Thursday, 22 November 2012
Friday, 2 November 2012
A couple of videos
And this one is some simple instructions of how to make a small drum for your parrot to learn to play... only the learning to play bit is proving to be a long process.
Saturday, 14 July 2012
Mr Snuggles and Phoenix Having Breakfast
Flock Dad got a new toy and tried it out while we were
having breakfast with the Conures….
Please note …. Id just got out of the shower and…… I don’t usually
talk like that….. that’s my birdy voice …. Hope you enjoy
PS….. Mr Snuggly is learning a trick….. video to follow
New Adventure for Big
I cant believe the last time I updated was Easter…. And my
intension was to do this as a weekly blog…!!! My excuse is that I have been
having health problems and coping with ME/CFS is not easy. Just when you think you are getting better
you do too much and crash again, and it takes a long time to get back on track….
Anyhow ….. to the Bird House Business….
I would dearly love to keep loads of birds but…. Due to the
above mentioned illness its becoming apparent I have far too many…. I have
pondered over it for a long time and finally decided I have to cut down the
numbers to enable me to look after the ones I keep properly. I have kept Kakarikis for quite a few years
and although I will be very sad to see them go I have decided that I will now
concentrate my efforts on the Green Cheek Conures. I have advertised the kakarikis and hav had
some interest but want them to go to new homes where they will be loved and
looked after properly.
BIGS NEW ADVENTURE
After losing her mate Gilbert, Big… the first Kakariki from the first clutch
id bred has got a new mate and seems to be doing really well. She now lives with Manu in an aviary and I have
been getting updated on her progress from her new owner…. I was sad to see her
go, but im pleased she is now in good hands and has a new mate.
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Happy Easter
Well its now April... not sure where March went.... Rodents have been eradicated and a plan has been put in place to stop them returning....including getting rid of all the compost heaps. The Bird House is looking good.... but quite full. Oscar and Spud have moved in.... Oscar has moved in with Dave.... who doesnt exactly seem to be thrilled about it.... somehow I dont think they are going to bond, so I might move Oscar in with Big and Spud who have settled in together fine... Im pretty sure Spud is a girl and Big is her mum so all good there. Petal has another clutch of eggs I havent candled them yet. And Pedro and Eva are moulting. Mocha the Chocolate Rex Rabbit is hoping to pursue a carrier in acting and has his first video on youtube.
In the House the 1st eggs in the incubator didnt do to well but I think that is down to me not really knowing weather they had started to develop when I put them in.... so not knowing when they were due to hatch and not getting the humidity right...also i put 3 in then another 3 a week later...the 2nd lot started to develop but none made it to maturity. only 2 hatched and one hadnt absorbed the yolk sack and died within a day. The other after hatching out the wrong end of the egg took a while to start feeding and unfortunately died about a week after..... so not a good start. I have read lots of info from books and online and a lot of it is contradictory so its all a bit trial and error. So going on what i have now learnt about the incubator i need to set a plan in order for the next attempt...... but i also want Pedro n Eva to have another go at hatching some eggs themselves!
Phoenix and Snuggly are doing fab...... Phoenix started
flying a couple of weeks ago and Snuggly has just made his first flight
this week.... but as usuall is a bit accident prone.... he has had a few
crashes including 1 into the washing up bowl this morning.... luckily i
was washing up at the time so towelled him off n he sat on my shoulder
till he dried off..... in fact he stayed there for most of the day.
I got the DNA test results and certificates back a couple of weeks ago and surprisingly Phoenix is a Girl and Snuggly a Boy.... Phoenix is a Pineapple and Snuggly a rather special Blue Pineapple....
and we have come to the decision to keep them both......on one condition...... that we reduce the number of Kakarikies as its getting rather a lot of work for me.... and as I now have 4 who arnt in bonded pairs now would be a good time also maybe it is time to retire petal from breading as she wont stop laying and I dont think Bruce is very fertile so she is sitting on eggs a lot for no reason..... she does seem to like it tho.... She will probably stop laying if she doesnt have a nest box. So if anyone is interested..... let me know!
for some reason im having probs uploading pics ..... so will edit this later and add more pics then phoenix and Snuggly have changed sooo much over the last month its amazing!!!!
