Happy Holidays! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. We have been without internet since Dec. 23! But we had a great Christmas anyway. The house was full with out of town relatives, and we really enjoyed each others company.
I apologize to anyone who has written to me, for the delay in getting a response. Today is the first chance I've had to get to an internet hot spot with my husband's laptop. I'll try to shoot out some brief emails while I'm here.
As for the budgies, Neil and Portia's chicks are available for homes. One has already gone. And Quinn and Opal's chicks are beginning to hatch. So far there are five of them, with 6 more eggs to go. (Pictures will have to wait until my home computer is back on line.)
December 15, 2011
Last week, I moved all of the chicks into a cage together, with no parents. It's been 8 days now, and they are all doing well. So it is pretty safe to say that they are fully weaned, and capable of living independently.
December 6, 2011
It's been four days, and there hasn't been any sign of trouble in Opal's nest box. The three older chicks are out of the box, and living in the main part of the cage. The younger one is still staying in the box with Opal and her eggs, and Opal seems to be tolerating that well. I just hope that the chick is not kicking the eggs around, which could addle them.
Quinn and the oldest three chicks:
In this photo you can see the color difference between the cobalt, on the left, and the sky blue, next to it. (Zoom your page in to 200% for a better view.)
In the other breeding cage, Neil wasn't going into the nest box to feed the chicks, and they weren't coming out. Now, I do supply seeds and millet in the nest boxes from the time the chicks are two weeks old, because that is the age where they will peck around in there and learn to eat. So I'm sure they had food to eat, but I wanted them to come out where I could keep an eye on them.
I decided to remove the nest box and put them into an ice cream container "igloo" on the bottom of the cage. For the first few days, they mostly stayed hiding in there. Eventually they did start coming out to sit on the perches.
Above, NP5. Below, left to right, NP6, NP7, and Neil
Here is an example (from a previous clutch) of an ice cream container igloo. You cut a hole in the end of it and fill the lid, which acts as the floor, with some seeds and some bedding. Then the chicks can go in there to hide from the parents, if necessary.
December 2, 2011
I've just added a new link to my links page, so I thought I would mention it here, as well, to let people know about it. It's to a Wikipedia article on the Clearflight Pied mutation. Here is the link: Click here
Also, in my budgie nests, Opal has now started laying a new clutch of eggs. Since I really want to find out what she and Quinn will produce, I am going to let her have a "second" round. (Her first round of eggs were all clear, and the chicks she's raising now aren't really hers, they're Portia's.)
So I will be keeping an eye on Opal, to make sure she's not attacking the chicks. At the first sign of a problem, I will move the chicks out of the nest box and try putting them in an ice cream "igloo", on the floor of the cage. If that doesn't work out, I will move the chicks to a cage of their own. They are old enough to eat on their own now, so if I do separate them from their foster parents, I'll just keep an eye on them to make sure they are doing OK.
Since I took Portia out of her breeding cage on Wednesday, I don't think Neil has been feeding those chicks. But each time I check on them, they do have food in their crops. Not as full as Portia was keeping them, but enough for me to know that they are actually eating. I'll let them stay in there with Neil until December 7th, and then separate them. Those three youngest chicks should then be ready to go to homes by December 14th, providing things go along according to plan.
November 30, 2011
Neil and Portia's youngest three chicks are now between 3 1/2 and 4 weeks old. They are starting to poke their heads outside their nest box.
Portia must have decided it was time to start a new clutch, because she has laid a new egg in the nest box.
I, on the other hand, have decided that Portia doesn't need to go for a second round of breeding. It's at this time, when the mother is starting to lay new eggs, that the chicks may be in danger of being chased out of the nest box. So to prevent Portia from laying more eggs, and also from attacking the chicks, I have moved her out of the breeding cage. From now on, Neil will be in charge of feeding the chicks on his own.
Above photo, top to bottom: Goldenface cobalt opaline dominant pied, goldenface sky blue opaline, and goldenface cobalt opaline greywing.
Here are the three older parent raised chicks that are still for sale, hanging out on top of the curtains. The one on the left is fully flighted, and he can go up there on his own. But the other two have clipped wings, so they can only go up there to play if I lift them up.
November 27, 2011 (3:35 PM)
We have just got back on line!
As of Thursday, our internet service has been out. Frontier said it was due to some switch they made, and nobody's routers were going to be able to work. Their service tech said that he spent the entire weekend (including Thanksgiving) installing new modems for those customers who called to complain. Great Forward Thinking, Frontier, especially to plan it for a holiday weekend!
