Ruddy questions

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dazzab
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Posts: 72
Joined: 25 Jun 2014, 08:53
Location: Shoalhaven Heads NSW

Hi all
Wanted to get some experiences and ideas about ruddies. I have a pair that seem keen to breed. I have tried to breed them in the past couple of seasons but haven't had any luck. My aviary setup hasn't been ideal. Now I have fixed that I'm not sure if I'm missing something. One thing I have noticed is they have been reluctant to eat extra food like live food and sprouted seed and things unless they have young in the nest. So since letting them nest this spring I have been keeping an eye on them and doing my best to cater for them. Keeping track they started taking live food around the time the eggs were due to hatch. One thing I want to know is how long will one of the parents always stay in the nest with the young. It was only 4 days or so and both parents were out of the nest all the time. I thought this would be longer but they kept taking the live food so I was happy they were still feeding young. I've left things go and now just over 2 weeks after the chicks were due to hatch one of the parents are missing as if they are on a nest again. The weird thing that I can't work out is I am 99% sure they are not back in the same nest as before because I can't get them to fly out while carefully inspecting. But, I can't for the life of me find another nest anywhere. What do people recommend? Do I confirm they are not in the same nest by putting my hand in. If this proves true then they must have another nest somewhere really well hidden cause I can't find it. After feeding today the hen that was out of the nest took more live food. What do you think?
Daz
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elferoz777
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Posts: 1751
Joined: 01 Feb 2012, 22:15
Location: Fairy Meadow, NSW

My advice is leave the nest alone.

The will have a small nest hidden somewhere.

I was looking once and it resulted in chicks getting tossed. Just give them another week.

It got to the point I had pairs with nests everywhere and every time I disturbed the brush young ruddies would freak out and dive from the nest. Some survived many did not.

Good thing is once they start they dont stop and it seems you are looking after them very well.
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