In the House the 1st eggs in the incubator didnt do to well but I think that is down to me not really knowing weather they had started to develop when I put them in.... so not knowing when they were due to hatch and not getting the humidity right...also i put 3 in then another 3 a week later...the 2nd lot started to develop but none made it to maturity. only 2 hatched and one hadnt absorbed the yolk sack and died within a day. The other after hatching out the wrong end of the egg took a while to start feeding and unfortunately died about a week after..... so not a good start. I have read lots of info from books and online and a lot of it is contradictory so its all a bit trial and error. So going on what i have now learnt about the incubator i need to set a plan in order for the next attempt...... but i also want Pedro n Eva to have another go at hatching some eggs themselves!
I got the DNA test results and certificates back a couple of weeks ago and surprisingly Phoenix is a Girl and Snuggly a Boy.... Phoenix is a Pineapple and Snuggly a rather special Blue Pineapple....
and we have come to the decision to keep them both......on one condition...... that we reduce the number of Kakarikies as its getting rather a lot of work for me.... and as I now have 4 who arnt in bonded pairs now would be a good time also maybe it is time to retire petal from breading as she wont stop laying and I dont think Bruce is very fertile so she is sitting on eggs a lot for no reason..... she does seem to like it tho.... She will probably stop laying if she doesnt have a nest box. So if anyone is interested..... let me know! for some reason im having probs uploading pics ..... so will edit this later and add more pics then phoenix and Snuggly have changed sooo much over the last month its amazing!!!!
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Unwanted wildlife and more Chick Pics
After thinking we had managed to thin the rodent population but wondering why the floor of the bird house was always in such a mess we found their back door...!!! they had chewed right through the wall behind a table.... and were coming and going day and night just as they pleased....!!! full scale manoeuvres ensued. I moved the table and cleaned up the mess inside while Dan and Rich went round the entire outside and put concrete blocks up against the walls... we found an underground Rat base camp behind the bird house.... I hate using poison....... But..... I'm sorry Rats you are dirty vermin and you have pushed me too far...!!! Dan put out some poison in bate boxes to stop the wild birds, cats, dogs etc getting at it... old drain pipe works well too.... and the next day it was almost all gone... we are replenishing it but it keeps going...... so they must be still about!!! We have tried Rat and Mouse traps...which have been set off but caught nothing and all we caught in the humane Rat traps was blackbirds..... which we let out and were fine. So I'm afraid poison it has to be.
Other activity in the Bird House... Petal and Bruce are much the same as .... for ever..... Petal is sitting on 10 eggs all of which to me look clear..... feeling quite sad for Petal as this will be over 30 eggs she has brooded with just 1 resulting chick.... Oscar..(who is in fact a girl) with her previous mate she had hatched 10 chicks from 15 eggs so..... I'm thinking that it is probably down to Bruce.
Big is still sitting on 4 eggs 1 of which is cracked and none of them look fertile..... I dont want to just take the eggs away so I am waiting for her to get fed up and bury them in the shavings before I give the whole cage a massive spring clean and remove the nest box.... She is still missing Gilbert so I dont want to stress her any more than needed.
Dave is calling a lot..... he is really missing Little... the obvious thing would be to try Dave and Big together but....... she was very annoyed when I let them out together and he popped into her cage.... he chased her about far to much which she took immediate offence too scolding him and chasing him out.
Oscar, who lives in the house with Spud is getting very hormonal and is doing the mating thing and wondering why nothing happens..... Spud and Oscar are not a bonded pair.... they are both young and get on ok but don't do the feeding thing or perch next to each other. Spud may actually also be a girl....although the under wing markings look like male markings..... I took Oscar out to the bird house on the harness and introduced her to Dave.... he talked to her quietly and gently and she sat there and ignored him..... I'm going to do this a few more times and see how they get on.
Pedro and Eva have produced 4 more eggs but Eva hasn't started to brood them....they should start brooding from the second egg..... but they are still young and don't really know what they are doing... last time she had 6 eggs which is normal so I decided to take these first 4 and try incubating them in my newly arrived incubator and leave her to lay a couple more and see how she gets on. She doesn't actually seem interested in the eggs at all after she has laid them..but she has to learn somehow!