So anyway, if you sent us an email, and haven't heard back in the past 3 or 4 days, this is why. Now that we are back on line, we will be answering those emails as soon as possible.
I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving holiday!
November 21, 2011
Chick number one, goldenface cobalt opaline
It's hard to believe that the oldest chick is three and a half weeks old already! By this time next week, he will probably be out of the nest box.
This clutch has been a hard one to determine genders. I usually look for pale whiteness in the cere, to indicate female, and dark pink to indicate male. Well, all seven of these chicks seemed to have very pale whitish ceres when they were first hatched. I wasn't sure if I had a rare incidence of an all female clutch, or whether I just had a group that was hard to tell.
As they are getting older, a few of them are starting to look like boys after all, like chick number one to the left here. So even if you know what to look for, it can still be hard to tell at first.
Here is chick number two. I believe this one is a dominant pied, but I also think that it might be a recessive pied as well. The reason I think so is because dominant pied usually removes the markings in a set pattern, and recessive pied removes the markings in a random, spotty pattern. This chick has the completely clear lower wings you would expect from a dominant pied, but where it's markings on the upper half appear, there seems to be a lot of spottiness.
The budgie genetics experts would probably say that without test breeding for proof, we won't really be able to know just by looking at the bird.
But we can get some clues based on what its parents and
siblings look like and produce.
I'm pretty sure that Neil, the father, is split to recessive pied. He has what is known as the "recessive pied spot" on his head. That is supposed to indicate that a bird may be carrying a single copy of the recessive pied gene. (He would need to have TWO copies, however, in order for recessive pied to be visible.)
Which means that in order for this chick to be a visual recessive pied, the mother, Portia, must also give it a copy. Because Portia is either dominant pied or clearflight pied (I'm not sure which) and each of those comes with its own pied spot on the head anyway, then I am unable to tell about her having the telltale "head spot".
So I will be looking for signs of recessive pied among the other chicks. There are a couple that I am keeping my eye on, but they are still too young to tell.
NP3, sky blue opaline normal (normal meaning not goldenface and not pied and not greywing)
NP6, goldenface opaline greywing normal (Here normal means not pied.)
NP7, goldenface opaline dominant pied (not greywing, its markings are the normal black)
November 16, 2011
The chicks are getting more feathers, and more colorful. Since they are all opalines, they will all have body color running through their wings. That's the part where I'm seeing the most color right now. Their bodies don't really have a lot of color yet.
November 12, 2011
Neil and Portia's chicks are at the stage where they are changing daily, so I thought I better get some photos of them before they are all grown up! It's a fun stage, because each time I check the nests, I am looking for any signs of what their colors and mutations are. So far I'm seeing yellowface, pied, cobalt, and MAYBE greywing. The littlest one still doesn't even have a speck of a hint, so far.
November 11, 2011
I don't know why I didn't think of mentioning this before, but for anybody who is interested in bird things, The Central Indiana Caged Bird Club is holding their Bird Fair THIS Sunday, November 13, at the Knights of Columbus Hall, in Greenwood.
There will be vendors selling all kinds of bird items from food and treats to toys and cages. And there are always several different interesting types of birds for sale, as well.
The CICBC web site has some information about their fairs, and a map to find the location. Click here to visit CICBC.
November 9, 2011
I just loved the feet in this picture, so I just had to post it!
November 5, 2011
Today's update comes with photos! I finally took some pictures of the new hatchlings in Opal's and Portia's nests.
These are Neil and Portia's oldest four chicks. They are being raised by Quinn and Opal. Opal is a very protective mother, and often won't leave the nest box when I am checking on them. She even threatens me with a loud "aack" noise, and pretends to bite me. (She is very gentle, though.)
She's been a great mother, and these four chicks are always very well fed.
Maybe when she's done raising these chicks, she will be able to have some babies of her own.
This is chick number one. Judging by the pigment on it's wings, it is not a pied. It has a female cere.
Here are chicks 5-7. They are the ones staying with Portia, their real mother.
I was planning to leave five chicks with Portia, but as it turns out, two of the eggs did not have viable chicks in them.
One egg was just infertile, and the other egg, the one showing in the photo, looks like a chick may have been starting to grow, but only half way. Half of that egg is a big air bubble.
I doubt if that egg is still alive, but I am leaving it in the nest until its due date comes, just in case.
But it looks like Portia will only be raising 3 chicks.
Also today, Aramis and Athena's third chick went to his home.
