Finally putting down some pairs to breed this weekend.

I was waiting for my boyfriend to finish of a few cabinets for me but have decided to put a few pairs into some wire cages I have doing nothing at the moment (they're all good sized cages similar to those used by a lot of members on here).

 

I have 3 spare wire cages so I need to choose 3 pairs to put in them.

 

1st pair Cheese and Chalk (Grey Green/Lutino Cock & Sky Blue Hen)

 

Cheese

 

Chalk

 

2nd Pair Beardo & Queenie (Grey Spangle Cock Yellow Face Grey Cinnamon Hen)

 

Beardo

 

Queenie (on Right)

 

3rd Pair ??? Either

 

Mr & Princess (Yellow Face Blue Opaline Cock & Double Factor Spangle hen)

 

or

 

Lift-Off & Shambles (Grey Green Cinnamon & Yellow Face Sky Blue)

 

or

 

Grandpa and Vamp (Light Green Opaline Dom. Pied & Grey Green Opaline)

 

Not sure which of these last 3 in going to put down this weekend????? Help

Mr & Princess (Yellow Face Blue Opaline Cock & Double Factor Spangle hen)

 

 

Grandpa and Vamp (Light Green Opaline Dom. Pied & Grey Green Opaline)

 

i would toss between these to and decide by age of birds

 

or i would scrap the first pairing the /lute and blue

and i would breed the three last pairs

then pair the lut split boy to the grey green hen next round

Grandpas 04 rung so I might give him a go.

I would use grandpa whilst you can, see how he goes.

Give Grandpa a go. I have new chicks right now out of two six year old cocks

Ended up putting down a Light Blue Opaline/Albino Cock and Albino Hen and they now have 3 eggs. Pics ASAP.

Granpa is a nice looking birdie, cant wait for the piccys

Split Albino x Abino pair 6 eggs as of Sunday 1st due to hatch next week.

 

Bit worried about them though as mum & dad have food encrusted around their face and on their beaks.

Split Albino x Abino pair 6 eggs as of Sunday 1st due to hatch next week.

 

Bit worried about them though as mum & dad have food encrusted around their face and on their beaks.

 

Whats the problem ? Just catch them and clean them up.

No problem with dad but mums really flighty and while I think catching her once wouldnt be to bad I think if I have to do it a lot she might abandon her eggs.

No problem with dad but mums really flighty and while I think catching her once wouldnt be to bad I think if I have to do it a lot she might abandon her eggs.

Catch them up and clean them quickly now, and watch her during the feeding of her babies. Some hens muck themselves right up while feeding including ending up with food plastered over their eyes.

Edited September 15, 200915 yr by KAZ

That's another thing that I thought of when I saw them, if they're not even feeding bubs yet and they're getting messy what are they going to be like when they start feeding chicks!!!!

Okay some pics of the pair 6 eggs in total 1st due to hatch next Thursday:

 

Sky Blue Opaline/Albino cock - Albino hen

Oldish picture

 

In the breeding cage

 

 

Eggs (when they had only 2)

 

 

One egg hatched either Fri night or early Saturday morning unfortunately by the time I looked in the nest a little Albino Hen had passed away.

Some of the eggs still in there I'm pretty sure are unfertile but at least 3 of the 5 left look okay

good luck with the remaining eggs.

 

One suggestion - give them a better perch on which to mate. A firm sturdy thick perch for mating would be much better than those thin little ones. use a thick bit of dowel. The quality of the perches can affect the successful coupling.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try and find some thicker pieces of natural branch (I don't like using dowel).

The two main perches are roughly dowel sized though.

I'm not going to use this breeding cage again as it takes up a little too much room (100cm long + nest box on the side).

good luck with the remaining eggs.

 

One suggestion - give them a better perch on which to mate. A firm sturdy thick perch for mating would be much better than those thin little ones. use a thick bit of dowel. The quality of the perches can affect the successful coupling.

I was just about to say the same thing....the perches in this cage are not great for a breeding cage

Suggestion noted, with the recent wind it'll be no trouble finding some thicker perches. Can you get perches too thick?

Suggestion noted, with the recent wind it'll be no trouble finding some thicker perches. Can you get perches too thick?

I know you have said you dont like dowel, but branches are best saved for the aviary and flights. Dowel that stays where it should and doesnt move or swivel at the wrong times is best for breeding cages. You need a dowel for each end of that cage front to back, not across a corner. Its needs to be fixed so it doesnt swivel or move. Moving mating perches is a good reason for infertile eggs.........16mm dowel.

Edited September 27, 200915 yr by KAZ

Looking at the nest,they can kick the eggs all over the place,put in a icecream container

& it will keep the eggs,together.

The natural perches that are in there now are between 16-20mm (apart from the one at the nest box entrance) and are screwed in place and don't move at all, they're also going from front to back and not left to right or across a corner. But if dowel is best then I'll make the change for the breeding cages at least.

Thanks for your comments/suggestions

 

Might just be luck but the eggs have been in the same place on every inspection, there was more oats in there but they keep on getting cleaned out by the hen.

Edited September 27, 200915 yr by Linda_S

Had some computer/image problems so all updates at once....

 

1st batch 3 hatched and she squashed them all.

 

I let her go again and 5 1/2 eggs laid.

 

Here's the 1/2

 

Mum and Bubs

 

Bubs a few weeks ago

 

Bubs last weekend

 

Eldest

 

Any opinions on the sex of the bubs?

I think the eldest is a hen. I'm not good enough to be able tell about the other two, though. Sorry.

Pairs also down at the moment:

 

Grey Green Cock - Grey Green Opaline Hen

Cock 1st on the left....

 

 

Hen

 

Sky Blue Opaline Yellow Face Cock - Cobalt Dominant Pied Hen

Cock

 

 

Hen

 

Planning on putting the light green spangle hen from the 1st picture with a light green dominant pied cock this weekend too.

 

Cock

Just a quick update.

 

Both other pairs don't seem interested in the nest box but do seem to be looking egg bummish.... fingers crossed I see some more nest box action from these guys soon.

 

Also Gramps (Light green dominant Pied) didn't make it into a breeding cage last weekend as he decided to start moulting.

 

Bubs comming along okay unfortunately one seems to be splayed. Other than that they seem happy and healthy.

 

Updated bub pics comming tonight.

Edited December 1, 200915 yr by KAZ