LML
FAWN/PIED DIAMOND SPARROW ......FINALLY DONE IT.
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finchbreeder
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- Posts: 11641
- Joined: 27 Jun 2009, 20:00
- Location: Midwest of West. Aust. Coast
- Location: Midwest of West.Aust.Coast
What a beautyful and fertile little family you have there.
LML
LML
LML
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wildbill
- ...............................
- Posts: 332
- Joined: 10 Jul 2009, 17:35
- Location: orange nsw
- Location: NSW
Hi
Thanks for the great comments.
My average clutch is always 3 or 4 young birds per nest. I had trouble earlier in the year but I'm now finding these pied very easy to breed and fertility is really good. usually what comes out of the nest goes the distance. So I'd class them as pretty strong. Well the parents handled the -6 below winter temps fine.
Strangely though it was the fawn diamonds which bred smack in the June July or our coldest months and reared about 8 young. i thought I'd loose them for sure but when you think of it diamonds are flying about in the wild about 15 kl from where i live.
Since Sunday i have 15 young pied birds madly flying about and another 2 young out today. So I have to get in the aviaries and feed them and get away quick. We all know that sickening feeling you get when they hit the wire or wall etc.
So overall with the pieds on eggs and the young flying etc I think I'm in for a good season.
On another note my pied ruddies and pied cordons have done absolutely nothing since i stopped supplying the termites to them about 4 months ago.Yesterday I decided to get some termites and put some in the aviary today. I had a collection of approx 15 to 20 cords and ruddies into the live food like a kid in a candy bar lol
So I plan to run the live food again for several weeks and see if it stimulates them to kick off again on the breeding cycle
Thanks for the great comments.
My average clutch is always 3 or 4 young birds per nest. I had trouble earlier in the year but I'm now finding these pied very easy to breed and fertility is really good. usually what comes out of the nest goes the distance. So I'd class them as pretty strong. Well the parents handled the -6 below winter temps fine.
Strangely though it was the fawn diamonds which bred smack in the June July or our coldest months and reared about 8 young. i thought I'd loose them for sure but when you think of it diamonds are flying about in the wild about 15 kl from where i live.
Since Sunday i have 15 young pied birds madly flying about and another 2 young out today. So I have to get in the aviaries and feed them and get away quick. We all know that sickening feeling you get when they hit the wire or wall etc.
So overall with the pieds on eggs and the young flying etc I think I'm in for a good season.
On another note my pied ruddies and pied cordons have done absolutely nothing since i stopped supplying the termites to them about 4 months ago.Yesterday I decided to get some termites and put some in the aviary today. I had a collection of approx 15 to 20 cords and ruddies into the live food like a kid in a candy bar lol
So I plan to run the live food again for several weeks and see if it stimulates them to kick off again on the breeding cycle
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TomDeGraaff
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- Posts: 1024
- Joined: 25 Jul 2012, 11:04
- Location: Melbourne
Congratulations. They are all lovely birds (esp the fawn pied!) 
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wildbill
- ...............................
- Posts: 332
- Joined: 10 Jul 2009, 17:35
- Location: orange nsw
- Location: NSW
back in feb a rat almost wrote of my pied diamond sparrow collection. i had two pair setting with young. i lost both these plus the young.
yesterday whilst placing new brush in the aviary i found the remains of one young in an old disused nest.
what a nice heavy pied this would have been. colour wise it appeared to be at least 80 % white lucky for me i still have several of that particular blood line
yesterday whilst placing new brush in the aviary i found the remains of one young in an old disused nest.
what a nice heavy pied this would have been. colour wise it appeared to be at least 80 % white lucky for me i still have several of that particular blood line
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wildbill
- ...............................
- Posts: 332
- Joined: 10 Jul 2009, 17:35
- Location: orange nsw
- Location: NSW
as it goes the pied hen eggs were due to hatch either yesterday or today so about 5pm today i was placing a few termites into a bowl in the aviary for the pied cordons
just after i exited the entrance door down flew her partner the normal/fawn pied cock and straight to the termite bowl.
i stood outside the door watching him indulge for a couple of minutes then he flew off, had a drink and landed on a perch near the entrance to their nest. a couple of shrill calls later he ventured in.
now to the interesting part. around a minute or so later the hen stuck her head slowly outside the entrance and from 2 metres away i could see something white in her beak. satisfied ever thing was fine she flew about 4 metres to a nearby perch then dropped the remains of the egg shell then flew off to the feed dish as if nothing had happened.
first time ever i have witnessed this egg-vent-full event.
just after i exited the entrance door down flew her partner the normal/fawn pied cock and straight to the termite bowl.
i stood outside the door watching him indulge for a couple of minutes then he flew off, had a drink and landed on a perch near the entrance to their nest. a couple of shrill calls later he ventured in.
now to the interesting part. around a minute or so later the hen stuck her head slowly outside the entrance and from 2 metres away i could see something white in her beak. satisfied ever thing was fine she flew about 4 metres to a nearby perch then dropped the remains of the egg shell then flew off to the feed dish as if nothing had happened.
first time ever i have witnessed this egg-vent-full event.
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wildbill
- ...............................
- Posts: 332
- Joined: 10 Jul 2009, 17:35
- Location: orange nsw
- Location: NSW
Latest update
My very first fawn pied hen bred in July 012 - now has young in the nest. She took up with a medium pied cock split for fawn.
This is my best chance of breeding fawn pied cocks and hens. Young are maybe 10 days old.............sounds like a few in the nest.