November 4, 2011
An update is long overdue, but I don't have any photos to go with it. In the past week, Portia's eggs have begun hatching. There are six so far, and the oldest four have been fostered into the nest box of Quinn and Opal. I plan to leave the youngest five with Portia.
Both mothers have been great feeders, and the chicks are growing fast. The oldest one even has its leg ring on already.
October 27, 2011
Now that the hand raised chicks are down to one feeding a day, I finally decided to move them up to the family room.
They were afraid of the strange environment at first, and didn't eat for the first day. They all lost about a gram of weight.
But now they have adjusted, and are eating again and gaining that gram back.
This is exactly what happens when they leave here and move to a strange new home with their owners. Except that they probably adjust faster here, because they are with other birds.
This is the main reason why I make sure that each chick can eat well on its own before it can be sold. They not only have to be able to maintain their body weight, but they have to have some reserves for that first day or two when they don't eat.
In today's photo, the four hand-raised chicks that are left, along with their parent-raised sister, are hanging out in their new room.
October 26, 2011
Flynn and Finnie's oldest two chicks have come out of the nest box. They are both cobalt dilute boys who look the same, like this one on the left.
I was expecting to get either greywings or clearwings, so I was surprised at the paleness of the chicks. Most of them in this nest appear to be dilutes.
There is still the possibility that they are greywings, and that their color will darken a little when they molt. But if they were clearwings, their body color would already be a lot darker than this.
In the other nests, Aramis and Athena's chicks are almost all fully weaned. Two of the oldest have already gone to their homes.
Neil and Portia have 9 fertile eggs, and the first one is due to hatch any day now.
Quinn and Opal have laid 7 eggs, but upon candling them, they don't appear to be fertile. But if Opal doesn't have any chicks of her own, I might be able to get her to raise some of Portia's for her.
October 22, 2011
Took a couple of new photos of Finnie's chicks today. On the left is chick #2, and on the right is chick #3. These are the two girls, and we will definitely be keeping them. We haven't decided yet about the boys.
October 21, 2011
This is Inko, Aramis and Athena's eighth chick. Every time I come near his cage, he wants me to get him out. So he does everything he can to get my attention.
Here he is upside down, practically tring to squeeze his way through the bars!
October 20, 2011
Chick 4
I've had an interesting surprise in Finnie's nest box! As the fourth and sixth chicks have continued to develop, I have noticed that their markings are not normal, like the others.
They look like they are going to be recessive pied chicks. What that means is that both parents must be carrying the hidden gene for recessive pied, and the gene got doubled up in these two chicks.
I'm sure Flynn got the gene from his mother, Teagan. But I had no idea that Finnie was carrying it.
Chick 4 is on the left, and you can see that it has white spots around its shoulders. It also has some other clear areas around its wings and body. Chick 6, below, doesn't have regular feathers yet, but as the pin feathers are coming in, you can see that they have a random pattern of dark and white areas.
I'm pleased, because I will be able to use chick 4 for my yf2 recessive pied spangle goal.
Chick 4
Chick 6
October 14, 2011
I finally got around to taking some pictures of Flynn and Finnie's chicks.
Here is the oldest one.
Here is the youngest one.
And here are the ones in between.
In this clutch, since the father is opaline and the mother isn't, that means that all of the female chicks will be opaline, and all of the male chicks will not be opaline. So that is how I can tell males from females, once they start getting feathers on their wings.
A chick that is not opaline will only have black and white or black and yellow stripes on it's wings. (Or grey and white, in the case of greywings like these.) Opaline causes body color (sky blue, cobalt, violet, etc.) to appear on the wings. It also causes the stripes to be smudgy looking.
On the chicks above, the color isn't very detectable on the wings, but you can see that the one on the left has smudgy markings and the one on the right has more clearly defined lines. And if you look at the oldest one way up at the top, you can see that his stripes on his head and his shoulder are more defined, as well.
In the photo below, you can see that the two on the upper left are males (not opaline), the two on the upper right are females (opaline), and the one on the lower right is male (not opaline). Chick six at the bottom there is too young to tell.
All six of them.
October 11, 2011
Here are Aramis and Athena's chicks number 6-8 in their baby brooder. They are acclimated to normal room temperature now, and are also getting used to having no blanket covering them, blocking out the light.
They also have fruit and vegetables included in their daily food, so that they can get used to eating a varied, nutritious diet.
Left to right, chick 9, chick 1, chick 2 and chick 4.
October 5, 2011
These are Flynn and Finnie's chicks. Finnie laid a total of nine eggs, but one of the chicks died before it hatched, and two of the eggs were infertile (didn't have a chick growing in them). So now they have six chicks.
