Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 6:27 am Post subject: new to this our female as laid a egg need help please
hi there
our female kakariki as been mating with a newly bouht male and today she laid a egg on the bottom of the cage do i move into a nesting box or just leave it and is there anyway of telling if it is fertile i did buy a nesting box just over a week ago she as been going in out of it i have been putting materails into it but she just drags them out what would any of you suggest
thanks alot
Place it in the nesting box,
material is being dragged out suggests incorrect nesting material and.or wrong type of box.
Could u give further details on the above please. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
hi thanks for your reply i put the egg in the box before your reply when i checked on the egg after the female had been inside the box to find the egg and been smashed she has laid another egg since but from the top perch of the cage and it smashed when it hit the bottom of the cage i bought the nesting box and materail from the pet shop we got both birds so thought it would be the right stuff the materail is a wool like substance after she has dragged it out of the box she as started shredding it but then leaves it alone could you suggest what type of materail to use
thank you
Really sounds like she wants to lay/have a family and doesnt like the nestbox/and or nesting material
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i bought the nesting box and materail from the pet shop we got both birds so thought it would be the right stuff
Pet shops usually want to sell the right stuff, unfortunately most the ppl who work in them are stff who have mostlike never seen a baby chick unless their cat has brought one in from their backyard...
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so thought it would be the right stuff the materail is a wool like substance
Coarse untreated wood chips like off a chain saw, or wood turner, dry pine needle or dry multch from the forest floor.....dampen with a 50/50 soln vinegar and water to sterilise....chopped straw.....kakariki are not very fussy...
Nesting box..cheaper and best to make your own...
Rough sawn 200 or better 250mm wide elcheapo boxing timber builders use..about 20/25mm thick
4 bits about 500mm long screw then together....and using same timber a bottom plate screwed on...
The top same as the bottom but screw a square stich along 1 edge so it sits inside and doesnt fall off....
A hole 1/2" from the top about 65mm diam in 1 side
Below that a bit of branch 1/2 to 2" in diameter and about 5" long screwed from the inside (2 screws stops it twisting)
On the inside some wire mesh or simlar stapled from about 1/2" below the hole, 3" wide and a small twigg under it to sort of hold it off the wood.
Nesting materal about 4" deep and lightly packed down...
u need 2 nesting boxes as when the chicks just start to get adult feathers the hen then lays in the 2nd nesting box...so make sure u have a holding flight to keep all the offspring.....
we have 3 pair who the the last 3yrs have produced over 120 healthy adualts EACH.
Screwing together has the advantage it is easy to disassemble wash and sterilise....we just was with the hose, then us a large LPG burner/gas torch to burn the wood....this looks good , the birds like it and sterises real good.
The old nesting material is majic fertiser oaround flowering veggies like tomatos, capsicum, beans peas.
Sry about metric and imperial measurements I work and think in both..
Your local hardware/timer supplier/handyman yard usually cut to length as u want.
On the left is a "quick search "block" a lot of questions can be answered by searching..... diet a thread called " what do you feed....."
very important..well more than important really
other stuff like mites or worms
PS attaching nesting boxes to walls....we use 2 methods
1/ a bit of scrap plywood screwed across the back extending about 2" each side...these 'tags' are screwed to wooden walls
2. a hole in the back or side near the top, a bit of #8 wire bent in a double hook....1 end hooks into the side the other over a nail or hook in the avairy. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
hi there i took your advice and got a new nesting box and some wood chip for it and she has now laid 4 new eggs starting from sat 23rd of july i was just wondering the female now only comes out for water a bath and for the male to feed is this the correct way for them to being looking after eachother or do i need to add something new to her diet and lastly how will i know if eggs are fertile was heard you can check under a light but i realy dont wanna touch them so how long should i leave her to nest any advice would be very grateful
just wondering the female now only comes out for water a bath and for the male to feed is this the correct way for them to being looking after eachother
Very normal, sometimes we may not see a female for over a week....She continues this till chicks about 3 weeks....see here lots, then she disappears again to sit on the next batch of eggs
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or do i need to add something new to her diet
Protein, chopped cooked chicken carcasses....veggies, in partular the chopped stems of cali and broccolli for the phospours to be able to absorb calcuim.....