I know some breeders say large colonies don't work with diamonds but there's 25 to 30 in my lot. Plus another 60 in the other 2 aviaries. I find the odd cock bird gets a bit excited now and again but to combat this I offer 3 feeding stations for greens and seed.
They have been good to excellent breeders and I have 5 fawn hens/pied and a stack of normals split fawn and pied and pied birds split to fawn.
If I don't strike any more rat trouble I should have 10 or more combo pairs of the above within a couple of months.
If you ask me which is the prettiest of the diamond fire-tail - The fawn pied really takes some beating.
My very first fawn pied hen bred in July 012 - now has young in the nest. She took up with a medium pied cock split for fawn.
This is my best chance of breeding fawn pied cocks and hens. Young are maybe 10 days old.............sounds like a few in the nest.
I know some breeders say large colonies don't work with diamonds but there's 25 to 30 in my lot. Plus another 60 in the other 2 aviaries. I find the odd cock bird gets a bit excited now and again but to combat this I offer 3 feeding stations for greens and seed.
They have been good to excellent breeders and I have 5 fawn hens/pied and a stack of normals split fawn and pied and pied birds split to fawn.
If I don't strike any more rat trouble I should have 10 or more combo pairs of the above within a couple of months.
If you ask me which is the prettiest of the diamond fire-tail - The fawn pied really takes some beating.
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finchbreeder
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- Posts: 11641
- Joined: 27 Jun 2009, 20:00
- Location: Midwest of West. Aust. Coast
- Location: Midwest of West.Aust.Coast
Well you seem to have this mutation fairly safely established.
LML
LML
LML
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wildbill
- ...............................
- Posts: 332
- Joined: 10 Jul 2009, 17:35
- Location: orange nsw
- Location: NSW
update -rats,rats now more rats!!
well the news on the fawn pied nest is not good. rats got into the aviary again and took her nest plus the partner. lucky for me she is still alive.
aviary next to this had a great little pied/fawn combo there were over 30 in total - now down to 7. so 20 plus missing in action.
this all happened in 3 to 5 days. i was wondering why 3 heavy pied birds had not come to the seed bowl for a few days. thought the worst and went to the rat feeding stating - all food gone.
had a good look about and couldn't see many pieds at all.
down at the local store i purchase a box of ratsack and place half a box at the feeding station- next day all gone.
did the same again and next day same story....no bait two days later found 2 rats dead on the floor and one crawling around outside the rear of the aviary. shovel help that eased the pain a bit.
i have a rat problem for sure - same thing happened about 15 months ago. i have no choice but concentrate on cementing some bare earth floors and rebuilding the aviaries to a far better standard.
i will most likely sell most of my mutation birds while they are still alive as this rebuild alone will take me quite some time.
i suppose some might think how could you loose 20 plus diamonds in one aviary and not notice. the easy answer is - that aviary branches off into 8 8x4 cubicles -most pairs live in different quarters that's why they bred so well.
my elcheapo aviaries were build years ago - built like they used to build old houses about 100 tears ago - just add a room etc etc.lol
any way i might be laughing now but a week or so back it was the complete reverse.
i didn't lean my lesson the first time around with rats and the damage they cause and this event i copped it big time!!to a true mutation breeder - the heavy pied diamonds i lost would have you depressed for days.
but on another note i still have the same amount or more of pied mutation kicking about in the other aviary
so to sum up on a positive note - i'd like to think my pied sparrow population is now half full - not half empty!
i like the sound of that - feel better already - i wish!!!
regards
well the news on the fawn pied nest is not good. rats got into the aviary again and took her nest plus the partner. lucky for me she is still alive.
aviary next to this had a great little pied/fawn combo there were over 30 in total - now down to 7. so 20 plus missing in action.
this all happened in 3 to 5 days. i was wondering why 3 heavy pied birds had not come to the seed bowl for a few days. thought the worst and went to the rat feeding stating - all food gone.
had a good look about and couldn't see many pieds at all.
down at the local store i purchase a box of ratsack and place half a box at the feeding station- next day all gone.
did the same again and next day same story....no bait two days later found 2 rats dead on the floor and one crawling around outside the rear of the aviary. shovel help that eased the pain a bit.
i have a rat problem for sure - same thing happened about 15 months ago. i have no choice but concentrate on cementing some bare earth floors and rebuilding the aviaries to a far better standard.
i will most likely sell most of my mutation birds while they are still alive as this rebuild alone will take me quite some time.
i suppose some might think how could you loose 20 plus diamonds in one aviary and not notice. the easy answer is - that aviary branches off into 8 8x4 cubicles -most pairs live in different quarters that's why they bred so well.
my elcheapo aviaries were build years ago - built like they used to build old houses about 100 tears ago - just add a room etc etc.lol
any way i might be laughing now but a week or so back it was the complete reverse.
i didn't lean my lesson the first time around with rats and the damage they cause and this event i copped it big time!!to a true mutation breeder - the heavy pied diamonds i lost would have you depressed for days.
but on another note i still have the same amount or more of pied mutation kicking about in the other aviary
so to sum up on a positive note - i'd like to think my pied sparrow population is now half full - not half empty!
i like the sound of that - feel better already - i wish!!!
regards
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Craig52
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- Posts: 5088
- Joined: 11 Nov 2011, 19:26
- Location: victoria
Mate i am so sorry to read all that,you had some great pied birds.It reminds me of when i had all my birds stolen with that rotten gut feeling of are they going to come back if i set up again,just like your rats.
Don't give up,rebuild better this time concrete the floors and use 6mm weld mesh. Craig
Don't give up,rebuild better this time concrete the floors and use 6mm weld mesh. Craig