Because the first five chicks hatched in a row, and then there was a gap while the three bad eggs did not hatch, that meant that chick number 6 was born a whole week after chick number 5.
You can see how much they have grown, and how tiny the sixth chick is in comparison.
Here you can see how tiny chick six is, compared to the older siblings.
For comparison purposes, here are chicks 6, 5 and 1. They are one day old, one week old, and two weeks old. Each chick grows a lot every day, so you can see what a difference each week makes in their development.
October 2, 2011
Today the four oldest chicks graduated from their brooder into a real cage.
September 30, 2011
Here is a photo of Aramis and Athena's four oldest chicks in their brooder. I have turned off the heat source, so that they can become accustomed to room temperature, and I have raised the blanket part way, so that their eyes can adjust to regular lighting.
They also now have a variety of foods available to eat, and I am finally seeing them starting to nibble at those.
The oldest chick, Dagwood, learned how to fly today. Taking off was easy for him, but it took a couple of crash landings before he figured out how to land!
More brooder photos:
Now for some photos of Flynn and Finnie's chicks.
Here are the first five. There are still three more eggs that might hatch.
Chick number two
Chick number four
Chick number one
The third chick was born with plum colored eyes. That means that she is a cinnamon, and from these parents, it also means that she is a cinnamon opaline greywing. She will be staying here with me!
Chick number five
September 28, 2011
Aramis and Athena's second oldest chick
A lot has been happening in the last week. The older chicks in the brooder are almost fully feathered now, and soon they will be able to move to a regular cage. They are still being fed hand feeding formula, and so far, they have shown very little interest in learning to eat seeds. It may take quite some time before they are ready to wean.
Now that they are feathered up, I can tell what their mutations are, and which ones will be for sale. Soon I will be adding their photos to the "Budgies Available For Sale" page.
The third chick
The fourth chick
This is the eighth chick.
I have also pulled out three more chicks from Aramis and Athena's nest for hand feeding. They are in a separate brooder from the older ones, because of the gap in their ages. They will be on a later schedule for weaning and graduating out of their brooder.
That leaves only these two chicks for Aramis and Athena to raise on their own. They are chicks number 5 and 9. They are both greywing dominant pieds, and if I am lucky, at least one of them will turn out to be the boy I am looking for to keep.
This is the oldest chick, who I'm already sure is a boy, and I've named him "Dagwood".
There has also been a lot going on in Flynn and Finnie's nest, and I have a lot more photos of their chicks, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Or the next time I get a chance to write an update.
September 20, 2011
These are Aramis and Athena's oldest four chicks. I have been busy hand feeding them, which is why I have been slow to keep my on-line journal updated. (Sorry)
Here they are in their brooder, which is a small glass aquarium with a heating pad under part of it. It is lined with paper towels, and they have a toy monkey to cuddle with. I keep it covered with a blanket, to keep the heat in and the light out. (It would always be dark in a normal nest box.)
Here are Aramis and Athena's youngest five chicks, who are all still being raised by their parents. Nine chicks is a huge clutch, and larger than any I've had before. It's a good thing I am helping Athena by feeding the oldest four!
September 9, 2011
This is Aramis and Athena's clutch. They have 7 chicks so far, with two more eggs to hatch! Both parents are in the nest feeding the chicks, and so far they have been doing an excellent job.
The oldest chick is 11 days. Compared to the second chick, it has much more markings on its wings.
This is the second chick, which is 10 days old. You can see that the grey areas of the skin are a lot smaller. I think this one is going to be a dominant pied.
June 24, 2011
These are the very last of the spring chicks, Kevin and Alaina's second clutch. I'm keeping all five. They are three spangles and two normals. And three of them are also cinnamon wings. They are all split to recessive pied.
June 23, 2011
A big welcome to some new members of our flock, who arrived here today!
On the left, is Skye, a female sky blue opaline dominant pied, and next to her his Robbie, who is a dark or olive green opaline greywing. (Robbie's name is being changed to "Oliver", because I just can't get my brain to remember "Robbie".)
Below is Wendell, a light green normal budgie. The light green normal budgie is the original "wild type" budgie that is native to Australia. All of the other colors and mutations that exist in budgies came about in captivity, and were developed by breeders. Believe it or not, Wendell is the first completely "normal" budgie that I've ever had!
May 24, 2011
Here is a photo of some of the chicks who are waiting to go to their homes.
May 22, 2011
My sister is a jewelry design artist. I sent her some feathers from my birds, and look what a beautiful piece she has made from them!
