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Emmy

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Posts posted by Emmy

  1. Posted · Report reply

    This is a recurring problem I have had this year and it happened last year as well.

    Last year in the outside flight I had a pair of diamond doves  lay two eggs in their nest. They were incubating the egg  and all seemed to be ok until the eggs suddenly disappeared.  The same thing happened to the next set of eggs- no sign of egg falling out from nest n trace of egg shells.

    The only time they have managed to raise a chick was when I removed the egg from their nest and hatched it out in the incubator. I hand reared it for a few days, during this time I had removed 'mum and dad' from the aviary and put them into a cage provided a nest pan and transferred the chick to their cage where they took over the feeding.

    Just recently this has happened again with the diamond doves the hen was sitting on 2 eggs in the inside flight I'm sure the eggs weren't far off from being hatched  but when I checked the nest and again the eggs had disappeared  and no trace of egg shells etc.  

    I had been blaming the cockatiels for stealing the eggs but now I'm not sure if that was correct. 

    My friend also has a pair of Diamond doves in  her aviary sitting on 2 eggs (there are finches and canaries  in her aviary same as I have) but she had NO cockatiels and she contacted me tonight to let me know the two eggs in the diamond doves nest in her aviary have disappeared -no trace of egg shells etc.

    Both of us have no mice/rats in our  aviaries.  

    Anyone have any clues why this is happening?  Could it be the canaries or the  zebra finches  that are responsible for this?. Or could it be the diamond doves themselves?

    Be grateful for any ideas anyone may have why this is happening.

    Emmy

  2. Posted

    I knew I had read somewhere you couldn't use a timer with this type of heater  and this is the reply from the firm that makes the heaters.

     

    Good morning,

    Thank you for your email, this heater cannot be used with a timer. I have attached a paragraph from the instructions and also the full copy to this email.

    WARNING:

    In order to avoid a hazard due to

    inadvertent resetting of the thermal cut-out, this

    appliance must not be supplied through an

    external switching device, such as a timer, or

    connected to a circuit that is regularly switched

    on and off by the utility.

     

    Kind regards



    James Thompson
    Customer Services Advisor

    This is me saying this: Hope everyone checks out the heater they are using.

    Emmy

  3. Posted

    Thanks for the link Steve. I had a reply to my email saying someone will respond to my question within the next 3 days. I use a timer in my other shed with a different oil filled radiator with no problems but the controls are different on that one.

    Emmy

    • Like 1

  4. Posted

    I did try it on a timer when I first got it and something went wrong but I can't remember what it was now.  Later someone told me they shouldn't be used with a timer. What I have done is contacted the firm today to ask their advice on this. I'll let you know what reply I get.

    Emmy

  5. Posted

    Sorry about you losing the diamond dove horrible to find that. 

    I had a tube heater in my new shed but it hasn't lasted very long my electrician said I would need to buy a new tube some reason I thought there would perhaps be a fuse that could be changed ? but seems not.  I bought an oiled filled radiator and it has worked  much better than the tube heater it has a great set of control options only draw back is it can't be set on a timer but it does switched itself off when it reaches the temp. you set it at. I had my heating in the sheds switched off thinking there would be no more frost  but I was wrong it was frosty this morning so they are back on again.

    The heater I bought at Argos was a Dimplex 1.5 kW oil filled column Radiator.

    Emmy

  7. Posted · Report reply

    Thanks Clare and Sarah, 

    Clare Re the photo being blurred Titch just wouldn't do as I asked when I said 'Hold it there !'  Too busy with the daily exercises!!:lol:  but joking apart seeing the width of the wings made me realise they are growing up fast.

    Sarah my grandchildren say baby cockatiels at that age look like mini dinosaurs (lol) My description : it's like the story about the ugly duckling that grows up to be a  beautiful swan. ;)

    Emmy

  8. Posted · Report reply

    Hi Clare

    My wee dog has to be locked up when its feeding time for the birds just in case he thinks I'm fixing lunch for him;)

    They do have walkabouts now:lol: so I have to take them out one at a time now to feed them and they  are trying out their wings too. This is Titch:

    56fad734ca128_March29th20169.45amDSC0370

     

    After they have been fed I give them a wee wipe down with a soft damp sponge and they love that.

