When to check or remove eggs

[Bahadir]

Jamm972

Hello Everybody;

In these days i have exams and i could not be online often, sorry friends. By the way,4 eggs are in nest, mom is laying on. If it goes good, next week tuesday chicks will be welcomed. I did not see father feeds mom. Father is so silent after she laid on clutch. He just stands on perch and looking her and making noises as like as they are talking to eachother. But no feeding her. Sometimes i am worried about he is sick or begin to molt. But he is funny again when she gets out from nest for eating.

I hope everything go on good and we celebrate the chicks together.

Thanks to everybody for everything:)

[Bahadir]

Animalzoo

Hi,

We wrote massages in same time. Yes you remember right, they had 4 eggs. I am afraid to touch eggs for checking fertilization. So ı dont know they are fertile or not. I just wait with curiousity and excite.

[Jamm972]

Animalzoo Counting all babies i have a total of 16 and prolly have 4 on the way. there due to hatch next day or 2.

Yellow seems to be wanting to start a nest but haven't observed Donald feeding her like he did with Whitey. I wont put Donald in with Yellow Until i see Yellow building a full complete nest. Donald is trying to feed yellow but Yellow is like Whatever....

Noname and Studs nest is complete. Reason i say Questionable about Stud is i cant say for sure he is a male until i see a baby...lol

Blanca's nest is done. She is sitting on it every night however her 2 babies haven't fledged yet. Daddies still feeding them though, and occasionally so is mom.

Orangie and tails....well Orangie started building a nest but it was sloppy so who knows. I removed the divider to seehow they will react with each other but I'm sure it will be the same as befire tails just being tails....not interested in anything

Babies are doing fine, not as much fighting but i haven't been able to observe to much today.

[Animalzoo]

Jamm972

Today my boyfriend called the breeder (in Spanish ) and the guy remembered us from when we went in before! Thats the good news, but the not so exciting news is he said now is not the time to be buying new birds. He said it's best to wait for the summer, like August September when more new birds will be available. Obvious really isn't it, as we know down to the breeding season. So no new canaries for this season. I have 4 breeding pairs and thats how it'll end for the season. To be honest though, I may as well just keep back the odd baby I have bred...why not!

I want to try to get a pair of pure glosters (as I dont know anything about them) and I have a sneaky feeling these are more common to get crested heads. Like your stud and noname I also want a red couple. Shame you and I can't swap birds eh!?

I'll plan ahead and see what we end up with, plus with a show or so to go to we'll be starting next year laughing knowing so much more. Did you say your going to a show?

[Jamm972]

Animalzoo Yeah The reason he is saying not to buy a new bird is because your suppose to isolate the new bird for a few weeks to make sure he is not introducing any diseases to the flock. The you have the trying to pair up phase, which can take another 2 to 3 weeks if it don't happen the first try. So i think what he is saying is by the time you find a suitable pair it will be the end of the breeding season and they will start to molt. You can technically buy a new bird any time during the year, but the best time is usually right before breeding/pairing season begins. But keep in mind that around this time the prices will be increased because the demand will go up for female and or male birds. Especially if they have been confirmed sexed.

not much to update on my end today. Still waiting for Whiteys eggs to hatch. If at least 1 don't hatch by tomorrow. I will candle all 4 to see if there even fertile.

Will talk later

[Jamm972]

RIP Brownie.

@Animalzoo so today I go show my 2 friends the baby birds. 1 minute Brownie is hopping around the cage. Turn away for a few seconds and look again and he dropped to the bottom of the cage and died. Not sure of the sudden on set to die, but am very concerned about my other birds.

[Animalzoo]

Jamm972 OMG
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT

I'm shocked. The poor girl, or boy! I don't think you need worry about the other birds. Brownie showed no interest in breeding and it is very possible has had some kind of chronic illness or even a cancer of sort that was deep down and under the skin.