The last of the older set of chicks went home today, and also the first of the younger set. It occured to me that people might want to make the biscuit recipe I feed my budgies, so I'm adding it to here. Maybe someday I will make a page just about the foods I feed the birds.
It's hard to get a photo showing the stomachs of the baby budgies. Until they learn how to perch, all they want to do is snuggle down flat, like the cinnamon wing boy on the left.
In order to get the shot, I had to hold him up myself.
This sky blue normal chick is a day older than the other one, and he has just figured out how to climb up and perch.
May 3, 2011
Here are a couple photos of the older two clutches, ready and waiting to go to their new homes! The first one will be leaving tomorrow afternoon.
May 2, 2011
I thought I would show some photos comparing some of the different types of mutations. Below are a normal cinnamon chick, a spangle cinnamon chick, and a normal spangle chick. You can see how the two cinnamon chicks have brown wing markings. You can also see how the spangle gene removes much of the markings, so that it looks like each feather just has a thin strip of color. The brown strips of color on the normal chick's feathers are much more filled in, in comparison. (All three of these chicks are reserved.)
Normal cinnamon above, spangle cinnamon below. The spangle gene removes some of the color from the wing feathers
Now there is a normal spangle in with them. In this case, normal means that her wing markings are black, like a normal budgie, but the spangle gene has removed much of the black.
Note how the spangle chick's feathers are mostly white, whereas the normal chick's feathers are mostly brown.
Here are just the two spangles. The normal (black winged) one is at the top, the cinnamon wing is at the bottom.
April 29, 2011
Kevin and Alaina's 4th chick, at 18 days old
I've noticed that when the chicks start feathering up, one of the first places that you can see what color they will be is their tail. The one on the right is going to be a violet budgie.
April 27, 2011
Ariel and Kelpie's clutch. Ages ranging from about 2 to 3 weeks.
Well, it's hard to believe that I haven't posted a new update in 5 days! I've been kept pretty busy with bird related things lately, since the older chicks need more time with their hand taming, yet the younger chicks are now getting to the hand taming stage as well.
In about one more week, the older ones will be ready to go to their homes. Then maybe I'll have more time to get to the non-bird related jobs, like gardening. Those weeds outside are growing like, well, weeds!
I'm keeping several of the chicks in this photo. Once the people who have reserved a hand tame chick choose theirs, then I will post what are left as non-tame birds available for sale.
I love photos of pin feathers! This is Popcorn, the creamino girl.
April 22, 2011
A lot going on today.
Kevin and Alaina's 4th chick is old enough now to see that it has a spangle tail!
Ariel and Kelpie have a 2nd yellowface for me. Now if only the genders of the spangles and yellowfaces will match up!
I also have another female violet opaline, in Ariel and Kelpie's clutch.
AND, today was moving day for the older chicks. Four of Mystery and Nelly's chicks have moved upstairs to a regular cage, along with their mother. (Mystery and the other two chicks stayed in the breeding cage.) Aveline needed to be removed from her chicks. She appeared to be over the whole mothering thing. So her oldest chicks, which had already fledged, have been moved to a cage of their own, and the youngest three have been left in the nest, with their father, so he can continue feeding them.
Here are some photos from today:
Kevin and Alaina's 4th, with clear tail pins
Ariel and Kelpie's 4th chick's tail in the morning
More shots of chick 4, the violet opaline
Ariel and Kelpie's 5th, with the yellow barely showing in the morning. By evening, the yellow was more obvious.
And the same chick's tail in the evening. Noticeably different, in one day.
Nelly and 4 of her chicks
April 20, 2011
Some photos of Ariel and Kelpie's entire clutch.
April 19, 2011
This is Ariel and Kelpie's third chick, the albino. She has turned out to be a yellowface, so we can call her a "creamino".
And since I want a yellowface from this pair, I am keeping her, and her name is Popcorn.
April 18, 2011
Here is a photo of Kevin and Alaina's clutch.
The third oldest chick is a cinnamon. You can start to tell that it looks a little bit more brown than the others. It is the chick on the top left of the photo.
The oldest three are starting to get their tail pin feathers, and the color of those is how we can tell if they are spangle or not. On a spangle chick, the two middle tail pins will be clear.
The following three photos show that chick number one has clear tail pins, and is spangle, and chicks number two and three look like they are normals.
The two youngest chicks don't have their tail pins in yet, so we are keeping our fingers crossed!
Kevin and Alaina's oldest chick, showing clear pin feathers in the tail
The second chick has black tail pins, so it is not a spangle
Even though they are barely discernable on the third chick, they definitely look dark.
