September 20, 200915 yr I promised a update and here it is. One thing we all wonder is how we can keep the floor clean. I am trialling some new covers for the bottom of the cages. Since they eat in dishes off the floor, this should help eliminate a lot of the seed that falls through the cage walls onto the floor. You can see the different coloured ones in these photos. Love the covers Dave!
September 20, 200915 yr Author I promised a update and here it is. One thing we all wonder is how we can keep the floor clean. I am trialling some new covers for the bottom of the cages. Since they eat in dishes off the floor, this should help eliminate a lot of the seed that falls through the cage walls onto the floor. You can see the different coloured ones in these photos. Love the covers Dave! The covers look a bit dodgy, and they do add a certain colourful element to the breeding cabinets, but they should work. Kiwi and Twitch are on their second clutch and their first little one hatched yesterday. It has been fed, but Mum is protecting it well. Last clutch was all girls, so we will see what we get here. Eldest are still in a kindy cage - all 4 are hens - remarkably. What am i going to do with 4 pied hens? Love that hen ..................as for what are you going to do with four pied hens....................SEND THEM TO ME !!!!! Kiwi is an amazing bird. Amazing in the sense that she once broke a leg and had it in a cast at the beginning of the year. She stayed at my mum's, injured, in a small cage whilst i went to Perth. Amazing recovery and a wonderful mother. As for sending some to Perth, it has not been ruled out as an option Kaz. or me i love that normal grey send him to me to o o hope the cages works out for you Chances of you getting Bruticus are absolutely none!!!!!!!!!!!!! Edited September 21, 200915 yr by Dave_McMinn
September 22, 200915 yr Author We have had a few really hot days here in Sydney, as in 30+ degrees celsius, so I was a bit concerned about the heat in the breeding room. One bird, Icarus, suffered in the heat, and I lost another chick today, only very young, not sure it was the heat. Anyway, in an effort to overcome heating issues, I have removed some plastic that was rain protection, and replaced it with a roll up blind to assist with air circulation. The other thing I did today was install a vent. It will allow warm air at the ceiling to pass out of the breeding room. The vents actually face down, so that should stop rain coming in. Here are some :hurryup:
September 22, 200915 yr We have had a few really hot days here in Sydney, as in 30+ degrees celsius, so I was a bit concerned about the heat in the breeding room. One bird, Icarus, suffered in the heat, and I lost another chick today, only very young, not sure it was the heat. Anyway, in an effort to overcome heating issues, I have removed some plastic that was rain protection, and replaced it with a roll up blind to assist with air circulation. The other thing I did today was install a vent. It will allow warm air at the ceiling to pass out of the breeding room. The vents actually face down, so that should stop rain coming in. Here are some :hurryup: Sorry to hear of your loss Dave :camera: ... over here it's still too cold and wet and windy -Send us some of your sunshine! How about you paint the roof of your Breeding room with Solar reflect paint? it says it drops the surface temperature by 5C Also many breeders over here erect shade cloths a few feet above their aviaries/breeding rooms....
