15th January 2004

Now we are into the new year and I do have a little in the way of news for you all.
Remember I said I was going to the Scottish National Show? Well I did go and I DID buy some birds. I really couldn't help myself, even though I promised I would never buy birds in the winter months again. I have excuses though because I saw two birds that I absolutely had to have. I got a young bicheno hen to make my numbers up to two pairs and a white cheeked pied cockatiel cock to pair to my pearl so it was a really good idea. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it.
I'm pleased to say that they have settled in well and, so far, so good. My other purchase was two pairs of Aurora finches which looked charming and I couldn't resist. They are going in beside the orange cheek and red ears eventually.
In the aviaries the budgies have three eggs and are sitting, and the canaries have eggs too, and I am looking forward to seeing if they hatch.
I have managed to thin the zebra numbers a bit more so in about March I can safely put the boxes out. In fact I have an order for one pied cock already.
The goldbreast chick has turned out to be a cock so I have even numbers again, thankfully. They are looking around for nesting places too so I guess Spring must be in the air.
All for now, more later.


16th February 2004

It is another dull day and it is raining again. Can't say it is cold but miserable. The birds don't seem to mind the weather at all and there have been a few developments in that quarter.
The budgies have continued in breeding mode and I have two chicks at present. They are about 10 days old and looking promising. Dad is dark green and Mum is pale green so the chance is that the chicks will be green too.
The canaries continued to lay four eggs and sit on them dilligently but as time wore on I realised they weren't going to hatch and eventually today I took them out. Three were non-viable and the last was dead in shell. It is a heartbreak that the first chick conceived didn't hatch but at least I know that they are mating. There is a lot of chasing and scrapping going on amongst them but it will all sort itself out, hopefully.
The cockatiels have a bit more life about them and I have seen Bertie and his lutino mating but I still won't put the boxes out until next month. There is still time for colder weather.
In among the finches the gold breasts have made a nest in a hanging woven pouch so they may be going to lay soon. The new bicheno hen seems to have settled in and I have seen one of the cocks dancing about with a bit of hay in his beak so fingers crossed. The only downside is that he was dancing to what I'm fairly certain is another cock bird!!
The red ear and orange cheeks are just biding their time while the aurora finches have a story all of their own. One pair have made a nest and are sitting on 4 eggs so that is a success. The other pair have not fared so well. The cock bird is leaping around with materials in his beak but his mate's reaction was to get herself stuck between the top of a box and the ceiling and die. Why is it always the hen? Maybe the other pair will rear a hen bird for him.
All exciting stuff and more to follow I hope. Keep watching this space.


22nd March 2004

We have had a horrible spell of weather and I am just so glad that I held off putting the cockatiel nestboxes out. Today I have been cleaning them out and disinfecting them and tomorrow will get them hung up. All of the pairs seem to have settled down and the cocks are dancing for their ladies and some are going even further! I am really excited about the possible colours of chicks from my pairings.
The budgies have looked better so today we set to and did a routine worming starting with them just to set them up for breeding. This time we did it with a syringe directly into each bird's beak so we are certain that they all got the correct dosage. maybe they will perk up now.
The two chicks I had are now down to one. the biggest one was lying dead in the box one day with no marks or obvious signs why but the smaller one has never looked back and is now out of the box and wandering around on the inside floor. It is a lovely shade of pale olive green. The hen bird is sitting on three more eggs so we are off and running.
The canaries have been laying eggs again, I have 5 eggs in one nest and two hens sitting together on them. I'm playing the waiting game again to see what happens. The song of the cock canaries is so loud that is is audible through the windows but I'm not complaining bacause it is beautiful too. The two boys really are giving it their all.
In amongst the finches they are slowly starting towards the breeding season too. The bichenos seem to have split into two pairs and one pair had an egg but they must have got so excited about it that they broke it! Still they can try again. I'm really hopeful about them and I have a good home ready for any chicks.
The gold breasts are still showing interest in the basket and it is beautifully lined but no eggs yet.
The aurora finches are the trial of my life. Remember the hen bird killed herself by getting stuck? Well her mate decided he didn't want to live either and just gave up. I should be grateful, I suppose, because normally it is the hen birds that die leaving you with lone cocks but at least I have a pair. They have laid one round of eggs but they came to nothing so next time maybe.
The zebras haven't got their nest boxes in yet but they are starting to drag grassinto the bush so it will be time for them soon too.
Spring seems to be here and all of the birds are ready and willing. I have a new project too. I have joined Scottish Cockatiel Association and have been helping them to set up their web site ,or at least John has been doing the hard stuff and I've been typing information for him.
It is a great thing to be part of, I can call on experienced birdkeepers for advice and information as well as finding out all the ins and outs of showing birds. I never thought that mine were good enough but, who knows? Maybe I have a champion in the making. I have high hopes, haven't I? Seriously, for only £5 a year I have become part of a group of people who want to promote the breeding and showing of cockatiels and are prepared to help all comers to this end. One gentleman in Scottish Cockatiel Association has visited my aviaries and sexed young birds for me which I certainly can't do. He was right too!
All of the time that I am helping set the website up I am learning things about cockatiels and seeing pictures of mutations I'd never heard of. Saw a picture of a split crest bird and it looked for all the world like it had flown into a wall but it is a recognised mutation.
I'm on a bandwagon but, take a look at the Scottish Cockatiel Association website (which isn't complete, only in the process)and ,if you have a few pounds to spare, print off the application form and send it off with your money and join up. I don't think you will regret it. After all what price do you put on good advice?
Register for the forum there at the very least and see how you go, and remember, it doesn't matter where you live in the world, Scottish Cockatiel Association is for everyone, not just the chosen few.
Having done my bit I will now go and do some more towards getting my nestboxes out. Back soon.

