PIED Cordon Blue

[Sally]

In cages, CBs will for sure fight. The only time I've heard of keeping two pairs together was in large planted aviaries, where each pair had plenty of territory. My juveniles will get along for a while, then suddenly there will be a lot of chasing, etc., in the juvie cage, and I know I have to find somewhere to put each male separately. It is one of the difficulties of raising CBs--you can't just have a nice big cage full of males! However, you can put all the little hens together, they get along just fine.

[Chris103]

Just an update for anyone who didn't know....I got a male for this little hen (thanks to Sally ) and they are doing well together! They've only been in the same cage for three days now and I have just witnessed my first Cordon mating display! It was so Cute! He was putting on quite a show with his Coco fiber, song and dance routine.....to my surprise the hen seemed rather interested...as in she was actually watching ( or criticizing his moves for all I know ). Other than that, I have not seen any real bonding behavior such as mutual preening etc. But I don't expect much after only a few days.....these aren't Zebras lol.

Right now they are in a smaller (24 x 18 X 18) cage....I call it their "bonding" cage. I wanted them to get well acquainted with each other before I put them in their Flight cage. I went ahead and put a nest and material in the "bonding" cage just for the heck of it. The Flight is 5ft high and about 3ft wide....I would have rather placed it horizontally but couldn't due to space restrictions.

I will update everyone with pictures as soon as I get a new card for my D70.

[L in Ontario]

Oooh what a wonderful opportunity!! Hope all goes well and that we get to see some pied baby CB's real soon!!

[Chris103]

Here are a few pictures...as promised. Quality is bad but at least you can see the newest edition.

[Chris103]

More, some with his odd looking lady as well!

[Chris103]

A few more of just the hen. I noticed today that she is in molt (lots of pins on her head/breast) ....can't wait to see how the new feathers turn out. It's really hard to tell from the pics but the white just isn't in her wings....its really all over, just more subtle. I definitely think she would be considered the "grizzled" type pied that the one article touches on. If that is true, she should only get lighter with each molt.

http://www.finchsociety.org/fsa/cordon.htm

[Chris103]

These guys are turning out to be pretty picky eaters! I can't get them to touch any greens. Do any of you other CB keepers have this problem?

Sally, do you remember what this guy liked?

[Sally]

He should eat homemade eggfood, and I have made up a mix of finely chopped broccoli, cabbage, and carrots, plus either kale or collards. If you have any chickweek growing in your yard (no pesticides), they all seem to like that, though some of my birds just stuff it in the nests.

[Chris103]

Thanks Sally! Think we may have a texture issue on our hands lol. I usually don't chop things too finely for my birds so Ill have to try that and see how it goes. I'm so used to my Canaries....I can hardly get my hand in the cages before they are on the greens. There are seeds and millet sprays that should be sprouted by tomorrow and I finally got my yard eggs so eggfood will be on the menu as well. I'll let you know how it goes.

[CandoAviary]

A very unique and gorgeous couple

[Sally]

Yes, he is a handsome little devil, isn't he?

[cindy]

Chris good luck with the pair...hope you get pieds! Sally, he is very good looking!!!!

Chris, mine are very picky eaters. If I use any bowl other than their little white bowls in their cage for their seed and dried egg food mix they will not come down off the perch. They also like the fine, smaller millets like the red millets the best. I order seed from Herman Bros. and had them mix more red in than the white. Mine will not eat greens or boiled egg. That may change (hopefully) once they have chicks. They built a really nice nest while I was away for a few days!

[L in Ontario]

How are your pair of RCCB's doing now Chris? Any signs of breeding / eggs yet?

[Pukasand]

I had bookmarked this topic since I thought the CB hen was so unique and beautiful. Did the pair produce any young? Did the hen keep her pied coloring after her moult? How are they doing? Inquiring minds want to know..

[CandoAviary]

Me too, this inquiring mind wants to know how they are doing