Updates :-)

The hatchling is still doing okay. Its foster parents are feeding it "okay" (could be better), and I'm still supplementing as needed. They now have EIGHT eggs in the nest. I checked them all, and the older eggs aren't viable, which I expected. It's too soon to tell if the newer eggs are good or not.

In the meantime, Patches and Sugar's first clutch is doing fair. There were five eggs total, but one mysteriously vanished. They may have eaten it for the calcium. Another egg held a baby that apparently tried to hatch, but must have had problems. It didn't make it. :-( I found it in the seed tray, tossed from the nest. (That's how the parents keep the nest clean. Any deceased chicks must be removed, and the parents generally take care of it in a timely manner.) The third egg hatched and the chick seems to be doing well. The fourth egg hatched, but the chick died shortly afterwards. It was long and skinny, so there may have been something wrong with it. And the fifth egg hasn't hatched. It may be a dud; I haven't candled it. It's sad that some chicks didn't make it, but so far the one that did is doing well. I wish there was a way to skip the first clutch and go right to the second clutch, but it's the only way the parents will learn how to care for youngsters. Some new parents know exactly what to do, and others totally freak out when those round white things turn into little pink wiggly things.

Shelly and Ghost have two eggs, but may be expecting more since they're not yet incubating. Both of them are experienced parents.

The societies, spices, and stars in the double flight cage are all doing well. We had to remove the bronze winged mannikins. Despite their tiny size and supposedly passive personality, they'd started picking on the other finches and bullying them. They plucked the poor male star finch's chest something awful. :-( It was a JOB trying to catch them, as fast as they are, but between the two of us, we finally got them. They're now in a 30" breeder cage in the bird room. I don't know if they're a male and female, or if they're the same sex. I do know that they're both sleeping in the nest at night. :-)

That's all the news I have for the moment, but I'm sure there will be more birdy updates soon! :-)

Doing Much Better! :-)

The hatchling is doing MUCH better now, and the foster parents are feeding it! :-D It's crop was pretty full when I checked on it a little bit ago, but since I already had the handfeeding formula mixed up, I went ahead and topped it off. Its little mouth pops right open now! :-D Its eyes are open a smidge more, too, and I can tell that it's grown a bit. Assuming the foster parents keep taking care of it, I'm upping its chances to 90% now. :-D

Looking A Bit Better, But Still Iffy

The hatchling is doing better, but isn't out of the woods yet. Pearl and Smudge are keeping it warm, but definitely could be feeding it better. She laid another egg during the night, so now she's sitting on 7 eggs. :-/ I just handfed the baby myself, and it ate much better this time. I still had to force it a little, but once it got going, it was a little piggy. :-) Its eyes are just barely starting to peek open. I'm going to up its chances to 60/40 at this point. I may still end up taking over if the foster parents don't start feeding it better. We'll just have to see how it goes. :-)

An Iffy Situation :-/

A few days ago I mentioned that Whisper and Creamsicle had an egg to hatch virtually the same day that their single youngster fledged. They fed the baby at first, then increasingly started ignoring it. I've been handfeeding it as a supplement to their sporadic feedings, but yesterday they abandoned it completely. When I went to feed it, it was on its side, cold as ice. I touched it, and was surprised that it was still alive! I warmed it up in my hands, but it didn't want to eat. Finally I was able to get some food in the little guy by forcing its mouth open. Once its mouth was open, it would eat, but still wouldn't beg, probably because it was too weak. At least I got some food in it!

After I got the little fellow full, I knew I couldn't put it back with its parents since they'd abandoned it. Frostie, my normal foster mom, had a dud egg, but she'd given up on incubating it. She wouldn't accept the chick since the timing was off.

Pearl was my next choice. She and Smudge have successfully raised one clutch, and I'd separated them with a cage divider after she started plucking the almost-weaned chicks and the dad. The reason she was plucking is that she'd already started laying eggs again, and didn't want anyone near the nest. Those chicks are now weaned and in a cage of their own. Pearl currently is incubating several eggs, but I believe the eggs aren't viable. If they were good, the developing chicks would be visible by now. I took the divider out to let the pair back together, and slipped the abandoned chick into their nest. Luckily it's very small and is just barely starting to get pin feathers, so it looks a lot like a hatchling. Then I sat back and waited.

Pearl hopped into the nest, saw that "one of her eggs had hatched" ;-) and immediately started sitting on the chick to keep it warm. The dad looked in, studied the little bundle of joy a minute, then hopped into the nest box as well. So far, so good.

I checked on it during the night, and it was pink and wiggly, just as it should be.

I checked on it again a little bit again, and it's still doing well. They're not feeding it as much as I'd like to see, but I can supplement if it's not enough. I did hear it begging, so that's a good sign.

I'd give it a 50/50 chance at this point, assuming the foster parents take care of it properly and assuming it wasn't affected by getting too cold and hungry.

Although I could handfeed it on out (and will, if need be), it's very preferable to me that parents or foster parents do it. The handfeeding formula supposedly contains all the nutrients a chick needs, but from my experience, the chicks grow and develop more slowly than if the parents/foster parents feed them. I want my chicks to be as strong and healthy as possible. :-)

LOL!

Too funny! All of my new societies piled into this one nest to sleep! Believe it or not, there are 10 birds crammed into this nest! :-D (One has its head tucked behind its wing.)