And now to the Babies..... Phoenix...... has been sat on my shoulder burrowed under my hoody while I have been typing all this and is loving the snuggles.....he now weighs 66grams.... his weight gain has slowed a bit and he is going off the formula a bit.... but still calling for food. This usually means they are ready to start pecking at some real food so small seed like millet and finely chopped fruit n veg in small quantities are a good thing to offer.
Snuggly is doing fab..... he is now up to an amazing 31 grams....!!!! He still needs the warmth of the brooder although Phoenix doesn't.... and could do with a whole lot more room to bumble about in... so i have put the brooder in the small cage (well cleaned and disinfected) and removed the door so Phoenix can come out to play while Snuggly.... Snuggles!
Snuggly now has his leg ring on too and its stayed on fine..... and I'm thinking i really need to do DNA blood samples for sexing..... I keep calling them both HE..... but either could be either I don't want to cause any more gender crisis like with Oscar and Spud and do really need to know the sex of the chicks.
I was hoping one of the chicks would be a 'Blue' one either pineapple or yellowsided.... well its not going to be Phoenix..... he/she is showing some really green feathers beginning to come through on the wings and some bluish ones on the wing tips.... the tail feather colour is showing and looks more pineapple colour than yellowsided and there is the beginnings of some yellow and red feathers on the breast....and on the cheeks. To start with i thought the head feathers looked dark but now they are growing through a bit they are looking lighter..... take a look at the pics and see what you think....
Other activity in the Bird House... Petal and Bruce are much the same as .... for ever..... Petal is sitting on 10 eggs all of which to me look clear..... feeling quite sad for Petal as this will be over 30 eggs she has brooded with just 1 resulting chick.... Oscar..(who is in fact a girl) with her previous mate she had hatched 10 chicks from 15 eggs so..... I'm thinking that it is probably down to Bruce.
Big is still sitting on 4 eggs 1 of which is cracked and none of them look fertile..... I dont want to just take the eggs away so I am waiting for her to get fed up and bury them in the shavings before I give the whole cage a massive spring clean and remove the nest box.... She is still missing Gilbert so I dont want to stress her any more than needed.
Dave is calling a lot..... he is really missing Little... the obvious thing would be to try Dave and Big together but....... she was very annoyed when I let them out together and he popped into her cage.... he chased her about far to much which she took immediate offence too scolding him and chasing him out.
Oscar, who lives in the house with Spud is getting very hormonal and is doing the mating thing and wondering why nothing happens..... Spud and Oscar are not a bonded pair.... they are both young and get on ok but don't do the feeding thing or perch next to each other. Spud may actually also be a girl....although the under wing markings look like male markings..... I took Oscar out to the bird house on the harness and introduced her to Dave.... he talked to her quietly and gently and she sat there and ignored him..... I'm going to do this a few more times and see how they get on.
Pedro and Eva have produced 4 more eggs but Eva hasn't started to brood them....they should start brooding from the second egg..... but they are still young and don't really know what they are doing... last time she had 6 eggs which is normal so I decided to take these first 4 and try incubating them in my newly arrived incubator and leave her to lay a couple more and see how she gets on. She doesn't actually seem interested in the eggs at all after she has laid them..but she has to learn somehow!
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| Phoenix in his fleece |
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| Snuggly at 31grams...!!! |
Snuggly is doing fab..... he is now up to an amazing 31 grams....!!!! He still needs the warmth of the brooder although Phoenix doesn't.... and could do with a whole lot more room to bumble about in... so i have put the brooder in the small cage (well cleaned and disinfected) and removed the door so Phoenix can come out to play while Snuggly.... Snuggles!
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| The Brooder set up in the weaning cage |
I was hoping one of the chicks would be a 'Blue' one either pineapple or yellowsided.... well its not going to be Phoenix..... he/she is showing some really green feathers beginning to come through on the wings and some bluish ones on the wing tips.... the tail feather colour is showing and looks more pineapple colour than yellowsided and there is the beginnings of some yellow and red feathers on the breast....and on the cheeks. To start with i thought the head feathers looked dark but now they are growing through a bit they are looking lighter..... take a look at the pics and see what you think....
