Eggs Hatched and Eggs Laid...

Momma budgie (as she has come to be known) has now hatched all of her eggs.  She started out with five, one was infertile, one was fertile but failed to develop, and the remaining three have hatched into precious little chicks!  It honestly seemed like they would never hatch, but hatch they did and they're now growing like weeds.  I'm noticing that Momma budgie is spending more time out of the nest box now.  When I see her out on the perches with the guys and flapping through the cage I'm keeping an eye on the nest box to see what's happening there, and sure enough - one or the other of the daddies is keeping an eye on the babies.  It seems to be the green daddy that sticks his head in the most.  This comes as a surprise to me really;  I hardly saw him feeding Momma at all while she was brooding but he seems to really be coming through now that the kids have arrived. The babies are starting to get pretty loud now.  As I sit here typing, I can hear the babies upstairs just chirping away!  Granted the rest of the flock has gone quiet, but I doubt that I'd have heard their cries a day or two ago.  I also started handling them today.  I picked them up for about a minute each but none of them actually made it all the way out of the nest box.  I didn't want Momma or either of the daddies to see me holding one of their kids...  I didn't want to cause them any stress or anxiety but I did want to start conditioning the babies to being held and picked up.  They're so tiny it's hard to believe they wont just fall apart while I'm holding them!

But enough about that!  I mentioned earlier that my other couple had laid an egg but I questioned it's viability.  Well, I still question the viability of the initial egg, but the couple has laid a second egg!  I feel fairly confident that it will turn out to be fertile because I've seen mom and dad er... taking the necessary steps to fertilize the egg. *wink*  It's really pretty funny watching the two of them.  Mom is pretty protective of her nest and rarely allows dad in.  Daddy has to go stand at the door of the box and lure her out with his sweet warbles, and she still comes out grousing at him!  Eventually though, they're sitting side by side on the perch, and when something gets too close to the nest, they're both right there together defending it.  It's a beautiful sight to see.

I made some changes with two other pairs that weren't making any progress.  Essentially I switched out the males and am trying different ones.  In one particular case, I think I've made another love match.  :)  (Why is there a part of me that feels like a budgie pimp?)  In the other case, I'll just have to wait and see what happens.  In that paring, I set up my cinnamon female with my new English normal grey cock.  I'd like that to work out, but she's been resistant to all of the males I've tried her with so far, so it may not.  As usual, I'll just wait and see!

Until next time... :)

New Blood

Today I drove up to Ft. Collins and met one of the local budgie breeders I've been exchanging e-mails with.  It was good to meet someone with years of budgie knowledge whom I am able to use as an additional resource for my breeding program!  Originally we had arranged the sale of a single English budgie hen today, but when I arrived she said she had evaluated her flock and in an effort to help other responsible breeders get started, she was willing to sell me additional birds!  So I walked out with two new English hens and a new English cock.

Meet Id, an English, normal grey cock:

Erie (left - normal grey hen) and Electra (right - sky blue cinnamon hen):

That's an American budgie sitting there in between Erie and Electra in the above picture.  It provides a sense of scale to demonstrate the size of the English budgies if you've not seen them in person.  They really are big birds!  And when they fly, you hear this WHOMP WHOMP WHOMP from their wings... it's not a dainty flutter like the little American budgies have! 

This is Electra from the front and the same sky blue American

 

I'm really excited to add these birds to my flock.  I think they'll add a whole new level of quality to the birds I breed.  If they knew how important their roles are, they'd probably look even more proud than they already do!

The Bird Room

The Finches laid another egg this morning, and just ate it.  I watched them this time.  It was the two hens that were digging into it.  I'll have to do some investigating to see what's up with that.

I also finally got all my birds moved into "the bird room."  I don't have my good cages yet, but at least all the birds and their stuff are in one place now.  It will certainly make care-time easier.  There's still work to be done before I start taking pictures and showing them off, but as soon as I'm ready you'll be the first (or second) to see them!  (Parrot Paradise Forum is usually the first.  If you haven't checked it out, you should!)

Baby Number Three, AND...

Baby number three has appeared right on time.  I'm amazed every day at how perfect and tiny these chicks are!  I'm starting to be able to see some pin-feathers under the skin of baby number one who is about twice as big as the new fellow.  Since I've been checking the nest in the evening, its been too dark to take worthwhile photos, but Colorado Budgies has an excellent page with daily photos of a growing budgie so you can follow the progress. Their photos are FAR better than any I could take right now - close up and very detailed.

AND... one of my other pair has laid their first egg! The hen has been sleeping in her nest-box for 2-3 nights now and I've been expecting the egg at any time.  Apparently now's the time!  I'm pretty excited about it!  Something interesting I learned recently is that when a hen is getting ready to lay, the quality of her droppings change.  I'll have to think more about how to describe it, or even get a picture of it, but once you've seen it, it's something that sticks with you.

Merry Christmas from the Finches!

I woke up this morning to find the tiniest of tiny little eggs in the nest of Mr and Mrs Finch this morning!  I let out a squeal that brought my husband running and even HE was excited!  Mrs Finch was sitting atop that wee little egg so proudly, I just knew that it was a sign of great things to come.

But alas, it was not to be.  I spent Christmas day cleaning out food bins at the store, something that can really only be done on a day that we're closed, and when I returned home later in the afternoon the egg had disappeared.  Seriously.  It was as if it had pulled a Houdini and *POOF*!  It was gone.  No shell fragments, nothing.

The only thing I can think of is that the egg was eaten by either the parents or the other finch couple in the cage.  Either way, I'm a little bit sad.  I was excited about the finch egg!  Now it is no more.  But there will be more finch eggs, I'm sure of it!  And the next eggs will be followed by wee-tiny little baby finches.  And how fun will THAT be?

Baby Number Two!

Baby number two was born today, right on time!

I'm trying to come up with Christmas-themed names for this clutch.  I expect four chicks, so I'm thinking of at least six names.

Possible names are Santa, Frosty, Rudolph, Star, etc.

 Do you have any good ideas?  Let me know!

Sad News

Sad news on the budgie front today.  I'm not sure if I've mentioned that momma budgie is a bit of a loose woman - her last clutch of three chicks had three different fathers.  :)  On the upside, I'm told they were all very devoted to her during her confinement and that the entire flock was supportive during the time she was rearing their young.  While she's been brooding, I've seen two cocks feeding her - a normal green and a normal blue.  Because of what I was told about this flocks previous behavior however, when I saw two normal green cocks in the nesting box yesterday evening,  I found it unusual but not overly concerning.

When I went to check the nest box this evening I also found it somewhat odd that papa bird didn't bolt out like he usually does.  Momma moved aside and got her scritches, baby looked good with a full crop, but daddy ... didn't move at all?  I gently gave him a scritch and ... nothing.  Daddy was gone.  

As it turns out it wasn't daddy though, daddy is still alive, flying, and feeding momma and the kiddo's.  I took the normal green in to have a vet give me an idea what may have happened (since I don't have much background on any of these birds), and I was told that he most likely died of old age. 

I have to admit I will miss him, sweet little budgie-boy.  He was the only one I had who would step-up.  When I'd reach in to feed them, he'd come over and step-up onto my finger, then run up my arm onto my shoulder and sit there until I had the food ready to put back in.  Then he'd run back down my arm and perch on the edge of the food dish until I had it back in place in the cage so he could be the very first one to eat out of each dish.  It was pretty cute.  I hope he's flying high and happy somewhere in birdy heaven.