robyn

Hi Liv, I had same thought about insert. It has been replaced now have woodshavings in box, hen threw it all out earlier. Third largest baby is sitting up normally and now the little fellows are looking o.k as well but will check these each day to make sure.

If you read the post above she says there is splayed legs is it splayed legs though? (youre confusing me ) huh? theres another topic about the splayed legs from the same nest ... whats going on ..... lol! im getting very confused YES........it is SPLAYED LEGS. thanks kaz, that untied a few confusing knots! Thanks everyone for your interest, yes 2 chicks have splayed legs. Have splinted them yesterday giving them extra calcium as well. Older chick is already sitting up a lot better, younger one keeps tipping forward a bit but is o.k. both are being fed so hopefully this will all help.

Hi Everyone, an update on our first breeding attempt. picture 1. Our Aviary and flight from last post. picture. 2 After we divided aviary to separate breeders, from non- breeding. Non-breeder can access flight as well. picture 3. Some of chicks in 1st cage, 2 with splayed legs. All eggs now hatched. We have 4 cages.plus two box's on shelf. Cage 1. laid 8, hatched 8, lost no 3. 2 have splayed legs which we are trying to rectify. Cage 2. laid 9 hatched none? one egg rescued from seed dish placed in no. 5 (box on shelf.) Cage 3. no go. Pair back in Aviary to see if they re-bond with each other or new mate. Cage 4. laid 6 hatched 6(last to-day) Box 5. laid 8 of her own + 1 egg from no 2. So far should have 5 out has 1, I think maybe chick from 2 as can't find marked egg. Looks like her own are duds. Box 6. Was an Opaline who had 5 eggs but left them and went into moult? 1 was fertile with half formed chick rest empty. We are learning a lot as we go, can't get birds to try egg biscuit or soft foods. Having Corn, Celery, Silver beet,Gum leaves,grass seeds chick-weed. Have added vitamins to water for breeding pairs, plus cuttlefish, grit, iodine bell and now Calcium to water as well. Well, hope we end up with some new additions to aviary. Fingers crossed, hoping this is average results for newbie's.

Thank's Kaz did read it earlier and then couldn't remember which section it was in.I've been checking chicks,largest seems to be moving easier already.So if I give it the calcium each day until I remove splints would that be enough? I've added it to parents water but didn't think chicks would get enough of it to help them, so I'll give them the drops as well. Thanks again for your help. P.S. would it hurt to give a drop to others in clutch as well? If 2 out 0f 7 have it would they be lacking also?

Hi all, Have a nest of 7 chicks, 2 have splayed legs, found information on how to splint legs. Have done this but don't know if cause was lack of calcium. I have got avi-cal now, birds had cuttlefish, grit etc prior and during breeding. Do I add avi-cal to water or can you give it orally to chicks as well, chicks are 13, /18 days old others so far look okay. I only splinted legs (using make-up sponge method) to-day.

Hi Blake can't help with brooder but does your hen have other chick's or is this the first? I had similar problem a few days ago chick was gasping when I found it. I drip fed it 2-3 drops of sugar dissolved in warm water, it took this from eyedropper I put it back with hen, she had 2 other chicks, checked it a little while later and they had fed it. I've got 5 chick's now all doing well. Hope this help's a bit, others had suggested baby rice cereal for first feed it may encourage hen to feed it if it's a bit stronger. good luck with it.

Hi Kaz, I've now got some rice cereal on hand. Have checked chick again and parents have given it more food, it's a bit more active than when I found it this morning so hope it will continue to do o.k. now. Thought the sugar and water may keep it going until they fed it, it was really weak and gasping. thanks again

Hi, found a problem early this morning. My first chicks parents have hatched 4 chicks so far, first 2 great, 3rd died overnight 1day old. To-day no 4 chick, 1 day old was gasping for air? no sign of food in crop. I didn't know what to do so I dissolved some castor sugar in warm water and let it have a drop or 2 in it's beak, which it took. I placed it back in front of other chick's and prayed , have just checked it seems a little stronger and has a little bit of food in it's crop. Would the sugar water be okay or not if this happens again? I am getting some rice cereal or yoghurt to have on hand as more chicks are due, 3 eggs left in this nest and others due from to-morrow onwards in other nests. thanks for any advice.