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| Phoenix showing colourfull cheek feathers and green on wings |
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| Snuggly much bigger now :) |
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| I cant decide if he is going to be Yellow sided or Pineapple |
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| "Say Cheese Snuggly....!!" |
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| "Cheese?.... what IS cheese Phoenix?" |
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| "Phoenix... thanks loads for helping me out im....... just a little slow....dont tell anyone tho!" |
Sunday, 19 February 2012
Day 26 in the Big Mutha House!!
Well its 26 days since Phoenix hatched by the fire.... is it that long already its gone sooo quick... i seem to have done nothing else! I solved the ear query though..!!! yeah... they do have ear holes lol... just very small ones.... and lower down than Kakariki ear holes
Im thinking maybe the reason for smaller ears is so they dont go deaf when they are screaming for food....!!!
So thats the Ear thing cleared up!! as for the Chicks progress you can see from the ear pic that Phoenix has grown somewhat... he weighed in at 35grams today his eyes are almost fully open and he's getting a lot more fluff and the start of some feathers. You can just see some reddish tail feathers and some dark feathers beginning to show through the skin on the head.... im thinking he/she will be a yellowsided or a blue yellowsided as these look to be darker than on a pineapple.
Snuggly on the other hand has not grown much.... and im not certain why... not showing any feathers coming through and eyes are not yet fully open today's weigh-in was 10grams so he is growing but not very quickly, im thinking snuggly may be a bit stunted. He/She is feeding much better now and i have been able to feed a mixture with less water added... therefore it has more nutrients.... so this is bound to help... i have also decreased the amount of feeds a day so im getting some sleep ...YAY... They are now going through the night. Its easy to check the crop to see if they have food in it still... the crop sort of acts like a fuel tank and drip feeds the food as they need it so a longer gap between feeds, now they can take more at a time, is fine.
Although Snuggly is small he is strong and gets about in the brooder and stands his ground up against Phoenix for the best snuggling spots. Snuggly does get a bit cold when hes not in the brooder which is now running between 30-35 C but he likes snuggling up in your hand.
Phoenix's eyes opened much wider this weeks and he can definitely see! he looks out of the window in the brooder when I come to feed them, and he looks about when hes out, taking in the surroundings.
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| Showing Ear hole of a Kakariki Chick about 2 weeks old |
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| Showing Ear hole of a Green Cheek Conure Chick about 3 weeks old |
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| Phoenix's Tail feathers just showing through |
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| Snuggly now a massive 10 grams |
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| Snuggly |
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| "hello hand... can I get up on you please?" |
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| "thanks hand...I like you :)" |
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| "I can see my house from here" |
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| Snuggly: "Oooops" Phoenix: "Hehehehe" |
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| Phoenix: "let me give you a hug little fella" |
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| Snuggly: "Thanks big un your so sweet" |
Sunday, 12 February 2012
Bad news 1st..... Gilbert hasnt really improved.... and im not sure what to do... i dont want him to suffer but dont want to lose him either! Im not going to dwel on it too much will give him a bit more time....
The meepers....
I didnt get round to typing anymore.... and 2 days later Gilbert died... It was for the best but sad, he was a fighter to the end. Big is still sitting on their eggs but unfortunatly they dont look fertile...
The meepers....
I didnt get round to typing anymore.... and 2 days later Gilbert died... It was for the best but sad, he was a fighter to the end. Big is still sitting on their eggs but unfortunatly they dont look fertile...
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| Fly free Gilbert |
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Gilbert Fighting and Biting and Meeper Update
Well Gilbert seems to be getting a little bit better..... hes getting some of his spirit back cuz he bit me today..!! Ive been keeping him away from the other birds incase he is contagious and feeding him baby bird food formula to try get some food down him. Ive seen him drinking and hes been pecking at some finely chopped broccoli shelled sunflower seeds some bits of egg biscuit and lots of grit. Today i mixed a tiny bit of garlic oil and cider vinigar in the formula these are both supposed to be natural antibiotics and hopefully will help him fight off any bacterial infection. All the birds in the Bird House look fine Big is still brooding her 5 eggs and nipping out for food n water when she needs to. Im giving her extra egg food along with her veggies to try to keep her healthy without her man to feed her. Dave is calling for Little..... but what can i do? He is close by the others but Petal and Big are both in the nest box most of the time so he only really has Bruce for company as well as Pedro and Eva the Conures....But he doesnt like them much since the fight!!