If there's one thing I have learned with all of mine is you don't know when a bird is ill unless they tell you. In the wild any birds who show as ill are easy pickings for predators so they carry on as normal until they die. Sometimes they are fluffed up more or lethargic but if its a heart or organ failure then you won't know. If this was parasites or something contagious you would see symptoms. The fact Brownie wouldn't breed, now in hindsight is your symptom.

I'm so sorry your little baby has died. It's terribly sad and always a shock. You're not alone and I've been on this journey with you so 'm quite sad too. All the best and speak soon.

[Jamm972]

Animalzoo So Blanca laid her first egg for her 2nd clutch today. I replaced it with a dummy egg. I'm Still waiting on Whiteys eggs to start hatching they should of started hatching today. I'm getting a little concerned that they might be infertile. The last egg is due to hatch Friday morning. So maybe 3 will hatch tomorrow. remember I originally put in dummy eggs for the first 2 days and on day 3 put them all back.

I removed the divider so Yellow will have access to Donald and what does Whitey do. She goes and sits in the empty nest. So I put the divider back up for the time being. if need be I might move yellow and Donald into their own breeder cage, but I didn't want to leave Blanca hanging raising the next batch if babies. They say the chicks learn the most from the fathers. Tough calls here.

Blancas 2 chicks are being stubborn staying in the nest. its now day 15. 1 did fledge but I put him back in the nest for the night and he hasn't hopped back out yet. I have a feeling I might have to do the same thing to these 2 babies that I did with Whiteys last chick. Move them to the bottom of the cage and let them explore.

So not sure whats up with Orangie and Tails looks like there trying to build a nest and get things started but its a slow progress. Orangie who is the potential male is doing the nest building. Strange huh, Even though Orangie is a good singer , might be a female.
In 3 weeks things will get complicated because I have to drive to NY which is about 2 days worth of a drive. Pack up my friend and drive back to Arizona. So I will be gone for about 6 days. I'm going to try and get some sterile water bottles set up so they have some water to drink wile I'm gone, and they should be ok with fresh seed before I go. If anything they will miss the fresh greens and apple slices. When I get back I will be moving them into their more permanent home.

Toopay is singing like crazy, that's typical of him when he is by himself. I wonder if he will only mate and or pair up with another gloster canary. It have to be one that is not crested though.

That's my update for now. keeping fingers crossed for tomorrow to have 3 babies hatch at once. If they don't I'm going to have to candle them to see if there fertile or not.

Well talk to you later

[Animalzoo]

Jamm972 Drive to NY. Crazy....you are a very loyal friend indeed. I cant compute that length of driving, America really is HUGE! I drove from my home to north spain once to catch the ferry back to the UK and that was bad enough at 8 hours but 2 days, wow.

Can anyone at all look in on your birds? Don't even worry about fresh food or greens while your away but will the seeds be ok and not fill up with empty husks. Even if on day 3 someone was just to come in to swap seeds around for fresh and check water levels?

Setup a webcam to monitor hehe

I think whiteys eggs will start to hatch tomorrow or maybe even saturday, if like you say you did swap eggs for a few days then I wonder if they hatching will be a few days after you expect. Just candle them then you know

You know what I think about Blancas babies...leave them. Let them do what they want to do. In comparison between my 2 batches of chicks. One nest had 4 babies and I thought they would fledge quickly for more space but they sat tight and then the nest with 3 chicks who were a week behind fledged really quickly when they were quite small. The clutch with 4 fledged late but weaned quickly, the clutch wit 3 fledged early and are still asking for food through the bars now. Just let them do what they do.

When you took that divide out for yellow did blanca sit on her nest for long? Is the nest built? You may find she just did it out of instinct or curiosity but would return to her own in time. If yellow has been building then I would suspect she would end up protective of her own in time and chase blanca away.

I recon Orangie is a male and they do sometimes start the nest building off. Carrying nesting material is a way to entice the female. Is he feeding tails?

