Update On The New Birdies

All four new birds are doing fine, including the one that was injured during shipping. She has a small bald spot below that wing, but it's barely even noticeable now. :-)

Tangerine and Echo's baby is doing fine now. I'm not sure why they slowed down on feeding it, but they've picked back up again. It's growing like crazy!

The owl finch babies are doing fine best as I can tell. I can hear them begging, and the parents feeding them. Wish I could peek in the nest to at least do a head count, but I don't want to risk disturbing them. Can't wait until they fledge in a few weeks! :-)

The four pied zebra finch youngsters are completely weaned now. We separated them from their parents yesterday, and put them into an adjacent cage. They can still see each other and "communicate". :-)

What a Day! :-/

The birds I ordered from Singing Wings Aviary arrived today. It wasn't the aviary's fault, but the post office really dropped the ball! They managed to lose the package somewhere between Nashville and Chattanooga, but after many frantic phone calls, they finally located the box. Apparently it had been put on a truck in Nashville rather than a plane, and with a 105 degree heat index, they sure didn't need to be sitting in the back of a stifling hot truck. Finally the box turned up at the Chattanooga post office, and a gentleman from the Ringgold post office was kind enough to make a special trip to get the birds and bring them to my door.

Thankfully 3 of the 4 birds were no worse for the wear. The fourth bird managed to injure a blood feather somewhere along the way, and she had blood all over her. I pulled the blood feather (which basically acts like a straw, draining her blood right out of her) to close the hole and stop the bleeding. She didn't like that very much, and I felt horrible about it, but it had to be done. :-( She then took a bath and got herself cleaned up. She seems to be fine now. WHEW.

Although I'm happy with the birds themselves, and that I was able to get some that aren't available locally, I'm not sure I'll use the post office to ship any more birds in the future. It was significantly cheaper than having them shipped through an airline ($45 vs $130+), but talk about stressful! :-/

Here's a picture of the injured birdie, before the feather was pulled. Poor little thing! :-( I'll get photos of the others ASAP. :-)

Time For Some Photos!

Above: Some of my society finches in their community cage. :-)


Above: Tangerine and Echo's baby with its new white "bracelet". I see they haven't fed it yet this morning. Keeping an eye on it ...


Above: Shelly and Blackie's baby (left) and one of Frostie and Streak's babies (right). It'll be up for adoption in a couple of weeks (see adoption information on the right of this page).


Above: Frostie (far left), Streak (far right), and their other three young-uns. Their beaks are starting to turn orange. The babies will be up for adoption in a couple of weeks (see adoption information on the right of this page).


Above: Diamond Dove Babies and Hootie - The babies are partly eating on their own now, with their parents supplementing. The babies *may* be up for adoption in a few weeks; haven't decided for sure yet.


Above: "Daddy" got new shoes, and I got a brand new box and some kewl lazer eyez! :-D

Surprise! :-D

I hope I'm not "counting my chickens before they hatch", because last time they tossed them all, but my owl finches have babies again! I can't tell how many there are, but I can see wiggly black things in their nest box. Unfortunately owl finches are sensitive to ANY disturbances, so I can't do a quick nest-check, but I definitely see little wigglies in there! :-D Got my fingers crossed that all goes well this time.

I got Tangerine and Echo's baby banded this morning. It has a pretty white "bracelet" now. :-) I hand-fed it while I had it out, since the parents hadn't fed it yet, but they came along a little while later and topped its "tank" off. he he It looks like it'll be light gray and white, but it's hard to tell for sure. Tangerine is fawn and Echo is chestnut-flanked white.

We moved all our society finches to a community cage over the weekend. We banded the ones that didn't already have bands so we can tell them apart. (They all blend in with each other when they're in large group.) They seem happy to have some "new" friends, and combining the cages freed up a lot of space in my bird room ...

... which makes plenty of room for two new pairs of zebra finches! :-D They're supposed to be overnighted to me tomorrow for arrival on Thursday or Friday. This will be the first time I've had any shipped, so hopefully there won't be any problems. Here are some pics from the aviary's website (Singing Wings Aviary):


Above: Black-Cheeked Chestnut-Flanked White Pair, unrelated, DOB 1/4/11


Above: Fawn Cheek Black Breast Male, DOB 2/27/11


Above: Fawn Black Breast Hen, DOB 2/27/11 (unrelated)

The Dove Youngsters Left The Nest! :-)

Both of the baby doves left the nest today! :-) They're pretty clumsy since they're new to flying, but they're doing great!

Another pair of my finches, Tangerine and Echo, have a single hatchling. Tangerine used to be a little monster when she was younger, not tolerating any other cage mate, male OR female. She'd hiss and chase them relentlessly, so I'd kept her in her own little private suite until recently. ;-) After she turned a year old, she mellowed out some, and I was able to find a companion for her. She's turned out to be a really great mom. She and Echo keep that baby so full of food that it looks like it'll burst! :-)

Photo of the Baby Diamond Doves

We were finally able to get a photo of the diamond dove family! Here's Hootie, Mrs. Hootie, and the two babies. Aren't they precious? :-)

Hootie (on the right) has the thicker rings around his eyes, and Mrs. Hootie's are thinner.

