January 23, 201015 yr My goodness...to my amazement, a fourth egg hatched this afternoon!!!! Here is a couple of pictures of my three adorable chicks! They truly are my miracle chicks! I never thought we'd see any of them hatch :fear Congrats! They are so cute! I think it would be fun to be able to peak through the bars at any time of day and get to see the action, and that way not have to disturb mom by knocking and opening the door. But it made me wonder... My chicks are very used to the dark. I suppose chicks born outside of a box would just be used to brighter light? Or do you need to keep the lighting in that room dimmer?
January 24, 201015 yr Author Hmmm...I hadn't really thought about the light. The room is quite bright during the day but I'd imagine they'll be fine. I hope so, anyway. In the wild they wouldn't have an actual dark box to use.
January 24, 201015 yr In the wild they'd use a hollow tree, which would be dark. I wouldn't worry about the lighting if they're used to it.
January 25, 201015 yr Author In the wild they'd use a hollow tree, which would be dark. I wouldn't worry about the lighting if they're used to it. I'm not worried :yellowhead: it's probably pretty dark under their mum!! I peaked tonight and the three of them are doing great! :thankyou: I can't wait to see what colours they will be!
January 26, 201015 yr Author Well...I can't believe it! Another one hatched today!!!! That's 5 hatchings and 4 chicks that I never thought I'd see :doh: I think I'd better stop refering to Elly as "Our Nutty Hen" and start calling her "One Awesome Lil Mama" I'm very proud of her...the male not so much...he's a bit of a deadbeat dad from what I can see! The oldest is already getting a few pin feathers on the rump! They are 8, 4,2 and 0.5 days old :fingerscrossed:
January 31, 201015 yr Author Time for an update...all four chicks are doing great, two have open eyes now and these two are also starting get some grey down. I'm not knowledgable enough to be able to tell any colouring yet so it's a bit like waiting for a pretty surprise! I was away on business a few days this week and unfortunately my husband said he had to break up a very nasty fight between the parents again so I am going to have to separate them. Brock said he was sure the hen was going to kill the cock. Time to get him out of there. Do you think she will do okay feeding the 4 chicks and herself on her own? I truly do not know what the best thing to do is.
January 31, 201015 yr Time for an update...all four chicks are doing great, two have open eyes now and these two are also starting get some grey down. I'm not knowledgable enough to be able to tell any colouring yet so it's a bit like waiting for a pretty surprise! I was away on business a few days this week and unfortunately my husband said he had to break up a very nasty fight between the parents again so I am going to have to separate them. Brock said he was sure the hen was going to kill the cock. Time to get him out of there. Do you think she will do okay feeding the 4 chicks and herself on her own? I truly do not know what the best thing to do is. You dont think you are going to get away with not posting new pikkies are you come on...you can do it PS she will be fine feeding the babies....make sure plenty of easy food for her in the nestbox ( seed ) and soft food real close to the nestbox.
January 31, 201015 yr Author Time for an update...all four chicks are doing great, two have open eyes now and these two are also starting get some grey down. I'm not knowledgable enough to be able to tell any colouring yet so it's a bit like waiting for a pretty surprise! I was away on business a few days this week and unfortunately my husband said he had to break up a very nasty fight between the parents again so I am going to have to separate them. Brock said he was sure the hen was going to kill the cock. Time to get him out of there. Do you think she will do okay feeding the 4 chicks and herself on her own? I truly do not know what the best thing to do is. You dont think you are going to get away with not posting new pikkies are you come on...you can do it PS she will be fine feeding the babies....make sure plenty of easy food for her in the nestbox ( seed ) and soft food real close to the nestbox. Thanks KAZ...I have been feeding her on the cage floor as this is where she chose to lay her eggs. Everything within reach for her as the male has been a virtually useless partner in this whole process. But then again, if somebody kept pecking me in the head I'd probably opt out too! I'll try to get some pictures over the next couple of days. I sure hope most of the babies turn out to be males...I seem to have ended up with an abundance of hens in my flock.
