First clutch 5 chicks; 4 normal coloured 1 blue, blue chick died a day off fledging, other 4 going well.
3 nests with lots of eggs but no-one sitting.
1 year old male blue died.
Nest with 14 eggs, 4 hatched.
Nest of 8 eggs, 7 hatched.
Another 2 big clutches no-one sitting.
Another nest with 4 eggs no-one sitting.
Split blue pair that had the first clutch with 4/5 surviving currently sitting on 5 eggs.
Got some Moxi plus and dosed the colony 5ml/litre water, got 2 Painted finches to add to the colony. Since discovered shouldn't really dose during breeding season or while chicks under a week old in nest.
Found the nest with 7 three day old chicks with 4 chicks tossed the next afternoon, 4 on the ground 1 dead, popped the 3 live ones back into their nest, were all still in nest in the morning, came back between shifts to find remaining 6 all tossed, popped them back in the nest, went inside to get their soaked seed and thaw their fresh frozen grass seed, go back out 10 minutes later a chick has been tossed - go in avairy to pick it up and hen bird comes flying out the nest box with another chick to toss, pick that one up and she's got another one
so I pulled out the other remaining 3 chicks and pop all 6 chicks into my other nesting pair which had 4 chicks about 3 days older - probably not the right thing to do but didn't really have any other option - not that I could have sacrificed any of the clutch (I would make a very poor farmer). This pair is first time parents, so not sure if this just the reason, or was it the Moxi plus, or introducing the new pair of Painted finches (I wasn't planning on adding more birds to the colony - but got offered them from my Uncle in Victoria).So that's where I'm at for now, after a reasonably relaxed season last year apart from stressing over the cold nights.
Hopefully no more dramas for the rest of the season - will keep you posted on the clutch of ten - here's hoping this doesn't end in heartache too. Parents doing a great job feeding them all, making sure I have soaked seed twice daily to help get them through this busy time.
