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Petal, Bruce & The Baldy Baby

This year has not been as successful as the last few years in the baby department but I put that mainly down to losing Jimmy my male who was bonded really well with Petal and was a fab dad.  I blame myself as it was in some really hot weather and I hadn't opened the Bird House early enough as i was feeling ill and when I got out there I discovered Jimmy laying dead on the floor of the cage with no drinking water left; my stomach turned with guilt.  Petal pined and didn't like being on her own so I found her another manbird hoping she would accept him.  Bruce has now bonded with her and they have had 2 clutches of eggs of which only one chick hatched. 

At about a week old. has fluff and eyes are just opening.
I have just fitted leg ring

At about 3 weeks old looking rather plucked

The first two weeks were fine but then I noticed the baby was far less fluffy than it had been and by 4 weeks had no fluff on its back at all.  Petal had been plucking at it to encourage it to leave the nest.  I have previously moved chicks at about this age to a  smaller nest box with an open front to allow the dad to continue feeding while mum lays another clutch.

however.... this happened just as the weather changed and I was worried that the loan, bald baby would get cold on its own with no one to snuggle up to, so I brought it into the house in a budgie box on a hot water bottle and started hand feeding it. I had never hand fed a baby Kakariki before so read up and got all the stuff I needed and set about feeding.  I will go into more feeding detail at another time.  


Its quite hard telling which sex a baby is when you have no other chicks to compair it to but I decided it was a boy so he was named Oscar.  I had thought about harness training before but none of my other birds have been tame enough to even consider training, but I thought I would get a harness and try to get the baby used to it slowly.  I spent time after every feed stroking and snuggling him and getting him used to being close to the harness and to me holding his wings up and other movements needed to fit the harness.  The first time I put the harness on him he was fine but had not yet flown.  but within a few days was flying and I was able to take him outside on the harness.

Oscar - with feathers

Bribery works well - Oscar really likes pomegranate seeds

Oscar sitting on the perch rich made for him from a couple of sticks

Oscars back is feathering up nicely and not looking like a tesco value chicken anymore..yay

Having a preen

Bored now.....

Introducing My Kakarikis

Petal feeding some of last years babies

All my Kakariki are Red Crowned Kakariki.  Petal is my oldest female she is a Black Eyed Clear Yellow Mutation. She had a new partner this year after I lost Jimmy the father of some of my other birds with heat exhaustion.

Jimmy feeding one of last years babies

Petals new partner is Bruce also a Black Eyed Clear Yellow Mutation. 

Bruce

Big with her 2 green feathers

Big and Little were my first ever chicks.  Ok their names are not very exciting, but I didn't know what sex they were and started calling them big fluff head and little fluff head, which inevitably got shortened and it now seems wrong to change it. 

Little being cheeky

Petal and Jimmy with Big and Little in the nest box

Little is now paired with Dave they are both Black Eyed Clear with no green feathers


Big who has 2 green feathers just above her tail but otherwise all yellow and also has black eyes is paired with Gilbert.  Gilbert I bought as a wild colour but has since grown a few yellow feathers at each moult so is there for Pied.  I thought they would produce some nice bright Pied babies.

Gilbert

They Built a Little Bird House for My soul

The begginings....its going to be a long job!

A few years ago I was really quite ill with ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  I just happened to go to a local gaqrden centre to have a coffee and a rest after a visit to the Dr before I drove home again.  While I was there I saw some lovely birds I'd never seen before and I couldnt stop thinking about them. They were lovely!  I went back several more times and did a lot of online reserch and eventually went back and bought them.  They were a pair of Kakariki. Unfortunatley I lost my first pair to different problems but I got some more much stronger birds and over the next few years my flock expanded and  and my house was getting rather over run.

A lot or gravel to move

Last summer my boyfriend, son and a friend  built me a Bird House in my back garden

Showing the youngster how its done

Slabs going down... being inspected by Chilli Dog

Looking good!

I ordered the summerhouse and everything we needed and the hard work then started for me keeping everyone supplied with drinks.  It started off with a lot of soil moving, leveling, coffee drinking and sand moving by my friend steve.  Followed by slab moving and laying which my son Dan helped with.... and Chilli Dog watched on and helped in an advisory manor.

Time for the wood bit

Steve, Rich and Dan then set about sorting out the masive pile of wood that some how was going to fit together like a giant 3D puzzle into a Summerhouse. The floor first, then the walls, the planks all slotted together log cabin style.  
 

Its getting there

WooHoo..... look what WE built!

Holes were left in the right places for the window and doors and the roof was fitted in place








Nice one Dan!!

Painting .....and Chester the dog has moved i

Rich put the window and doors on and got them working right while Steve pretended he was a monkey and sat on the roof... he was actually putting the felt on at the same time.



Steve and my friend Emily painted the whole place from top to bottom in colours I'd chosen.  I wanted it to look like a beach hut, and I think it worked really well.

I love my Bird House, it makes me smile, and is now the main home for my birds as well as Dans Rabbit and Gerbils.  I would like to say a huge thanks to the Steve Rich Dan and Emily for all their hard work.

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My Bird House Today