Brat chucked the same chick.

[Sally]

So sorry you lost the second baby, but that was Brat's doing, not yours. Glad the other four are being fed. I observed a tossing once with Cordon Bleus, and now I don't remember if it was the male or the hen, but the baby was carried in their beak all the way to the bottom of the cage and then laid down, rather than being tossed. Why the difference? Who knows, but there are differences between being tossed (thrown) out of the nest and/or carried out of the nest.

[Babs _Owner]

Sally

Thanks Sally. I always lean towards "what could I have done differently"? I'll stop beating myself up like you and Elana said and move forward with this new lesson. I get it now. If Miss Cranky Pants says the baby is "out", its out. Im not going to argue with her again.
Brat not only threw it, she followed it down to finish it off, but I ran to the cage and intervened. It was quite vicious and she was intently focused. Ricco seemed very disturbed by her behavior. He wanted to get the heck out of her way as well. And if this becomes the norm, she will stop breeding. Her daughter Bubbles is an amazing mother with Jet raising her second clutch of 6 without a complaint or incident.

Thats really odd, that the cordon bleu would almost gently carry it to another location. Maybe it has something to do with the difference in the temperments of the species. Are cordon bleus very non aggressive?
Ive seen them and the ones at that pet shop seemed so tiny and fragile.

[Sally]

Babs

Cordon Bleus are very passive to most other species, EXCEPT if you try to put two pairs together in the same cage. Then it is WW3! However, I have found that I can keep CB males together in a flight IF there are no hens present. There will be minor squabbling, but it usually doesn't go beyond that. I have even kept Purple Grenadier males (closely related to CBs) in the same flight, but it would be disaster if I ever added a hen to the mix. I once tried to put two Gren hens together, and they immediately started to fight. It is a not always easy to keep waxbills.

[Babs _Owner]

Sally

I had to chuckle. They are so tiny . Imagining them fighting. Yep It will be a few years before I attempt waxbills. They are a whole 'nother level of expertise for sure!

[Babs _Owner]

lovezebs

I watched her pretty close over the weekend. She is showing no more aggression to the remaining four. Thank goodness! I did however notice one thing I didnt notice last year.

She's lazy. Ricco does most of the feeding. And she will get her feed-on if I present her queenly behind with a fresh plate of eggfood with cuttlebone shaved on top.

What she doesn't know is, if has only been a few hours, I just remove the bowl saying 'eggfood" real loud, stir it around, put some more cuttlebone on it and put it back it.

Lil Miss You-know-What, goes right for it and gets back to the kids. Snort! However I am still the trained dog in this race.

[slwatson]

Babs

Poor baby I've been dealing with tossing for the first time. I think it's the male...he tossed all chicks from their first clutch and two survived out of three, then he tossed one chick out of their second clutch. I managed to remove the three chicks he hadn't tossed and placed them with a foster gouldian pair. It's so sad seeing those poor things on the bottom of the cage.

[Babs _Owner]

slwatson

Yep. I agree. My first toss too. Freaked me out a bit. I kept wracking my brain, trying to figure out what was different from last year. I'm interested in seeing how they approach clutch two.

Well, figure eventually we both would have to deal with it. Grrr.

[lovezebs]

Babs

I think your Brat girl is a 'little bit ' .
Who was it on here some time ago, who had a psycho Gouldi girl? I think it was Colt (maybe). This thing was an absolute serial killer if I remember right.

Just like with any other species, you get the odd one, that there is something not quite right in the upper floor, if you know what I mean.

You might have to retire her, and find darling Ricco another mate.

[lovezebs]

slwatson

Hi Stacie, are you breeding them in a community setting, or as individual pairs?

By the way, don't always assume that it's the male, unless you catch him in the act.

[Babs _Owner]

lovezebs

Ohhh I remember that!! I can't remember either. Yep, I agree, if she does this again next clutch I think it will be her last. Ricco would probably say "Lawdy thankyou! This woman is going to be the death of me"

[Shannylee]

Babs, so sorry about your little chicks I've seen a gouldie hen toss a society chick and it was brutal! After she did it the 3rd time, I moved all of my societies...nests and all...to their own flight cage. That gouldie hen is in the aviary with a canary mom of 4 chicks but she doesn't mess with them. Glad the rest of your babies are ok.

[Babs _Owner]

Shannylee

Aww no worries Sharon. She seems to have straightened herself out for the remaining chicks, in her own lazy way. Now that I reflect back, I had last year dismissed her foul tempermant as a testament to Ricco's flakeyness. That is obviously now not the case.

But as I scan through the old photos, and look through the videos, I can see, as Elana, That Ricco is in fact the feeder and the keeper of these chicks. In their successful shot last year, only Ricco would sleep with them after they fledged. When the chicks weaned I had to get them the heck out of that cage, because Brat started food guarding in an effort to drive them off.
She abandoned two clutches of eggs. Ricco sleeps with her every night when on eggs and chicks. I will assume at this point to keep her from leaving them. Im glad I have this forum "diary" to backtrack their behavior.

***Heres Ricco at nighttime last year while weaning their only successful full clutch of 5. Notice its dark and she is noticably not sleeping with her family each night.**

[lovezebs]

Babs

Where the heck is she in that photo?
Is that her butt sticking out of a food dish on the left side of the picture.

[lovezebs]

Babs

[Babs _Owner]

lovezebs

Shes sleeping on the perch below them. She actually chose to sleep below them rather than on the same perch. The perch she is on is under the shelf in the front of the photo. You can barely see the tip of the black shelf on the right lower corner.

Hahaha I dig your Bubba hunting skills! That leaf does look like a bird butt!