Starting Over With A New Blog

Since nearly all of my pictures are gone, and some of my pages, I've decided to just go ahead and start over.  Here's the link to the new blog:

http://finchtales.blogspot.com/

Apparently The Blog Is Having Some Difficulties

I just noticed that ALL of my older photos are gone, and that some of my pages won't load.  I have no idea what's going on unless the blog servers are having difficulties.  I do have backups of all my photos, but I'd probably never be able to match them up with the correct posting.  Major UGH.  Hopefully the missing photos and pages will reappear.

Here's Turkey! ;-)

Here's the baby bird I'm calling "Turkey".  It hatched just before Thanksgiving.  I've banded it with a pink band.  :-)

I've got two other hatchlings in that same cage (different nest).  They hatched on approximately 11/27/12.  I'll get them banded when they're a little larger, to help make sure the bands don't slip off their tiny legs.

Cage #1 has 3 viable eggs, 1 egg that I'm not sure about, and 1 dud egg.  The viable eggs should have another 7-9 days before hatching.  This is the trio whose last clutch was a flop (moth in their nest scared them out for too long and the eggs/hatchling got too cold), so hopefully things will go better this time.

The 4 babies in Cage #3 are doing great!  At least two of them are definitely crested.  I can't tell yet on the other two.  The youngest one's noggin is still just as bald as it can be! LOL!

Note to self:  Available band colors are red, purple, light blue, and gray.

Current cage setup:

Cage #1 - M/F/F trio, all fawn pied. Male is crested.

Cage #2 - Community cage with:

1. Kenny (chocolate pied male - two dots on head)
2. Lucy (fawn pied female)
3. Ethel (fawn pied female)
4. Nameless (fawn pied crested male - green band - from Cage #5)
5. Elvis (chocolate pied male - "sunvisor" on head" - from Cage #3)
6. Dolly (near-white fawn pied female)
7. Ricky (fawn pied male - navy blue band - from Cage #5)

Cage #3 - M/F/F, all chocolate pied. Male is crested. Four youngsters (orange, yellow, black, white bands). Two are crested. Too soon to tell on the other two.

Cage #4 - Not in use

Cage #5 - Community cage with:

1. Puff (fawn pied crested female)
2. Pepper (chocolate pied male)
3. Nameless #1 (fawn pied female)
4. Nameless #2 (fawn pied female)
5. Nameless #3 (chocolate pied crested male)
6. Everest (chocolate pied crested female)
7. Turkey (chick, pink band)
8. Two unnamed hatchlings (not yet banded)

Cage #6 - Not in use

Photo of Chicks

Here's a quick photo of the chicks that hatched approximately November 12, 2012. I just banded them (orange, yellow, black, white). Looks like they'll all be chocolate pied.  Too soon to tell if any are crested. :-)

Four Hatchlings!

Awwww! :-)

Hatchlings!

Best as I can tell without pulling the nest, there are either 3 or 4 hatchlings now.  One is very small; it was probably the last to hatch.  Hopefully it'll catch up with the others and not get smooshed beneath them.  Their crops are nice and full.  :-)

One of the hatchlings was tossed, but it's back end looked like it was shaped strangely, so either it was laying in an odd manner or it could've had something wrong.  Unfortunately I'd just gotten out of bed, and it was too late when I found it.  Nature knows best, I suppose, but I still hate to see little ones tossed.

Unless there are any cresteds, these youngsters will be up for adoption when they're old enough.  :-)

I trimmed Dolly's toenails earlier.  Whew!  She did NOT want a pedicure!  LOL!  It took both Robert AND me to trim them.  He had to hold her, while I operated the clippers.  Even so, she kept managing to twirl around in his hand, hiding her feet from the dreaded clippers.  ;-)

I Am SOOO Far Behind In Posting!

Things have been hectic lately. The birdies are all doing great!  The 5 chicks that I posted about below have fledged, been weaned, and 4 of them have a new home as of this past weekend.  I kept the crested one.  It's a male, and he's learning to sing.  :-)

The chocolate trio in the bottom of the stack of cages have 3 hatchlings at last count.  There were 4, possibly 5, viable eggs, so hopefully the others will hatch soon (they may have already).  Their previous pair of chicks turned out to be both male, and both are very vocal singers.  One is rather tame-ish.  He won't let me touch him, but he will sit on one of the food cups without flying away while I change the one beside it.  He's curious when I talk to him, and sits near me, tilting his head back and forth, listening. :-)  Both are big, healthy teenagers.  I've got two ladies set aside to be their mates later on when the two boys are old enough.  :-)

And the birds in my community cage are on eggs again ... 8 at last count.  They're taking turns incubating them.  It's too soon to tell if they're viable.  Looks like I'll have to separate my community cage occupants by gender after this clutch, to keep them from producing another huge clutch of youngsters back-to-back.

The eggs in the top cage fizzled.  :-(  There was one chick that hatched, then it passed away within a day or so.  After inspecting the nest, I think I found the problem.  There was a big moth in the nest box, wedged between the nesting materials and the box itself.  I believe the moth flew in, fluttered around and got stuck, and the fluttering upset the birds to the point where they left the nest long enough for the chick and the eggs to get too cold.  Once the moth died, the birds re-entered the nest and began incubating again, but by that time, it was too late.  It had to have happened while we were asleep; otherwise I would've noticed the freaked-out birds.  I removed the DIS eggs and will let them try again if they want.  Just a lousy twist of fate on that clutch.

It Won't Be Long Until They Fledge!

Five l'il society chicks, at least one of which is crested! :-D  Pardon their poopy nest box.  Five chicks plus two weeks equals a grungy box.  I'll take care of it the moment they leave the nest.  :-)  Three are typical fawn pied, and the others are a darker fawn pied color.

Kenny (chocolate pied) and Dolly (very light fawn pied) are currently incubating 4 eggs.

My top trio, which I've named Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato (LOL!) are sitting on 5 eggs. I think both hens are laying, as fast as the eggs appeared.  This could be a BIIIIG clutch if they're all fertile!  All three of them are fawn pied.

My bottom trio, Snickers, Twix, and KitKat (all chocolate pied) have started mating again and working on their nest.  Their two youngsters will be weaned within the next few days.  :-)  I believe their fawn pied youngster is a male.  If so, I'll be keeping him to go with Lucy and Ethel, my two fawn pied "single" ladies.  As you might can guess, if he's a male, I'll be naming him Ricky. ;-)

Another Pair Is On Eggs! :-)

My societies Kenny and his (still unnamed) girlfriend have 4 eggs that they've just started incubating.  :-)

The two fledglings are doing well, and have started nibbling at the seeds by themselves.  It won't be much longer until they're weaned ... around the last week in October, to be on the safe side.

The five chicks in the community cage are doing well.  Everest, another female, has started pitching in with the feeding.  I'm surprised the parent trio allowed her into the nest, as protective of it as they originally were, but they did.  :-)

Eggbread Attack! ;-)

They sure do love homemade eggbread! ;-)

Just-Banded Chicks

I just banded the five society finch chicks.  I put them on my fabric cutting mat as I banded each one, so I wouldn't get them mixed up.  The lines on the mat are 1" apart.  It's slick, so there were wonky legs and wings sliding all over.  LOL!  They're all banded and back in their nest now, with their parents. :-)  I can't tell yet if any of them will be crested like their dad.

Fledgling #2

The second youngster (left) left the nest just now. :-)  Sorry for the blurry photo!

Fledglings, And A Better Head Count!

One of the society chicks has fledged, and the other is >thisclose<, perched on the edge of the nest, trying to gather its courage to take the Big Leap.  :-)

In the community cage, I was finally able to get a better head count of the chicks.  Looks like there are five.  I had to peek using a handheld mirror, but the chicks all look very well fed and are growing like weeds.  :-)

I Think There Are Five!

I was able to peek into the nest a little better, and I think I counted 5 little heads.  Two eggs didn't hatch, so if there are 5 chicks, 1 of the 8 eggs disappeared.  I did find an egg in the floor, so perhaps it was tossed.  The chicks are peeping already, and are definitely growing! :-)  The dad is crested, but it's much too soon to tell if any of the chicks will be.