    Just one more feed tonight about 9.30pm and then a little 'top up!' for them before I go to bed and that's them until about 7am next  morning.

    Emmy

  11. Posted

    Glad the birds enjoyed their treat- :good: unlike my neighbours,  I don't mind dandelions growing in the garden- good for the birds and saves me money:lol:

    Emmy

  12. Posted · Report reply

    Just thought I'd give an update on the cockatiel situation. The  chicks are doing great and the two larger ones are now flexing their wings and like to wander about. Never had to feed them during the night!!:good:

    This is (l toR )  Titch, Babe and Tosh (lol) 2nd photo taken today

    .56f5452cbacbd_March20th2016-.thumb.JPG.5        56f5410836447_March25th2016Titch-Babeand

    March 20th                                                                             5days later March 25th

     

     Everything was working out fine but  there is always a BUT!! and this concerns the parents of the chicks.

    I had a cockatiel nest box in the inside flight- I had put it in there a while ago thinking Cheeky and his mate Munchy would perhaps use it -but they didn't - This was going to be removed last night then I was going to  clean the cockatiel nest box that was outside. and taped it up so it couldn't be used again.

    I got the surprise of my life when I opened the door of the inside flight to remove the nest box  --Bambino (the chick's dad) went into attack mode big style  he had never done that before! I had to use a perch to keep him away while I removed the box then I discovered the reason why! :o there was an egg inside the nest box and me being me I couldn't throw it out so the nest box is now back in the inside flight and I'm keeping my fingers  crossed Toots (the mother)  doesn't lay any more.

    The other nest box in the outside flight has now been cleaned out but while I went to find the tape to cover the entrance hole by the time I got back the box already had two new residents  -Cheeky and Munchy the pair who hadn't looked near the other nest box that had been in the inside flight!  

    All I can think is- :lol: it must be the Scottish weather to blame

  13. Posted

    I've used dandelion leaves for many years but I always wash them first.  The birds love them and a coupe of  years ago a friend who breeds canaries told me his canaries love the leaves from the rape plant (the ones from the plant where, when they flower gives a lovely yellow field (lol))

    I haven't tried boiling the roots of dandelions but I know of people who have done this as a tonic for themselves and I've known others who  boil  the leaves then  fry them in a little oil with garlic. Been told they taste similar to spinach.

    Emmy

    • Like 2

  14. Posted · Report reply

    2 hours ago, Clare L said:

    you must have reached Zoo status by now:lol:

    Not quite Clare ;):lol: there's  a few spaces left before I could say that and I need to wait 'till I get the cats, rabbits, guinea pigs etc etc :lol:

    Now wait until you hear this bit of news!!  My son phoned me tonight and we chatted for a while  then he informed me that he had seen an advert about a pair of African Grey Parrots looking for a home!! When I asked how much were they being sold for he said they were 'free'!! Now that I didn't believe! (This was beginning to look like the 10 chickens episode from a year ago!!- hard to believe but that's a year I have had the 5 hens now)

    When I asked where he had seen the advert and where about were they being sold?

    His answer was,  "I'm NOT telling you!!!"   Grrr!:diablo:

    Surly he wasn't thinking I would have taken them!! :lol:

    Emmy

  16. Posted · Report reply

    (lol) know what you are saying I had two before both were hens though and YES! they can bite!!  Noise doesn't bother me (lol) if it gets too loud I just take my hearing aids out :lol:  I had two of them for many years and they were just fascinating to watch them strip the willow and decorate their back with it -paper too! The ones I had before were Fischers peach faced love birds. I was told these two will probably be ready for breeding  soon so next thing is to get a nest box ready!  and NO! I wont be hand rearing any of their chicks I'll give that pair a right talking too before they get a nest box!! :D

    Emmy

  17. Posted · Report reply

    My 'parrot' family!!

    I had the medium sized ones -Barrabands

    and then I got 4 tiny ones the Madagastar love bird parrots

    then recently got the large one Bobby the Blue faced Amazon

    Now that left out the 'small' sized ones Just couldn't have that !!

    Now, this morning I have fixed  that missing link.