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if eggs are fertile was heard you can check under a light but i realy dont wanna touch them so how long should i leave her to nest any advice would be very grateful
We just let them be and when she has finished be the eggs hatche or not she will abandon...left nature take its caause
yes u can check...we dont bother.... its called candling
There is a "quick search" box on the left _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
thank you for your quick response just wondering on average how long before the eggs start to hatch if they are fertile
thank you again and if you think of any other advice it would be very gratful and will post how mother and chicks are doing if she is succesfull
hi there again
I said i would post a update on how my first lot of eggs did our female abanded them after about a month when i took them out of the nest box 2 was clear and the other four i had was a dark black colour i cracked one open to see what is was like inside and it was just a black goo inside and it smelt bad so i got rid of them and removed the nest from the cage and cleaned it out.
A week later the pair was mating again so i put the nest box on the cage again about a week and half later the female was lying again she got to six eggs again and stoped so fingers crossed these eggs will be fine.
Any comments or help would be very gratefully recieved i will let you all know if im succesful this time or not
Fertility very dependant on the diet for the 3 to 6 months before lating.
And care maintain diet and leave them to it... _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
thanks for the responce
I have tried a varied range of foods
what I have found they like
Celery, Strawberrys, Raspberrys, Blackberrys, redcurrents, Blueberrys, pomegranates
I give them varied verions of a mixture of these throughout the week with a fresh stick of celery every other day
what i have tried with them but they dont seem touch them
Chicken + bones, Steak (cooked or uncooked), Cheese, Apples, Melon, Peas, Broccoli, Carrot, Swede, Potato skins, i have also bought a Eggfood mix but they dont touch that either
for there care im cleaning the tray on the bottom of the cage 2-3 times a week im using sand on the bottom of this im changing there water everyday the have a big bath dish and a small drinking dish (the female baths in this ) they have a mineral stone + cuttlefish in the cage plus there is regular varied food sticks that they seem to like a lot they are let out the cage to fly around our living room as much as we can minimum 2 hours a day (they still dont come near us ) this is when we check on the eggs which is only a quick peek to count the eggs
please advice me if you think that im doing anything wrong new to this but want the best for the birds i love the cheeky little critters
They NEED good diet....and it can take months getting them off 'junk food' lot of seed and high sugar fruits....
Chances are if they are hand raised they have also been raised /feed on artifual suppliment foods to. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
im not sure i bought them from a pet shop i keep trying them with diffrent foods i have only had the female since april and the male since july couldnt tell you exact ages but the guy in the shop said they where about 8 weeks old but not sure how true this was
im not sure i bought them from a pet shop i keep trying them with diffrent foods i have only had the female since april and the male since july couldnt tell you exact ages but the guy in the shop said they where about 8 weeks old but not sure how true this was
Hiya... Do your birds have a closed ring?.... thats leg ring and closed = solid metal ring - not joined. If they do the colour should indicate the year and also it should have the year they hatched stamped in it. These can only be put on the bird when it is a young chick (if the correct size is used) so you can be sure of the age of a bird bought with a closed ring.
have you tried lettuce chopped up small bits of watercress dandilions (flowers and leaves) brocili sweet corn? try offering it without the fruit and take the seed away first thing in the morning... i have a male a few years old i got this year and he wouldnt touch any veg to start off..... he is getting there tho! if your birds are tame.... try offering some bits by hand it might work _________________ May........
thanks for the reply
no they havent got and rings my daughter does bring them flowers out of the garden sometimes and they do seem to like them havent tried lettuce but have tried corn sweetcorn they dont tuch it they arnt tame we have tried but the are to skittish around hands we can get very close to them and they will sometimes come near us (female more then the male she climbs up the inside of my partners leg ) when they are out of the cage but as soon as they see our hands they fly off will just keep trying the diffrent foods just found out that they love chillies by just keep offering diffrent types of food im learning all the time i love it and them
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