Dean_NZ

You were definitely well treated, thats partly why i asked who it was lol. I know quite a few of the NZ breeders and the local prices so you should be well pleased with what you got. $30 each is an absolute steal, although for a beginner its just what you need. Go back to that breeder when you've bred a few birds and need outcrosses.

True that. I spent $1000 last year (average $100 a bird) on the birds that are giving me nothing but *** this breeding season! My initial 'training wheels' stock was purchased for about $200 for about 3 or 4 lesser pairs which bred really well for me. That $1000 was as much as I could afford which at an auction would maybe net me one single pair in NZ and you know the odds of success with a single pair are abysmal (sometimes they do super well but chances are one of the two wont perform). It is a struggle every year to 1) find good birds and 2) afford them!

Did they all die with air in the crop? Could be the hen is a bad feeder or perhaps has an overgrown beak. Air in the crop means the chick can not take more food, but doesnt really have any to digest so it quickly runs out of energy.

I would also put it in the nest with eggs due to hatch. The problem is that as number 6 it is just too small and quiet to demand a share of food, so putting it in the nest of 7 will be worse. Your best bet is the nest with eggs due to hatch, make sure you feed it something to give it strength. Even if its just honey water or some very watery hand rearing solution. It needs enough energy to peep until it gets fed by the hen and this may require a few hand feeds before it kicks in. Just had 2 babies hatch today, one in a fantastic nest and one with a first timer. First timer wasnt feeding the chick so I put it in the other nest and it got fed instantly, and from that nest I took a 4 day old and put it with the first time mum. Took a couple of hours but the older stronger chick was begging the whole time and she has now fed it whereas a new born may have gone quiet by now due to low energy and soon died.

Its more than likely puncture holes from sharp toenails. Can be the hen or the cock, but I believe its usually due to the cock birds as from what i've seen, they are nothing but a PEST when in the nest box until there are actually chicks to raise. They walk all over the eggs AND the hen. I've even had a few who play soccer with the eggs. Use nail polish to seal the holes. Works a charm. Only use enough to seal the hole, no more.

Yes please photos!

I read about stargazers a long time ago, but the info I read was from a breeder who had a number of them. In his account, he stated that the affected birds were perfectly normal except when they were not actively moving (flying, eating, mating, courting, playing etc) they would stare straight up at the roof/sky. As soon as they decided to move they would look down and do so, but at all times when they were stationary they would return again to staring at the roof. He had no problems with breeding or premature deaths. Obviously in his case it was a genetic trait to have it show up in multiple birds which is backed up by the fact he stated he had no trouble breeding affected birds so obviously it was being spread through generations.

Congratulations on breeding your first stargazer (The cobalt chick)

Looks like there is yellow coming through but its about 3 days too early to start seeing easily, especially from photos. on a side note, it might be nice to pick the dried poop clumbs off the nails

Mine is going through a heavy moult at the moment!

hello and welcome! Not good at long hellos, so hopefully we'll see each other around on various topics!

Two main feathers are clear so yes its a spangle. Not that you couldnt guess that already from the wing markings

Im terrible at welcoming new people so here is a herculean effort from me! Hello and welcome, I second (or third?) that you have two girls Baby girls are often mistaken for males because of the light blue cere which in about... oooh.... 4-6 weeks should start becoming a light nutty colour as they get extremely grumpy about starting their adult moult. Good luck for those times lol. Hormones eh.

Oh I'll keep trucking along. The majority of problems are due to the fact that a lot of my hens are first timers, or from another aviary. Not much you can do about that really. First timers need the experience even if they do a rubbish job first time. I had a hen a couple years ago who was vicious to all the cock birds and she wouldnt breed for ages, then when she finally did she didnt feed the chicks. Gave her another few months before trying her again and she was perfect, even fostered a few chicks.

Juuuust to continue the good luck streak, the best chick of the lot was huge and grew so fast that the hen attacked it the very first time it ventured out of the nest box. Chewed on both wings leaving a bloody mess all over the breeding cage. Fixed the chick up, hand reared it only to see it develop french moult. Greaat. Next three chicks were okay, moved them into the kindy cage with dad and two of them somehow hurt their left wing on the first day and now hold them all cockeye and cannot extend them (i've never had that happen before let alone two in one day!). Next round of breeding has gone great fertility wise, two chicks hatched and raised. Half sisters to the french moult stunner from the first round, being fed well. Little lutino hen hatched yesterday was not fed and dead today. Unable to switch it out as the first two are a week old now and much too large and no other hens have babies just yet. See how we go...

Going to take some getting used to but I have a feeling im going to love all the changes! Looking great so far!

Those are some very nice birds to be starting with. I started with some very average quality birds and have only moved on to the more expensive / showy types after about 1.5-2 years breeding, much like you plan to do. However, having better birds to start with is great too as long as they dont cost you too much and breed well for you Just a question - who was the breeder you got them from and where are they? Those are nice birds

My guess would be some sort of infection during development, it does look very pale and anaemic. The other possibility which is less likely is that the chick may have had the limbs caught up in some sort of thread-like fibers inside the egg and lost blood supply to those areas?

wow that is extremely unusual!

Hey- no holding out! We want to see the chick!!

welcome back

I already know the answer to this but I have a curious little chick thats cropped up and wanted some thoughts, but first this question. The yellow face type 2 single factor, yellow wash in the mask as well as an even pale yellow wash throughout the body - correct? Double factor - stronger yellow in the mask, yellow wash in the body is also stronger but mainly found in the chest area leaving the rump blue - correct? Yellow face type two in either single or double factor cannot be masked - correct? I would appreciate some feedback before I present the actual chick and whats got me stumped..

I'd say cobalt, but a clear picture of the tail without flash would be good.

Thought perhaps we had been overlooking something more obvious so I did some searching and found that french moult can cause all the deaths / symptoms you've experienced with these nests, especially in your breeding setup. Read this about french moult infections in babies under 15 days: Taken from: Polyoma virus web page

Good call nev. Looks violet too or is it just my screen?