Posted October 8, 200618 yr Love is in the air at Bea's Backyard Aviary and so today i've set up a few pairs as well as put a few nest boxes around the aviary. Babies should be expected from Bob + Kala, Gherk + Tiki, PB + Gus, Lime + Dimsim and a few other pairs. Any hens turn cow and start tormenting other pairs they'll be separated. Fingers crossed for lots of happy healthy bubs. Now, i need you all to remind me of this when they're 6 weeks old but I AM NOT KEEPING THEM ALL....remind me okay.
October 8, 200618 yr Author You'll get your photos when i get my eggs. :(Laughing out loud): I'm going to go buy a few more nest boxes to hang around the aviary this arvo, and some nesting material. Then i should have the 2 breeding cages and about 5-6 nest boxes around the place. There is a lot of interest from the hens in the aviary!! And all the boys are getting a bit excited thinking of all the action they're going to be getting. It's pretty funny really, the hens are straight into finding the perfect home and babies the boys just have one thing on their mind.... Except Gherkin, he's the best, he went to a nest box before his mate did and was checking it out for her, you can just see he want's to be a daddy again.
October 8, 200618 yr Except Gherkin, he's the best, he went to a nest box before his mate did and was checking it out for her, you can just see he want's to be a daddy again. Why do I think he should be on Designer Guys.
October 8, 200618 yr Author Found a good deal on the nest boxes, 5 for $20! I also got some nesting material so they should be ready to go. One hen has an egg butt so i'm guessing she's been mating before today.
October 8, 200618 yr aww very cool Bea Now remember your NOT keeping them all okay my job is now done.
October 8, 200618 yr Author I'll need to be reminded more than once!! :(Laughing out loud): Razzo's girls are total cows, Sandy in particular doesn't like any other hens even looking at her nest box (which ever one is hers at the time), it's quite funny! The boys are following their ladies around patiently while they choose their nest box, it's so obvious the boys are impatient for a bit of action. :(Laughing out loud):
October 8, 200618 yr Keep us updated, so you are going to do aviary style? (remember you are keeping (coughs) not keeping them all)
October 8, 200618 yr Author Yeah, i'm giving colony breeding another go (knowing more now than i did last time i tried). I'm actually finding it very interesting watching the flock's behaviour with nest boxes present.
October 9, 200618 yr Author okay - first obstacle - brother sister pairings x 3. If i were to remove the 3 hens in question and leave the boys to maybe pair up would that work? Other than that there's no extreme fighting (just small squabbles over who gets which nest box) and a lot of noisy and, well, h**ny budgies. :(Laughing out loud):
October 9, 200618 yr okay - first obstacle - brother sister pairings x 3. If i were to remove the 3 hens in question and leave the boys to maybe pair up would that work? Other than that there's no extreme fighting (just small squabbles over who gets which nest box) and a lot of noisy and, well, h**ny budgies. Try separating the three troublesome siblings with the partner you want them to end up with, cage them separately from the aviary just for a few days with their chosen partner (no nest box) in a smallish cage for each pair...and when you think the bond has "taken" put them back in the aviary and observe that they get on with it. Should work. It works for me.
October 9, 200618 yr How did you come up with the name dimsim? hahah Edited October 9, 200618 yr by CheekyChucky
October 9, 200618 yr Author Try separating the three troublesome siblings with the partner you want them to end up with, cage them separately from the aviary just for a few days with their chosen partner (no nest box) in a smallish cage for each pair...and when you think the bond has "taken" put them back in the aviary and observe that they get on with it. Should work. It works for me. I don't have partners for all of them so it's easier to just take out the ladies, also don't have 3 different cages to pair off 3 more pairs. I've figuired that i can let a bonded pair from one breeding cage and let them go aviary style and remove the nest box from the now empty cage and put the offending hens in there. How did you come up with the name dimsim? hahah Well her name was originally Gizmo (i had Gadget and Gizmo) but Gadget died and Gizmo wasn't being fed (they were the youngest in Sandy's first clutch) so i fostered Gizmo over to Buzz who was on one baby, Porkball, and i wanted their names to match - so i have Porkball and DimSim.
October 10, 200618 yr Author Here's some photos of what's happening in the aviary. I did some shuffling around today because a couple of the ladies were pairing up with their bros. So we now have a jail cage, a breeding cage and then 8 nest boxes placed around the aviary. Akala and Bob in the breeding cage Asparagus and DimSim have taken a liking to the boxes sitting on top of the breeding cage Others like the look of these ones And Gherkin and Tiki like the looks of these ones Gherkin not paying attention while his wife inspects the potential new family home Gherkin: hey, where did my wife go? Tiki: Hehehe YOU stole her didn't you! Oh how embarrassing - never mind, i found her.
October 11, 200618 yr Author I've taken the nest boxes out - we have a few minor injuries now and i'm not going to wait for one of them to be life threatening. So out came the nest boxes. I still have the 2 breeding cages out there (Akala and Bob, Gherk and Tiki) so hopefully i'll still get some bubs.
October 11, 200618 yr How very exciting Bea! I love that you've named all your aviary birds - I can tell my little ones are going to a fabulous new home
October 11, 200618 yr Author I'm glad you think so! I'm sure they'll love it out there with my budgies.
October 11, 200618 yr Author Nope, i can't see the point in leaving the nest boxes there and waiting for a budgie to be killed. I thought it would work better with the extra nest boxes but i guess not. Edited October 11, 200618 yr by Bea
October 11, 200618 yr Nope, i can't see the point in leaving the nest boxes there and waiting for a budgie to be killed. I thought it would work better with the extra nest boxes but i guess not. Hi Bea, Your nest boxes were to close together allowing for no territorial space for the breeding pairs. You need at least two feet apart for this to work well. I guess my large aviary and the secluded areas they can have work okay but there does need to be a good bit of space between the nesting boxes.
October 11, 200618 yr Author I guess i didn't really have enough space to be able to place them like that. If they had of had hooks it would've been better cause i could've hung them around the place.
October 11, 200618 yr I have one other aviary that is 6 feet wide by 4 feet by about 6 feet high. I can happily breed three pairs in that aviary without trouble and with space between nesting boxes, but I introduce my birds to each other elsewhere and then add them to the aviary one pair at a time. It works that way. All depends on the bird personalities too.
October 12, 200618 yr I'm glad you decided against colony breeding, if you don't have a really large aviary space it is too dangerous. I found that out the hard way in my tiny 3m X 1.5m aviary. :budgiedance: Plus you don't want too many birds in the aviary as even in non breeding season it can still be dangerous. Before I forget, how's the pet boys going?
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now