nigelward

it may not be clear in the picture, but the hen has a grayish iris ring when i see her from close..

8-14 days from when? from the date they are interested in nestbox? it has been almost 7 days since they've become interested in nestbox and the female still loves to visit the box and the male sometimes follows her in.. but still no sign of egg.. i noticed lately that the female has become more protective of the nestbox and refuses to leave it even when i approach the cage..

hey, no she hasn't laid an egg yet and i'm in no hurry... it's been about 5 days since she has discovered the nestbox so i guess i have to wait... i dont know if they've mated so far but they are very friendly together with all the signs of bonding..

is it unusual for the male to enter the nestbox? i've seen both my male and female enter the nestbox together... what does this mean? thnks.

hey, thanks for the reply... I prepared the eggfood you mentioned and they seem quite reluctant to eat it.. but they nibble at it occasionally.. i have some more questions: how often should i give them this eggfood? how often should i give the liquid calcium supplement? for the calcium supplement, will it work if i dissolved some cuttlebone powder into their water? thanks again!

alrite, thanks for u're advice, i'll see if my local petshop has liquid calcium supplement.. can u plz provide more info about the soft food u mentioned? what is soft food and should i crush chicken egg-shell into their soft food?

I had a question, i've never seen my hen nibble at the cuttlebone and i think it's really important that she has some because at this stage there might be an egg forming in her and the last thing i want is for her to become egg-bound.. do u guys think she will become more intersted in the cuttlebone once an egg starts forming?

u guys are awesome.. thank u so much..basically i followed u're advice and rearranged the nestbox so that the entry hole faces towards the wall and just as i was about to leave the room, i saw my hen go inside the nestbox and when i checked 30 minutes later, she was still in!! thanks again

Hi, i have one pair, and here's their picture: http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/6976/p5040014sf8.jpg obviously, left is male and right is female.. the male is about 1.5 years old and i'm not really sure about the female but as u can see in the picture, she doesn't have bars on her head and her cere is dark brown and crusty.. so i'm assuming she's in breeding condition.. they've been together for almost 2 weeks now and they are very friendly, the male occasionaly feeds and preens her and so i'm assuming they're bonded as well.. i introduced a nestbox outside the cage for almost 5 days now and they dont seem to be interested in it at all.. i haven't seen them even once going into it... i've also tried re-orienting the nestbox to various position, but no luck.. also, sometimes the male puts one if his foot on her back, but she simply snaps back and he moves away.. can u plz help... am i doing something wrong?? thanks!! **Moderators message** picture has been changed to a link as it is larger than our 450 by 450 requirement.