Pedro and Eva are eating loads and getting through a lot of oyster shell .... so maybe coming up to lay again.... i might have to invest in an incubator in case they dont brood properly again.... to have 6 fertile eggs the first time round was amazing.... and to actually manage to save 2 chicks without an incubator after the trauma the eggs went through is close to a miracle..... so id like to be prepared. The chicks are doing well they weighed in at 7 and 14 grams on Wednesday Phoenix the big one has had his eyes beginning to open for a couple of days and Snuggly the little ones eyes just started today..... one thing i noticed tho...... they dont appear to have ear holes ..... and Kakariki ear hole are quite noticeable at a few days old.... i will keep an eye on the ear thing..!!! Phoenix has had a bit of a voice breaking thing and now squeeks more than meeps..... and has some tuffty fluff breaking through on his crop.... he still has a bald head tho and veins on it a bit like a Klingon... hes looking very dinosaurish! Snuggly is still looking sweet... but can stand up now and is feeding real well and likes curling up on my hand after a feed. Phoenix is very lively but also curls up for a sleep on me when he has worn himself out climbing about. I caught Snuggly giving Phoenix a bunk up yesterday and he almost managed to escape the plastic tray they have been in inside the brooder...it might be time to rearrange it and give them a bit more room. Will try to take some more photos later ... they are growing sooo fast!
Pedro and Eva are eating loads and getting through a lot of oyster shell .... so maybe coming up to lay again.... i might have to invest in an incubator in case they dont brood properly again.... to have 6 fertile eggs the first time round was amazing.... and to actually manage to save 2 chicks without an incubator after the trauma the eggs went through is close to a miracle..... so id like to be prepared. The chicks are doing well they weighed in at 7 and 14 grams on Wednesday Phoenix the big one has had his eyes beginning to open for a couple of days and Snuggly the little ones eyes just started today..... one thing i noticed tho...... they dont appear to have ear holes ..... and Kakariki ear hole are quite noticeable at a few days old.... i will keep an eye on the ear thing..!!! Phoenix has had a bit of a voice breaking thing and now squeeks more than meeps..... and has some tuffty fluff breaking through on his crop.... he still has a bald head tho and veins on it a bit like a Klingon... hes looking very dinosaurish! Snuggly is still looking sweet... but can stand up now and is feeding real well and likes curling up on my hand after a feed. Phoenix is very lively but also curls up for a sleep on me when he has worn himself out climbing about. I caught Snuggly giving Phoenix a bunk up yesterday and he almost managed to escape the plastic tray they have been in inside the brooder...it might be time to rearrange it and give them a bit more room. Will try to take some more photos later ... they are growing sooo fast!
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Sad Day
Well for the last few days iv been trying to find the time to update the Blog with all the good news about how the Conure chicks are doing and then yesterday bad stuff kicked off again. Firstly i went out to the Bird House to discover Gilbert sitting on the bottom of the cage... not that strange, he had been behaving a bit different over the last week by spending a lot of time in the nest box with Big who is sitting on 5 eggs. I had thought that was because her last clutch hadnt been that successful losing 2 of her 4 chicks she hatched, and thought he was keeping an eye on her.... or that it has been really cold over the last week and he was helping her brood. Gilbert is normally a timid bird, well he doesnt like humans much but we have a mutual understanding .... he knows when im going to put something in the cage and moves out of the way and i speak to him respectfully (he is the Don of the bird house) but not try too hard to get him on side, and all was good. His favorite place to sit looking all buff n hardcore was at the top of the cage quietly looking out checking every thing out. So... on the floor? and not checking out his minions...? when i approached his penthouse he did nothing.... not complying to our mutual understanding.... I opened the big door and talking to him reached in expecting him to fly up .....but he didnt! I picked him up and he didnt even bite..... now Gilbert has a good bite.... and as he doesnt like humans he lets you know... every time i have had to handle him he has managed to draw blood..... but this time ... nothing..... Realising something was badly wrong i wrapped him up in a bit of fleece i keep in the bird house for emergencies or covering nest boxes for extra warmth, and set up the travel cage one-handed... popped him in on a layer of fleece and whisked him off to the house.... moved the mountain of washing from the top of the dryer and snuggled him next to the radiator for warmth with water and some warm eggfood (his fav).