The other two chicks are doing well, too. :-)

We Have Feathers!

Just a quick photo of Dad in the nest, and one of the babies. The other baby is behind him, but you can see its beak sticking up.  They're very differently-colored.  One baby is dark, and one is light.  Too cute!  Hopefully I can catch the parents out of the nest and get a photo of both youngsters very soon. I can't tell yet if either of them will be crested.  :-)

Dad was not at all happy with me shoving the camera in his face!  LOL!  As always, pardon the poo.

Ah, here we go.  Dad just left the nest to go eat.  :-)  So far it looks like both of them are normals, not cresteds.  Dad is a chocolate pied crested, and the two females are chocolate pied (no crests).

Edited to add:  WOO HOO!!!!!  There were 8 eggs in one of the nest boxes that didn't appear to be viable. It turns out that they were VERY close to hatching when I candled them, which is why they looked odd to me.  I just used a mirror to peek in the nest, and saw a whole mess of hatchlings!  YIPPEE!!!  I couldn't get a head count, but I know there are at least 3 wigglies that I saw, and I'm sure there are more under the parents (they were in the nest as well).  These hatchlings belong to the trio that I'd mentioned previously ... where one of the hens kept laying eggs in the floor despite having two nests to choose from.  Looks like they finally figured it out!  :-D  It's a M/F/F trio, so I don't know if one hen laid all 8 eggs, or if they both laid eggs at the same time.  Either way, welcome to the world, little pink wigglies!  :-D

Photo of the Hatchlings :-)

Little nekkid cutie patooties! :-)

Now that the new societies from the bird fair are out of quarantine, I've done some cage-rearranging.  :-)  The little bossy butt male that seems to have earned the name King now has two ladies (also from the bird fair) in the cage with him.  No fussing as of yet.  >crosses fingers<

Then I moved Kenny to the cage with the remaining four ladies from the bird fair.  He's been singing to EVERYBODY in the community cage, trying his best to find a mate.  He even "put the move" on one of the other males, who was like "Dude! Back off!"  LOL!  I'm sure he'll enjoy having a cage full of women to charm.

In the community cage, the trio that was being so protective of their nest is sitting on SIX eggs.  I haven't candled them to see if they're viable, since it's hard to get the nest out of the cage, the way it's arranged.  The others have learned to avoid that particular nest, so things are peaceful again.  :-)

At this rate, I may have quite a few youngsters very soon.  :-)

The King of the Quarantine Cage

The six newer society finches from the bird fair have just come out of quarantine (all quarantined in the same cage).  :-)  I know for sure that there is one male, and I suspect the other five are females.  The male eventually decided he was The King of the Quarantine Cage, and started bossing his little harem around, chasing them, hissing at them, etc.  He wouldn't settle down, so I just moved his little feathered fanny to a cage by himself for the time being.  I'll see which of the girls he gets along best with (trial and error - sigh!), and will move a couple of them in with him.  I know he particularly dislikes the sweet little fawn pied female with the two dots on her head.

He's singing up a storm in his own private suite!  LOL!  (He's not totally "alone".  He can see and hear the other societies in nearby cages.)

Ahhhhh ... peace! ;-)

Moving him out temporarily will allow me to see if any of the other birds in the cage start singing (males).  Sometimes shyer males won't sing in the presence of a more dominant male.

Still Just Two Chicks

The third egg still hasn't hatched.  Not sure what's going on with it, but it's past the hatch date now.  It could just be a late hatcher, but it's possible it didn't make it for some reason.

The two hatchlings are doing great, and are being well-cared-for.  I can hear them begging for food already. :-)

Still 2 Hatchlings

The 3rd egg hasn't hatched yet.  I don't want to disturb the trio to try to candle it, so we'll just have to see how it goes.  The two hatchlings are doing great.  :-)

Two Hatchlings So Far! :-)

Two of the eggs have hatched!  They're pink, wiggly, and have very protective parents! (LOL!)  There's one more egg to go. Hopefully that chick will make its appearance soon. :-)

It's been quite awhile since I've had any youngsters in the house. :-)

Thursday's Update

The three eggs are still being incubated. I can't wait until they hatch! It should be sometime between now and Tuesday or Wednesday.  :-)

Remember the hen who flat refused to put her eggs in a nest, choosing to lay them in the floor instead?  I moved that trio to the community cage, along with 3 other societies.  I put several nests into the cage, including a canary nest and several Abba nest boxes.

That l'il stinker and her companions claimed one of the Abba boxes, and they FLAT REFUSE to let the other birds near it.  Only those 3 are allowed in their "club".  The others sleep in the canary nest.  I keep watching to see if she lays more eggs, hopefully this time IN the nest, but she hasn't as of yet.  Edit:  I just looked, and YES, she HAS laid an egg!  And she put it IN the nest!  Yippee! :-)

She went from royally HATING a nest, to LOVING it, literally overnight.  Weird l'il bird!  LOL!

The 3 Eggs Are Looking Good!

The 3 eggs in the bottom cage (chocolate pied trio; crested dad) are still looking good! :-)  They should start hatching somewhere around September 1-3, which is 14-16 days after incubation started.  I hope there's a crested baby or three! ;-)

The new societies are all doing fine as well.

Pics of New Societies

Here are some photos of the new societies. They were napping. L'il sleepyheads! :-)

New Societies :-)

Just got back from the bird fair.  It was PATHETIC.  :-(  There was only one finch vendor there, and although he has some nice birds, he has very few to choose from.  I did get 5 fawn pied societies and one buff society from him.  They weren't separated by gender, but one is definitely male because he's singing right now.  I'll have to watch them for a few days.  I'm hoping for 4 females and 2 males, but last time 9/10 of the societies I bought were male.  LOL!  Oh, and two of them are crested.  :-)

I'll get some photos in a day or two, when they're settled in.

Community Cage Is Set Up!

We've got the new community cage set up and ready to go.  It's about 32" wide x 36" tall by 20" deep ... or thereabouts.  One hour until it's time to leave for the bird fair!  :-D

I've decided to get 2 non-crested chocolate females and a fawn M/F/F trio.  The two chocolate females will replace the two fawn females in the top cage (they'll go to the community cage).  The middle cage will get the fawn trio, and the current occupants of the middle cage will go to the community cage.  They've decided they're not going to foster the egg after all.  All they're doing is sleeping and napping on it, so I'll move it to the community cage and maybe somebody there will incubate it.  If not, well, I tried.  :-)

Yep, It's DIS :-(

The foster egg is DIS. :-( I'm sure it's not the foster parents' fault. They've been incubating their l'il hearts out.  It's just one of those things, I suppose.  The other 3 eggs still show as being viable. :-)

The bird fair is this morning.  I'm going to pick up a few society hens.  I'll probably wait on the male diamond dove for now.

I Believe They're Incubating! :-)

So far it looks like they're incubating the egg! :-)

There hasn't been a second egg yet, but the hen is back in her favorite corner, BESIDE the nest. >rolleyes<

L'il Stinker!

In my stack of cages, the top cage has three societies ... a male and two females.  That's where the foster egg came from.  One of the females laid a second egg (which fell from the perch and broke) the day after she laid the first one, then she stopped laying.

Now she's laying again.  I found an egg carefully laid on the grate, perfectly intact, when I got up.  There are two nests for her to choose from, but she hangs around in the left/front corner of the cage while she's laying, rather than putting the eggs in one of the nests.  Afterwards, the eggs are totally ignored.  I even moved one of the nests down to "her" corner, but she squeezes into the area beside it rather than going into the nest itself.  She's sitting in the corner again as I type this, so I'm willing to bet another egg is on the way.

Since it's too late to add any more eggs to the bottom cage, I put the intact egg in the middle cage.  Short of throwing it away, which I hate to do, it's the only place I can put it.  I guess we'll see if the middle quartet will foster.  I'll probably move at least one of the quartet out, so the egg won't get smooshed underneath the four of them when they sleep.