Thank's Kaz, We have 2 nest box's on shelf, opaline and one other pair, mum sitting on 6 eggs, no problem's there and two hens, (underage) loose in aviary.Other cages are inside aviary but birds are caged. Opaline and mate seem o.k she just leaves box for a fair while and only goes back for a few minutes and she's back out. It has been warm here last week or so, don't know if that has any bearing on it. She looked like she had a bit of bloody head, but it looks like pin feathers coming so thought moult? Cere is brown but she's still mating so, maybe it's just me. Firstly... you should never have underaged hens in an avairy with nest boxes. You are asking for trouble there. As for the eggs in question, if she's in and out as you say, they may be no good. If she has blood on her head, she may have had a fight with someone trying to get back to her eggs and my not be scared to go back in?? If it were me, I'd candle the eggs to see where they're at, and if they look okay, I'd add some to the nestbox that already has eggs, and the others to the nestboxes in cages you have (if they have eggs too). Because they are soon hatch soon, I'd give it a go, but prepare for nothing... Good luckHi Maesie, thanks but as we have only 14 birds at the moment 8 are paired in cage's, the two pair on shelf in aviary leaving two loose birds one of which we thought was a cock but it turns out both are hens. One was being a pest but is okay now. There are no other cock birds in aviary only the two paired one's.Neither loose hen is showing any interest in an empty nest box or the cock birds, and vice versa. Other cages have 6 eggs 2 chicks, 6 eggs, 6 eggs, 5 eggs and shelf has 6 so didn't want to add any more to them. Will Candle eggs and see how I go from there. many thanks. Opaline wasn't moulting before she got to pair up with her mate, the only available one left. I didn't think she was in breeding condition until things started happening but they paired up and settled into box on shelf, so we left them to it she's got 5 eggs at the moment. Will try the candle trick and see if I can tell from that. thank's again. Robyn

Thank's Kaz, We have 2 nest box's on shelf, opaline and one other pair, mum sitting on 6 eggs, no problem's there and two hens, (underage) loose in aviary.Other cages are inside aviary but birds are caged. Opaline and mate seem o.k she just leaves box for a fair while and only goes back for a few minutes and she's back out. It has been warm here last week or so, don't know if that has any bearing on it. She looked like she had a bit of bloody head, but it looks like pin feathers coming so thought moult? Cere is brown but she's still mating so, maybe it's just me. So you have two underaged hens in the aviary on the loose where two pairs are breeding with nestboxes ? Yep, but not causing any problems.

Thank's Kaz, We have 2 nest box's on shelf, opaline and one other pair, mum sitting on 6 eggs, no problem's there and two hens, (underage) loose in aviary.Other cages are inside aviary but birds are caged. Opaline and mate seem o.k she just leaves box for a fair while and only goes back for a few minutes and she's back out. It has been warm here last week or so, don't know if that has any bearing on it. She looked like she had a bit of bloody head, but it looks like pin feathers coming so thought moult? Cere is brown but she's still mating so, maybe it's just me.

Hi All, Have an opaline hen with 5 eggs 1st due on 14th. The last couple of days she has left eggs for quite a while at a time (her box is on shelf in aviary) not caged like the rest. How long can they leave eggs without chicks dying. She also looks like she is starting to moult, is this normal, this is 1st round of eggs. We have 2 live chicks in cage 1. so far, our first ever, still 6 eggs to go. thanks for any help.

Thanks. Anne yes SHE is very pretty,but very naughty, annoying hen on eggs and chewing at their boxes etc. that's what made me think hen. Looks like it's unanimous then. Thank's Timbo

Thank's Kaz, well I learned another thing to-day didn't realise if you delete off photobucket it's no longer accessible on forum. Thank's Liv, looks like I've got two unattached hen's. The other hen is about the same age so bit young to breed anyway. Just making a pest of herself. They are only two left not paired up. thank's :hap:

Hi Kaz don't know if I did it the right way but went to edit , and re-did pictures , did it work? Thanks Dean, thought so, little so and so has been tormenting the other hen's on eggs . If they leave she's trying to get into box's etc. Will have to isolate her before she causes any more hassles.

