These birds were actually bought in 2009 (late) - I started the post again so that the birds could be referenced correctly.
I ended up getting more YB's which were given to Donna to let them breed in her huge aviary but nothing ever happened. In the mean time I set up a pair I had sexed and I lost the female after her first egg she laid. Which then started a new question on another post that went sour so I brought this post forward.
I too mix my own mixes and with so many new people getting into birds - they need to understand that the mixes we deem good are not always sufficient so what works for another with certain species may never work or be enough for another species. It is a caution that after years and years of being in bird husbandry that even someone like me with experience will still have failures because of whatever.
It was my opinion that I lost the Swee hen because either she didn't recognize the mix as a valid calcium/vitamin/mineral mix or did and didn't consume enough. I too feed my birds greens rich in calcium but even that wasn't enough. It is also my opinion that perhaps the YB's need to be supplemented with liquid calcium during breeding just to be safe and will do so next time but for now the little YB hen is gone and what a horrible death that I could have prevented.
Regarding the Owl's - well they just plain suck at being parents! They have laid two clutches and incubate perfectly and when the babies start to hatch they abandon ship!
I have the Yellow-bellied Waxbills, and feel lucky to have them. They are the cutest little birds, just adorable, like little round balls of gray fluff.
