Selling Birds

The somewhat frustrating issue of selling birds.

I both loathe and enjoy selling birds at the same time. Pet shops only offer a low amount of a bird worth so it forces me to list my birds online for sale to recoup some money for my hobby.

Some of my pet peeves are

- Asking questions that are clearly stated in the ad
- Asking for a discount. Even though the bird is listed at a more than fair price to begin with; I don't list a bird for sale at certain price to be bartered down price that I actual want to get...
- No shows. Why organize to pick up and bird and not turn up? You either want the bird or not.

I do enjoy chatting with other bird owner however and I have found that bird owner a generally very nice people. 

I have had the most success with Gumtree but I have also used Petlink in the past.

Pests - Rats & Mice

A downside of keeping birds is the fact that the seed will attract rats and mice. They carry disease, can hassle bird during raising of young and even attack birds as I have just found out with my female Gouldian finch. She was attacked through the aviary mesh and greatly damaged leg and succumbed to injuries this morning. The rat returned last night to try and finish her off, knocking the finches water supply off the side of the aviary.

I have managed this in the past by keeping my seed in plastic sealed bins in the shed and keeping an open packet of Ratsak if the rodents feel the need to snack on something. I also concrete any entry holes in the aviary that mice make. I now have the need to take a more proactive approach to resolving this. 

Aviary reconfigure

Time has come to move on this seasons young. My three Indian Ringnecks have already been sold and two out of the three Red Rumped Parrots are sold (one going to my neighbors).

I have also decided to cut back a bit a reconfigure. Galah's are up for sale and I'll be moving my Princess Parrot pair into their space and my Green Cheeked Conures will also go with trio of Indian Ringneck Parrots (Turk, Milly & Bo Bo) going in their space in hopes of developing another breeding pair with "Bo Bo" laying a egg this season and not hatching it.

This will allow me to move my Red Rumps and other Ringnecks (Boe and Tommy) into my silver aviary and I may even look at placing my hand raised Cockatiel "Tishi" in the aviary too and pairing her with mate.

Buddy

After keeping my the little Burke Parrot alive for nearly two weeks he past away. It was upsetting as grew attached to Buddy but what I can take from the experience is that have gained some skills and gear in hand rearing for other bird abandoned by their parents or if I choose to hand raise a bird. 

After cleaning out the nesting boxes from the Bourke Parrot cage I found a lot of mice droppings to the right hand side of the nesting box. I suspect the mother pushed the chicks out because of being hassled by mice. From what I have read this is one of the common causes bird will abandon young.

I believe Buddy had some injuries from the fall from the nest. His leg was obvious but I'm not sure if further injury had caused him to pass away.

Buddy

I have named my abandon Bourke Parrot chick "Buddy". I has become obvious that she has an issue with one of her legs; I'm not sure if this was the reason she was chucked out of the nesting box or something that happened in the fall.

I'm now a lot better set up with a plastic box with a reptile heating pad taped to the bottom. This now allows me not to worry too much about keeping her warm and just focus on feeding. I'm roughly feeding her every four hours and during the night I feed her just before bed, once around 1 to 2am and when I wake. She now chirps when she hears me mixing her food with the teaspoon anticipating the feed. 

The thing I have definitely noticed about "Buddy" is that she is a fighter and has a determined will to live.

Aviary Update

A lot seems to be happening with my birds at the moment. The first of Red Rumped Parrots chicks has emerged from the nesting box.

Also the Indian Ringneck chicks wont be far off. This year I have got two Albino and one Blue. My pair of Albion and Turquoise (Pastel Blue) has produced to date Albino, Blue, Creamino and Turquoise.

I have found my hand rearing of the baby Bourke Parrot a little taxing on the sleep side. I need to get set up better with keeping him warm (a heat pack is simply too much work). I going to purchase a plastic container with stick on thermometer and heat pad. It's too hard constantly looking after heat and food. 

Emergency Hand Raring

Hand raring a parrot is something I always wanted to do but knew it wasn't going to be easy so it has always been shelved in the too hard basket. Until unforeseen circumstances has forced me to learn how.

On Sunday morning I found one of my Bourke parrot chicks on the floor of the aviary dead. The other chick still alive in the nesting box, I gave the female the benefit of the doubt and hoped she would still look after the other chick. Unfortunately that afternoon I returned to find the other chick on the aviary floor (I presumed dead as it wasn't moving). I actually took about half an hour to go into the aviary to remove the chick to only find it alive!

I was totally unprepared to be looking after a helpless chick and was lucky that the chick had been fed recently having a full crop. I decided to go with a heat pack to to keep him warm, waking a couple of time during the night to reheat it. I was not expecting him to make it through the night but he did.

The next day I took him to work with me and pick up some parrot hand rearing formula. I fed him using a tea spoon bent into a flute and he ate greedily. I was expecting to have most issues with this part but he filled his crop quickly. 

He is only a week old today and he is healthy other than a red mark on his neck where the mother removed him from the nesting box. He seems to be a little survivor.

Red Rumped Parrot - Colour Mutations

As my pair of Red Rumped Parrots is true or as would appear in the wild and I was not expecting any colour mutations. However one of them must be a split Lutino as I have two Lutino chicks.

Bourke Parrot Chick

I got a shock this morning to find my Rosa Bourke Parrot had hatched a chick. She has always laid eggs and incubated but never hatched before.

Persistence has really paid off with my Bourkes finally. Over the years I have had two pair and although I have been told they are relatively easy to breed I have had no luck with my Bourkes until today.

It should be noted that I offered her two breeding boxes. One with non toxic saw dust and one with peat moss as the nesting material. She chose the one with the saw dust and as seen in the picture emptied most of it out.

Green Checked Conure - Plucking Update

My female Green Cheeked Conure has replicated her breeding activity from last year. Laying at least three eggs and the removing from the nesting box. She now seems to be over wanting to nest at all. I now almost certain that she is past the age of being able to breed successfully. 

New entry to the Galah's nesting box

The Galah's have decided to create their own entry to the nesting box deciding the one I made was less than sufficient. No eggs yet though.

Other nesting activity

I have provided nesting boxes to both my Bourke Parrots and the trio of Indian Ringnecks. Not expecting much from either as the Bourke female that consistently lays eggs and incubates but never hatches chicks and I only believed that I had one Indian Ringneck female (Creamino "Milly") and she is only a year old and too young however my Blue Ringneck "Boe Boe" that I was believed to be a male from it previous owner is actually female!! She has laid one egg but she is still immature a results may not be optimum.  

Red Rump Parrot - Progress

The Red Rumped Parrot have actually hatched five live chicks. Two have since died (they were very small) but the other three seem to be progressing well.

One advantage of having them located on the back veranda is that I can monitor there behavior more closely as kitchen looks out on to their cage. I noticed very early on the female stop sleeping in the nesting box and I actually thought that she may have abandoned her young but not the case. Each breed seems to have its only little differences in rearing young.  

Green Cheeked Conure - Feather Plucking

After last seasons Green Cheeked Conure not producing any young my Green Cheeked Conure female lost a number of feathers on her chest. Although she did recover to some degree she never really got all her feathers back.

This season she has shown interest in nesting but she has now lost all her feathers on her chest. Not sure if its a plucking thing or age related issue but she is spending a lot of time in the nesting box and has yet to lay any eggs.

I'm at a loss of what to do with her.

She took some time to produce her first clutch for me of four chicks and then three chicks for two more seasons after that. I'm not sure how old she is but I've had the pair for at least seven years.

Great start to spring

I have had a promising start to spring. My Indian Ringnecks "Nippet" and "Nelly"have laid four eggs and hatched three.

The Red Rumps have laid at least three (the female is nearly always on them so its hard to see) and they have hatched two so far.

Green Cheeked Conure - Nesting Box

Nesting Box

Dimensions

Height - 29cm
Width - 25cm
Length - 26cm

Placement

It will be position at the rear of the aviary on a shelf two thirds of the way up front the floor. I have had three successful clutches; I like to partially obscure the entry with a branch (something I did not do last year and did not get a clutch). The box stays in the aviary as they sleep in the box year round.

Nesting Material

I use non toxic saw dust. As they sleep in the box I tend just to put fresh stuff in prior and after breeding season.

