renee

And my hopes are dashed today The chick from the Cobalt Dommie Pied nest is dead and there's another dead little one in the Cobalt & Sky nest - looks like yellow belly. I did an egg check on the rest and 80% haven't started laying yet but there are a couple of eggs showing fertile in 2 maybe 3 nests. I have pulled my gorgeous Armstrong line Recessive Pied boy. He is filling eggs but he is such a shocking nest invader all end up addled. My lovely Green hen wants to go down so it is just a matter of finding the right boy for her.

Good for you! I was used to those kind of stats in years gone by .....

Yay! - another 2 chickies have just hatched. A second to the DF Yellow & Greygreen Spangle nest. and a First to a Cobalt Dommie Pied & Sky hen. I am particularly thrilled about this one as I had previously written the eggs off as "highly unlikely to hatch" and chucked some already. On top of that I opened up this egg about 5 days ago, realised it was not a DIS and patched up the opening with nail varnish .... privately thinking that will never hatch - But it did!!!!

Well let me say this. I think hobbies are a good thing and I encourage everyone to have at least one past-time. Depending on your financial circumstances you are more or less able to invest in your passion. I have no doubt that if I had the disposable income I would be over at the Hills auction every year and buying up big at this auction too - it is a very rare opportunity to bring in quality stock. But I don't So I just look at the auction pictures instead

Yeah .... well theoretically speaking I should be okay. I've scribbled everything down and there's just a possibility I'll have issues with one chick - but that is not taking into account any surprises The only problem is I would like to even up the nests and get same sized chicks together so they fledge at the same time .... but you know if I do that then .... well - all bets are off.

Thank you Kaz I have resigned my self to the unwanted realization that that Lute hen is masking Dommie Pied. This is the first year I have put a Lute of this line to another variety in the 4-5 years I have been breeding them so while I have been assuming that they were masking Green Normal the reality is otherwise. There is no confusion about this chick as it was born a good few days before anything else so it made it easier to track it. The same cannot be said for any future rung chicks. ..... but I am trying very hard to keep the splits separate to avoid confusion. Fingers Crossed!

Swings and roundabouts ... Another chick arrived today A fifth to the Cobalt & Sky nest (which makes it really 2 'cause the rest died from Liver disease courtesy of the Lute hen - yet to be confirmed though) But the DF Lute nest had a DIS and a young one in the Violet split Opaline nest was dead. The chickie I transferred from the Grey DP nest into Medusa's nest is looking really good and on that basis I transferred a fourth into her nest- the little one that hatched out yesterday in the Violet split Opaline nest. The other chicks in there were 4 times its size. And it is official. Everything has gone haywire ( as if you hadn't already suspected this to be the case). The chick I rung first from the Green Normal and Lute nest has got Dommie Pied markings No, no, no... and it is really looking like the nest chick I rung from the LGreen Spangle nest has also got Dommie Pied markings too. Where is my Normal Green split Lute? What has happened to my DF or Spangle? Every year I tell myself that I am not going to do this and every year I swap chicks all over the place .... and this is the result.

Oh gorgeous little chickies!

He, he Good try The reason we add it to the water is to raise the acidity levels so that it combats Megabacteria, very prevalent in budgies, which is a yeast.

Hmmmmm. I am thinking now that I can see Dommie Pied markings on this little one Can anyone else see what I am looking at? - the "bald patch" on its head so I guess it might be a foster, specifically from the Blue Dommie Pied cock and the Green hen ..... any way it's ring is SWBC 021 - I guess I'll just have to wait and see when it feathers up.

I am with Finnie here, and that is the key point here Renee. Instead of disturbing them multiple times per day, why not do everything you can at one time and then they will be fine after that. One disturbance in the morning and one at night. Simple as that. Okay, okay, I'll give it a go Four more chicks arrived today. A first to the DF Lute pairing, unfortunately I couldn't revive the chick 'cause not only was it cold but it looked like she stomped on it as well. She is a Maiden so I have popped in a foster and will go back and check. I am a little surprised 'cause she is with a very good cock bird- but you can't win 'em all. Another first to my DF Yellow boy and his Greygreen hen. A third to the Grey Spangle nest. A fourth to the Violet split Opaline (all up I have 3 from this pairing as the little chickie I opened up early did not make it) Also today I swapped in a 2nd foster from the Grey Dommie Pied into Medusa's nest as the little one looked like a bit of a runt. I am hoping that with less competition it will come along nicely. So all up I have 9 nests with chicks and 4 fosters (1 from the Grey/Albino-1 from DP Blue & Green-2 from Green & Lute) and I'm waiting on a couple of nests to start hatching. And now for another Chick Stat report. This one is the first from the LightGreen Spangle and Greygreen Spangle nest (well I'm 99% sure it is) It is 7 days old and weighs 18g.

Thank you for the commiserations Pride. I am very upset about losing them, especially I was hoping they would pull through. Yet at the same time I am thrilled about Medusa and her chick. I really, really wanted offspring from these 2. It sucks that there is only one chick but the fact that she is feeding normally after letting 2 nests of chicks die last year is a real achievement. I am so glad I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. Yipee!