I still plan to pick up 3-4 females at the bird fair tomorrow.  :-)  I'm thinking about getting a male diamond dove, too, (no female) but I don't know for sure yet.  If I do, it'll go in the community cage, which I still haven't set up yet.

Good & Possibly Bad News

The first (foster) egg may be DIS. I'm not 100% sure. There is an air space in the egg that's larger than usual, which can be a sign that the egg is drying up.  I still saw veins when I candled it, but the large air space is concerning.  The egg is somewhat discolored, too.  I put it back in the nest with the other eggs, and will wait and see what happens next week.

On a brighter note, the other three (biological) eggs just candled as being viable ... all 3 of them.  :-)  They're due to start hatching around September 1, assuming all goes well.

Still Incubating! :-)

My societies are still incubating, taking turns. Sometimes one sits at a time; other times, two of them will sit.  I'm not sure how they decide whose turn it is, but apparently they've got their system down pat!  :-)

If all goes well, the hatch date for the first (foster) egg should be Monday, August 27.  I'm going to try to band it ASAP before the others hatch (assuming they're viable; I haven't candled them).  That way I can tell which is the foster chick.  :-)

Still planning to go to the bird fair this weekend.  Can't wait!  :-D

Four Eggs, Total! :-)

There are now 4 eggs, total, and the foster egg is viable! I just candled it, and sure enough, there's a teeny heartbeat. :-)

Wouldn't You Know It! LOL!

The trio that's incubating the single egg from the top cage now has 2 eggs of their own.  I went to candle the single egg to see if it's viable, and to my surprise, there were 2 additional eggs in the nest.  :-)  Rather than disturb them, I'll wait a few days and then candle them, in case they're not finished laying.

Still Incubating :-)

The trio in the bottom cage are still incubating the single egg from the top cage.  They're taking very good care of it.  :-)  There haven't been any more eggs in the top cage.  I should know if it's good within 3-4 days.  :-)

No New Eggs

There haven't been any more new eggs, and the hen (and her two companions) were totally ignoring the egg she laid the other day, so I moved it to the lower cage.  Within TWO MINUTES, one of the hens hopped into the nest and started incubating it.  WOW!  She was practically grinning ear-to-ear, and couldn't get on the egg fast enough, snuggling down onto it immediately.  Too cute! :-)

Another Egg, But It Broke :-(

The same hen laid another egg yesterday, but she laid it while sitting on a perch, and it crashed to the cage floor and broke.  :-(  None of them have approached the nest again.  I'll wait a couple of days and see what happens, but if they continue to ignore the nest, I may move that single egg down to the bottom cage, where those societies are actually using their nest.  Perhaps they'll incubate it.  We'll just see how it goes.  I have a feeling that this particular hen is on the younger side, and perhaps she doesn't realize that eggs are supposed to go in the nest.  ;-)

An Egg!

LOL! After mentioning just hours ago that there were no eggs, I just found one in the floor of the top cage.  I had a feeling that something was up, because one of the hens had been hanging around that particular corner.  The egg was perfectly intact, laid carefully on the cage grate.  I'm not sure why she chose that spot rather than one of the two nests in their cage, but I gently picked up the egg, moved one of the nests to her chosen place, and put the egg in the nest.  If there's another egg on the way, hopefully she'll put it in the nest this time.  She and the male are studying the nest as I type.  :-)

Bird Fair in a Couple of Weeks :-)

It's almost time for the bird fair in Chattanooga again.  :-)  I'm planning to set up one more cage (a total of 4), which will be a community/non-breeding cage.  In it will be my non-breeding societies and any youngsters that happen to come along in the future.  I'll probably get a male diamond dove for the community cage at the bird fair.  Just a male; no female.  I'll probably pick up a couple of extra female societies while I'm there, if they have them separated by gender.  No zebra finches, though! LOL!  ;-)  It sure is hard to resist them.

The societies are all doing fine.  The one that was a puffy is still a little fluffed up, but acts/eats/drinks/poops just fine, so perhaps that's just the way it sits on the perch.  If it was sick, it would surely have obvious symptoms by now.  It's not SUPER-puffy or anything ... just a little more puffy than the others.

The trio on the bottom of the cage rack has padded the nest I gave them, and they just recently started sleeping in it (finally).  The middle quartet doesn't have any interest in their nest.  The top trio has mated a few times that I've seen, but there hasn't been any interest in either of their two nests.  No eggs in any of the three cages.  That's fine.  If they have youngsters, okay, and if they don't, that's okay too.  :-)  I do think I'll pick up some woven-type nests at the bird fair.  That's the kind of nests they had before, and I don't think they like these open canary nests quite as much.  I just like the canary nests and Abba nest boxes because there's no chance of their toenails getting tangled.  With woven nests, the fibers can snag their toenails, and can cause broken legs, or worse.  I'll just have to keep a super-close eye on them, and perhaps I can come up with a way to hang the woven nests so that the birds can't sit on top of them.  The tops of the nests seem to be more "grabby" than the interior, for some reason.

Nothing New To Report

Just letting my readers know that there's nothing new to report.  The societies have all settled in nicely and are doing fine. :-)

Atlanta Bird Fair

We went to the Atlanta bird fair yesterday morning, and got 7 society finches.  :-)

Above: Male crested, female, female (all bought at the Atlanta bird fair)

Above: On the left is the white crested probable-female (Everest; we already had her), and on the stick front-to-back are the two males we already had (Pepper and Kenny with his white "beard").  On the back of the stick is one of the crested societies we got at the bird fair yesterday.  Not sure of its gender yet.  It's a little puffy.  Hopefully it's just tired from the trip and all the commotion.

Above: Male crested and two females, all from the Atlanta bird fair

This fills the three flight cages here in my office, so I'm good to go for awhile.  I plan to eventually set up a community cage again, if/when these have youngsters.  No more zebra finches, though! ;-)

Above:  Here's what the stack of cages looks like at the moment.  The bottom two cages are lighted and have a leafy-patterned fabric behind them.  The top cage still needs some kind of background and a light.  I plan to put a curtain on the bottom to hide my boxes of craft stuff.  I may paint the stand, too.  Right now it's just plain wood.  The top cage has a camera in the nest, but so far they haven't shown any interest in exploring it.

Pics of New Society Trio :-)

Above:  Kenny - male - can't see his white beard in this photo - will try to get a better one later

Above:  Everest - so far believed to be female - white crest - named for Mount Everest with it's snowcapped peak - LOL!

Above:  Pepper - male

Well, I *Almost* Made It Two Weeks ;-)

I got a trio of society finches this morning.  :-)  I was hoping for a F/F/M trio, but so far two have turned out to be males.  I don't know yet about the third one.  One of the males is named Kenny because he has a white "beard" and sings a lot ... "Kenny Rogers". :-D  The other two don't have names yet.

They're settling in to their new cage and environment as we speak. :-)  I'll get some photos in a couple of days when they've gotten settled.

Some News

Well, I have some news.  This may (or may not) come as a surprise, but I've decided to take a break from bird-keeping for the time being.  I'm not leaving the hobby forever.  I do plan to get more finches in a couple of months.  But for now, I'm finding myself stressing and worrying too much about my birds, especially considering all the problems that have been going on lately.  I haven't mentioned all of them, but the two worst ones have been finding a beheaded (!!) hatchling in the floor of one of my cages, and then turning around (literally) to find two parent birds feasting on an egg ... one that had a still-developing chick in it.  I can't even describe how disgusting that was. I ran out of the room, gagging.  :-( Those two incidents were, unfortunately, the last straw for me.  I don't know what in the world got into them.  Zebra finches can be pushy and bossy and fussy, and I can deal with that, but between the nest abandonments, chick tossing, and now chick mutilations, I've had enough for now.

As of 6/24/12, all of my birds have found new homes.  I am totally birdless.  :-(  I was going to keep the societies, but then decided that I'll just get some more at the bird fair in August.  If I'm going to take a break, I wanted to take a "complete" break for the time being.