Maybe Toopay is a little older now and has gone passed wanting to breed. We now know brownie had a problem but even then you paired toopay with the other girls and he didnt perform did he. I don't think canaries care much for what type their partner is, they breed with anything but if you did get another gloster it would be nice knowing the babies would all be true glosters. Might be easier to sell that way.

I've not ventured into my bird room yet this morning. I'll look in on them in a mo but I'm letting my boyfriend check them today as I'm working from 12. No eggs are due for hatching, I'm just in limbo right now waiting for hatchings. Those 3 babies need moving soon too from Romeo and Juliet but if they're still asking for food them I'm holding out. I kind of think I could move them as the other babies are weaned and are in with an adult boy so they'd learn from them.....we'll see. Maybe tomorrow.

ttyl

[Jamm972]

Animalzoo So I have my hands full right now. Blanca laid her 2nd egg, Noname laid her first. Whiteys first 2 eggs hatched. Its going to be a crazy 2 weeks. And this will all happen wile I'm gone I might just leave my other half home to tend to the animals, but the drive to NY and back to AZ is risky when you don't have anybody to swap out for driving.

Yeah I think your right, about Whitey just exploring her nest, and or she wanted to start another 1 lol. My partner said to me today, no more for Whitey, I don't want to see her at the bottom of the cage. I agree with him. Problem is you cant interfere with nature to much. If they want to do there natural 3 rounds of clutches cant really stop them unless you completely separate them.

Yeah it seems Orangie is doing most of the nest material. I just hope Tails will catch on and do what is natural. I somehow feel that some of these canaries were taught by there parents and or were moved to soon. Like Noname, She didn't even seem interested until I put her near Whitey and Donald then she built a nest and laid the 2 eggs as a test run. Now she is at it again building a nest and laying more eggs but is out of site from the others.

Wonder if I should do the same for tails and Orangie.

As far as yellow I remember her building a nest but didn't do anything when she was with Toopay. The I removed the nest and re-paired her with another male.

Well any hoo next year will be very crazy indeed. I will have them all on the same conditioning schedule, proper lighting, and diet. The challenge will be pairing flighted with unflighted canaries.

that's my update for now. talk later today.

[Animalzoo]

Jamm972
Yay, whiteys eggs hatched. Thats great news, things are coming together. But yeah dilemmas ahead for when you gotta drive to NY. Hmmmm, I wish I could help.

How many did whitey have in clutch 1? If she's only got 2 babies this time round and had a small clutch before I'd defo go for a 3rd. I agree with you, its nature and common practice.

I recon tails will get there if Orangie has started building the nest. Maybe something will just click. Leave her to the weekend perhaps and see what happens.

So news my end. Romeo kept escaping his cage and has done for a few days now which really threw me. It was like David Copperfield or something, I'd go and change the food or water and go back in and voila he was out. I was like whaaaaaaaat!!? Well anyway I finally worked it out, there was one bar missing on the external nest and he'd often hop in there when freaked. Silly little things. So all repaired and safe n sound. I took their babies out today and moved them to the flight cage. Straight away I saw one of them cracking seed and eating, so they'll be fine. Also, Juliet has 5 eggs!! Its far too early for candling yet but fingers crossed.

Nothing else to report. ttyl

[Jamm972]

Jamm972
How many did whitey have in clutch 1? If she's only got 2 babies this time round and had a small clutch before I'd definitely go for a 3rd. I agree with you, its nature and common practice.

Whitey laid 4 eggs this time around. So far her first 2 are fertile and i think her last 2 are fertile as well. They went to being Expert parenting birds. I have a good feeling about this. So prolly will have 2 crested and 2 normal babies

Woo hoo on 5 eggs, I haven’t had a pair lay no more than 4 eggs this year at a time. But will see what happens next year.
2 eggs for Blanca so far and 1 for Noname. Noname is being like Blanca. Wont budge from the nest, but I'm removing her eggs anyways and replacing with dummies. Now that I know doing this works. I am going to do this every time so I can control when they hatch on all the same day, allowing them all to have a chance to survive and not starve.