So.... what was i doing? oh yeah i was going to clean out Big n Gilbert n Dave n Little's cages.... Back out to the bird house and when little comes out of the nest box to say hi, im really not very happy about how she looks.....Her abdomen is very red and very swollen to me obviously not right... she chats to me quietly n pops back into the nest box... Im worried ... so i go and check out a couple of books and look online reading about egg binding and start to worry even more .... to me it looked like 3 lumps... surly she couldnt have 3 eggs stuck inside ? I decide to bring her in check her out more closely and make her safe in the small pet pod... this is not good.... we decide to take her up to the Avian Vet call and get an appointment in a couple of hours time.... The Vet is lovely and takes a look at her and then starts to explain whats wrong..... its Acute Egg Peritonitis.... i wasnt sure what it was but it sounded bad..... as he explains it slowly sinks in that this is really bad and i start to anticipate that hes going to advise me to have her put to sleep... Basically she had an egg blocking her egg duct which had then filled up with partially formed eggs...and then still producing eggs her abdomen had filled up with what he described as scrambled egg... Little had nibbled a bit of cream cheese before we left and was chatting back to the phone in the waiting room... she was nibbling my finger through the holes in the pet pod and although she was obviously ill she seemed her normal self... so the decision to have her put to sleep was hard... she and her sister Big were my 1st ever chicks and Little had always been cheeky and tame..... but i had to do it... She would get worse and suffer and couldnt get better. The Vet said he would giver her some gas before the injection and she wouldnt feel anything he brought her back wrapped in tissue and we buried her in the garden under a hibiscus bush.... Sad...
Little was my only bird not to take off her plastic split leg ring. She loved jewelry and nail varnish.
So.... what was i doing? oh yeah i was going to clean out Big n Gilbert n Dave n Little's cages.... Back out to the bird house and when little comes out of the nest box to say hi, im really not very happy about how she looks.....Her abdomen is very red and very swollen to me obviously not right... she chats to me quietly n pops back into the nest box... Im worried ... so i go and check out a couple of books and look online reading about egg binding and start to worry even more .... to me it looked like 3 lumps... surly she couldnt have 3 eggs stuck inside ? I decide to bring her in check her out more closely and make her safe in the small pet pod... this is not good.... we decide to take her up to the Avian Vet call and get an appointment in a couple of hours time.... The Vet is lovely and takes a look at her and then starts to explain whats wrong..... its Acute Egg Peritonitis.... i wasnt sure what it was but it sounded bad..... as he explains it slowly sinks in that this is really bad and i start to anticipate that hes going to advise me to have her put to sleep... Basically she had an egg blocking her egg duct which had then filled up with partially formed eggs...and then still producing eggs her abdomen had filled up with what he described as scrambled egg... Little had nibbled a bit of cream cheese before we left and was chatting back to the phone in the waiting room... she was nibbling my finger through the holes in the pet pod and although she was obviously ill she seemed her normal self... so the decision to have her put to sleep was hard... she and her sister Big were my 1st ever chicks and Little had always been cheeky and tame..... but i had to do it... She would get worse and suffer and couldnt get better. The Vet said he would giver her some gas before the injection and she wouldnt feel anything he brought her back wrapped in tissue and we buried her in the garden under a hibiscus bush.... Sad...
