Bourkes have eggs

The pair of rosa Bourkes I have in the shed cage have two eggs.  That's Rocky and one of the new bourkes, which is now a proven hen (Rosie).

I hate to admit it but parakeets are more ready to breed when put in cages rather than in the aviary, perhaps they feel more secure. I still prefer them in the aviary.

The other Bourkes are doing nothing after their initial mating activity.  The Rubino cock (that was Rosey) is renamed Pinky.  As for the 'hen', I'll wait until I'm sure of the sex before I give her a name!

Eggs are fertile

I was a little bit premature the other day with Marge's eggs, as the first egg I checked this weekend is indeed fertile. I check the eggs by shining a light through the eggs, if the egg is fertile you can see blood vessels and the blob of the start of an embryo. I didn't bother with the other eggs, as there was no point risking handling them.
I'm still worried about Barneys foot, it's obviously giving him discomfort as he's restricting his flying and tends to lean onto his good foot.  I wish I had a good local avian vet.  Unfortunately general vets have absolutely know idea with birds, but they are very good at taking your money!.
Also Barneys not feeding Marge, which is also a worry. Although I think this is mainly due to Marge not letting him. She's always been a bit of a loner and tends to growl at other birds.  Hopefully things will improve when the eggs hatch.

Infertile eggs

All Marge's eggs look infertile.  I'll leave them until weekend to be certain.

Photo of parakeet in flight

Digital camera's are great. I must have taken over a hundred photo's trying to catch Rudolph flying, most had nothing on (he can fly fast). This was probably the best....

All my bird photo's and Buster (my dog) photo's are at...http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/isparakeet

Sitting..at last

Finger crossed, Marge appears to be now sitting on the eggs full time. She sat last night and has stayed in tonight.  The eggs take 18 days to hatch from the start of incubation, so they should start to hatch on the 4th May. I'll check them next week to see if they are fertile.
I am still a bit concerned about Barney not feeding her, she appears to spend to long off the eggs feeding herself.

Since taking the photo, she's laid another egg. That's seven in total...too many! This probably explains the late sitting. This happened last year with Barneys old mate and all the eggs were infertile.

Goldie is now going in out of the nestbox. The turquosines share the aviary with one pair of the bourkes and I have 3 nest boxes in the aviary for them to choose from. The turqs have been trying them all at the moment.

Usual fustrations

I was hoping to write that Marge had starting sitting on her eggs, as last night she stayed in the nest box.  However, tonight she's not sitting again.  She now has 6 eggs!
Still nothing yet with the other grassparakeets, although one pair of Bourkes have been mating frequently.
If things don't start to improve soon this year I'm seriously considering giving up on grassparakeets altogether and go into keeping another species......the past few years have been just too frustrating and I've had too many loses!

Not sitting on eggs

Marge now has five eggs, however she's still not incubating them at least not at night anyway.  It's fairly quiet now so I can't blame the neighbours. It could be because it's her first time, but I suspect Barney's at fault as I haven't seen him feeding her.  This has happened before and the eggs failed to hatch.
The hecks are back on eggs again and as far as I know they are sitting on them!

Marge has not started sitting. There’s still time, but usually they sit after the third egg. Unfortunately the neighbour’s kids have come out of hibernation. Continuous noise, and this year they’ve rigged up a 1000w security light that’s staying on, lighting up their whole back yard, including my aviary and nest box. I was doubtful about breeding in the brown aviary, as I had similar problems last year. I know there’s nothing I can do about it. I have kids myself, but I can’t remember them being as noisy as fog-horn-junior when mine where little!!

As for the bourkes, I have at least one hen. Rosey (needs a new name) has proved himself to be a man with his new companion.

DNA results

I got the DNA results back; Rosey is a boy! I feel a bit let down, particularly as I was told she he had had two clutches last year. To be honest I think it was genuine mistake and I was offered a new bird, however logistically it would be impossible as they live hundreds of miles from where I live!
At least, Goldie is the right sex, although I suspect she's a little too young to breed.

I've managed to get two new rosa bourkes, which are supposedly hens.  But the fact is you can never be sure with these colour mutations.  I would have preferred normals, at least then you can tell with the under wing stripe on the hens.  I got them from a pet shop.  Not something I would normally do, but it would be hard to get anything off local breeders at the start of the season.  I've now split Rockey and Rosey (I'll have to think of a new name) with each of the new 'hens'!....let's hope I don't have to resort to DNA testing again.

At last..an egg!

Marge has laid an egg this afternoon, live on camera...although I missed it!

Cam online

Barney was mating with Marge today...he's still got it despite his problems! If Marge doesn't lay in the next few days I'll start to suspect she's infertile. If she does lay, the eggs may be infertile anyway if Barney is not well!
The nest box cam(s) are now online.

Dead chicks

Found 3 dead chicks on the aviary floor. The Hecks have thrown out their newly hatched chicks, I don't know why. Could have been the recent cold spell, or not fed properly..there was no sign of any food in their crops. Don't know...bird keeping can be very frustrating!
To add to the problems, Barney has got something wrong with him. It's like he's had a stroke. His right foot is not gripping and his left wing is hanging. He can still fly, but he's struggling. He is my best bird and never shown any signs of illness before.

Hecks have a chick

I managed to see inside the hecks nest today (not easy, as it has very small entrance). They have a newly hatched chick and I think another 3 eggs.
Still nothing with the parakeets, although Goldie has now been showing interest in the nest box. However, Rudolph has not only been feeding her but also Rocky (different species, same sex?). I'll be glad to get the DNA sex testing results. Unfortunately there is a delay because I put the wrong first class stamp on the envelope!!