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Re: Advice needed!!!
Posted: 12 Apr 2013, 04:49
by maureen_g
Thanks emmo and CC. I am less stressed since moving the zebs who are doing fine! I was having nightmares about suddenly seeing hundreds of baby zebs filling the aviary!!
I will be so happy if I hear chirping baby sounds coming from those nests!!!
Re: Advice needed!!!
Posted: 18 Apr 2013, 14:49
by maureen_g
Re: Advice needed!!!
Posted: 19 Apr 2013, 10:17
by emmo
Well done. Hope all continues to go well. Double Bars are great parents.
Re: Advice needed!!!
Posted: 19 Apr 2013, 11:43
by COUNTRY CAPITAL
supply greens like silverbeet and leb. cucumber, also seeding grasses.
all should be ok.....no more peeking though
Re: Advice needed!!!
Posted: 19 Apr 2013, 13:07
by maureen_g
Thanks emmo and CC. The seeding grasses will run out in a few weeks and so I have been in a bit of a panic!!! However I made up my first batch of sprouted seed and put it in today!!
The DBs were onto it straight away!! Also the Stars love it. The damned Gouldians with babies....... well maybe they might find it and like it!!! I am sooooo tempted to check on those tiny babies and see if they are still alive but managed to control myself today. The male DBs are very aggressive toward each other!!! Especially the one who I know has babies. He barely rests - always on the alert for the other guy!!! Even when he darts into the nest when the hen comes out for a feed he pokes his little head out to keep watch, whereas when she goes in she stays unseen. She is in there most of the time. OMG!!! As I write I can see the Goulds getting stuck into the sprouted seed!!! (they're in a different aviary) I take back what I said about them. Another problem I have is that in the nesting area where the DBs are, I put a seed container and one of those upsidedown watering containers. This has been there for more than 3 weeks now!! To remove that water container would mean causing a great disturbance in the nesting area. There are 3 other open water containers with fresh water out in the flight. Do you think I'm doing the right thing leaving it there? It does worry me.
Re: Advice needed!!!
Posted: 23 Apr 2013, 16:54
by maureen_g
Had a very sad experience yesterday. Checked the DB nest and no sign of the 2 babies whatsoever only the 1 infertile egg which I removed. Like they had never been there. Decided to clean up the nesting area and the whole aviary. Found some mouse poo on the floor in the nest area. I suspect this is the culprit as I can't think of anything else. The aviary has mouse-proof wire - 6mm. I have some baits out but need to be careful because of my 2 Jack Russell terriers. Siliconed any tiny gaps and put wire in small gaps near the roof. Put a thick layer of sand over the pavers and put some brush in. Hope I have done the job properly as I had believed the aviary was mouse-proof!! Very sad. The poor DBs are still using the nest - defending it from the other pair and one inside a fair bit. There are 6 eggs in another nest but I don't know to whom they belong. Maybe the Stars? Should I get rid of all eggs and start again? I was messing about for ages in the nesting area and was surprised that the DBs went back to the nest afterwards.
Re: Advice needed!!!
Posted: 23 Apr 2013, 17:10
by vettepilot_6
Being a beginner it is hard not to stickbeak into nests, but Doublebars and Stars as well as many others will desert young if you do...hopefull it was mice and you have fixed the problem..
Re: Advice needed!!!
Posted: 24 Apr 2013, 01:59
by maureen_g
I was totally unprepared for the DBs to breed having been told by the previous owner that they wouldn't until Spring. Now they have more secluded nesting areas to choose from which I won't need to inspect, a cleaner environment, hopefully vermin proof, less other birds in the aviary and I now feel better about their chances of rearing young successfully. The birds will be less upset by my entering the aviary because the nesting area is not immediately in my sight. I have removed the old water which was on the shelf in there. No reason for me to stress. They can do their own thing - breed or not.
Re: Advice needed!!!
Posted: 24 Apr 2013, 07:34
by emmo
Great attitude. Good luck.
Re: Advice needed!!!
Posted: 24 Apr 2013, 10:40
by Diane
You will have some baby double bars soon!