Never Wanted a Budgie.... Until we saved one from a magpie!!

[obionee]

Aug 10, 2021 15:49:33 GMT samwiseg said:

That is remarkable?!

Unless that particular one male thinks he is the father of the chick's I really couldn't say?

Its good that the hen is not missing out on food that's for sure!

skysmum Hezz Marianne Marlow have you ever heard of this?

Also have you candelled the eggs to check if they are fertile?

Managed to clean out the nest box and the three other eggs were not fertilised, the two hatched chicks are full of milk and looks super healthy.

[obionee]

Aug 10, 2021 22:03:44 GMT skysmum said:

I have heard of this before with another male sharing the babies, i believe @ffg had this happen.

Where you have to be careful is if another hen starts to get interested, she could kill the babies so keep a close eye on that one.

We had a good read up on the pit falls of a colony situation, the three birds are ever vigilant around the nest box and you can see the evidence of them dishing out the punishment if any of the other birds come too close. Happy to say they are / appear to be only curious with what's going on at the moment so we have hopes.

[obionee]

Aug 11, 2021 13:20:10 GMT cierlo said:

Aug 10, 2021 10:26:43 GMT obionee said:

Hi - the hen is extremely protective of the nest box (so no she hates us going anywhere near them) and we will try and get in on Saturday to have a clean out. There are three more eggs that we need to check at the same time (if they do not hatch in the meantime) and remove any that are not live (eggs). We are providing lots of minerals and boosting diets etc.

I am not sure if this is normal behaviour - but the bird we rescued (a cock) is also feeding the hen along with her mate. He also stands guard on the box when she leaves to eat / drink, he stands at the box entrance and chases any other bird (apart form the mated pair away.

Has anyone else ever seen this type of behaviour before?

Glad to ay we have not seen any of the other birds trying to get into the box, but the vigilance of the three birds watching the nest box is something to behold. Thanks for the on-going advice, its really appreciated. 

I have never seen it with my own birds, but I've seen two males helping a hen before among someone else's budgies. They both seem to have fathered the clutch, possibly.
Though their male parrotlet was also helping, so score's out on that one.

They all seem very happy the hen especially, they all had a good feed of meal worms and wld bird seed over the last few days and are all very vocal at the minute. The all seem to have the same favourite food - sweet corn - straight off the cob.

[obionee]

Week two images of the chicks - they look very healthy and their crops are full of food.
The hen is out of the box more these days and very active - still not real sign of other hens taking an interest - other than listening to the chicks calling for food.

I will continue to post weekly images as we go.

This weeks mission was to add shutters to the Avery to protect the birds from the local cats, that are taking a major interest in the birds.

I have tried numerous anti cat devices from Amazon - all proved useless, so we have gone Fort Knox.

[cierlo]

If you have fences I think there's some way you can add something to the top to cat-proof a garden, not 100% sure. Only briefly seen it in the context of allowing an FIV positive cat to access the garden but keep them separated from other cats. Might be an idea to look into if you need to secure your garden though.

[obionee]

Week three image

Hi our most recent images of the chicks - they seem grow at such a rate day by day its impossible to keep up.
They are looking out of the nest box at the wide world and what's even more amazing the bird we rescued is feeding the chicks alongside the parents....

He stands guard over the nest box, when the parents are away and is very attentive when the chicks call.

This is amazing behaviour and the breeder who has been guiding us has never seen this in budgies before - although he has heard of this behaviour, he says its usually only nest mates who (as he was told) exhibit this type of behaviour - but very rare.

On the whole this has been a fantastic experience and I / we know things could have gone much worse - but we have enjoyed this time, as we have no real room for a more extensive Avery at the moment - this is it for any level of breeding.

Before you may ask we are keeping the chicks, although the pet store owner (who we buy food from) wants to buy any young birds we have, we were never in this for money - we were not even in this for the first bird we saved, but are happy with the tribe we have and the on-going enjoyment they continue to provide.

Next image in another couple of days.

[obionee]

Aug 20, 2021 10:15:38 GMT cierlo said:

If you have fences I think there's some way you can add something to the top to cat-proof a garden, not 100% sure. Only briefly seen it in the context of allowing an FIV positive cat to access the garden but keep them separated from other cats. Might be an idea to look into if you need to secure your garden though.

Hi we have tried anti cat matting (soft rubber spikes) and a terrible smelling paste - neither worked.
Unfortunately two thirds of our garden is surrounded by brick wall and a garage, so no easy way of preventing access.

The boards we have made seem to work very well and shelter the Avery from night time cold drafts of air as we exit summer. 

I guess we will have to keep monitoring and modifying the Avery as we go but this latest step seems to have deterred any night time visitors over the last two weeks so fingers crossed.

[ffiscool]

Wow, amazing indeed. Good on you for all you’ve done. Nature is a wonderful thing

[Hezz]

Is the aviary double meshed? This is the best and only real way to predator-proof an outside aviary. If the frame is timber this is even easier as you can mesh from both sides of the frame - inside and out.

[samwiseg]

Picture 3:

SWEEEEEEEET! We approve of pictures like that but need more

[tweetiepiesmom]

Yes! We want an update, please!

[obionee]

So sorry it has been a few months since our last post, CoVID hit our family and everything else sort of got pushed to the back of the cue.

But we are back and hopefully with a bit of a bang - we have added a new larger flight to our Avery and the maniacs are loving it.

I have tried to make it as natural as I can, with a eucalyptus tree, natural branches for purch's, swings made out of more branches (to ensure differing widths for the birds to cling too).

Sadly we lost one of the chicks that hatched in September, it was quite strange as it would not fly much, although it continually climbed out of the nest box (we ensured it had a soft landing, with circa 3 till 4 inches of hay in the base) - very sad.

A question - we still have its nest mate (I callout Ronnie Kray - after the gangster), who seems to absolutely hate me - she (we now know it is a hen), goes ballistic when it see's me - it perfectly fine when anyone else goes near the Avery and I only do the same things (put in treats, millet, food and water) but Ronny goes mad, wings flapping and screaming like crazy - totally not afraid at all.

I will post an image in the coming days of Ronny, who I absolutely adore - but its a one way love affair I afraid.

We hope you are all keeping well as the world comes back to normal.

[obionee]

Here's Ronnie........ Giving me the evil eye.........

[obionee]

Well last night was a night to remember....

We have trained the birds to go into the nesting area during the night, I close the cat flap (our version of a door between both areas) and they settle for the night with the two heaters keeping them toasty.

Well that was until Reggie worked out how open the cat flap and let all the birds into the flight at night - I witnessed her doing it this morning.

So at 3am there I was calling the birds back into the nest area, all I have to say is "come on" and they all fly in - apart from Reggie, so in I go to try and chase her in.

I am only doing this as I had not fitted the anti cat mat to the top of the Avery and I was worried.

But Reggie would not go - so I had to catch her, wow she really bit into me three times, before she went back in.

Needless to say and cat mat is now in place and if she refuses to go in tonight - she can stay outside (with the nest door open).

Honestly danger money should be in place for this beast.

[criswell]

Hello,

I'm sorry you lost one of your chicks. It's tricky that Reggie let all the birds out. I'm glad you were able to get them back in again. I hope bites aren't too sore.