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Zebraman

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Blog Entries posted by Zebraman

  1. Zebraman

    From: Winter Flights

    By Zebraman,

    Well the new winter flight is complete and the birds are in, this should give the birds some well-deserved rest and exercise.

    Over the coming months I’ll complete some maintenance on the breeding cages and put some thought into what types I’m going to concentrate on for next year.

    I’m also thinking of entering a few shows next year, time permitting.

    Gary.

    Source: Winter Flights
  3. Zebraman
    Started to build the second flight to put the hens in during the winter period, once complete the rest period for both birds and keeper will begin.

    I also plan a major clear out in readiness for next year’s breading season. All surplus birds will be sold at Chester Bird Auction or Stafford in December.
  4. Zebraman
    Well I've finally finished the new blog section, you many not notice any change, because this is mostly a maintenance upgrade to iron out some of the bugs.

    Hope you will find it useful.

    Looking forward to Trevor's June Blog.

    Oh and did you know that you can now add a topic directly in to your blog to save you entering it twice, you can also create links from your blog to your topic as well.

    Gary.

    Source: Updates & Maintenance
  5. Zebraman
    Checked on them tonight and changed the nesting material, I probably do this at least once between the period of hatching and fledging. One of the reasons is to try to keep the young as clean as possible. Nests can get quite dirty during this time, it also helps to keep the parent birds clean as well, although I do supply baths, but these are not always used during this busy period for the parent birds.
  6. Zebraman
    Just finished in the bird room after pleasantly seeing two lots of chicks that have fledged.

    Three light backs from one round.

    Two CFW and Two light backs from another.

    There's also a pair of CFW's with four chicks, the cock bird being a Fawn cheek.

    Also a good sized pair of normal’s which have produced their second egg.

    Things are moving along nicely and I've not started pairing properly yet???

    Gary.
  7. Zebraman

    CFW's

    By Zebraman,

    I checked up on the four chicks from the CFW’s tonight and three are normal grey in colour and one CFW type.

    That means the normals will be cocks and the CFW will be a hen.
  8. Zebraman
    Well things seem to be improving, I checked the nest boxes tonight and every nest has either eggs or chicks.

    Eggs = 30

    Chicks = 14, made up of the following:-

    8 x Light backs

    2 x CFW

    2 x Split Grey Cheek

    1 x Grey Cheek

    1 x Normal

    I also recently remove ten young birds to a flight cage, comprising of CFW, Light Backs and Normal’s.

    It would seem that the recent spell of rain has encourages the birds to nest.

    There’s also a number of surprises coming from the aviary which I didn’t expect, one of which is an almost pure white grey cheek hen, I’ll be using this hen as a stock bird for next year.

    Source: %99s-your-season/page__view__findpost__p__186'>How’s your season
  9. Zebraman
    I have started to carry out some overdue maintenance and upgrades this weekend, which will mean that the forum will be off line from time to time.

    You may also experience some disruption and errors when accessing some parts of the forum.

    I’ll try my best to keep the down time to a minimum, but please be patient if you do experience any problems.

    Regards,

    Gary.

    Source: Updates & Maintenance
  10. Zebraman
    I have started to carry out some overdue maintenance and upgrades this weekend, which will mean that the forum will be off line from time to time.

    You may also experience some disruption and errors when accessing some parts of the forum.

    I’ll try my best to keep the down time to a minimum, but please be patient if you do experience any problems.

    Regards,

    Gary.

    Source: Updates & Maintenance
  11. Zebraman
    I went in to the setup tonight and did my ususal rounds after I had fed all the birds, on inspection of one of the nest boxes form a pair that had hatched a sole chick (First Round), I found that the cock bird has been sitting really tight on the chick, which had cause it to start developing splayed legs.

    As the chick is only Five days old, I decided to place a couple of eggs in the nest which had been laid by my spare hens. Hopefully this will stop the cock from pushing down on the chick and maybe help the legs to recover before it's to late?

    Source: Five Day Old Chick
  12. Zebraman
    Well, it looks like the two infertile eggs have done the job as the chick fledged yesterday and it’s on the perch already. Both legs seem to be in perfect condition so fingers crossed that it will continue to go form strength to strength and be another asset in my setup.

    Gary.

    Source: Five Day Old Chick
  17. Zebraman
    This year I have decided to conduct a small study in to the growth weights of chicks from the first stages of the egg to the point where a bird is considered to be a fully grown fledgling.

    Just to test the water a little, I recently selected a pair of CFW’s and started the process from the point where the chicks had hatched.

    To allow me to achieve the result I required I purchased two sets of scales, one that would permit me to weigh the chicks from the early stages of hatching (0.1gram upwards) and another that would start from 1grm upwards to 50grms, this scale was big enough to place a show type cage on so that I could weigh the birds once they had fledged. Both scales also have the ability to be set to zero once an object was placed on them.

    The sheet below shows the results I have collated so far, I was astonished to find how quickly each bird gained weight and developed. I also noted several points of interest, such as the time the bird was weighed and whether or not the crop was full or empty.

    My next step will be to carry out this study from the first day that the eggs have been laid, but I will need to make sure that I select the correct pair as I do not want the birds to leave the eggs mid way through incubation.

    Is anyone aware of this type of study being conducted with Zebras or other birds?



    I have also made the file available for download below:-


    Chick Weights 2010 Reduced.pdf

    Source: Weight Study
  18. Zebraman

    Finished the lighting

    By Zebraman,

    Finished putting the light fittings into the remaining breeding cages and I’m really impressed with the results. It’s like Blackpool illuminations in there now. The main lighting comes on @ 5:30am using a Sun5, which brings four 40 watts bulbs up from dim to full brightness, it then switches over to the fluorescents and dims the 40 watt bulbs before switching them off, @ 7:00am the cage lights turn on. All this is then reversed @ 8:30 when the 40 watt bulbs are switched on and the fluorescents are switched off, the bulbs then go through a dimming process during the next 30 minutes and the cage lights go off @ 08:45. Once everything is dimmed to darkness, a night light takes over to reduce night fright, allowing any birds sufficient light to return to the perch. The whole process is fully automated and the times are adjusted to suit the required conditions.

    Gary ;)
  19. Zebraman

    Chicks Fledged

    By Zebraman,

    I came home this evening and was pleasantly greeted by the sight of four chicks that had fledged from the CFW’s nest. All look like nice birds, but one of them is exceptional both in colour and shape, there’s also an added bonus because it’s a Grey Cheeked hen. I’ll post some picture when I get a chance to get the photo cage out. All being well my plan will be to breed this bird with a normal Fawn or a good sized Black Cheek to strengthen both colour and type.

    Gary.
  20. Zebraman

    Rings arrived today

    By Zebraman,

    This year’s rings arrived today so we’re already to start the season, just got to decide on the focus for this year and pair the birds up, I think I’ll mull it over for a couple of days...
  21. Zebraman
    I Paired up Ten more birds over the weekend:-

    1. Lightback x Lightback

    2. Fawn x Fawn

    3. Normal x Normal

    4. CFW x CFW

    5. CFW x Grey Cheek

    Fingers crossed they should start producing soon as things are a little on the slow side at the moment.

    Gary.



    Source: Pairing for 2010