Great season for King Quails

My King Quail hen has just hatched her third clutch for the season. 

The clutches have been as follows 

Seven or eight eggs are incubated 

- First clutch four were hatched and two grew to adulthood. 

- Second clutch four were hatched and three grew to adulthood. 

- Third clutch one was hatched. 

Their has been a silver mutation in both of the first clutches and I have two adult males out of the five mature chicks.

The female has made her nest in three separate places for each of the clutches using seed husks and dried grass to construct the nests.

The group dynamic of the flock is quite interesting overall when chicks are born and I really enjoy watching them in general.

Interesting mutation

My Indian Ringneck have been producing a lot of the Creamino mutation. One hen that I held onto for a couple of years darkened in colour and produced a clear tail and clear wing.

I don't if this classified her as a "Clear tail" mutation but it was interesting none the less. Unfortunately she had to be moved on as I had no space for as she was related to all my males.

Malting

Malting I have noticed only generally affect some species of bird and not others. It only takes a noticeable affect on my Indian Ringneck Parrot and Gouldian Finches with some individual being affected more than others. Some bird look terrible for a few weeks until their new feathers come in and they look like a new bird.

This years malt has allowed me to see for the first time on my young male Indian Ringneck "Tommy" how long it takes for the ring to develop around the neck of a male. It has been two years for "Tommy" which has always been assumed knowledge for  myself but this is the first time I have seen it for myself.

Princess Parrot Runt

 The smallest of the clutch of four Princess Parrot chicks simply got too far behind its bigger siblings. My Plan was to top him up with hand rearing formula to give him a leg up but he just got too far behind and found him pushed to the side cold with his eyes closed.

I pulled him out and put him in my heated hand rearing box and fed him the formula and he picked up nicely on the first day. However the second day was different story with him not readily feeding and I had to force him to eat to a degree. Unfortunately he didn't live out the day.

The picture below shows the comparison in size between the smallest and his siblings. Oddly I witnessed one of the bigger chicks feeding the smallest although it may have just bee a simulation of what its parents feeding.

Double Clutches

It has been a very successful year getting four different breeds of bird to produce young but if that wasn't enough two have decided to have there second clutch for the year. The Red Rumped female was laying new eggs in the nesting box even before all the young had left the box and by the egg fragment I believe she may have hatched the first of her second clutch.

Meanwhile the King Quail female found a new nesting location as soon as her previous chicks were of an independent size and she has produced another four chicks. The chicks are an exact replica of the previous clutch; one silver and three normal coloured.

Princess Parrot Chicks... Finally!!!

I have been keeping Princess Parrots for some time now but never had any luck with breeding them until now. Probably due to my terrible luck with females losing two since the purchase of my original pair but this year my young female has produced four chicks!

When she first started to lay she broke her first egg. I took this to mean that she was inexperienced and would probably produce next year, like I have experienced with other pairs of parrots in their first season. However she laid four more eggs and although I wasn't expecting much she hatched them all.

I think I was trying too hard with the Princess Parrots trying different types of boxes and giving multiple options. I had spoken to a couple of breeders and they said they just use a standard medium sized box. So this year I offered a medium sized parrot nesting box with non toxic wood shavings as the nesting material.

Colour Mutations - Red Rumped Parrots

This year my Red Rumped Parrots have produced two true coloured males, a cream mutation (creamino) like last year and a new colour mutation that I can't classify.

It would be awesome if someone that knows Red Rumps better than me can let me know what colour mutation I have here but it is certainly very interesting.

Quail Chicks!!

It has been a busy start to spring. My Indian Ringneck pairing of "Nippet"and "Nelly" have produced four chicks. Three of a lighter colour (Creamino or Albino) and one darker (Blue or Turquoise).

The Red Rump pair have also had at least three chicks. The mother is pretty tentative so I haven't got a real good look.

The surprise has been my King Quails. The female found a spot in the corner of the aviary, made a nest of dried grass and seed. She laid four eggs and they all hatched yesterday. There were three dark coloured chick and one lighter coloured chick.

6/11 I had a loss rate of the quail chicks. One drowned in the water container and another from exposure (I think) but I now have two nearly fully grown chicks and the hen has started to lay again.

Aviary Relocate

A broken/blocked sewage pipe has meant I have had to relocate my main aviary. Originally the area was paved which was why I chose the area as it provided a good base for my aviary. I have since found from digging that one of the previous owners simply paved over the access to the sewage pipe.

It has caused a nightmare with housing birds in different cages around the place but has afforded me the opportunity to really clean out and even paint the aviary in its relocation. I have re paved the base with some concrete to seal the base and any gaps between the pavers and aviary itself. To provide stability (to stop it blowing away) I have attached it to the ground with large plastic tent pegs at the front and have used metal formed it brackets to attached it to the rear fence at four points.   

Turk

Last week I lost one of my Indian Ringnecks suddenly; I was in the aviary feeding the birds when I noticed "Turk" climbing the side of the aviary and vomiting. I captured "Turk" and brought him inside to be monitored, we found missing feathers on top of his head and wound on his wing. He later  passed away that night...

My two theories of what happened for a otherwise healthy bird to die suddenly is -

1. Attacked by one of the other two Indian Ringnecks in the same section of the aviary. My wife witnessed my Creamino female "Milly" on top of "Turk".

2. Attacked from our Grey Goshawk that we see every second day or so. After "Turks" death we have witness it trying to bite through the aviary. My theory is that it somehow got a hold of "Turk" and caused him his injuries.

Turk and Milly