We don't know yet if the babies are boys, girls, or one of each. :-)

A Whole Lotta Fledglings! :-)

All the babies have now left the nest ... 4 from Frostie and Streak (including the 1 that was fostered by Shelly and Blackie), and Shelly and Blackie's baby. Frostie and Streak's babies are all normal pied (gray with white markings) like their daddy. Shelly and Blackie's baby looks just like Shelly (off-white/fawn). I won't know for at least a couple more weeks what their genders are, when their adult feathers start coming in. If there are any boys, they should start learning to sing soon. :-) Once they're fully weaned and have their adult colors, I'll be placing some of them up for adoption. If interested, please see my adoption page. :-)

The dove babies are doing fine. I finally got to peek at them! Their pin feathers are starting to come in.

Some pics are below!

Above: Mrs. Hootie on her nest. Mr. Hootie was in the food cup at the time of the photo. ;-)


Above: Frostie and Streak (parents)


Above: One of Frostie and Streak's four babies (all look identical right now)


Above: A funny photo of Streak "evacuating" the perch! He didn't much like the camera. LOL!


Above: Shelly and Blackie (parents)


Above: Shelly with the foster baby


Above: Shelly and Blackie's foster baby (biological parents are Frostie and Streak)


Above: Shelly and Blackie's baby and the foster baby

One Fledgling and Two Baby Diamond Doves!

One of Frostie and Streak's babies just left the nest! It's so cute. It has white streaks on the edges of its wings just like its dad does, and it has a white question mark shape on its forehead! LOL! Adorable! :-) The others should be leaving the nest any time now, and soon afterwards, they'll start exploring the food cup on their own. In 2-3 weeks, they'll be fully weaned. The late-hatcher (the one being fostered) is coming along too, but it's got a little while before it fledges. It's getting there, though. :-)

We also FINALLY got a peek into the diamond doves' nest, and are thrilled to announce that there are two baby doves! The momma "hunkers down" whenever anyone approaches the cage, so it's almost impossible to see anything, but we did see her feeding them. Woo hoo! :-D

Lap Quilt For My Step-Sister

My step-sister is in the hospital with some serious health issues. The prognosis isn't good. She's a huge Elvis fan, so I made her an Elvis lap quilt last night. I hope it helps her feel a little better. Here are a couple of photos.

Edited on 7/13/11 to add: She's out of the hospital now and is doing much better. :-)

Birdie Update

All five baby birdies are doing great. Frostie and Streak's three earlier-hatching babies are fully feathered now (gray), and are starting to get curious about what's outside their nest box. :-)

Frostie and Streak's late-hatching baby, which is being fostered by Shelly and Blackie, is doing well, although it's still smaller than I'd like. Shelly and Blackie's own baby is doing fine as well. It's got white feathers starting to come in.

I'm not sure what we were hearing the other day when we thought we heard possible owl finch or shafttail finch babies, but we checked the nest boxes, and there were no eggs. Oh well. Maybe later on. :-)

Two of my societies are still incubating owl finch eggs. Last time I checked, at least one was viable. Hopefully it (or they) will be hatching soon. My diamond doves are also incubating two eggs. They freak out if they're disturbed, so I won't be able to candle them to see if they're viable. I'll just have to be patient! LOL! ;-)

We had fun on vacation! We snuck off to Dahlonga, GA and went "mining" at Consolidated Gold Mines. Lots of gems, including rubies, sapphires, emeralds, amethysts, citrines, and LOTS more, and even a bit of gold. Then Hubby wanted to buy another lapidary machine so we can polish our own gemstones. Luckily the lapidary company in Chattanooga had one in stock, and we didn't have to order it (and wait and wait). We didn't get finished with the marble run project, but it's well under way. Hubby had to go back to work yesterday evening. It's been the longest night EVER. :-/ I sure do miss him.

Update On The Littlest Zebra Finch

The poor little late-hatcher is getting smooshed underneath its larger siblings, so after handfeeding him to give him a boost, I've moved him to Shelly's and Blackie's nest, which has a single hatchling that's closer in size. With a bit of luck, Shelly and Blackie will accept the newcomer and continue feeding him. They had an infertile egg in the nest, so I removed the egg and replaced it with the newcomer. Hopefully they'll think that egg finally hatched! :-)

Handfeeding a teeny baby finch is no easy job! They're not much larger than a jellybean when they hatch, and although they do grow quickly, their mouths are so very tiny for the first few days. The baby ate well, and has a full crop, so ... assuming Shelly and Blackie accept it ... hopefully it'll be all set. :-)