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

Hatch video

check out the video

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...!!!

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.... 

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.