I'm thinking of moving Yellow and Donald to a different cage so Whitey can focus on her babies. Only difference is she depended on Donald to help with the babies and feed her when she kept them warm. So I might keep Yellow and Donald together until she lays a 2nd egg if she even shows interest. After she does this I will put Donald back in with Whitey to help as well as teach the babies.

talk soon

[Bahadir]

Hello friends,

I am still fighting with exams and i cant join conversations often but i am sorry for Brownie... May he fly in lights. By the way, we are in last 4 days for hatch here. I wish long lives for our birds and us. Take care yourselves.

[Animalzoo]

Jamm972

So drama my end!
This morning before work I stopped in as per usual to view the birds. Jack n Jill were behaving odd. Jack was on the floor fluffed and to be fair looked like he was just chilling and Jill was on her nest but her head was bowed and she looked like she was asleep. Today we have had rain and all my birds appeared quiet and mellow as if they sensed the bad weather so I decided to monitor.

My boyfriend and I own a bar, so work for me today was shopping for supplies then in for a very small and quick 3 hour shift. In the meantime my boyfriend was going to handle all the birdies. He reported all was well. Bear in mind we keep several species and we have babies and eggs all over the place with lovebirds and finches too. I hadn't mentioned to him about Jack n Jill acting lethargic and thought he'd spot anything odd.

So he comes to work at 6 to take over my shift and we talked about the birds, I stayed there for about an hour and got home like 7.30 ish. Straight into the bird room and whats the FIRST thing I see. Jill on the floor of the cage, head bowed, alive but not with it! OMG THE EGGS!!! One had hatched still half in its shell. PANIC!! The baby was alive, cold and just barely moving. The other eggs were cold......sh#t!

Scully and Lucky are on the same schedule, so I jumped straight onto their cage to see all her eggs hatched, but rather than 4 babies, there were only 3....what!!

So I threw Jills one baby into Scullys nest anyway but where in the hell is Scullys 4th baby. I'm looking on the floor, I'm even looking on the floor floor under the cage, where is it!.....but then I spy it. The poor thing really was on the floor of the cage, under the bars and was camouflaged on the newspaper. Doh! Alive but just so I move it back in the nest. So Scully as I left her was sitting on 5 babies. 3 healthy and warm asking for food so hopefully the other 2 will come around once warm.

So back to Jill, she had laid 5 eggs and only 3 were fertile remember, so I checked what 2 were left that were the good ones and have moved them into Cher's nest (as she ony laid 2). The problem is her eggs arent due for another 5 days or so

That dealt with the eggs and babies, onto Jill. I took her away from the cage, put her in one of the budgie breeding boxes I have and she's now with me in the main house. Get this, she's limp, but will eat the mashed up eggs from my finger tips and when I lower her beak very gently into water, she drinks. So at the moment, I'm thinking complete and utter starvation. Has Jack not fed her at all!!!!! Is her instinct to sit on eggs until starvation a possibility?

Well anyway, Ive fed her by hand twice now in the space of an hour. I've made up some powdered hand feeding formula into a thick mash which she is also sipping at from my hand. I'm about to go see her again now for more food but I hope it is something like starvation in which case I might be able to recover her from. If it's illness then maybe its Brownie revisited

So I called up my boyfriend and told him off. He's really into the lovebirds and tends to leave the canaries to me but c'mon, is he blind!? He apologised but still. Grrrrr

I'm going to make another post about this, see if theres anything else I can do. Look at this pic of her limp with her head bowed down....




The poor girl.

[Animalzoo]

RIP Jill.

Damit! Thats really peed me off now as I saw her like this 12 hours ago and could maybe have done something. Grrrr.