    :yahoo:when my family discovers this I'll be shouting :help:

    Meet Pinky and Perky  my peach faced lovebirds (red head is the hen )

    56f29e687681b_23rsMarch2016peachfacedlov

    Emmy

     

     

  19. Posted · Report reply

    Yes they are Clare but if they have been hatched in the incubator you have to encourage them to eat the seed and especially to drink( I usually tap the seed dish with my finger and the same with the water  which is in a shallow dish with glass beads in it to stop them from drowning.   if its the adult bird that has incubated them the chicks copy the parents re the feeding (they get chick crumbs)

    The good thing is if the parent bird hatches them out you don't have to worry about putting them in a brooder its so comical to see them disappearing under the parents.

    She is still sitting on the eggs.:good:

  20. Posted · Report reply

    1 minute ago, Clare L said:

    Absolutely no more for the time being:lol:

    I've said that time and time again but it never works - my 'hotel' is full too but I always seem to find a spare room (lol)

    I've got mine in beside the canaries and zebra finches and 4 cockatiels in the aviary but last year the D Doves eggs kept going missing even one of the chicks they hatched disappeared and it seems it could have been the cockatiels that were doing the damage.

  23. Posted · Report reply

    2 hours ago, SarahR said:

    wish i had the time to hand rear........actually.....i wouldn't be able to sell any if i did haha :P 

    Sarah let me tell you THAT is the most difficult thing to do - selling  them- but before I let any go I have to be 100% sure they will be going to a good home. So far I have been lucky in that respect and I occasionally get emails and photos from their new owners of how they are doing.

    This is one photo I had sent to me and 56f128ce4d626_VinnieandArnold.....thumb.believe me the cockatiel is the BOSS in this situation.

    (the dog had  been used to cockatiels before and before I let the young cockatiel go I let it play with a large toy dog I had )

  24. Posted · Report reply

    Well it seems like a miracle to me but part of the miracle won't happen. (lol)

    I've kept Texan White Quails for a good few years now but they NEVER incubated their eggs that had to be done using the incubator.

    Last year I sent for some new Texan White fertile eggs to get some 'new blood line' in.

    All went well and a few hatched out.  I put three of them in a large 'hutch'  and they got on fine together until one morning I found little 'Suzy' sitting in a corner with her head covered in blood. I removed her from the other two and cleaned her head and kept her by herself until her head healed.

    I then introduced another quail to keep her company and I got a shock the next morning there was poor Suzy sitting there with her head bleeding again. So from then on ( a few months now) she has been in a hutch by herself .

    Her head is OK now and she has been laying eggs usually one a day and I have been removing the egg from the hutch every day but I hadn't collected any for three days and I noticed she had moved the eggs into a corner in the sleeping section of the hutch so I thought I'd just leave them and see if she added any more eggs to the clutch.  --56f123b5df0c4_Suzythequailseggs.thumb.JP

    (This was taken before I added the cpq eggs)

    YES she did lay some more and what was even more surprising she was incubating them:shok:  

    56f123c740353_ABroodySuzyTexanWhitequail

    Well one thing for sure there will definitely never be the patter of tiny feet from any of those eggs she has laid BUT what I have done is removed a few of her eggs and popped a few fertile eggs from my CPQ into her nest. ;)

    So far she is still sitting on the eggs.

    One question I keep asking myself is WHY couldn't  she  have done this when her  egg were fertile??:lol:

    I have no idea if this was a wise thing to do but I'll keep you updated re the outcome.

    Emmy

  25. Posted · Report reply

    Actually its working out better than I thought with the cockatiel chicks. I'm feeding them approx. every 3 hours starting about 6am and last top up feed around 10.30pm - 11pm. I have been putting two hand warmers wrapped in a soft cloth on the bottom of the cage they are in and cover that with a paper towel and then some 'sawdust' (It's not really sawdust but I've forgotten the name of it) So I don't need any other type of heating during the night actually they are keeping each other warm.  There is no need for heating during the day either. This is so different from the last ones. 

    I see a big difference in them already

    56f0760c27764_March20th2016-.thumb.JPG.5   

    (Still to give them names yet) the wee one in the middle has now got its eyes open and that makes such a difference.

    The finch eggs in the incubator haven't hatched out yet if and when they do that  will be a very different story. The pair I had hoped would foster the finch chicks  haven't laid any more eggs and are not going in the nest box. :unknw:

    Emmy