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| Little After A Bath |
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| Little Being a bit nosey and checking out my camera |
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| Little Trying her first call |
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| Little such a character |
Friday, 27 January 2012
Breaking Out Meeper Number 2
Yesterday we started to get more worried about the second egg. It had started to pip the shell the day we first warmed them up but had not really moved on much since, and the tapping was getting quieter. The chick had made a small hole in the shell but only in one place and you could see it moving but not very much. At midnight we decided we had to check it out. You have to be really careful doing this and re-read the relevant section in a useful book I have. with the egg on a heat pad covered with kitchen towel and tweezers sterilised cotton buds and sterile water at the ready Rich took charge of the tweezers and started peeling back some shell from the hole the chick had made. it was soon very obvious that the chick would not have got out on its own ...so we had made the right decision. The membrane had dried out and looked like thin white paper stuck all over the chicks head with just the tip of a beak poking out through a tare, the chick could not actually move at all. I dabbed the warm sterile water on the membrane while Rich broak back more of the shell very carefully with the tweezers then tried to remove the membrane this was real slow going and you have to be really careful if you rupture any of the blood vessels they start to bleed....! We put the egg back in the brooder for a while to allow it to warm up again and for the water to soften up the membrane. Rich wasn't confident working with the membrane so i did it and he passed me cotton buds. using wet cotton buds i gradually and carefully uncovered the chicks head and dampened the edge of the shell.... seemed to take ages.... eventually the chick got his head out and started to unwrap himself.... but he was still stuck down his back so i gently used a cotton bud to dampen inside the shell. There was no yolk sack but there was quite a lot of what looked like poop in the shell after a few minutes of wriggling he flopped out of the shell but started bleeding from his naval..... not badly i just used a dry cotton bud and held it there for about a minute and it stopped. He is a lot weaker than the 1st one i think he might have been struggling for a while. I knew the humidity wasn't as high as it should have been, which probably caused the drying out and sticking of the membrane. I did have a glass of water in there but i have now blocked off more of the ventilation and added a bigger tub of water. we still have 2 more eggs that look good for hatching in maybe a few days and 2 more that are not looking so good.
After a cup of tea and a rest I managed to feed them both but it is really hard feeding a chick soooo small the 1st meeper has got the hang of it well now and you can see his crop filling up he jumps up and down n flaps his wings.... looks so funny makes me laugh every time despite only having about 7 hours sleep in 3 days. The 2nd meeper is way more hard you have to have the formula really runny which is of course then not so nutritious and it has to be the right temperature. I use a 1ml syringe and it cools down really quick so have to keep warming it up in hot water, then I check the temp on my wrist like with a baby bottle. Today the 2nd meeper has had a few good feeds but hes still looking weak. I didn't take pics last night I was to concerned about the chick but I got a couple today.
This is the second meeper a while after his struggle to escape the egg having just had his second feed
To the right both meepers tonight cuddling up to the remaining eggs please excuse the poop
After a cup of tea and a rest I managed to feed them both but it is really hard feeding a chick soooo small the 1st meeper has got the hang of it well now and you can see his crop filling up he jumps up and down n flaps his wings.... looks so funny makes me laugh every time despite only having about 7 hours sleep in 3 days. The 2nd meeper is way more hard you have to have the formula really runny which is of course then not so nutritious and it has to be the right temperature. I use a 1ml syringe and it cools down really quick so have to keep warming it up in hot water, then I check the temp on my wrist like with a baby bottle. Today the 2nd meeper has had a few good feeds but hes still looking weak. I didn't take pics last night I was to concerned about the chick but I got a couple today.
This is the second meeper a while after his struggle to escape the egg having just had his second feed
To the right both meepers tonight cuddling up to the remaining eggs please excuse the poop
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Drama in the Bird House!
This isnt the Blog i was going to do today, I was going to do an update on Perdo and Eva the Conures.......and how they had their 1st ever clutch of eggs..... how i didnt think they would be any good as they are both only just a year old and Eva wasnt really brooding right. They are supposed to brood from the second egg for about 22 days and only leave the nest box briefly to do bathroom stuff.... And how i had candled the eggs and they were all fertile and that despite my worries they were still developing. Well a few days ago i moved 2 eggs and put them under Petal the Kakariki who was sitting on 11 infertile eggs. She was fine with them but we had a cold night last night and today when i looked in the nest box she had buried all the eggs ....giving up on her clutch as she had been brooding them far longer than needed..... So panic i dug out the shavings and found the conure eggs...they were cold!! i took them in the house and started to warm them up. when i went back out i noticed Eva was still out of her nest box and checked her eggs and they were cold too....not quite as cold as the other 2. I was really upset that they had got so close to hatching and were most likely all dead... I took them all in the house and Rich and i sat by the fire holding them in our hands to warm them. we candled them and fond movement in 4 and veins and a definite chick in the other 2. Rich took over the brooding while i set up the home made brooder. Then massive excitement from rich as he hears one of them meeping inside the egg....!! And then tapping and a little crack appear and a small crack in another. The brooder got up to temperature and we put all but the 2 pipping eggs in and monitored the temperature. After a couple of hours we decided to put them in as well and see what happened.