In the meantime, we've given the bird room a thorough cleaning and repainting, which it needed.  It's now a TV/sitting room, and later when I do get some more society finches, I'll put one or two of my flight cages in there.  It'll be on a much smaller scale this time.  I did keep 90% of my cages and the cage stands, so if I ever do decide to set the entire room up again, I can do so without having to re-buy everything.  But I don't have any plans to do that at the present time, even with societies-only.  I also don't have any plans to get any more zebra finches, even though they're my absolute favorite finches of all.

Sigh. I miss my birds, and feel totally lost without them. :-(  

Abandoned Nest :-(

Pearl and Smudge abandoned their two chicks.  :-(  One was tossed from the nest during the day (we sleep days due to Robert's work schedule), and it was too late when I found it.  Its crop was empty.  The other chick was still in the nest, alive, but also had an empty crop.  I tried to handfeed it, but since its eyes are open, it could see that I'm not one of its parents, and it flat refused to eat.  So I moved it to my societies.  So far they're taking care of it, but we'll just have to take it an hour at a time.  I'd say its chances are 50/50 at this point, assuming there is no damage from going too long without food. There's no obvious reason why they would've abandoned the nest, but who knows what goes on in their little "bird brains". So frustrating! :-( Edited 6/17/12 to add that it didn't make it. :-(

Just Some Notes To Myself

Societies in my office (bottom M/M/M trio) have 2 eggs belonging to Breeze and Sprinkles, and 1 egg that belongs to Tangerine and Domino (marked with a dot).  Their nestling's bio parents are either Tip & Echo (unlikely) or Patches & Sandy (very likely).

Top M/F/F society trio in my bird room has eggs belonging to Shelly & Ghost (1), Bambi & Creamsicle (1), and Blizzard & Storm (2).

Middle M/F/F society trio in my bird room has 3 eggs belonging to Flower & Alaska.  Flower will not incubate.  :-(

Previous Pairs:
Blizzard & Storm
Bagel & Kristy
Domino & Tangerine
Alaska & Flower
Ghost & Shelly
Sprinkles & Breeze
Freckles & Copper
Creamsicle & Bambi

New Pairs:
Creamsicle & Copper (experienced dad; new mom)
Sprinkles & Copper (experienced dad; new mom)
Blizzard & Bambi (both new)
Bagel & Tangerine (experienced mom; new dad)
Ghost & Breeze (experienced dad; new mom)
Alaska & Storm (experienced dad; new mom)
Domino & Kristy (experienced dad; new mom)
Freckles & Sandy (experienced mom; new dad who's the son of the very first zebra pair I had, but STILL haven't gotten any youngsters from him!)
Flower & Creamsicle (experienced dad; new (and problematic) mom)
Shelly

Fledgling!

One of the zebra babies (bio parents: Frostie & Streak) that was being fostered by one of my M/M society finch pairs just left the nest!  It's a cutie patootie with a wild hair-do! LOL! :-)  The photos are a little dark, but I didn't want to startle it with the camera flash. :-)

Egg Relocation

Moved four of Alaska and Flower's abandoned/never incubated eggs to Frostie and Streak's nest. The four newest ones could be viable. The other eggs in their nest had been ignored too long and were drying up. Musical Chairs/Nests, anyone? :-S

Sandy and Patches' two hatchlings (being fostered by one of my M/M society pairs) are doing fine.  If I listen very, very closely, I think I can hear them begging already. :-)

Pearl and Smudge's two hatchlings are doing fine as well.

Another Switcheroo

Sigh! The M/M society foster pair's (on the right-hand side of the cage) eggs AGAIN appear to be DIS (3) and infertile (1).  They're now fostering two newly-hatched chicks belonging to Sandy and Patches (zebra finches).

Sandy's been having trouble with egg-binding (another of the females we got at the bird fair from that same seller, interestingly enough), and at the same time, Patches started plucking her, probably trying to mate when she most likely wasn't "in the mood".  I re-paired Patches with another hen about 3-4 weeks ago.  Sandy's eggs candled as being infertile, but I left them in her nest to help get her out of egg-laying mode.  Little did I know that she replaced (probably ate) two of the eggs with two fertile eggs!  They hatched within the last 24 hours.  Since her nest was still lined with the dangerous-to-chicks nesting materials (wasn't expecting youngsters so I hadn't gotten around to changing it), totally re-doing her nest would mean taking a huge risk of her abandoning the two chicks.

So I moved the two chicks to the M/M society's nest, and removed two of their DIS eggs to make it appear that the eggs had hatched.

Between removing Sandy's nest and her mate being re-paired some time ago, she should be out of breeding mode for awhile.  That'll give her time to rest up and re-build her calcium reserves, and the chicks will be taken care of by the fosters.  Problem solved!  :-)  (I felt bad about taking her chicks, but under the circumstances (her being exhausted and the unsafe nesting materials that there's no way to feasibly change out), it's for the best.)

I'm keeping an eye on them (they're here in my office).  One of the societies hopped right into the nest immediately and started feeding them.  The other is studying the new arrivals in between loading up on food, so I'm sure he'll be in the nest as soon as his turn to sit comes up.  :-)

I don't think I'll be buying any more zebra finches from that particular seller, given the problems with egg-binding.  It could be just a coincidence, but it sure is odd.  A genetic defect with his zebra finches, maybe?, considering that I haven't had any problems with his society finches.

Sometimes I wish society finches had all the gorgeous mutations that zebra finches have.  They're much easier to care for, far less problematic when breeding, and they all get along with each other without squabbling.  It's crossed my mind to change over to societies only, but I don't know that I'd ever be able to part with my zebra babies!  :-/

Oh!  I can't remember if I posted about it or not, but Stormy (cockatiel) is living at my sister's house for the time being.  The allergy problem was getting worse.  :-(  My sister just lives about 3 miles away, so we can still go see Stormy whenever we like.

A few of the lovely itchy red blotches:

Pic of the Hatchlings & Also A New Baby!

We have a new youngster in the house!  My M/M/M society foster trio has hatched a single hatchling within the last 24 hours or so.  I don't know if the other eggs are viable (last time I candled them, I couldn't tell either way).  The bio parents are either Patches & Sandy or Tip & Echo.  Tip & Echo were adopted a couple of weeks ago, but they had an egg in the nest.  I *should* be able to tell once it gets its adult colors in a few weeks.  If it's pied, chances are, it's Patches & Sandy's baby.  If it's fawn or CFW, it's Tip & Echo's.  Of course, with zebra finch genetics, sometimes it's just the luck of the draw.

And here's a photo I snagged of the M/M society foster pair's babies (left side of the cage).  Pardon the poo! ;-)  The remaining egg apparently wasn't viable, but I haven't disturbed them to candle it.  Not much sense in it, at this point.  :-)

Switcheroo

The M/M foster society pair (on eggs) that's beside the other M/M foster society pair (with chicks) is going crazy trying to help feed those little chicks on the other side of the divider.  Poor things!  The chicks are being VERY well taken care of, but they want to help so badly, even to the point of yakking up some food to try to feed them.  The eggs they're fostering are likely duds (Tangerine laid them well after I separated her from her naughty mate awhile back), so I did something I don't normally do.  I switched Frostie and Streak's four (hopefully) viable eggs for the four dud eggs.  Frostie needs a break from egg-laying anyway, and incubating the dud eggs for couple of weeks will give her body a chance to restore its calcium reserves.  And hopefully the M/M foster pair will have some chicks of "their own" to care for in a few days.  :-)  That means both of my society M/M foster pairs have eggs/chicks that actually belong to Frostie and Streak.  LOL!  She's been a little egg machine lately.

Pearl and Smudge have at least two newly-hatched chicks, just 1-2 days old.  I didn't want to disturb them to do an exact head count.  She had two back-to-back clutches, and I'm pretty sure the first clutch wasn't viable. There was probably 10-12 eggs in the nest at one point.  They tossed two eggs during the day.  One was infertile, and the other was DIS.  Not sure yet how many of the others are fertile.