April 17, 2011
Today's photo is Ariel, the father of box 5. Who says the chicks have to get all the air time?
(Actually, I haven't taken any new photos in a couple of days. Maybe I'll get some chick photos later on.)
April 16, 2011
Candled the remaining eggs today. Ariel and Kelpie had one egg left, and it was clear (infertile). So they have a total of 7 healthy chicks.
Kevin and Alaina have 3 eggs left, and they are all past their due dates. Two of the eggs look like a chick started to develop, but then never grew to fill the shell. Those eggs have large air pockets in them. I do not expect them to hatch.
The third egg looks like a fertile egg that could hatch, if the chick inside is even alive. I will leave all three of those eggs in the nest for a few more days, and then candle them again. Once they are well past the last due date, I will throw them out. So I expect that Kevin and Alaina will only have 5 chicks to raise, 6 if I'm lucky and the last one hatches.
April 15, 2011
I want to make a HUGE apology to anyone who has tried to contact me through my form on this website. It has come to my attention that the form is not forwarding messages to my email, and I did not know I had any messages. The Weebly help article has shown me how to check what messages were sent, and I have found TWENTY SEVEN messages from many of you who have visited my site. You have my sincerest apologies, and I intend to respond to each one of you to apologize personally.
I guess, since I am new to having a website, I just assumed I wasn't getting much traffic. I have received two of the 27 messages, one from Judy, and one from my sister. So I was under the impression that I was getting them, but that there just weren't many.
In the meantime, since I can't trust the message function that Weebly has set up, I am adding my cell phone number and my email address as alternate ways of getting in touch with me. Thank you to everyone who has looked at my website.
April 14, 2011
Ariel and Kelpie's 7th chick
Two new chicks this morning! Ariel and Kelpie have had a second albino chick, and Kevin and Alaina have their 3rd plum eyed chick.
The photo on the left is a good example of what a female cere looks like on hatching. It is much paler than a male cere would be. (We know this one is female, because albino is a sex-linked gene, passed from father to daughter.)
The photo on the lower left is a good example of a male cere, which is a dark pink that matches the chicks skin.
The difficulty in telling the gender lies in whether the lighting is good, and also whether you are looking while the chick is flushed, with extra blood running to the cere, or the opposite, where the blood has rushed away from the cere. I believe this causes the same chick to look female one day, and male the next. Too bright of lighting will make any chick look female. The larger chick in the lower right photo looks like it could go either way, based on that photo. The lamp is highlighting part of the cere, making it look a little paler, but overall, the color looks solid pink to me. Looking at my previous notes, I had that one written as a possible boy, so it must have looked dark pink to me before.
The newly hatched chick below happens to be a darker pink all over, which may be from the exertion of hatching, so I am keeping an open mind on whether it's cere is really that pink, or whether it may turn pale, once the chick calms down.
Kevin and Alaina's 5th chick
Kevin and Alaina's oldest and youngest
April 13, 2011
The albino chick (Ariel and Kelpie chick #3) is big enough to get her leg ring.
Was expecting some chicks to hatch today, but they didn't. Maybe tomorrow.
I've also rung their 4th chick, and several of Kevin and Alaina's.
April 12, 2011
Chick 1
Some blue chick photos.
I'm keeping chicks 3, 6 and 7, so that's why there are no photos of them. I don't spend a lot of time handling them, since they are not destined to be tame. But I suppose I should take their pictures anyway, just for my records.
The chicks in these photos are all girls, by the way.
Chick 2
Chick 4
Chick 5
Chick 1 again
April 11, 2011
Kevin and Alaina's 4th chick has hatched. It is another plum eyed one.
Ariel and Kelpie have had their 6th chick hatch. It has normal black eyes. The two oldest now have their leg rings on, but they were hatched on the same day, so I don't know if I numbered them in proper order. Not that it matters.
April 10, 2011
Mystery and Nelly's chicks 1 and 3
Cute photo of the day. It's those twins again. I guess I just think they are photogenic! I should work on getting some pics of the blue chick nest.
April 9, 2011
Ariel and Kelpie's 5th chick hatched. It has normal black eyes.
April 8, 2011
Today's chicks of the day. These two bothers are the same color and mutation, and look like twins! (They are dark green greywings.)
Mystery and Nelly's oldest chick, 25 days old
Mystery and Nelly's third chick, 24 days old
April 7, 2011
Two new chicks have hatched today. Now Kevin and Alaina have three, and Ariel and Kelpie have four.
Kevin and Alaina's 3rd chick, in front. It has plum eyes, which means it is cinnamon.