January 31, 201015 yr Time for an update...all four chicks are doing great, two have open eyes now and these two are also starting get some grey down. I'm not knowledgable enough to be able to tell any colouring yet so it's a bit like waiting for a pretty surprise! I was away on business a few days this week and unfortunately my husband said he had to break up a very nasty fight between the parents again so I am going to have to separate them. Brock said he was sure the hen was going to kill the cock. Time to get him out of there. Do you think she will do okay feeding the 4 chicks and herself on her own? I truly do not know what the best thing to do is. You dont think you are going to get away with not posting new pikkies are you come on...you can do it PS she will be fine feeding the babies....make sure plenty of easy food for her in the nestbox ( seed ) and soft food real close to the nestbox. Thanks KAZ...I have been feeding her on the cage floor as this is where she chose to lay her eggs. Everything within reach for her as the male has been a virtually useless partner in this whole process. But then again, if somebody kept pecking me in the head I'd probably opt out too! I'll try to get some pictures over the next couple of days. I sure hope most of the babies turn out to be males...I seem to have ended up with an abundance of hens in my flock. All will be good.
February 6, 201015 yr Author Introducing Elly & Sunshine's chicks!!! Chick #1 (who pertetually stares at me...a bit like a puppy!) Chick #2 Chick #3 Chick #4 Mom (Elly) - photo doesn't show her true colour...she's defiantely a real slatey blue and typical mottled look that mauves get. And some group shots :budgiedance: Dad (Sunshine) - ignore the blue look under his tail...all his patches are olive. Any comments re: mutation, sex etc are appreciated. The pins on the oldest chick shine like silver...it's really pretty but didn't show up in the pictures. Edited February 6, 201015 yr by defieldsfamily
February 12, 201015 yr Author Well, the four chicks are growing a ton everyday and without a nest box they have been running around the cage floor a lot! I think it has actually made them stronger chicks to have had the run of the place. The other thing I'm noticing is they seem to be quite attached to me...wondering if this is because they've been able to see me from the day their eyes first opened without the barrier of nest box walls. When I go into the birdroom their little faces follow me everywhere I go...it's really cute :question: I'll post pictures soon but it looks like the three oldest will be mauves like Mom and the youngest a pied like D but I can't see any real colour on tht one yet...just mostly white. When I do post pictures I'd like help please to sex them...I'm hoping they are all males as I seem to have too many hens in my flock. Plus, I'd like to name them John, Paul, george and Ringo
February 12, 201015 yr Author Awwwww. Sweet. Are you going to keep them all? I have kept all our chicks so far....I can't seem to bear the thought of parting with them
March 25, 201015 yr Author Well, this hen continues to be nutty! I have kept her in a cage by herself since I took her chicks and put them in the kindy cage in the hope that she'd settle down, stop being hormonal and not attack any more birds....but she continues to lay... eggs over the last 10 days or so... all infertile obviously since I had to remove sunshine many weeks ago...I've been taking each egg away but she keeps laying!!!! I'm not sure what to do with her. Do I let her sit on them all so that she might stop laying or should I keep taking them away? I'm worried about her because I have no iea how old she is (came to me as an abandoned bird) and I never had any intention of breeding her in the first place. She's too vicious to put in with the other birds. Anyone else ever been in this situation?
March 25, 201015 yr If you keep removing the eggs she will replace them. Hard boil a couple and let her sit on them till she is fed up.
March 25, 201015 yr Author Thnks KAZ ...do you think it's likely that if she stops laying I'll be able to put her back in with the other birds or will she always be a risk to them? Could it be all hormonal? All of my other birds get along great so this is new to me.
March 25, 201015 yr Thnks KAZ ...do you think it's likely that if she stops laying I'll be able to put her back in with the other birds or will she always be a risk to them? Could it be all hormonal? All of my other birds get along great so this is new to me. Putting her back with the others would be best longterm. Some hens lay like this because its in a small cage sometimes.
March 25, 201015 yr Author Thnks KAZ ...do you think it's likely that if she stops laying I'll be able to put her back in with the other birds or will she always be a risk to them? Could it be all hormonal? All of my other birds get along great so this is new to me. Putting her back with the others would be best longterm. Some hens lay like this because its in a small cage sometimes. I'm just concerned she will attack another one. She's so nasty.
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