Soaked Seed

A while back a purchased a male Scarlet Chested Parrot from a breeder who had some strong opinions about breeding birds and he mentioned the benefits of soaked seed.

I then found some documentation online but it seemed mostly to do with finches but I have since also found a lot about parrots as well.

I have put it on my to do list but until now I haven't given it a go. It is fairly simple it is basically washing, then soaking, then draining and waiting for the seed to sprout. I have used my normal seed mixture and from what I have read you are to make sure there is no bad or mouldy odour.

This offers a lot of nutritional value for the bird and simulates what they would forage for in the wild.

I have included a YouTube video that explains the process.

There was positive response by all my birds to the soaked seed and there was very little if any left in there cages this morning. It is definitely something that I'll do more often from now on.  

Cockatiel (Leptolophus hollandicus)

Cockatiel

Leptolophus hollandicus

Also known as Quarrion

Sexing -


The male has more yellow face than the female. The female
has yellow banding in  the tail feathers which the male lacks.


Noise -

Medium, they can produce a decent chirp if needed but generally fairy quite.

General care -

I will be keeping my had rared Cockatiel inside, so she will be higher maintenance with general cleaning and I will be handling her often to keep her tame and get her used to me.

Breeding -

I will not be breeding this Cockatiel. At least for now.

Red Rumped Parrot (Psephotus haematonotus)

Red Rumped Parrot

Male (above), female (below)

Psephotus haematonotus


Commonly known as Grass Parrot. They are quite a beautiful bird not alway captured in a image or even seen when walking past them in a cage. When I first seen them in the wild when I was in Marulan  for work was the first time a really appriciated what a beautiful bird they were.


Sexing -


The female is duller and lacks the "Red Rump"


Noise -


Medium, can be noisy when bickering but in general appear fairly quite.


General care -


I hoping they are very hardy and low maintence bird. Provide Fruit, vegetables, greens, grasses and seed daily like all my birds enjoy.


Breeding -


This is a young pair and can breed as of this year (August to December will be there season).

I will provide a selection of boxes but I expect they will probably choose a larger square box.

Nowra Bird Sale

This year I decided to invest in some new breeds of parrot at the Nowra bird sale.

Unlike previous years I believe the rain scared off a few attendants which made it a lot more pleasant to walk around and view the birds.

This year I was particularly interested in Eastern Rosella or Galah but the lack of Galah's or the a reasonably priced pair of Eastern Rosella seen me settle for two other breed that have interested me also.

I purchased a pair of Red Rumps also commonly known as Grass Parrots for $30 to be placed in my larger aviary. They had a bit of of a sorting out period when the Princess Parrot decided to show there dominance of the aviary even fighting between each other but it soon settled down.

I also purchased a hand raised Cockatiel for $35. My son has taken a particular interest in "her" a think they will bond well once he learn she doesn't always want to play!I find myself saying "gentle" a lot. She will live inside for the time being, I'm excited to have another hand raised bird  to interact with.

MIA Gouldian Finch Chicks

A family emergency left my birds to fend for themselves for a lot longer then normal. I returned to find only one Gouldian Finch chick in the nesting box and the other two were missing. I quick scout of the aviary floor produced one chick alive and well that had tried the leap of faith a little too early. The other took sometime to locate; it was dead in the front corned of the nesting box under some grass (causes unknown).

The feathered chick should be flying around within a few days.

9/2 Lost my smaller Gouldian finch yesterday. It way half way across the aviary (too far for the amount of feathers it had) and found my other nearly fledged one out of the box again this morning, I returned it by but it was dead when I got home from work today in a similar position to the other.

Lost all my Gouldian finch chicks which is really shitty to say the least. Maybe inexperienced parents or maybe vermin (although no evidence of late and I do bate where the food is kept)

Lost a Gouldian Finch chick

Unfortunately I have lost one of my Gouldian Finch chicks. It has been pushed from the box (presumably). I was shocked to find only three chicks in the box, I later found the fourth lifeless chick on the ground after I lot of searching.

Gouldian Finch - Chicks

The very vocal for there size Gouldian Finch chicks are growing well and starting to fledge.

They have sacks around there necks that seem to be filled with seed.

I have only just dared to pick them up as the seem so small and breakable.

I plan to trade the chicks for other Gouldian Finch
         blood lines or other finches.

He bit me!!

As with all my birds my Green Cheek Conures are getting tamer with time as they get used to my daily appearance in the cage. They have been coming down almost grabing the fresh fruit or vegies out of my hand each day. Today however one swooped down a bit my thumb knuckle as a placed some carrot down and drew blood.

I expect to get bitten when catching birds or in the case of "Nippet" my hand raised Indian Ringneck around mating/nesting times but this totally caught me off gaurd.

Hopefully I can turn this lack of fear into being able to handle them possible while feeding rather than just an all out attack each time.

Freebies

I have managed to score some free aviaries and cages.
















The first was a aviary advertised on Gumtree and although it has some rust on one side and at the door I have made some repairs; it will make a nice chook pen and allow me to separate my chickens from my birds. Although I still will use my chooks as cleaners of the aviary floor from time to time.

Second was some cages on the side of the road. Always handy to keep birds in when a good clean out of aviaries is required and to separate birds if needed.

Gouldian Finch Chicks

My Gouldian hen has hatched four chicks out of five eggs.

She actually gave me a look when she exited the box for the first time yesterday.

They are very tiny as to be expected and quite ugly with the little shiny growths on the side of there beaks.

I very stoked to get my first success with finches. 

The female has done all of the sitting on the eggs that I have witnessed occasionally joined by the male (even though I have read they share). The male has spent more time in the box since the chicks have hatched however.

The chicks have grown quickly and there parent have allowed me good access as the spend most of the day out of the nesting box.