Post by starlingqueen on Mar 18, 2017 11:07:10 GMT
Since moving the buds out of the aviary there has been a development. Citrine and Basil have decided it's the ideal time to start a family. I wish they had consulted me first as it really isn't.
I was informed by my husband that he had seen "the yellow one and one of the green ones, wrestling on the floor of the cage." When I went to have a look, there were Citrine and Basil clearly "wrestling" several times. Citrine was laying on the floor and chewing paper, just generally nest building. The other 2 males were harassing her not that she seemed to mind but Basil did. So I decided to put a nest box on the cage. The deed had been done and there was no point in trying to stop nature at this point. She was in the box in no time and busy cleaning it and lining it with her feathers. Basil has been feeding her and she has made plenty of trips to the mineral supply and cuttle bone.
I thought it could all be phantom, as I don't know her age and she has had her bottom issue recently, which seems to be better now with some nice feather growth. Today however we have an egg. I am relieved she has passed it without any problems but worried she may be too old for this malarkey. It could of course be unfertilised but where there is one there will inevitably be more. I don't want to remove the egg as she has wanted to breed for some time and hasn't been able to as there were other hens. She laid eggs before, in a seed pot, but Opal I suspect, was throwing them out. Now she is the only hen she has more chance of being a mum. Besides that, I have to admit I would love, just once, to breed some little fluffy chicks, but not at the expense of Citrine.
The other issue is we are planning to move house in the near future so will have a lot of people viewing the house and things going on. They are in the conservatory which we will be rearranging very soon, shifting the tortoises out and putting the cages in their more semi permanent position. On the plus side Citrine is used to me handling her as she had to have the treatment for her bottom and is quite outspoken when it comes to me touching her. She doesn't leave the nest box when I open it, she just shouts at me, so she's quite feisty and not that bothered about being near me, all talk and no action.
Well there you have it, nature has taken it's course, I just hope it knows what it's doing.
I was informed by my husband that he had seen "the yellow one and one of the green ones, wrestling on the floor of the cage." When I went to have a look, there were Citrine and Basil clearly "wrestling" several times. Citrine was laying on the floor and chewing paper, just generally nest building. The other 2 males were harassing her not that she seemed to mind but Basil did. So I decided to put a nest box on the cage. The deed had been done and there was no point in trying to stop nature at this point. She was in the box in no time and busy cleaning it and lining it with her feathers. Basil has been feeding her and she has made plenty of trips to the mineral supply and cuttle bone.
I thought it could all be phantom, as I don't know her age and she has had her bottom issue recently, which seems to be better now with some nice feather growth. Today however we have an egg. I am relieved she has passed it without any problems but worried she may be too old for this malarkey. It could of course be unfertilised but where there is one there will inevitably be more. I don't want to remove the egg as she has wanted to breed for some time and hasn't been able to as there were other hens. She laid eggs before, in a seed pot, but Opal I suspect, was throwing them out. Now she is the only hen she has more chance of being a mum. Besides that, I have to admit I would love, just once, to breed some little fluffy chicks, but not at the expense of Citrine.
The other issue is we are planning to move house in the near future so will have a lot of people viewing the house and things going on. They are in the conservatory which we will be rearranging very soon, shifting the tortoises out and putting the cages in their more semi permanent position. On the plus side Citrine is used to me handling her as she had to have the treatment for her bottom and is quite outspoken when it comes to me touching her. She doesn't leave the nest box when I open it, she just shouts at me, so she's quite feisty and not that bothered about being near me, all talk and no action.
Well there you have it, nature has taken it's course, I just hope it knows what it's doing.