After an hour or so Rich said maybe we should have a look and he got 1 out... and it had cracked half way round the shell..... i grabbed my phone to try film it and we sat there by the fire and watched it hatch in Riches hands..... It was amazing..!!! The chick is now back in the brooder with the other eggs and meeping and wriggling about..... I hope he survives...!!!
After an hour or so Rich said maybe we should have a look and he got 1 out... and it had cracked half way round the shell..... i grabbed my phone to try film it and we sat there by the fire and watched it hatch in Riches hands..... It was amazing..!!! The chick is now back in the brooder with the other eggs and meeping and wriggling about..... I hope he survives...!!!
Saturday, 21 January 2012
Hot n Spicy Corn Muffins
Ive just had a little experiment with baking something healthy and interesting that my birds will like and i can eat too... I tried the kakarikis on Polenta Poridge.... but they turned there beaks up at it!!! Sooo i have this large bag of polenta which is maze meal. what to do....? well there just happened to be a recipe on the side of the bag so i altered it a bit and had a go. Check it out for a healthy treat for you n your birds.
Ingredients
140g Corn Meal (also called Maze Meal or Polenta)
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda OR 3 tsp baking powder
50g grated cheese
1tsp chilli powder or chopped whole chillies
1tbs Cumin seeds
1tbs Ajwain seeds
2 tbs olive oil
200ml milk
1egg..... from a hen.....not a Parrot
Makes about 12 depending on size of tins
you could use any curry type seeds or fresh herbs like corriander I just used what i found in my cupboard
Method
1. put oven on 200'C 425'F and put muffin tins in to heat up
2. chuck all dry ingredients in a bowl and mix it
3. measure milk in a jug add oil and egg and mix it
4. add liquid to bowl..... and...... mix it
5.take tins out of oven and spray with a little spray oil (or you can grease with normal oil )
6. spoon in mixture about half full
7. bake for about 20 mins turn out and cool
8. fight your parrot for the hot n spicy muffins....
Ingredients
140g Corn Meal (also called Maze Meal or Polenta)
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda OR 3 tsp baking powder
50g grated cheese
1tsp chilli powder or chopped whole chillies
1tbs Cumin seeds
1tbs Ajwain seeds
2 tbs olive oil
200ml milk
1egg..... from a hen.....not a Parrot
Makes about 12 depending on size of tins
you could use any curry type seeds or fresh herbs like corriander I just used what i found in my cupboard
Method
1. put oven on 200'C 425'F and put muffin tins in to heat up
2. chuck all dry ingredients in a bowl and mix it
3. measure milk in a jug add oil and egg and mix it
4. add liquid to bowl..... and...... mix it
5.take tins out of oven and spray with a little spray oil (or you can grease with normal oil )
6. spoon in mixture about half full
7. bake for about 20 mins turn out and cool
8. fight your parrot for the hot n spicy muffins....
Sunday, 15 January 2012
An Updaate on the Bird House
Well I've been a bit slack with updating my bird house blog over the last few months due to my health and Christmas and not really getting round to it but the birds are all doing ok. There has been more eggs and I sold a Kakariki to a young man who fell in love with her when she was sat at the bar at the local pub. I'm keeping everything crossed for some new arrivals if everything goes ok in the Conure nest box. Eva has 6 eggs and on a quick inspection while she was out... they all look fertile. Pedro is getting a bit tamer but they are both still quite flighty and young birds so I don't want to disturb them too much. Oscar... is in fact a girl after all so I made another mistake but its quite hard sexing a young bird when you only have 1 in a clutch... there is nothing to compare it with. Spud one of Gilbert and Bigs babies now lives with Oscar in the house and are both really tame. They both will ware the flight harness and like going out for walks and to the pub. Little n Dave had a bit of a fight with the Conures... I had left the food door open by mistake on the conures cage and they got out and had decided the best place to sit was on top of Dave n Littles cage.... This angered the Kakarikis somewhat and a fight through the bars took place.... After coaxing the conures home I noticed blood.....and lots of it on both little and Dave and on the shavings in their cage. They both had been bitten on the feet and Little had lost the end of one of her toes. I took first aid measures and Dave was fine. Little needed a bit more attention but is fine now and can use her foot as normal. I will cover some first aid info in another post and.....an update of whats happening with Pedro and Eva and the rest of the Bird House is also imminent.
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