10-7 Rosey Bourke baby pics update

[cindy]

Candace, I always spoonfed my babies. I took a teaspoon or small espresso spoon, bent the edges in to make a small "V". I always elt it was the closest thing to a mother's beak. I never tube fed and was not a fan of the syrine, I've seen t many blown out crops.

The people I may get bourkes from have different mutations, I am hoping to get something a little different like a yellow or a Rubino.

If not I am just as happy with the Rosey color.

Check out the yellow mutation on the the bourke halfwa down this page:

http://www.grassparakeet.com/bourke.htm

Maybe when we are ready for scarlets we will come see you at one of the shows!

[CandoAviary]

I saw some cream bourkes at the Tallahassee fair in August. They were young and beautiful. I refrained from getting any though I was most tempted. I think they were $125 each which I thought was a great price.
This last show there were a few of the normal bourkes which I always liked also. Check out this fellow at the top of this page
http://www.avianweb.com/burkesparrots.html
They are beutiful in their own right.
Ray's aviary in North Carolina has some of the healthiest scarlets I have found. I got 6 from him a couple of years ago and they are lovely. Check out the new mutations he is working with, he has them all. The only other bird he breeds besides the scarlets/splendids are the bourkes.
http://raysaviary.braveweblog.com/

[cindy]

The yellow on that scarlet is amazing. It looks like he is into quiet a bit of mutation study on both species.

Bourkes and scarlets are fairly easy to care for, the bourkes are very quiet little birds. I am thrilled the two are going to be tame, it makes it easier when it comes to handling, care and feeding.

I bought a good amount of stock in parrotlets from this breeder and his birds are exceptionally friendly and remain that way even during breeding...except one pair of green rump parrotlets. Once they started breeding if you put your hand in the cage they were like a rapid dog, diving to bite you. Needless to say they had cups that could be inserted on the cage instead of bowls on the bottom.

[poohbear]

Nice 'aint they??

[cindy]

To Sweet!!!!!

The breeder is also pairing a pink to a rosey and I already reserved another (unrelated) baby....love the yellows and rubinos also!

[cindy]

Well tickle me pink....my friend sent pictures of the rosey babies as an update, 2 are mine!!!! I am so excited and can not wait, even though realistically I have to. Darn they are so cute!!!!

[lovemyfinch]

They are beautiful Cindy

[CandoAviary]

Cute is an understatment!

[cindy]

Thank you Janine. Candace how about "sweet","awesome".....?

I am so EGG-cited!!!!!!!

[dfcauley]

Just adorable!!!

[cindy]

Donna, it is still a couple of weeks away and I have a flight made up already!

[annague]

Those bourkes are so CUDDLY looking -- they have such sweet expressions and they look squeezably soft.

Do bourkes need a lot of personal time from their owners? Or can you put them in with finches and not worry about making sure they get additional time from their owner?

[cindy]

The pair I had before were not hand tame but were very patient when I entered the cage to feed or clean. They let me check the nest. I did handfeed young, they are absolutely sweet and very gentle tame. Taming doesn't mean that they will not be good parents. Some handfed birds will remain in the box and move to let you candle or check young. One thing about hand tamed bourkes is they are very calm when you enter the cage.

You can let the parents feed them out also if you don't intend to handle them. They do well on a a higher ratio of pellets to seed diet along with veggies and some fruits. I never had to supply eggfood as we do with the finches. Just make sure you are feeding high quality seed and pellets. Mine loved apples.

They do much better with flight room width wise more than height. I didn't fuss to much with them, they are delightful to watch and are most active at dawn and dusk. They fly back and forth singing...it is a soft song.

[CandoAviary]

Do bourkes need a lot of personal time from their owners? Or can you put them in with finches and not worry about making sure they get additional time from their owner?

Anna,
The austrailian grasskeets are very much like finches and prefer time spent with birds of their own kind much more than humans. They will tame down just like a finch when handfeeding but will quickly resort to acting like a bird unless constantly handled. They make excellent aviary birds and the scarlets/splendids and bourkes are the quietest. They also are a good species to mix with finches if the area is large enough. They are very sweet birds. The one thing you need to watch for with bourkes is that they are very active at dusk and even into the night. You can tell by the large size of their eyes. They see well in little light therefore may stay active. This night activity can upset roosting or nesting finches and if scared from their nest/roost have a hard time seeing to get back.

[cindy]

As Candace and I mentioned they are very active at dawn and dusk...they are very swift and fly side to side. If doing an allow for some of the perches/branches on the ends to go width wise. Candace made a good point allow enough flight room, if you put them with finches perhaps put the branches or perches for their flight pattern a little lower than the finch nest (place the nests more at the top of the cage). I started to rework my branches in the flight earlier this morning to provide enough room for a good fly.