I also moved Patches in with Onyx, whose baby girl (Diamond) was recently weaned.  Diamond is now in with another very young female, Powder, until they get to be breeding age.  :-)

Alfalfa (crested male) and Whisper are still incubating their eggs.  :-)  I haven't candled them again to see if any more are viable.

Cloud and Domino's youngsters are doing great under their mom's care.  They're perching and flying like pros now.

The little society chick with the lost leg fledged a couple of days ago.  So far it hasn't figured out how to perch, so it sits in the bottom of the cage with its mom and sibling cuddling with it.  Too adorable!  I put it back in the nest a couple of times, thinking it would be more comfortable, but it doesn't stay put.  Today it figured out that it could prop itself up using the cage divider tracks in the floor of the cage, using the wires to balance.  Instead of putting it back in the nest, I left it propped up, figuring that it's a good way for it to learn to perch.  In a sense, it made itself a pair of crutches.  :-)  The parents (a M/F/F trio) are taking exceptional care of the youngsters.

Shelly (paired with Ghost) keeps laying eggs, but they keep disappearing.  I suspect they're being eaten.  If they're being tossed, I sure haven't found them.  She's got a cuttlebone and gets regular calcium supplements, so who knows. (?)

And that's the news for today! :-)

Not Gonna Hold My Breath, But ...

... Whisper and Alfalfa have at least one viable egg!  Alfalfa is my crested male, so I'm hoping like crazy to get some crested youngsters from him.  :-)  Whisper is a white female, and has successfully raised a clutch in the past.  Alfalfa is, to the best of my knowledge, a new parent.  I'm watching them as closely as I can. So far, so good, but at the first sign of any problem, I plan to move the eggs to my societies so that hopefully I don't lose it/them.

I just love seeing a little heartbeat!  :-)

According to the zebra finch genetics calculator, there's about a 50/50 chance of a youngster being crested, so, in theory, half the clutch should be crested, if I'm reading it right. :-)

http://zebrafinch.info/colours/genex.asp#

Baby Pics

Below:  Cloud and Domino's two youngsters, and Cloud.  They'd just woken up.  One was still half-asleep on the perch.  :-)

Below:  The two society babies from the top cage in the bird room.  One of these is the one that's missing a foot thanks to the so-called "bird safe" nesting materials.  They're close to fledging, so I had to be careful snapping a quick photo.  It came out blurry, but I didn't want to startle them.  :-)

Had To Move Domino

Yep, I ended up moving Domino.  He was still being a little monster toward Cloud, hissing at her and chasing her all over the cage, even with the additional space.  I slipped the divider back into the cage long enough to catch Domino in the net, with Cloud and the youngsters on the other side of the divider, then moved him in with Tangerine.  Then I took the divider back out, opening the full cage up again.  Cloud should continue caring for the two youngsters.  I tried to move him as quickly and quietly as possible.  :-)

Tangerine and Domino didn't seem to know what to think of each other.  LOL!  Tangerine's a little spitfire herself, so perhaps they'll make a good pair.  Or WW3 will break out.  ;-)

Zebra finches:  gotta love 'em! >rolleyes< ;-)

Yes! Two Foster Babies! :-D

I was able to peek into the M/M foster society nest enough to see that there are indeed two zebra chicks!  Woo hoo! :-D  They are Frostie and Streak's eggs ... the ones they abandoned and were ice cold when I found them.  It looks like they didn't stay cold for a long enough time that it hurt the chicks.  Got lucky on that one!  :-)  I can just barely make out the sounds of them peeping for food.  They'll get louder as they grow.  The foster dads are taking excellent care of them so far.  :-)

Here are a couple of (rather lousy) photos.  You can just barely make out the babies underneath.  I didn't want to disturb them too much.  :-)

Two (I Think!) Hatchlings!

One of my M/M foster society pairs has (I believe) 2 hatchlings!  They flat refuse to let me even peek, so I'll have to wait a few days to be sure how many there are.  The biological parents are Frostie and Streak (zebra finches).  Note to self:  These are on the left-hand side of the cage.

My other M/M foster society pair is incubating zebra eggs, but they also refuse to let me peek.  I'll check again later.  I hope those eggs are good, because the parents are Sunset and Sugar.  Sunset passed away a few days ago, and they hadn't yet started incubating the eggs.  Sugar showed no interest in the eggs after that, so I moved them to the societies. Note to self:  These are on the right-hand side of the cage.

And the M/M/M society trio is also incubating some zebra eggs, but it appears that only one is good.  The others were infertile and DIS.  If the remaining egg hatches, I hope they care for the single chick.

(All of the above societies are in my craft room.)

The society babies in my bird room are all doing fine.  The oldest pair should be fledging soon.  The youngest, a single chick, has a bit more growing to do.  It's got solid white wings, and its head is as bald as Captain Picard's.  LOL!  :-)

Another Plucky Dad!

Domino (the father of the two just-fledged chicks) is being fussy and plucky towards his mate, Cloud. Sigh!  Luckily I caught him in the act before any serious bickering had started.  The cage divider was still in place from where I temporarily had another pair in the same 30" cage, so I tried to put him on the other side of the divider.  He'd have none of THAT!  He pitched a royal hissy fit, trying to get back to their chicks.  So, instead of separating them, I just pulled the cage divider out completely, and opened the full length of the cage up to give them all more space.  I'd planned to do that anyway as soon as the chicks fledged, so it worked out well as far as the timing.  I just didn't want to make any big changes while the chicks were still in the nest for fear of abandonment.

I added another perch and a ladder so the chicks can have an intermediate landing spot between the floor and the regular perches.  Their navigation systems (LOL!) are still clumsy.  They know where they want to go, but have trouble landing in the exact spot where they want to be.  They'll get the hang of it VERY quickly, though, usually within 24-48 hours. :-)  Newly-fledged babies are so fun to watch.  I also added an extra food and water cup, and put a piece of spray millet on the floor to tempt the chicks into learning to eat on their own.  Spray millet is almost like candy as far as birds are concerned.  :-)

Hopefully Domino will stop making a pest of himself now that they have extra room.  Apparently he wants "his" chicks all to himself!  ;-)  I'm keeping a close eye on him.  Usually the dads want the youngsters gone so they can start a new clutch with the mom.  Hopefully he won't start plucking the chicks while we're asleep later.

Two Fledglings!

One of Domino and Cloud's two chicks fledged today!  It's definitely a black cheek like its dad.  :-)  (Sorry for the lousy photos.  The only camera I had with me is my cell phone's camera.)

I noticed that its foot/leg looks a little strange in the photo, so I went back and checked to make sure it was okay.  It's fine.  I guess it's just the way it was standing.  It may have had its foot below the cage grate.  After a few hours of practice, they learn how to stand on the perches and grate. They're pretty clumsy at first, but they can fly surprisingly well!  A little kamikaze-style, but it works! LOL! :-)

Just before I went into the bird room to check on the above chick's foot, the other chick had fledged.  :-)  I didn't have a camera with me at all this time, so I'll have to get a photo of the other youngster later.  It's a black cheek as well, and has larger cheeks than the first fledgling.  Perhaps one is male and one is female!  :-)

My society foster pairs/trios are on 2-3 viable zebra finch eggs.  We'll see how it goes.  :-)

I Ran and Ran and Ran and Ran and ...

.... then CRASHED right in my exercise wheel! ;-)

DIS :-(

The two previously-viable eggs that my societies were fostering didn't make it.  I candled both, and they're DIS (dead in shell).  I'm not sure what happened.  I don't think it was anything the societies did wrong.  I left the eggs in place for now, still being incubated, in case the societies are needed in the next few days for additional fostering.  If not, I'll remove the eggs and give them a break.  :-)

Sprinkles and Breeze did have several eggs that they were ignoring, but they've tossed all but one.  I candled it, and it was infertile. They're pretty young; that's typical.

I also checked Frostie and Streak's nest this morning, and found that they had 2 (out of 4) viable eggs, but the eggs were ice cold.  I didn't see a heartbeat in either egg, so I don't know if there's any chance of them making it at this point, but I moved them under my newly-incubating society pair (M/M) since Frostie and Streak had obviously stopped incubating.  I wish I knew their ages, but I bought both of them, and neither seller was able to provide their ages.  They abandoned their last clutch of eggs too, so it's very possible that they're getting on up in age and no longer want to fool with chicks.

