 

The baby in my signature is Lucky, the first of the foster babies to hatch. We named the littlest one who hatch yesterday Eenie for now. It's a noisebox of a baby. I suppose it has to shout over it's siblings!

 

I'll reboot firefox and see if I can get photobucket to work.... I have some lovely new photos of all the chicks to post.

[Maddy 0]

It could be your flash player.

I hate photobuckets 'futuristic' upload button. Just give me a plain old html button any day lol

[moglet 0]

Well I have updated my flash player and updated Firefox, and all appears to be working again with photobucket... for now! LOL.

 

So here are some updated photos of my darling babies

 

This is Gem and Tink, Possum and Whizzbang the Terrible's little family. Possum is so protective. If you make the weeeniest sound at night in the room there she goes RIGHT off at you from under the towel and from in the nestbox. She is such a sweet bird which makes it even funnier that she gives us all a huge what for.

 

This is little Red with her foster siblings. She is really mothering over them now. She is getting to be so friendly and nibbles my check when I snuggled up to chat with her.

 

This is Red being a big bird (well, sort of, she will dive up your sleeve in the blink of an eye She is getting really hard to photograph now as she escapes all the time to hide, or runs at the camera lens.

 

Ginger (skyblue hen) and Gilbert (greenish spangle) now have five eggs. Had a bit of a candle of them last night, but they are still to early to tell really I think.

[moglet 0]

Red is ready to fledge any day. She comes out to play with us and can sit on a finger now with confidence and is getting the idea of step up. She spends lots of time sitting in the doorway of the nest box until Mum or Dad shove past her to get in or out. She is starting to get a bit nippy when you try to pick up her foster siblings now. She tends to tuck them up under her away from you if she is in there and not in the doorway.

 

The foster babies are growing beautifully. I think Lucky, the oldest, might be a big grey like Dad was. It has HUGE feet and is very sturdy standing up and looking around. Lucky is the one standing up at the back in the corner. It was being difficult when I wanted to photograph them!

 

 

This is Possum and Whizzbang's two babies, Tink and Gem. Both seem to have varigated light skin patches on the back of their heads, so I think they will both be pieds like Mum. Gem, the older one seems to be darker and with yellow wing spikes, and Tink seems to have the white wings tips like Mum. I can't wait to see their feathers. Tink, the younger one by a day, seems to be the boss and Gem hides underneath it a lot. Not the best photo, but they were wriggling and carrying on a lot tonight!

 

Edited August 8, 2011 by moglet

[GenericBlue 0]

love that last picture its like they are hugging

[Pride 0]

Looks like you are getting some great results

moglet and i think red looks amazing.

[moglet 0]

Thank you. Yes Red is gorgeous. She was out of the box by herself for the first time today when we got home. She was picking at a millet spray, but I don't think she quite knew what to do with it She sits on your finger now and tries to fly a bit. More of a hover with a floppy landing at the moment. She seems to love music and chirrups along when my daughter has music going in her room with Red.

 

Pride, your avatar is an absolute dead ringer for Red's Mum, Sparkles!

 

I candled Ginger and Gilbert's eggs properly tonight. Definately at least four fertile eggs. She has 7 now. We could see a little heart beating in one of the eggs. The kids were so awed.

[Pride 0]

yeah the budgie in my avatar is one of my birds that past and her name was Pride. she was one of my favourites as she was rather small heightwise much like i am in real life.

[Finnie 0]

You seem to be having a great experience over there, Moglet!

 

From these photos, I would guess that Red is "He".

 

 

 

This is little Red with her foster siblings. She is really mothering over them now. She is getting to be so friendly and nibbles my check when I snuggled up to chat with her.

 

This is Red being a big bird (well, sort of, she will dive up your sleeve in the blink of an eye She is getting really hard to photograph now as she escapes all the time to hide, or runs at the camera lens.

 

 

[Taylor 0]

Very cute!

Nothing cuter than a chick with big feet.

(by chick I mean baby budgie)

Edited August 15, 2011 by Taylor