September 22, 200915 yr Really good vents Dave....do they go all the way through to the inside as far as fitting ? How hard was it to fit them ? What size are they ? As you know I will be fitting some up the perching end of my new flights, but I am still toying with ideas of what kind at this stage. PS just dropped a steel beam on my foot :hurryup:
September 22, 200915 yr Author Sorry to hear of your loss Dave :camera: ... over here it's still too cold and wet and windy -Send us some of your sunshine! How about you paint the roof of your Breeding room with Solar reflect paint? it says it drops the surface temperature by 5CAlso many breeders over here erect shade cloths a few feet above their aviaries/breeding rooms....I think that loss actually was more to nest size rather than anything else. The little one was the youngest of 7 and was a newborn. If I had seen it sooner I would have moved it to Kiwi's nestbox.The sloar reflective paint is a good idea.In summer I will put up shadecoth and the like to assist with the heat, but it is only the beginning of spring, yet we are still getting these abnormally hot days.Really good vents Dave....do they go all the way through to the inside as far as fitting ? How hard was it to fit them ? What size are they ? As you know I will be fitting some up the perching end of my new flights, but I am still toying with ideas of what kind at this stage.PS just dropped a steel beam on my foot :hurryup:Yes, the vents go all the way in , probably and 50mm in, so not very far. They have a circular hole that goes into the shed, so you simply cut a chol with about a 100mm diameter and push it on. Then i drilled some holes in the shed, through the hole that is in the vent already, and attached it with some nuts and bolts. I then reattached the front panel - it comes off to make it eay to put on.Fitting it was pretty easy. I started off cutting the hole with a jigsaw but in the end, it was easier to do it with tin snips. I simply traced around the circle part to get the size, then it was a little small, so I snipped some more.They are very easy to do and it should make a large difference
September 25, 200915 yr Author Good and bad news in the breeding cabinets. Good - Kiwi and Twitch hatched their second little one today. Good - it seems that of Dumber(RIP) offspring, 3 look to be hens and 2 cocks. Good - the youngsters in the kindy cage will soon join the adults in the aviary. They are realy coming along. Looking impressive, and perching like champions Bad - Latte appears to struggle with big nests, and so another little one has been lost. I would move the others, but DF is on her own, so she cannot take any more. Kiwi's youngsters are too young and the youngest of Latte's is too old to slide in there. I have added some seed and millet to the nestbox so hopefully the little ones will learn to feed on their own - and I have seen them feeding each other, so that is good. I will supplement feedings myself if necessary. This is Latte and Earl's last clutch this season, maybe for good at my place, so fingers crossed for the remaining time.
September 26, 200915 yr well done mate you are doing good sorry to hear about the babys :) gust give her a good break and see how she go's
September 27, 200915 yr Author New just taken. Dumb and Kestral's Rd 1 clutch 5 eggs - all eggs were infertile. Rd 2 Clutch 5 eggs - 3 young - grey opaline spangle cock, sky blue opaline spangle cock, & DF cock Caesar and his lady Rd1 clutch 5 eggs - 2 young - 1 albino hen, 1 opaline sky blue spangle cock Twitch and Kiwi Round 1 clutch 7 eggs - 4 young - grey green dom pied hen, grey dom pied hen, grey green cinnamon winged dom pied hen, grey green cinnamon winged hen Round 2 clutch 7 eggs - all 7 look fertile - 2 young so far Dumber(RIP) and Cino Rd1 clutch 5 eggs, no survivors Dumber (RIP) and DF hen Rd 1 Clutch 7 eggs - 5 young - 1 cobalt blue spangle hen, 1 cobalt blue spangle cock, 1 coblat blue chick (gender unknown), 1 DF spangle hen, 1 DF spangle cock Earl and Latte Rd1 clutch - 4 eggs - 2 survivors - 2 grey opaline cocks Rd2 Clutch 6 eggs - 5 fertile - 2 survivors - grey opaline chicks (gender unkown) see above pics - the last 2 pics under Dumber(RIP) and DF widow show Earl and Latte's nestbox with the two fostered young ones. The smallest two are chicks of Earl and Latte. Olive Green Cock + Grey Green hen Rd1 clutch 6 eggs - 3 look fertile - no hatchings yet Bruticus and Albino Hen Rd 1 - no eggs laid yet
September 27, 200915 yr Author You have some results to be very proud of Dave :grbud: I am very proud. I am very excited about some other pairs as well. I am looking forward to the young from the green and grey green pairing - hopefully all 3 fertile eggs will hatch. I am excited about the young that will come from bruticus and the Albino hen. I have some other pairs i am going to put down, and I am excitedly planning those. The two little lutes I got from Budgie1981 have grown into beutiful birds, so much so that when i look at them, i cannot tell which is the red ringed youngsters, and which $ the lute I got from Cec. All up,it is very exciting. I am like a kid in a candy shop - :offtopic:
September 27, 200915 yr Author Throw out 2 of those clear eggs & put in more nesting matieral. Macka, I will remove the 2 clear eggs but in regard to nesting material, pictures do not always tell the truth. The nestbox has a lot of nesting material in it. The problem is that this particular hen does not appear to be overly fond of nesting material, so she will move it all away. Every second day I move the nesting material back from the edges of the nestbox, trying not to disturb the eggs too much, but once I do it, she moves it away again. Some hens are just.........different!!!