Still waiting a few more days before candling the M/M/M society trio's foster eggs to make sure they should be showing one way or the other if they're viable or not.

I may re-pair Kristy (crested zebra) and Blackie.  They've had time to bond, but they seem indifferent to each other ... even a little fussy sometimes.  She sleeps on the far side of the cage from where he is, so there's obviously not a lot of love in the air. ;-)

Oh, and Shelly and Ghost (my "senior citizen" pair) have an egg.  The last few times I tried to breed Shelly, she just dropped the eggs all over the bottom of the cage rather than laying them in the nest.  That was several months ago, and she pretty much stopped laying eggs after that.  But this time she put the egg right in the nest, so perhaps the two "oldsters" decided to raise a clutch of chicks after all.  Given their ages, there's a good chance that the egg(s) will be infertile, but we'll see how it goes.  :-)

I Snuck A Pic of Cloud and Domino's Babies!

Cutie patooties! :-) (Pardon the poo!)

Cloud and Domino's Baby Is Doing Fine :-)

I'm happy to report that Cloud and Domino's baby -- the one I found with its leg stuck in the vent hole of the nest box -- is doing fine, and so is its sibling.  The parents didn't get upset that I had to alter their nest a little and replace some of the nesting materials.  :-)

So far both babies are dark-colored, so they'll probably look a lot like their dad, who's a black-cheek normal gray.  (The mom is white in color.)

Still no hatchlings under my M/M society pair.  I haven't candled the eggs again as of yet, but two of the eggs were viable last time I checked.  They're not overdue yet, so I'll give them a few more days and see what happens.

My non-incubating M/M pair seems to have FINALLY started sitting on the fake eggs.  I'll keep an eye on them for a day or two longer to make sure they're REALLY incubating, and if they are, Breeze and Sprinkles (zebra finches) have several eggs that they're ignoring.

And my M/M/M society trio is still incubating the zebra eggs I put under them a few days ago.  I haven't candled them yet since it's probably too soon to tell anything.

Predicaments!

I'm beginning to think my bird room is jinxed or something.  Lately it's been one predicament after another!  I'm officially proclaiming, "Enough Already!!!" ;-)

Predicament #1 (this past weekend)

There are currently 20ish occupied cages in my bird room, and every day I check over each cage while I feed and water the birds, replacing cuttlebones as needed, fixing perches that may have fallen, etc.  Well, I finished up the first wall of cages, and went to work on the next wall, where the crested male's cage is.  I was shocked to find him dangling by his leg!  He'd somehow managed to get his band hung between the cuttlebone holder and one of the cage wires.  There was blood everywhere.  I thought he was a goner, but he suddenly he fluttered.  I got him unhung, and checked him to see exactly what was wrong.  In his struggles, he'd pulled his band about halfway down his foot, squishing his toes together, and he'd injured his wing from fluttering around.  The blood was from his wing, but thankfully it looked much worse than it actually was.  I tried to push the band back up onto his leg, but it wouldn't budge.  The band is a closed breeder band, so there was no way to take it off.  Now what? Ack!!!  I decided that perhaps putting his foot into some cool water might help.  Maybe it would make his foot and leg slippery, as well as make his slightly-swollen foot shrink a bit.  It worked!  The band slid right back up into place.  MAJOR WHEW!!!  I gave him some NV Powder in his water and a heat lamp, and by the next day, he was relatively fine.  I imagine he's a bit sore, still.  His mate was soooo sweet to him, cuddling up, preening him, and trying to help him feel better.    I hope this is the last "adventure" we have with him for awhile! LOL!  (He's one of the birds that escaped at the bird fair. Did I write about that?  I can't remember.  If I didn't, I'll do so soon.)

Predicament #2 (today)

I was just in the bird room a few minutes ago, turning the lights on and doing a quick food/water check.  Cloud and Domino hopped out of their nest when I opened the door, so I peeked in and checked on their two youngsters while they were out of the nest.  One of the youngsters was laying on its side which is strange at their age.  I didn't think a whole lot about it, but after I checked on the other birds, I peeked back at the sideways youngster, who was still on its side.  Something just wasn't right.

I removed the nest box from the cage, and immediately saw the problem.  The parent birds had "wallowed" around in the box so much that they'd pushed the nesting materials out of the center leaving about 1/2" circle of the plastic box exposed.  Normally that little bit of exposure wouldn't be a huge deal, but the baby had managed to get its leg caught in the vent opening in the plastic box.  That's why it was laying on its side.  It was stuck all the way to its thigh!  I gently pulled his leg back through, and put more nesting materials in the box to cover the vent hole up (not enough to block the circulation, but enough to keep the babies' legs from falling through.  The baby seemed a little disoriented at first, but seemed better after a couple of minutes.  I left the room so the parents could feed them (they were anxiously waiting on their babies to be brought back!), but I'll check on them again in a little while.  That was an Abba nest box, too ... the "Cadillac" of nest boxes!  I'll have to come up with something a little more permanent, but breathable, that the birds can't "wallow" out of place.

Predicament #3 - (March 30 and April 1)

What a weekend!  We went to the little bird fair in Chattanooga on Saturday morning. I needed 3 female zebras to pair up with 3 of my males, another 30" cage, and some various supplies. Shopping list in hand, off we went.

I selected 3 female zebras right off the bat. The vendor put them into a wire carrier and twist-tied the door closed. We bought the rest of the stuff we needed, then at the last table, I spotted not one but TWO crested zebras! I've been looking for cresteds for a year now! YIPPEE!!! And for just $10 each, close-banded. DOUBLE YIPPEE!!!

The vendor captured the female crested first, and put her into the wire carrier along with the other zebra females from the first vendor. Then he captured the male, put it into the carrier, and fastened the twist-tie back so that the door couldn't accidentally come open. Well, I don't know if it didn't get fastened correctly, or if it came undone somehow, but as we started to pay for the two cresteds, I looked down and to my horror, my birds were escaping!!!  Both of my precious cresteds were gone, along with one of the female zebras from the first vendor. I was so, so disappointed, especially since the building is actually a sports arena with VERY high ceilings (probably 30'-40' high). We could see them flying around, but there was no way to catch them.

Suddenly the female crested flew back down and landed on the table besides us. Together, we and the vendor cornered her, and managed to catch her. YES! One down, two to go.

We waited and waited, but the other two didn't come back. Finally we had to leave (we're on a 3rd shift schedule and were already 3 hours late going to bed). We asked how much we owed, and it was $10 for the female crested. The vendor we bought the crested(s) from wasn't going to be there on Sunday, but all the other vendors said they'd be on the lookout for the remaining two escaped birds, and would call us if they were able to catch them.

We went home and got some sleep. No phone call. :-(

We hadn't intended to go back on Sunday, but thought we better, just in case they'd lost our number or something.

We got there, and were disappointed to hear that the birds hadn't turned back up. The doors to the fair are open most of the time, so most likely the birds found their way out.

I picked up a few more supplies while we were there. Some items had been discounted since it was the last day of the fair, so I saved a bit of money.

Then we went back home. We'd just laid down to go to bed, and the phone rang. It was one of the bird fair vendors. They'd caught the male crested! It landed on the table of the cage vendor, and they managed to catch it. They immediately gave it food and water, and it ate like a little piggy.

Robert threw his clothes on and hurried back to pick the little guy up. Robert normally doesn't care for cresteds, but thinks this one is adorable. (He paid one of the vendors for him, and they're going to pass the money along to the original vendor.)

So after a year of searching and a major mishap, I finally have two cresteds. YAY!

The little female from the first vendor never turned back up. I hope she at least made it outside where she might have a slight chance of survival, instead of being stuck in the huge empty building with no food or water.

Predicament #4 (April 1)

I bought some female societies, to pair up with some of my males. I'd bought 10 unsexed societies at the bird fair in Atlanta last time, and although you'd think roughly half would be male and the other half would be female, NINE of the ten turned out to be male. Gee!

