Round Two for Orange Cheek waxbills
Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 10:59 pm
My first pair of Orange cheek waxbills are preparing to start a new nest and hopefully raise a second brood of chicks. The second pair of Orange Cheeks that had the nest on the floor failed at their first attempt to hatch and raise some offspring. After waiting them out for another week and seeing that they no longer were spending time in the nest, I decided to inspect their nest and see what was going on. I found one cracked open egg that had dried up yolk in it and two cold abandoned eggs that when I cracked them open had not developed at all. So I cleaned out their old nest and put in a box of fresh grass and sisal so they could try again. They are already rapidly building their new nest in the very same spot as their old one was located. Hopefully they will succeed this time. I am having a time with "squeaky" The male of the successful first pair that raised the two chicks. He is an apparent habitual feather plucker and has removed most of the down feathers on his mates neck and left cheek. He has done this before with another female that he was paired to in the past and I ended up separating them. Now he is doing the very same thing to this female. I have added more minerals to their oyster shell cup as well as more protein in their food supplements thinking maybe he is lacking something in his diet that is making him pluck to try to get it from the feathers of his mate. The other male Orange cheek does not appear to have this tendency to pluck and treats his mate well so maybe it has nothing to do with diet and "squeaky" is just an abusive bird. The two chicks have started to lose the black color from their bills and they are slowly starting to turn red like the adults. I will have to band them at some point but am reluctant to do so until this summer heat breaks. Don't want to stress them out trying to net them in these hot, humid temperatures. Will keep everyone posted on their progress, Randy.