All four of Ariel and Kelpie's chicks.
April 6, 2011
Kevin and Alaina's 2nd chick, alongside its older sibling
Exciting news from the bird room this morning! Two new hatchlings, and one of them has pink eyes, so she's an albino! (Or she might be a yellowface albino, which is called creamino.)
Ariel and Kelpie's first three chicks. The pink eyed one is on the lower right.
A better view of the pink eye.
April 5, 2011
Ariel and Kelpie have had their first chick hatch, now, too! And it is well fed. Good job, Kelpie!
And later in the day, Ariel and Kelpie's 2nd chick hatched!
Chick of the day: RA number 4. She is a violet opaline.
April 4, 2011
Kevin and Alaina's first chick has hatched, right on schedule! I'll be looking for plum eyes in this nest, but the first one appears to be normal (black).
Ariel and Kelpie's first chick is due tomorrow.
I'm still working on genders for the older chicks, but there are a couple who seem more friendly and outgoing than the others, so they are good candidates for hand taming.
April 2, 2011
Today's chick pics.
Mystery and Nelly's 4th chick
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Mystery and Nelly's 5th chick
April 1, 2011
Here is a photo of the other clutch. (Riley and Aveline's) I want to keep two boys out of this nest. The largest, whitest one in the middle will be staying, but the rest have to develop a little more first. I think the dark one on the top left is a girl.
The two hens on eggs didn't lay any 9th eggs yesterday, so perhaps they, too, will be stopping at 8.
March 31, 2011
Mystery and Nelly's clutch
The chicks are getting bigger. At this point, I am socializing all of the older ones, since I'm not sure yet which ones will be chosen for hand-taming. There are a few that I'm thinking of keeping, and once I have a better idea whether they are boys or girls, I will be able to make my decision.
Riley and Aveline's 3rd and 4th chicks
March 30, 2011
The chicks have been developing a lot, as far as down feathers and regular feathers (called pin feathers when they first come in and are covered in a sheath, which looks something like the ends of a shoelace). I went to get some photos of them, and I found that my son has taken my camera to school today. So pictures will have to wait until tonight.
Mystery and Nelly's 3rd chick
An escapee!
March 29, 2011
Riley and Aveline's 8th chick didn't survive the night. Even though I gave it a hand feeding before bedtime. Sometimes this happens when a hen has so many mouths to feed, that she doesn't notice (or decides not to notice) the youngest one. I'm keeping my eye on chick #7, because he seems a little underfed, too. Helping Aveline out with some supplemental feedings for all the chicks will be a good idea, at this point.
In other nests, Alaina and Kelpie now each have 8 eggs!
March 28, 2011
Riley and Aveline's 8th chick is here! I'm very happy. That means no DIS for this nest.
Donovan and Teagan had all infertile eggs, so I have taken them out of the breeding cabinet and put them back into the flight cages. If they had raised a clutch of chicks, I would have given them a rest before putting them back with the other birds. But all they have been doing is sitting around in a nice cage eating all the good food they could want, so I don't feel that they need a rest!
Riley and Aveline's chicks are still messy, but tonight's shots are a little better.
RA chick 1 wing, the sheaths on the pin feathers are beginning to rub off, revealing the tips of the feathers
Chick 1 face. Black on the beak is common for babies. It will fade away.
RA chick number 3
Chick one's tail. See how the blue color is starting to show.
Riley and Aveline's second chick
Chick 3 again. You can see its red ear. That won't be visible anymore, once the feathers come in.
And here's the fourth chick.
March 27, 2011
Alaina and Kelpie have each laid a 7th egg. Most of the eggs look fertile.
Mystery and Nelly, chick #1
It looks like there might be some green coming in on this chick's wing. That would indicate opaline. It looks kind of dark for a greywing, but we'll have to wait and see. (MN chick #3)
I'm not putting up any photos of Riley and Aveline's chicks today, because Aveline is a very messy feeder, and both she and her chicks are covered in dried food. So the photos came out bad. Hopefully she will clean them up some, because apart from picking dried stuff off of them here and there, I can't really give them any kind of a bath.
March 25, 2011
Evening update: Aveline's 7th chick hatched! Only one more left to hatch in that nest. Alaina and Kelpie have each laid a new egg. They have 6 apiece, now.
Some photos of the chicks as they grow.
Aveline must be split to greywing, in order to produce any greywing chicks, because it has to come from both parents in order to show.
Riley and Aveline's 7th chick tries to hide under its siblings.