The new female societies needed their toenails trimmed badly, plus I wanted to band them, so I started doing so when I got them home. On the very last one, I went to trim her toenails (DH was holding her), and I had the excess length in the clippers. Just as I was pressing the clippers, she suddenly jumped, and a second toenail managed to get inside the clippers just as they closed. It happened in just a split second. The second toenail got cut clean down to the toe, and blood was pouring everywhere! I FLEW to the kitchen to get some flour, and managed to stop the bleeding. WHEW. Both she and Robert's hand were covered in blood by the time it was over with. I felt so horrible! :-( I gave her some NV Powder just in case, and left her in the cage by herself to recuperate. This evening she seems no worse for the wear. :-) We moved her in with the other new societies a little while ago so she'd have some buddies. What a way to welcome her home, huh? Poor little thing.

Predicament #5 (around May 6)

One of my society babies got its foot tangled up in the nesting materials.  I normally use paper towels for this very reason, but bought some fibers specifically for birds at the bird fair, figuring the parents would like to build their own nests (at least partially).  No problem, right?  Well, these fibers are NOT safe for birds after all.  By the time I found the problem, the baby's foot had already had the circulation cut off for too long and it eventually lost its foot.  Grrr!  It'll adapt ... birds are very good at that, and it's doing fine ... but it's so unfair to the little guy/girl.  The package the nesting materials came in was just a plain plastic bag, so I don't know who manufactured/packaged it, and I don't know the seller's name, but they've been at several bird fairs.  You better believe I'll be having a discussion with them if they're at the next fair!  :-/  This isn't the first time I've had problems with "made-for-birds" products, either.  It seems that the things I make for my birds are so much safer!  I'll be trusting my own instincts and my own self better from now on.

No more predicaments!!! Sigh!!! ;-)

Nothing Yet!

I just peeked into the M/M society (foster) nest.  No hatchlings yet.  I didn't candle the eggs, but hopefully they're still okay.  The foster dads are incubating their little hearts out.  :-)

Sandy, one of my zebra finch females, became eggbound over the weekend.  With some extra calcium and some heat, she was finally able to pass the egg.  Since I had to move her around in order to get the heat lamp on her, I figured she'd most likely abandon the eggs in the nest, so I went ahead and moved the eggs to my M/M/M societies.  Didn't want to take any chances.  It's too soon to tell if they're viable, but I know for sure that they've mated (and mated and mated and mated!), so I figured the foster societies would be the eggs' best chance for survival (assuming they're viable).  I replaced Sandy's eggs with known-dud eggs so she wouldn't know I "stole" her eggs.  :-)

It's interesting that 2 of the 3 females I bought at the bird fair ... both from the same vendor ... have become eggbound ... one fatally.  :-(  The third female is one that escaped from the carrier, so I don't know if she would've had eggbinding problems or not.  Maybe it's just a coincidence.  The crested hen I bought from Mr. Barnett is doing fine, as are all my other hens, so I don't think it could be an issue of calcium deficiency.  (They're given calcium supplements and eggbread 1-4 times a week depending on whether they're laying eggs, plus they've got cuttlebones available 24/7.)

Interesting, to say the least.  :-/

Tossling :-(

Pearl and Smudge tossed their single hatchling.  It was too late when I found it.  :-(  It's fairly common for parents to not want to expend the time and energy to raise a single baby, so perhaps they'll have another clutch soon.

Cloud and Domino's two youngsters are growing like weeds. :-)

Two Viable Foster Eggs!

I just candled the zebra finch eggs that a M/M pair of my societies are fostering, and two of the eggs are viable! :-D I got to see something I'd never seen before:  one of the chicks actually moving around inside the egg. That was TOO COOL! :-)  The two viable eggs belong to Bambi & Bagel (marked "BB") and to Whisper & Creamsicle (marked with a dot).  One of the eggs has a tiny indention in it.  It's not a hole per se', but I'm a little concerned about it.

I probably won't candle them again since the primary foster dad (the one who's been doing the most incubating) got a little annoyed with me.  That's a good sign, though, that he's more likely to take excellent care of the chicks.  :-)

If everything goes well, a couple of little zebra chicks should be hatching in about a week! :-D

Some New Photos

Above:  Onyx (L) and her youngster, Diamond (R), who fledged a few days ago. Smudge is the dad, but I had to move him to a different cage because he started plucking Diamond.

Above:  Powder, who's almost regrown all of her feathers after her dad heavily plucked her and her brother. She's quickly becoming a lovely little lady!

Above:  Wocka, our red factor canary. He's actually a brighter color in person. The light behind him made the photo look washed out.

May 9 Update

Cloud and Domino tossed one of the chicks, but the other two are still doing fine.  It's not surprising, especially considering they're first-time parents.  Many, if not most, finches make mistakes at first, but letting them try is the only way they'll learn to care for their youngsters.  I often try to pair a new parent with an experienced parent so the new one can be "shown the ropes", but in this case, Cloud and Domino quickly bonded ... head over tail feathers for each other ... so I left them together.

Pearl and Smudge's single youngster is doing fine, as are the society babies.  One of the society moms is SUPER-protective of her nest, and has a royal fit if anyone gets too close.  She "allows" me to give them fresh food and water, but still sits in the nest and glares at me the whole time. LOL!  I'd much rather have a protective parent, of course, than one that's uninterested in the babies.  :-)

We lost one of the birds we'd bought at the bird fair.  She'd had problems with egg-binding ever since we brought her home, and even though we gave her a heat source and as much calcium as we could without overdosing her, she just couldn't pass those eggs.  :-(  It's just "one of those things".  Unfortunately there's not much else one can do with a finch.  Sometimes with larger birds, a vet can manually expel the egg ... a very delicate procedure that I wouldn't dare try myself ... but finches are so small that it would be difficult if not impossible.  :-(

Adoption Day

Today is a happy and sad day.  Eight of my birdies were adopted.  The pintail whydahs, Ash, Echo, Quartz, Tip, Popcorn, and Winter all went to live with a family in Rossville.  They have a 13-year-old autistic son, and the birds are going to be a surprise for him.  It sure is hard to let them go, but there's simply no way for me to keep them ALL.  The response my ad received was overwhelming, and except for the older pair on my Available For Adoption page, there's currently a wait list again. The wait time is at least 10-12 weeks at this point.

Cloud and Domino's three youngsters are all doing well.  Pearl and Smudge just welcomed a new youngster into the world.  Plus my society trios are caring for three youngsters too.  :-)

Third Egg Hatched! :-)

Cloud and Domino's third egg hatched!  That's 3 for 3, which is outstanding for first-time parents.  All are doing well so far, and hopefully will continue to do so. The chicks are pink with white fuzzies.  I can't wait to see what they look like when they're grown.  Cloud is white, and Domino is a black-cheek. :-)

Blackie and Quartz are being a bit fussy with each other now.  I may have to re-pair them.

Two New Zebra Finch Babies!

Two new zebra finch babies hatched yesterday, finally!  I'm hoping the third egg will hatch today.  The parents (Cloud and Domino) are young, and this is their very first time being parents, but so far, so good!  Sometimes first-time parents don't know how properly incubate, and even if the chicks hatch, sometimes they don't understand how to feed the chicks, so there's always a chance things could go wrong.  So far they've done an outstanding job. :-)

I moved Blackie in with a new mate yesterday morning since he was picking on his and Onyx's unweaned youngster, and Onyx is continuing to feed the baby.  Blackie and his new mate (Quartz) aren't totally crazy about each other yet, but hopefully they'll grow on each other.

Freckles and Copper are new cagemates as well.  They make a GORGEOUS pair, and they've already hit things off nicely with each other.  :-)

3 Dud Eggs, Not Sure Yet About #4

The eggs that were damaged/shaken (?) in transit weren't viable.  :-(  The fourth egg appears, so far, to be infertile, but I'm letting the societies incubate it for awhile longer to be sure.