Pics of New Birds

Above: Photo of several of the finches (click to enlarge)




Above: Star Finches (click to enlarge)

What We Got At The Atlanta Bird Fair

We got 10 society finches (6 of which are crested), 2 bronze wing mannikins, and 2 star finches. Here are some photos. They're having a BALL in the double flight cage! :-) Some more star finches are on the "want" list for the next bird fair.







Although we got some nice birds, I was pretty disappointed in the Atlanta fair overall. There weren't any more vendors there than at the Chattanooga fair, and some of the prices were higher. (Bags of food were $10+ more expensive!) Between the 4-hour round-trip drive and fighting Atlanta traffic, it really wasn't worth the time or gas. We had fun anyway, though, and I'm glad we got some pretty birds for my office/craft room. :-)

Atlanta Bird Fair! :-D

YIPPEE!!! We're going to the Atlanta Bird Fair in the morning. :-) I've decided to get some community finches to go in the double flight cage, rather than putting my zebras in it. I'm afraid the zebras will be too fussy, and it would be a royal pain to catch and remove the "troublemakers" from such a huge cage. I've got some extra zebras to rehome now anyway, so it'll work out just as well. We put the double flight cage in my office. It's in front of the mirrored closed door, so it looks even larger than it is. We've got lights to go on/it in and everything. :-) The parrotlet's cage and the cockatiel's cage are on top of it, so it's almost like an apartment complex. LOL!

I plan to get some society finches, some spice finches, and maybe some silverbill finches if they're not too expensive. We'll see how it goes! I've never been to a large bird fair before. We'll both probably be ooooh-ing and aaaah-ing over EVERYthing! :-)

Good Grief!

Whisper and Creamsicle's two-toned youngster fledged a couple of days ago. I went to remove the nest box to discourage them from starting a new clutch, and was SHOCKED to find not only some eggs, but a HATCHLING! It looks like they were "using" the older youngster to incubate, because they weren't staying in the nest all that much. I had no earthly idea another clutch was WELL under way! Based on its size, the new baby would have hatched roughly the same day that the older chick left the nest. Yikes! This is going to be interesting at best.

I'm not comfortable separating the mom and dad and letting mom take care of the hatchling and eggs, and letting dad take care of the older youngster, because last time I separated them, the mom abandoned the nest. They've already plucked the older chick's tail a bit. I guess I'll have to play this one by ear. The fledgling has a good 2-3 weeks to go before it's fully weaned. :-/

Never a dull moment!

The Youngsters Are Doing Fine :-)

I ended up having to separate Onyx, Blackie, and their fledgling. The mom was picking on the youngster, wanting him/her to "move along" even though it's not 100% weaned yet. So now the dad and youngster are on one side of the divider, and the mom is on the other side, with her nest box back in place. She's already laid 3 eggs. They sure are determined to breed, aren't they?

Pearl and Smudge's two youngsters are doing okay as well. They're still pretty bald, but their feathers are regrowing, and they're 99% weaned. Pearl has 2 or 3 eggs in the nest, on the other side of the divider.

Whisper and Creamsicle's chick is growing like crazy! I was able to get one last peek before it reached "startle stage", and it's turning out GORGEOUS. :-) One wing is still white, and the other is fawn. Its little noggin' was still bald. ha ha I probably won't be able to peek again until it fledges without the risk of causing it to leave the nest box in a panic. Poor Whisper is plucked, but I'm not comfortable with separating the parents because last time she abandoned the nest.

Freckles and Flower are on eggs. I'm not sure how many there are. I'm hoping to get some youngsters from Freckles, because he's the son of two of the very first zebra finches I ever had. :-) I gave my first four finches away in favor of getting some white ones, but kept Freckles. It would be neat to keep that line going. :-)

I'm hoping to get my non-breeders moved into the gigantic double flight cage this weekend. The last of my plastic plants is supposed to arrive tomorrow. It still needs a couple more perches, too, but it's almost ready. They're not going to know what to do with all that room! :-)

Pluckers! :-(

I just had to separate Pearl and Smudge and the youngsters. One of the parents plucked the heck out of the two fledglings while we were asleep, but I'm not 100% sure which parent it was. Since Smudge is the most plucked of the two parents, I'm thinking that Pearl is the instigator. I also found an egg in one of their food cups, so I'm betting they've already started a new family even though I took their nest box away awhile back.

So ... I put the divider in their cage with the dad and the two almost-weaned youngsters on one side, and the mom on the other side. I put the egg into a nest box, and put it on the mom's side of the cage so she can lay any remaining eggs in a more appropriate place.

Hopefully the dad will continue to feed the two youngsters until they're fully weaned, and with any luck, I should be able to put the two parents back together after that ... unless Pearl's decided she doesn't need any help.

Guess we'll just have to see how it goes. It's always SOMEthing, isn't it? LOL!

Some New Photos :-)

Above: Whisper and Creamsicle's baby, hatched approximately 1/23/12. Its wings are two different colors so far. One side is pure white, and the other is fawn. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out! :-) The other eggs weren't viable.



Above: Pearl (center), Smudge (right), and one of their two youngsters. I'll be glad when the youngsters are weaned. Both parents are plucking each other AND the babies, but since both are doing it, there's not really anything I can do until the youngsters are old enough to be on their own.



Above: Pearl and Smudge's other youngster



Above: Onyx and Blackie's baby, with black cheeks coming in. It's the one that fledged too early, but it's doing fine. :-)



Above: One of Frostie and Streak's two youngsters (hanging on the side of the cage).



Above: Frostie and Streak's little family. They've got a little plucking going on, too, but the youngsters are VERY close to being weaned and I'll be able to move them to their own cage soon. :-)