Got a nice surprise today...

[cranberry]

Had a sneak peek in the cut throats nest box today and saw 7 eggs. Firstly, is this number of eggs normal for cut throats and secondly, is it normal that they hooked up and bred after only being together for 4 weeks?

[Tiaris]

The first pair of Cutties I ever had raised 8 young in their 1st clutch. They then laid 13 fertile eggs (probably actually two clutches laid in succession) in their 2nd clutch & hatched them all. One by one they were all thrown out by 4-5 days old. The 1st clutch of young were the culprits - lesson one: remove independent young. Never since had such big clutches but have had plenty of 6s & a couple of 7s. So nothing unusual with 7 eggs laid.

[finches247]

I agree with what Tiaris has said I have nests of 6s and 7s too.Are the Cutthroats you have were they breed on livefood or no livefood cause they eat heaps of livefood when they have chicks espessicially at the 2nd week but some will breed without livefood.If they are bred on livefood i find they need livefood on first day of chicks Good Luck

[cranberry]

Thanks finches247. What kind of live food would they need? Meal worms?

[mickw]

Not cut throats, but I got a nice surprise today too.......First White eared Mask to fledge in nearly 18 months!.........Bred 9 from 2 pairs in 2011.....2012 was horribly wet through the winter breeding season with a tally of nil bred and a couple of losses, 2013 is shaping up to be OK so far

Thanks for sharing your thread

[finches247]

Some of my Cutthroats breed without the livefood and some of my other Cutthroats need maggots and mealworms to raise there young.So the Cutthroats you have were they bred on no livefood or livefood.Congrats Mickw on the Masked Finch Fledglings

[cranberry]

No idea finches247. I guess I can feed them some and see if they take them. Thanks for your help...

[Tiaris]

They definitely will take plenty of livefood when young are hatched. What 247 is getting at is that if your birds were raised on plenty of livefood & you try to breed them with none, they may eject young regularly. Livefood will result in many more young bred with Cutties IMO. I have always fed termites , but any is far better than none.

[cranberry]

Update...

I can see 3 or 4 cutties in the nest and the parents are gobbling up meal worms like there is no tomorrow. They know when I'm coming too as they go to the feed area and wait.

The question is, how many do I feed them? It seems they eat everything I give them but I don't want to overdose them. How many each is a fair number, considering there are 3 or 4 young to feed as well?

[Tiaris]

A generous handful each day.