On a brighter note, one of my society trios has at least one new hatchling.  They flat refuse to scoot over a smidge so I can peek, and of course I don't want to force them, so the exact number of chicks will have to remain a mystery for the time being.  I know for sure that they had at least 2 viable eggs. I'm hoping for some l'il crested babies!  :-)

One of my M/M society pairs is sitting on 2 viable eggs.  I candled them today and was able to see the little heartbeats.  :-)  Both are zebra eggs, but I misplaced the paper that told me which parents they belong to.  I'll have to find it.  They have 5 eggs total.  All were viable at one time, but one was punctured somehow, and the other two failed to develop to the "heartbeat" stage.  I suspect it happened because the two societies didn't incubate consistently at first.  My guess is that they incubated enough to start the development, but once they temporarily stopped incubating, the eggs got too cold and the development stopped.

Some of my zebras are on viable eggs, too.  I know of at least 7 good eggs at this point.  :-)

Onyx and Blackie's youngster fledged a couple of days ago.  The dad will need to be removed from the cage this morning.  He's started picking on the baby.  I have a new mate waiting for him, though.  :-)

If all goes well, I'll have several societies and zebras available for adoption soon.  :-)

The Eggs Arrived

The four eggs arrived yesterday.

Egg #1 had a pinprick-sized hole in it, and the contents were runny. I doubt the egg is any good, but I carefully patched it with a dab of Elmer's glue.

Eggs #2 and #3 had apparently been shaken up a bit too much along the way. They both have tiny air bubbles in them. Most birdkeepers say that eggs with air bubbles won't hatch, but a few have been successful. Also, both of the eggs' yolks seemed to be all the way in one end of the egg, as if the yolks had settled there. I'm not holding my breath on these.

Egg #4 didn't have tiny air bubbles, but again, the yolk seemed to have settled in one end of the egg. I feel like, if any hatch, it'll be Egg #4, but I'm not feeling very optimistic about any of them.

I moved the zebra eggs out from under my incubating societies, and replaced them with the four English zebra eggs. The other zebra eggs were moved to my "sort of incubating" pair of societies, one of which seems to be fully incubating now.

My other trio of societies' eggs should be hatching within a week or so, if not sooner. I tried to peek in the nest yesterday, but one of the hens flat refused to budge even when I raised the cage door (it's only inches from the nest). She bowed up at me with a threatening glare, and and DARED me to reach in. ROFL! I stopped immediately of course so I wouldn't upset her, but she sure was telling me a thing or two! he he Maybe I can catch her off the nest in the morning so I can get a quick peek of the eggs' status. Last time I candled them, two were good, and the others were too soon to tell either way.

Getting Male Society Finch Pairs/Trios To Foster

As mentioned in my previous post, I've got 3 society finch male pairs and trios setting up to foster. It's been hilarious watching their reactions to my adding an egg into their nests approximately once a day.

They'll both be singing (only the males can sing), when suddenly one of them will notice the egg. He'll fly to the edge of the nest, peer in, and turn his head every which way to study the new strange white object.

Then he seems to realize what it is. I imagine their conversation goes something like this:

DUDE!!! You told me you were MALE!!!

I *am* male!!! Didn't you hear me singing a minute ago?

But I didn't lay this egg. It had to be YOU! You've been lying to me! You're a female!

No, dude. You've got it all wrong. And besides, I KNOW I didn't lay that egg, therefore, it must've been YOU. You're the fibber!

Let's go study it, and maybe we can figure it out. If you didn't do it, and I didn't do it, there's gotta be a girl in here somewhere.

Okay, let's go.

(Both fly to the edge of the nest.)

See? Look. There's an egg.

Hey, you're right. But I swear I didn't do it!

Me neither. There must be a girl in here.

Not unless she's invisible, dude!

That must be it. She's invisible. (rolls eyes sarcastically)

What are we going to do about the egg?

I don't know. Let's ignore it for now and see what happens.

(Next day ...)

DUDE!!! There's another egg! You told me you were MALE!!!

(Repeat the same conversation for 3-5 days.)

Well, now there's 4 eggs in here. We can't just ignore them. That's not right. Our invisible girlfriend will be upset with us.

Okay, well, let's try sitting on them.

Ooof. Not very comfortable. And they're cold on my bum!

They'll get warm. Just stay put.

I'm hungry.

Well, go get some food, and I'll sit while you're eating. Then we can swap out.

Okay.

(Fast forward 14 days)

DUDE!!! There's a pink wiggly thing in here, and one of the eggs is missing! Did you take the egg, and swap it for this little alien?

;-)

This Is Going To Be Interesting ...

Occasionally members of a finch-related forum I belong to trade eggs. This gives everyone new bloodlines for only the cost of postage. The "catch" is that you have to have a foster pair or trio already incubating fake eggs, and swap them out for the real eggs as soon as they arrive. I'd mentioned that I'd like to have some eggs in the future, but that I didn't have any to trade right now, so I didn't really think much else of it.

Over the weekend, by total coincidence, I started setting up 2 pairs and 1 trio of my society finches to foster some abandoned zebra finch eggs. I've added a total of 4 eggs over 3-1/2 days, which simulates a hen's egg-laying pattern. The pairs and trio are all males, which is ideal because, since there's no hen, there are no additional eggs to deal with. Supposedly it can sometimes take males a bit longer to start incubation, but they're supposed to start within a few days. As of right now, I'm still waiting for them to SIT. One pair is thinking seriously about it. The other pair is "on the fence". And the trio wants nothing to do with the nest as of yet.

Well, someone from the forum e-mailed me two days ago and said he had some eggs to send me. I went ahead and agreed, since a) there's time for the male pairs and trio to start incubating, and b) as backup, I have another trio (M/F/F) in my bird room already incubating some foster eggs, and I'm 99% sure those eggs are all duds. I gave him my address so he could see how much shipping would be, thinking I had 3-4 days at least, by the time I paid him and he shipped the eggs via Priority Mail.

He e-mailed me yesterday.

He's already shipped them.

Via Express/Overnight Mail.

They'll be here today.

Gads. Where I can I put them???

I remembered that my "already on eggs" trio is incubating likely-dud zebra eggs, and thought, "That's where I'll put the new eggs!" Yay! So I went to candle them to be sure, and to my surprise, the societies have laid some eggs of their own in addition to the foster eggs. Gads.

The eggs aren't just normal eggs. They're English Zebra Finch eggs. English zebras are about twice the size of normal zebras, and are rare around here. I really don't want to lose them.

Unless my "sort of sitting" pair decides to put their l'il bottoms in the nest and KEEP them there, it looks like my "already on eggs" trio may end up incubating a double/mixed clutch. That's risky, because sometimes when birds see that some of the chicks are different-looking, they'll toss or abandon some or all of them.

I *may* replace the new society eggs from the "already on eggs" pair with the English zebra eggs, and move the society eggs to the nest of the "sort of sitting" pair, and cross my fingers and toes that they'll take over. None of the society eggs have candled as being viable as of yet, but it IS early.

Feels like I'm playing a game of "Musical Eggs"! :-/

Allergic! :-/

Well, apparently I've developed an allergy to cockatiels ... or at least, to cockatiels' feet! Every time I hold Storm, my hand breaks out in itchy red blotches. They go away after a couple of hours, but still. :-/

Edited 6/2/12 to add:  We've ended up having to find another home for the cockatiel.  The red splotches were getting to the point where I couldn't get him out of the cage at all, and with Robert working 12-hour shifts, the poor birdie wasn't getting much attention.  :-(  He's living with my sister and her husband now, so we can still see him whenever we want.  She's got a 12-year-old son who's had previous bird experience, so we feel like it's a good match.

Some New Pics

Above: Powder. Poor little thing and his/her brother got plucked by their dad the day they fledged. They're both re-growing the feathers, and will be beautiful again soon. :-)



Above: Storm in flight.



Above: Cloud in flight.



Above: Cloud in flight again.



Above: Storm



Above: Ash and Powder (the siblings that were plucked)



Above: Domino



Above: Cloud again



Above: Blizzard