Hi, Trying to work out if this is hen. Thought it was a cock bird until last few days. Hope pictures are clear enough to tell probably about 10mths or so old. :hap:

:question: Hi Kaz did answer your post, don't know where it went. In the photo you can see an open door, from flight to aviary section. We push this shut(after making sure no birds are still in flight) from the outside, using a thin rod that pokes through the wire. Then we can enter flight before opening aviary section. Have trained ourselves to always bolt door first. We lost a lovely Grey Cock bird who shot out because we didn't see him in flight. Learn by your mistakes they say. many thanks Robyn

Thank's Liv thought so but decided to check, we learn something every day.

Thank's Mattdog2 , Rossie's come mostly early morn for feed from dish we leave out, they usually feed then fly to front of cage say Hi and go. Will keep lookout if they start staying longer. that is really cool i love it can i ask an all up expence sheet im still looking for alternative to extendHi G. B. didn't really add it up BUT a handy Hubby helps, we used a recycled car-port for aviary, re-built of course. Then Husband used bed frames to weld up flight section. We had a stack of pavers so he put down one layer then black plastic to stop moisture coming up then a second layer. Lot of work but he did a lovely job of it.(for the floor that was)We had to"crumple" little rolls of bird wire to fill in all the roof contours to stop escapees, that was the hardest part. Making sure it had no escape holes. Then wired all the flight section. The door between aviary and flight we shut before we go in. thank's for your interest. P.S two more egg's last check.recycled bird aviary thats ace sound like kind of things i do lol i thought that looked like a car port but cause the wall i was like nar its a shed conversion just i was discussing with my dad about the car port at my place and ways to turn it into a flight as i dont have a car but mine needs to be removable and able to be placed in original form as im renting lol now i know it is possible will need to think harder mmmmmmmmmmmWhere there's a will there's a way.

Hi, have noticed the last couple of days very large droppings. I am thinking it could be the breeding hens but not sure. Is this normal?It seems to be in cages with breeding hens but also in aviary but have two pairs in box's in aviary also. Look's normal but huge.

that is really cool i love it can i ask an all up expence sheet im still looking for alternative to extend Hi G. B. didn't really add it up BUT a handy Hubby helps, we used a recycled car-port for aviary, re-built of course. Then Husband used bed frames to weld up flight section. We had a stack of pavers so he put down one layer then black plastic to stop moisture coming up then a second layer. Lot of work but he did a lovely job of it.(for the floor that was)We had to"crumple" little rolls of bird wire to fill in all the roof contours to stop escapees, that was the hardest part. Making sure it had no escape holes. Then wired all the flight section. The door between aviary and flight we shut before we go in. thank's for your interest. P.S two more egg's last check.

Great Libby, Hubby will be pleased others think it's okay, not just us. :thankyou:

Yes, it's great Kaz, didn't expect bird's to be so quick to breed so we must have done okay with it. Thank's Liv just hope they are fertile one's, bit early to tell. Mum's all sitting well so should have some results soon. The flight added the finishing touch to aviary Splat, birds love to get out there. Even have Rosella's coming for a "chat" during the day which is lovely. Thank's 'dek21' can't wait to see our results. :thankyou:

Thank's splat. Don't have problem, just wanted advice for future reference. Thank's Kaz, We don't have any problem but thought prevention would be better than cure. We are using a plastic insert in most boxes and birds seem quite happy, kicked out most of wood shavings and saw dust but have laid in them okay. Thanks again for advice.

Hi All, after busy six months our birds are finally settled. We had to move aviary across yard (council). Now we have 7 pairs birds. Six pairs are into breeding, one pair still young. We have got 4 cages within aviary the other two pairs are nest boxes on shelf. So far we have , 6 eggs, 5 eggs, 2 eggs, 1 egg,1 very egg bummy, 1 still trying. This is our first attempt so looks promising. Don't know how long before you can tell if eggs are fertile. Hubby added flight after "the move" so now they can get out into full sun etc. Love young gum leaves, spinach etc don't seem to know what my egg biscuit is but will keep trying it. Would love separate breeding but will make do for now as we don't show, just want nice home aviary. :rofl: