Summer progress

white fronted blue splendid male

A sad day - I lost one of my white fronted blue splendid parakeet.  He was only 1 year old and just got all his adult feathers.  He was also split to lutino, and I had high hopes to breed him in the next season.  It's always sad to lose such a sweet beautiful bird.

normal splendid male

On a brighter note, my new normal mature male splendid was just what my lutino hen needed.  They already have 2 eggs in the nest.

splendid baby

Scarlet and Red has another only child.  This will be their last clutch this round.

Coral and Blush's 4 babies are weaned - I'm keeping a close eye just to make sure everyone is fully weaned and eating well.

More pictures...

Forbes parrot finch male

pearl headed amadine

melanistic male gouldian

dilute fawn society

owl finch

St. Helena hen

St. Helena male

Splendid male

red headed normal gouldian male

Splendid baby pictures

Red and Scarlet's babies are growing fast.  Everyone is getting fed and growing well now.  Just banded the 2 oldest babies today.  Eyes are starting to open and pin feathers are coming through.  Coral and Blushe's 4 fertile eggs are hatching anytime now.  I saw the oldest egg starting to crack, so am expecting the 1st baby to hatch tonight.

 Here's a group shot - should be 4 babies, but 1 is hidden.

 See the size difference between 1 of the older babies and the youngest (face down on the left).

 Here's the oldest baby whose eyes are already open.

 Oldest baby - leg band #17.

 Second oldest - leg band #18.

 The youngest baby, a bit too young for leg band still.

It's really not that hard to band babies with closed bands with some practice.  Usually age 9-10 days are the best days.  I find when pin feathers are just starting to come through correlates well with when banding should be down - see above older baby pictures.  All 3 of the longest toes should be put through the closed band ring all at once, then the ring should be slid over the 4th back toe.  Beware of the toe nail of the 4th toe catching.  The band should not be able to be slit back out over all 4 toes or it may fall off.  Some people use some mineral oil to help with the process.  I've never found it to be necessary when done on the right size/age chick.

I mean 9...my bad, and more pictures...

Blush came out of her nest box this morning, and I see 4 live eggs!  Not sure if I was hallucinating the first or second time, but I'm thinking 9 total scarlet chest babies this round.  Red and Scarlet have 3 hatched babies with 2 more yet to hatch as of today.

Red, one of my gorgeous normal scarlet chested grasskeet males.  I interrupted his veggie snack - see some still on his beak.  His busy eating and feeding Scarlet so she can feed the 3 newly hatched babies.  Behind Red are some of my gouldians who are not breeding yet.

 As promised, here are some pictures of my new scarlet chest mutations - here is Blue, the young white chested blue splendid grasskeet male.  He is still molting into his adult feathers, but already getting his white chest, which is usually red on a normal splendid/scarlet chest.  He should be split for ino.

 Here is Snow White, the albino splendid hen.  She is the most vocal splendid hen I've ever seen, singing as well as the boys.  So well, in fact, I had to ask her breeder to make sure she is a she, not a he.  She is DNA sexed to be a hen.  The albino is the white chested blue combined with the lutino gene.

 Ruffus the rubino bourke male along with the new splendids.  I am still awaiting a rubino hen who will be his mate.

 Here he is again.  He doesn't have his full tail feathers as he is molting.

 Here is Rose, my rosey bourke hen on the left, with Apollo, my yellow turquoisine male who is red-bellied and molted into a bit of a red necklace this year as well.

 Sunnie is the new mate for Apollo and is a red-bellied yellow turquoisine hen.  She is replacing Sunny, my poor yellow turquoisine hen who didn't make it after several weeks of fighting off one infection after another.  She is still quite young and doesn't have all her adult colorings yet.  My male yellow faced star finch is to the left.

 The new zebra babies - 4 out of 6 survived, 3 CFWs and 1 normal gray.  Here are 2 of them.

One of my creamino shaft tails - this is the male.  I absolutely love their coloring.  Sadly, no one is in the breeding mood yet, but they are young birds.

From left to right, a yellow headed white breasted yellow split to blue male gouldian, a normal shaft tail hen, and Turkey, my normal split to yellow turquoisine male.  

Here's the yellow headed white breasted single factor yellow split to blue male gouldian again - he gets a second shot since he was the only one cooperative enough for a close-up ;D.

A straw-headed (either red head or orange head) purple breasted blue backed male gouldian in the foreground with a few gouldian hens in the background.

First 2 gouldian babies of the season!  While it's unfortunate I had to foster them under my helpful societies, I'm still glad they are here.  Looks to be 2 yellow babies - see the 2 little head under the breast of their foster father, a pied fawn society.

Here he is feeding one of them.