Today is D-Day otherwise known as Decision Day And the big decision I have made is to kick it forward to Sunday when I do my next egg check. So far I am happy with all my pairings and it is just a question of fingers crossed. 3 more chickies arrived today. A fourth to the Grey Dommie Pied nest. A fourth to the Light Green Spangle nest. And ...... yes indeed Medusa's egg hatched out and the little one is being fed! (break out the champagne!) So far so good and the Rehabilitation of Medusa Plan is on track - I'll make her into one of my best mother hens yet On a sad note 2 more pale chicks died today, one that I left in the LGreen Spangle nest and another I moved onto the Violet split Opaline nest. That makes it 3 out of the 4 I fostered to the Lute nest. Ironically her own 2 chicks are thriving as fosters.

Mmmmmm. Thanks for the feed back. Actually they were consecutive activities, I have 37 breeding cabinets and it all takes time. The fastest I can do an egg check (without taking notes) is 40 mins. So poopy scooping was after the morning check and the evening check was happening after I replaced the soft food dishes. But I hear what you are saying which is why I have cut back on checking eggs so that I am not disturbing the hens at all for now, my next planned comprehensive egg check is Sunday evening. All hens going down again are on the flaky bran now.

It would really depend on the cock bird - I did have one who would raise chicks and was fantastic in the kindie cage, but he was more an exception to the rule. Non-related cock birds are more likely to ignore the little fledglings, maybe I am wrong but I wouldn't risk it. I usually put in either a hen or cock bird from a Cabinet on a ratio of 1 adult to 5 chicks when their young ones are ready to fledge.

Mmmmm. I didn't think so either. But I suppose you have to add that I do soft food collection at 5-5.30pm and then return the dishes at 7pm plus Seed Hopper top ups and poopy scooping in the morning at around 10am - not that often though, maybe 3 times a week for the poops and once every 3 weeks for the seed. Any way I can't account for the addles eggs other than to think that the hens are getting off the eggs - although I haven't seen any evidence for it. The only other thing is of course if they are all sick with Chlamydia Psittacocis (low fertility/DIS) but surely I would see signs of illness ... ? They did all get the routine summer flock treatment of 6 weeks Doxy.

Up until very recently I was checking all nest boxes at around 9am and 7pm. With hatching nest boxes again at 3pm and if a chickie has hatched to a Maiden and it is not fed yet I swap in a foster for 3-4 hours and then check again. Is that too much?

Not sand! It flies about all over the place and is a real pain. Most people use newspaper, I use Fussy Cat Litter.

Well. Whadyaknow - Medusa is feeding the foster chick from the LG Spangle nest! Once more I have to credit the Fantastic cock she is with, who, by the way, was in the nest box with her - no doubt showing her how. Now it is fingers crossed that egg of hers hatches. You know if I have to find a positive it would have to be that all my Maiden hens to date have acquitted themselves marvellously in the feeding department and I do credit the cocks they are with for that. Yes, they are very hands on and continuously are in the nest box but they do seem to be supervising their nubile partners. As much as it goes against the grain ('cause I do like to monitor) I am going to have to adopt a more hands off approach and let nature take its way for a while and not check on them so often.

okay I am going to answer this and say Very Unlikely! Besides I have had a think on it over night and I have decided that what is happening is the hens are getting off the nest and staying off long enough for those fertile eggs to die. How long would that take? Does anybody know? Another chicks arrived to the light Green Spangle nest and I opened a blackened egg in the Sky hen nest only to find a chick about 12 hours off hatching .... still a little yolk sac attached but I have popped it back and hopefully then hen will look after it any way. I have moved some more chicks around. No more deaths in the chicks that were in the Lute nest but a couple are still looking a bit pale so I fostered them on again, this time to the Violet split Opaline nest where the eldest chick is doing fine. And I have lost track of where almost all the fostered chicks are - already. So my ringing plans are down the gurgler. Also I have brought forward the Rehabilitation of Medusa Plan and popped a little chick in with her this morning. Seeing as she didn't feed any of her chicks last year I'm figuring she may need a few days at this to get the hang of things. Her one and only egg showed fertile on the 29th. Today is the 7 day milestone for some chicks but alas no Stat report as they are still too small for ringing.

Alright, here's a thought. What if they are all sick with something? Obviously none are showing signs of illness and did all get Doxy for 2 weeks in the aviary before going into the Holding Cages ... But is there anything out there that could account for this?

Oh I am so happy for you Kaz Fingers Crossed indeed. I find it hard to believe that what seemed only yesterday I was anticipating 60 chicks hatching. Here's hoping I get 25 from this round.

Thanks for the offer - I've just stocked up. I am only going to use it while the hen is incubating the eggs. As soon as all chickies hatch out then it is onto the Fussy Cat Litter. Just topped up as many nest boxes as possible, ie. the ones that are going down again. Excellent news insofar that Magic's hen has laid an egg with no issues and the Greygreen DP hen is now on 2 Fertile eggs. I have made 3 pairings changes. A new 11 Recessive Pied hen to the tailless JL Green boy and I swapped some Green hens. And it is now official that I am not going to get any DF Greens this round - 1 DIS, 1 Addled and 2 Clear.

You might be onto something there - I hadn't thought about that combined with the cocks being in the nest box. Okay off to get some Flaky Bran.

Well for starters there won't be any eggs in the nest - that's a dead give away No, seriously .... I won't know if one of my hens starts to eat eggs, well not straight away .... But none have to date and that's a pretty good indicator You assume correctly Though I have to say I am way more concerned about the high incidence of Addled Eggs than DIS.