I would really like feedback from successful Green Cheeked Conure breeders. I would like this blog to be a collaboration.

Indian Ringneck Parrot - Nesting Box

Nesting Box

Dimensions

Height - 43cm
Width - 23cm
Length - 23cm

Placement

It will be position at the rear of the aviary on a shelf two thirds of the way up front the floor. I have had four successful clutches so I'm not going to mess with success. I have been told not to introduce the box until the end of August but I usually put in mid August.

Nesting Material

I use non toxic saw dust. I fill it three quarters of the way and allow the Ringneck to remove an amount until they are happy with the amount in the box.

I would really like feedback from successful Indian Ringneck breeders. I would like this blog to be a collaboration.

Red Rumped Parrot - Nesting Box

Nesting Box

Dimensions

Height - 31cm
Width - 19cm
Length - 21cm

Placement

I will attempting to breed in a smallish cage. I going to position the box on the bottom of the cage. I know very little about breeding Red Rump's but they have shown definite sign they are ready to have a clutch. 

Nesting Material

I have have chosen a commercially peat type nesting material and filled the box about a quarter with it.

I would really like feedback from successful Red Rump breeders. I would like this blog to be a collaboration.

Gouldian Finch - Nesting box

Nesting Box

I have chosen a standard nesting box as apposed to basket type nest. I have been advised best for breeding Gouldians

Dimensions

Height - 13cm
Width - 13cm
Length - 21cm

Placement

On some advice I will attempting to breed in a smallish cage. I going to position the box two thirds of the way up from the bottom and face the box away from front so they can not see me approach during feeding etc. I have been told Gouldians are particularly private brooders.

Nesting Material

I have been advised that Gouldians are very lazy in building nests. Thus they need the nesting box to be filled with dry grass. I have successfully in the past achieved results by placing a hollowed out ball of dried grass with a entry aligned with the entry of the box.

I would really like feedback from successful Gouldian Finch breeders. I would like this blog to be a collaboration.

Cage Maintenance

I have decided to do some maintenance and paint some cages prior to the warmer months in preparation to breeding season. I have fully cleaned out and sprayed painted black. It has really improved the appearance of the cage.

Illawarra Bird Sale

I attended the local bird sale on the weekend and along with the Nowra bird sale a few months ago. Although I haven't been in the market for new birds I just have to attend because their is simply nothing like it for my interest in keeping birds. Its great place to see birds you don't get see every day such as Macaws, Amazons and Black Cockatoo's.

I do a lot of research into bird pricing both online and in pet shops and like most sales prices ranged from very cheap to a little pricey. I just updated some water dishes and feeders.

Galah's - Destructive to timber

Cockatoo's are very destructive to timber in an aviary something that had not experienced until I got my pair of Galah's. 

It started with structural wood, shelves, perches, nesting boxes and feeding containers. Some of my other species chew a little but nothing to the degree of my Galah's. 

I now combat it by keeping a lot of branches in the aviary giving them plenty of fodder to chew on. I put a large paper bark branch in and they chewed all the bark from the branch in a day.

I also thought being nearly twice the size of my next largest bird they would have a greater appetite but they eat little more than my Green cheeked Conure or Indian Ringnecks even though I provide them with more food.  

Gouldian Finches - Females

I have noted in recent times it has been very difficult to get females of several species. I have had terrible luck with my Gouldian finch females with one escaping and my replacement female passing away unexpectedly.

I have not found females for sale out side of pairs and finally relented and purchased another pair.

I will introduce my spare male in soon and hopefully it will have no affect on breeding and nesting having two males.

Predators

Keeping birds attracts predators. I have ongoing issues with cat, a fox took one of my neighbors chickens and for couple of days last week we had a hawk terrorizing the aviaries.

Fortunately the dogs provide a deterrent for this and most other predators. My biggest worry was the birds being scared literally to death and my chooks that spend some days free ranging in my yard. 

6/2 We have more visits by our hawk over a few days. One of dogs had an operation recently and thus couldn't be outside running about as much. He has since recovered so we are now making sure the dogs are out in the yard when we are not home. Hopefully this will scare the hawk off. He is after our chooks I'm pretty sure and they always go off when the hawk is about.