September 28, 200915 yr Author All seems to be going well in the breeding room. Earl and Latte are going great guns, and their 4 young are growing well. DF Widow has done an excellent job with her 3 young. Kiwi and Twitch have 2 young, with more to come. My Dark Green boy and his Grey Green hen have their first little one. It is yet to be fed, but i will give Mum a chance. If it has not been fed by later tonight, I will move it into the nest of Kiwi. Here's hoping mum does the right thing.
September 28, 200915 yr If it has not been fed by later tonight, I will move it into the nest of Kiwi. Here's hoping mum does the right thing. If you are moving later tonight you will need to feed it yourself first.
September 28, 200915 yr Author Can do. The breeding room is well lit, 24hours, so it is nor a problem.
September 28, 200915 yr Author I have bred some good looking birds, but not for the show world. I have a lot of spangles, opaline spangles, and these cannot win on a show bench, they will always lose to a normal spangle as their wing markings are not as good -obviously. This guy above has really come along. He was not looking all the special originally but now he is really going well!!!
September 28, 200915 yr Author I checked the birds before I went to bed and I am very pleased to say that the new little chick that had hatched has been fed by its grey-green mother. I am very excited about the chicks that this pair will produce. They should be great, if they follow their parents.
September 28, 200915 yr Author All looks good this morning. Finally not windy here in Sydney so I can take the covers of the aviaries and let some natural sunlight in, rather thant eh filtered light that comes in through the plastic. All little ones look good this morning. The SF spangle chicks of Dumber(RIP) and DF look to be visual violet chicks, not sky blue like their cousins. That is very exciting as well. Looking forward to seeing them develop more.
October 1, 200915 yr Author Earl and Latte had 2 little ones - their foster chicks - jump out of the nestbox today, so I put them back in. As I was putting them back in, I noticed something. One of the chicks in the nestbox is a cinnamon wing grey opaline. Dad must be split cinnamon. It never ever occurred to me that he might be, as neither chick in the first clutch was cinnamon - that was because they were both males. So this means I now have a grey opaline and a grey cinnamon wing opaline from these two. No more breeding after these guys. All 3 in the DF nestbox are coming along well. Only 2 chicks so far in Twitch and Kiwi's nestbox. Both are now rung, but it is too early for the little one, but better too early than too late. Still on 1 chick for my green/greygreen combo - but it is a well fed little thing. My albino that is in with Bruticus is enjoying the attention he is granting, and she is spending more and more time in the nestbox. Birds in Kindy cage go into the aviary this weekend. More young go to the Kindy cage, and new pairs get chosen. I will take more soon.
October 5, 200915 yr Author Seems I am the only one interested in keeping this thread going, but regardless I will continue. Often people may read and not comment, so that is cool. I moved the birds in the big Kindy cage into the aviary. This includes Caesar's offspring, the offspring of Latte and Earl, the eldest from Kestral and Dumb, and the Dom Pied orphan. All seem well and appear to be enjoying the extra flight room. I moved the two remaining youngsters from Dumb and Kestral into the bigger Kindy cage, and they were joined by the offspring from the first clutch of Twitch and Kiwi. Twitch and Kiwi have 2 little ones. Interestingly, Kiwi might be getting bored. She plucked the down off the oldest in this clutch, where she was perfect before. I have given her some more millet to chew on. Dumber(RIP) and DF have 5 chicks, 3 in her nest, and 2 fostered with Earl and Latte. They are getting read to come out any day now. Earl and Latte have 2 of their own - 1 grey opaline and 1 cinnamon grey opaline. Green and his Greygreen partner have 3 young. The other three egs are not fertile, so this is good news. Bruticus and his Albino have 3 eggs, so that is very exciting. Unsure of fertility at the moment. I will go take some :rip: I am still deciding on some other pairs. I have 3 spare cages, so I am thinking what to do. I want to breed Luthor - he was with a lute but they produced infertile eggs. I might put him with a green cinnamon hen. I want to put the old man down. He is a grey green cinnamon so I might put him with a John Hewitt Blue opaline hen. They are both big birds, so they should produce big chicks. The last pair are a green cock and a grey green hen from Greg Gregoriou. They are both awesome looking birds and they are looking for somewhere to breed, in the aviary.