Riley and Avelines' oldest, 12 days,
looking like a normal cobalt
Riley and Aveline's second, 11 days, looks like a greywing
3rd chick, 9 days old
4th chick, 8 days old
Mystery and Nelly's oldest, 11 days, green greywing
Mystery and Nelly's second, also 11 days, another greywing, but with less yellow showing, so perhaps a yf2
3rd chick, 10 days old, green greywing again
4th chick, 9 days old
Since there were no plum eyes in this nest, Mystery must not be cinnamon. That makes him a greywing, and so all chicks will be greywings.
March 23, 2011
Riley and Aveline's 6th chick.
Riley and Aveline's 6th chick has hatched. 2 more to go in that nest.
Mystery and Nelly should have had a chick hatch yesterday, and as of today, it still hasn't hatched. That particular egg probably never will. That is called Dead in Shell, of DIS. If another chick hatches tomorrow, that would be on schedule for the 8th and final egg to hatch.
I will, however, keep the "7th" egg in the nest box for a while, just in case. Sometimes they are just late.
M & N oldest chick, at 9 days
Now for a few photos of Mystery and Nelly's oldest chicks. You can see the difference between their down feathers, how it has grown in just a little bit more on each older chick than it has on each next youngest one.
Same chick, face view.
M & N second chick, also 9 days old
Face view of second chick
The pin feathers coming in are yellow, so this chick will be a green series. (Chick 2)
Chick 3 back view. See how he is 'balder'?
Chick 3's face
March 22, 2011
Mystery and Nelly's chicks
The chicks are growing, and beginning to get down feathers. At this point, there will be noticeable differences every day.
Down feathers coming in on Mystery and Nelly's oldest chick.
I would lay odds that this one is a greywing, based on the paleness of the pigment coming in on the wings. This would be another piece of evidence to indicate that Mystery might be a greywing, and not a cinnamon wing, after all. The conclusive evidence will be if one of these turns out to be a girl. If Mystery turns out to be a greywing, then 100% of these chicks will be greywing.
March 21, 2011
Pairs 3 and 5 have each laid a new egg today.
March 20, 2011
Riley and Aveline have 5 chicks.
Pairs 2 and 4 have each had a chick hatch today.
Mystery and Nelly have 6 chicks
March 19, 2011
Pair 1: Has 4 eggs.
Pair 2: Banded chick #2.
Pair 3: Has 4 eggs.
Pair 4: Banded 2 oldest chicks.
Pair 5: Has 3 eggs.
March 18, 2011
Mystery and Nelly have a 5th chick this morning.
#5 appears to be another black-eyed male. Perhaps Mystery is a greywing, after all, and not cinnamon.
March 17, 2011
Riley and Aveline's chick #4, with head facing to the bottom of photo
Alaina has laid a 3rd egg and Kelpie has laid a 2nd.
A fourth chick has hatched in Riley and Aveline's nest.
You can see in the photo at left, that the youngest chick hasn't been fed yet. there is no whitish lump of food showing under the skin, where the neck ends.
March 16, 2011
Riley and Aveline's 3rd chick
Chicks are hatching left and right! Both nests had a new chick in them this morning. That makes 3 for Riley and Aveline, and 4 for Mystery and Nelly. (I missed the photo op for Nelly, because I was more concerned with checking whether she was feeding her chicks.)
And in fact, she has fed all four chicks, so everything is looking good there.
All four of Mystery and Nelly's chicks have black eyes, which indicates that they are not cinnamon. With these parents, all girl chicks will be cinnamon, so that means that all four of these chicks must be boys.
Donovan and Teagan now have 3 eggs.
March 15, 2011
Mystery and Nelly have a 3rd chick! Chicks number 1 and 3 have been fed, but chick #2 appears to have an empty crop. So I have given that chick two supplemental feedings today, one in the morning and one in the evening. Fingers crossed that Nelly will take over the feeding of this chick.
In the other nests, Ariel and Kelpie have finally laid their first egg, Kevin and Alaina have two eggs, and Donovan and Teagan keep laying poorly formed eggs. They have two eggs that might be OK, so I will give them a little more time to see if they are fertile, and if not, I will split that pair up.
March 14, 2011
Went to take a photo of the first chick, and found that the second chick hatched, too!
These are Riley and Aveline's 1st two chicks.
Mystery and Nelly's first two hatchlings
And in Mystery and Nellie's nest, the first two chicks hatched on the same day.
Normally only one chick hatches at a time. Then the rest of the chicks hatch every other day.
I was very surprised to find 4 baby chicks within 24 hours of each other!