30th April 2004

Here I am with an update with plenty of news to tell you. I put my cockatiel boxes out and they went straight in and started laying and, as we speak, I have three nests with chicks. much better than last year's record.
The cinnamon pearl hen and normal cock had 5 eggs and I found an egg on the hut floor one day and added it to the collection never thinking it would hatch but..... They have now got 4 chicks of their own, all dark eyed and one chick which is white cheeked. Guess which was the added egg? Only one of their own didn't hatch.
Tailless, the lutino hen, and her normal cock had 4 eggs and all have hatched, three dark eyed and one red eyed.
The new lutino hen and the pied cock have somewhere in the region of 5 eggs but I haven't been able to check properly as he is a bit protective of his nest.I can see that at least two have hatched, one with dark eyes and one with red eyes.
Now a puzzle. I had a white cheek pearl hen and I bought what I was told was a white cheek pied cock only to be told recently that it, too, was a hen. I took it out and put in in beside a new bird I have been given in the hope they would pair off. More on that later. Anyway, the pearl hen has now laid three eggs which may be fertile and I already have one white cheek chick hatched so, what is going on? Time will tell.
The new bird is a beautiful pied cock called Harvey. He is a real treasure and very tame but was destined for the aviary from the second he arrived. I put the pied white cheek in with him only to find he was frightened of it. It chased him round the cage for the fun of it. I think Harvey thinks he is a human and not a bird. Anyway, after a period of time and now that the weather is warmer they are both outside in the flight and, although I'm not sure if they are a couple or even opposite sexes they seem happy enough.
The baby budgie has gone off to its new home and there are 4 more eggs being sat on.
The canaries are really puzzling. They keep either breaking eggs or the chicks are dead in shell. One hen broke her neck so I now have 3 hens and 2 cocks. Probably not the best senario but I'll keep an eye on them.
The zebras started laying as soon as the baskets went in and now there are about 7 young and 7 eggs still to hatch but it is difficult to say as there is just a squirming mass of bodies in the baskets.
The bichenos have 7 eggs in their nest and one hen is dilligently sitting on them so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
No eggs yet from the goldbreasts but the red ears have laid some and they should hatch in about a week or so now.
The Aurora finches were just not destined to live here. Of the pair I had left the cock laid down and died and the eggs didn't come to anything again so I now have a solitary hen. Unusual as it is usually the hen that dies first.
Well that's all the news from the birds this month. Maybe next month I will be able to tell you more about the new arrivals, and hopefully all good news.

5th June 2004

The young cockatiels have come on in leaps and bounds are most are almost full grown now. The box with five young have turned out to be, 1 cinnamon, 2 normal, 1 pearl and the white cheek which looks like being a normal. Not too bad for the first time pair, who are laying again and have 5 eggs already.
Tailless has 2 normal chicks and 1 lutino, and the pied cock and lutino hen have 2 normal and 1 true lutino. Not too bad considering I had none at all last year. All have split plastic rings on to identify their parentage, I was too late to put the metal rings on but I will next brood.
Already I have an order for a chick to go to Fife so I am doing well. I intend to hold on to the lutino, pearl, white cheek and cinnamon for the moment until I see how they turn out.
The new boy Harvey has settled in and has reverted to wild in double quick time. He didn't want the "wife" that I offered him and has chosen someone else's. He has taken up with the lutino hen, leaving Bertie, the pied cock, seeking a new mate. It has been remarkably simply done and no hard feelings so Bertie will have to choose again but will have a choice of the two white cheeked hens.Surely one will suit him.
The young budgies have not been so successful and the two youngsters died suddenly at about 18 days old for no apparent reason. I really do think that my hens are too old now and not really up to the job. I have lost another hen and one cock but it is through old age, nothing more sinister. The young green hen I bought recently has laid 6 eggs (don't know who the father is as she hates almost everyone!!) and up to today 4 have hatched so, hopefully she should be more successful.
The zebras continue to breed and I have removed some boxes but they still build nests in the tree, in fact, almost anywhere!
The rest of the finches have laid eggs but not hatched anything. Very disappointing but I guess there is still time this season for something to happen. I have lost a pair of gold breasts, the were together under the small bush but, stone dead.
The really exciting story is that I have got 4 canary chicks and they are gorgeous. I have 2 pale lemon and two brown/yellow pied. The lemon ones came out of the nest first and are now out of the hut and enjoying the sunshine. The others are younger but are out of the nest already and will be out of the shed soon I'm sure.
I am so pleased because I really thought that I would never see any young. That means that there is only one hen who has not reared chicks but she is fussing round the nests very keenly. If you go to the gallery page you can see the chicks and their progress.
That is all of the news for this month, I'll tell you about the progress of the chicks next time.

