Cam back on line

My web cam is back on-line and is focused on millet in the aviary

Autumn colours in Barrow-in-furness

 Female Blackbird enjoying berries

Swans on Ormsgill Reservoir

Black headed gull (Now in Winter plumage)

Magpies

Furness Abbey Panorama

Buster....ready to be stripped

'red' turquoisine

I've obtained two more yellow opaline turquoisines, supposedly cock and hen, brother and sister and one with lots of red on its back.  I'm hoping next year to breed even redder birds (hopefully like the ones on the continent.....Bjarne’s birds  and Olsen.

New turk...could this be the cock?

new turk with lots of red (and below)

My breeding hen

The redback I bred (front), still has the most red.

My yellow opaline turks

Changes

At the start of this season I decided that I would be either selling up all my bourkes or all my turquoisines and concentrate on just one type of grassparakeet, depending on which did the best. The turks won easily. So, together with all this years youngsters, I have now sold up all my bourkes and will only be keeping a few pair of turquoisines from now on.
Although from the young, I just had to keep the redback yellow opaline hen turk bred this year.

It looks like the last turk chick is another cinnamon....



Last turquoisine chick

The second round for my normal x cinnamon turks has only given one chick. Two hatched, but one died. This will be the last chick of a good season, although it's all been down to one pair.

Rosa x lutino bourkes: two rounds of dead in shell
Rubino x rosa bourkes:  two rounds of dead in shell, 1 round 3 chicks
Normal x cinnamon turks: 1st round 4 chicks, 2nd round 1 chick.
Opaline turks: 1st round 6 chicks, 2nd round 8 chicks.

Only one bengalese chick

Only one of the albino bengalese chicks made it. The other three appeared to have some genetic weakness, legs spread and couldn't fly. I had to put two of them down. Maybe breeding red-eyed birds together was not such a good idea. I won't let them breed again.  The other pair of bengalese just keep laying infertile eggs, so it may be worth splitting up the pairs anyway.

Double fledging

The first of the bourkes and bengalese chicks have fledged together

Yellow back bourke

One of the rosa bourkes chicks has noticable yellowish feathers.  I know there is a yellow back mutation.

Due to genetics I know that both the rosa's are cocks and split for lutino.

and the rubino is a hen.

Update

Some of the second round opaline turquoisines have much deeper red chests than those from the first round.

and the little adopted chick made it. Very small, but hopefully should get bigger now it's fledged.

That's all 8 chicks made it.

Bengalese chicks are starting to feather up.

as are the bourkes (two rosa and a rubino).





Bengalese chicks on camera

The chicks are doing well.



Turks fledged

or rather I threw the last two out as I was worried the mother may get nasty now she's laying agian.

The last three

The adopted bourke chicks, 2 rosa cocks and a rubino hen...and a filthy nest box

Bengalese finch chicks

5 chicks

Fledging early

One of the opaline turks has fledged.  I think the parents are keen to breed again, so I'll have to keep an eye on the small ones left in the nest.

 First to fledge

Remaining chicks

I'm not sure that I should let the parents breed again.  You would think that they would have had enough for this year!

The adopted chick is a long way behind, although it is now looking a lot stronger.

7 doing well

It looks like all 7 should fledge.

Bengalese chicks

My first bengalese chicks.....on camera

Adoption update

Things didn't go quite to plan.  After putting the little turk in with the bourkes I was surprised to find her own eggs hatching the other day (I must get new batteries for my egg candler).  The worry was that she wouldn't feed her own newly hatched chicks having come attached to the much bigger turquoisine.  So I've now moved the new bourkes chick and eggs to my other pair of bourkes, whose own eggs look like they have failed.  A second egg has now hatched and both chicks are being fed.

The adopted turk chick (I'm not sure it's developing properly)

The other 7 chicks are OK (although there is still a big difference in size)

bengalese eggs should be hatching soon

My other pair of turks chicks all fledged OK

Two cinnamon hens, a normal hen and oplaine

The normal has perfect feathers

Decided to intervene

I removed one of the 8 turk chicks today.  I decided that the littlest pictured lower left didn't stand a chance with its older siblings and when I looked closer its crop was totally empty.

I decided to take a chance and put it in the bourkes nest box, having had doubts about their eggs which are nearly due but still only show partially developed embryos. I've just had another look and deilighted to see that it has been fed and now has a full crop.  Hopefully the other little ones will be OK.

All my birds are breeding

....that's a first!

Opaline turks, second round an incredible 8 chicks.  It would be great if they all survive.

Normal and cinnamon turks, first round 4 chicks getting near ready to fledge.

Opaline on the left.

After the failed clutches with the bourkes, both pairs have now decided to go again. Hardly any eggs but some look fertile.

Rosa and lutino pair...2 fertile eggs

Rubino and rosa pair....3 fertile eggs

And I've finally got 2 true pairs of bengalese (now seperated).  Singing cock birds and eggs in the nest.





How many chicks?

My opaline turks are without a doubt my most productive pair of parakeets ever!

There's at least six in this pile....possibly more.

I've now moved the five 1st round chicks to the brown aviary as things were getting a little bit scrappy.