lucky5547

Hi there, we use wood shavings from the pet shop and once a fortnight add some crushed fresh ucalyptus leaves, as the babies mature we regulary change the shavings for nice new ones thereby keeping the nesting box clean and dry for both mum and the babies. Hope this helps

Hi again Kaz, yep they are fertile 2 have hatched I have removed the little fellow and put him in a cage of his own for the time being and have put additional food dishes inside the nesting box for little missy, she is almost a lutino but has very faint white patches and normal black eyes, she's a beautiful little bird. Cheers Alex

Thanks Kaz, point taken I suppose I will have to build an aviary now. Cheers Alex

No Macka there were two young in his cage and 4 eggs we removed the poor little dead baby and placed the other with my first hen who immediately adopted it she has two young of about the same age and no other eggs. His ex mate has had 2 of her eggs hatch and she is coping very well the little quiet male is still trying to be friends but she is being a little stand offish at the moment. Where the wife beater is there are no young birds or eggs for that matter in the box just the dominant hen, he is trying to sweet talk her but she is playing very hard to get. Thanks for your response Alex.

Thank you for your replies and please accept my apologies for not responding sooner, in answer to your queries my birds are housed in individual ( 1 pair per cage )breeding cages which are 600mm wide 400mm deep and 380mm high, all breeding boxes are mounted externally and are constructed from non toxic materials. Yes they are both young birds. Thanks again Alex How young Alex ? Hi Kaz, Hard to tell but we have had them now for about 5 months. They came from the best pet shop in Port Macquarie and I would hazard a guess that they were not long out of the nest. Since this initial post one of them has gone on to produce 7 babies all perfect and 3 of them even had the same crest as mum. The other female is the dominant little girl who now has the wife beater for company so I cant see any breeding going on with her for a while. Thanks again Alex.

Thanks Michelle for your reply she is not violent per se but very dominant, so I took her very placid little mate out and put the wife beater in with her, so far its working out okay he is not game enough to try and dominate her. As for my poor little girl she has accepted her new cage mate and he is, as we speak trying very hard to make friends with her. Thanks Again Alex. Thank you all for your response, so far its all quiet on the Port Macquarie front, the situation is being very heavily monitored and at the first sign of dis-harmony all of your advice will be put into play. Once again my deep thanks to all. Alex

Thank you for your replies and please accept my apologies for not responding sooner, in answer to your queries my birds are housed in individual ( 1 pair per cage )breeding cages which are 600mm wide 400mm deep and 380mm high, all breeding boxes are mounted externally and are constructed from non toxic materials. Yes they are both young birds. Thanks again Alex

Hi all, yesterday we had a major drama. One of my cock birds killed one of his young which was only 3 days old and then savaged his mate. We have removed him and replaced him with a younger more gentle male and placed him with a fairly aggressive female. Have we done the right thing ? or should we discard him completely. appreciate your input, Alex.

Try your local produce store I order 12 at a time which have to be shipped from Sydney to Port Macquarie. Cheers Alex

I have 2 young females who are piercing their eggs and then throwing them out of the box. any suggestions as to how I can overcome this problem ? thanks Alex