21st. September 2004

Apologies to you all for the gap of a couple of months, not that there hasn't been anything happening, quite the reverse and too much happening! I will try to catch up with all the news now.
The cockatiels had a really good breeding season this year and there have been some beautiful colours. As usual I put the split plastic rings on them to identify the brood but with three I have put the Scottish Cockatiel Society rings on which will allow me to show them as owner bred. More on that later.
Charlie and her mate had two broods of chicks and the best colours came from them with normal, pearl and cinnamon amongst them plus they reared the egg I found on the floor and it turned out to be a white faced normal. All but two of those have been rehomed but I still have a cinnamon and a normal which look good.
Tailless and her mate also had two broods with them being lutino, normal and one cinnamon. Of those I still have a normal and a lutino.
Bertie and his mate only had one brood, lutino, normal and cinnamon and I still have the cinnamon. Some of the cinnamons have unusual markings so I am waiting to see how they develop.
I have also acquired some more cockatiels which have been in need of rehoming. I got a normal hen to try to tempt Harvey away from Bertie's mate but as yet, they have not got together. Also added to the group are Micky and Minnie a pair of normal greys whose owner wanted them to have more room than she could give them. They have settled in well and stuck together so maybe next year they may breed. Last to add to the group is a whitefaced normal cock called Spike who needed more space too. They have all settled in well and are acclimatised before the cold weather comes in. I should also mention that the whitefaced pied cock bird I had has gone to a friend who discovered it is a hen and hopes to put it to one of her birds. That makes my number of adult birds a round dozen.
The budgies haven't had a good year really but I did have three chicks and they were star turns. We called them "The Destroyers" because they chewed everything in their paths. They were a big miss when they left but I got some more young birds from a friend so I have some lovely colours again.
I have now only 5 of the original group I got plus one I bought at auction but added 6, mainly blues from my friend and one hen from a local shop. That gives me a baker's dozen of them, and a promise of good things for next year.
The canaries had four lovely chicks as I mentioned before and there are still three of them here. They are such lovely birds that I don't mind them staying a while. I did give one to an elderly friend who had lost his cock bird and he is delighted as he loves the compny of a canary.
The zebras have had a bumper year, I had to take half of the baskets out in June and the rest in early August. I was fortunate as a lady, who has had birds before, arrived loking for 12 birds so I had a good clean out. Thought that was it for this year until last week when I suddenly noticed the telltale black beaks of young birds. They had only built a sneaky nest in the cotoneaster bush well hidden from human eyes - it was removed rapidly! Next day I was strimming the grass and three small chicks popped out from a nest in the grass. Just goes to show how secretive they can be. I hasten to add that none of them were hurt at all and are fit and well.
In the finches not a lot happening. The red ears and orange cheeks made nests and laid eggs but didn't hatch them. The gold breasts didn't even do that. The bichenos laid eggs and sat on them but they didn't hatch then the young hen died leaving my odd number again.
The red winged pytilla which was the sole survivor of the 4 I bought finally decided to give up and join the rest. I was so disheartened that I put the goldbreasts in with the red ears and orange cheeks and will leave them like that for the winter months.
I was at an auction at Longtown Mart last month and there were some interesting birds there. Lots of canaries and budgies and even a remarkable amount of finches but my interest was taken with a pair of Gouldian finches
I know I have tried them before but, being summer, I thought they might settle in before winter comes. Got them for a reasonable price and after their quarantine decided to put them in with the bichenos. They settled in well and, believe it or not, have laid 3 eggs and are sitting on them as we speak. I am not even daring to hope they will hatch but it goes to prove that they have made themselves at home. I will keep you up to date with any progress.
I have been persuaded to try entering a couple of local bird shows with cockatiels and budgies so that will be something to tell you all about next month.
Well that is it for now,I have pictures of the new birds to go up on the gallery but, unfortunately, farming matters are taking up all of John's time just now so I will have to be patient until he can sort them out.