Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2010 1:31 pm Post subject: Nesting box & chicks - some time sensitive questions
At the moment Zoe (mother kakariki, less than a year old) and Val (her very protective boyfriend) are looking after their first clutch.
They started hatching a few weeks ago, roughly 10 eggs were laid.
Of the hatchings, the youngest one hatched about 5-6 days ago, the biggest one has just opened his eyes and is starting to get his proper quills.
There are three eggs which have not hatched.
My questions concerning the remaining eggs:
Will Zoe know to push away these eggs if they are not going to hatch? And if so, will she be able to do it herself with a square nesting box? The hole is roughly 15cm high and has some ladder-like wooden parts on the inside of the box leading up to it.
How long should I leave the eggs in there if she doesn't seem to want to throw them out? I don't want them to crack or go off and hurt the babies. I don't know how old they are as it's been quite a while since the first egg was laid and they could be any of those eggs laid from the first till last (which were originally laid over a week or so, and then the main hatching, so all things considered they could be up to a month old.)
The eggs seem to have some dark blemishes on the inside. Very faint streaks, one or two per egg. They are not cracked or damaged on the outside, but perhaps on the inside...? I have heard that holding the eggs up to an unsuitable light can damage the chicks inside so I have not checked them that way... Seeing as this is Zoe's first clutch I am not sure if they are even all fertile.
Okay. Questions about the babies:
One of them sadly passed away today. I buried it under the rose bushes outside. What is the normal fatality rate for chicks? I'm worried I have done something wrong, that perhaps the little ones are being squished by their older siblings (the one that died was the second youngest, and was only just beginning his fuzzy stage) or that they are not strong enough to get Zoe's attention for food.
Also, should I be worried about the faeces building up in the base of the nesting box? Most of it is shoved and packed to the sides. Do I leave it there or do I take the babies out, remove it and replace them? I am worried that if I do this, it will upset Zoe and she may not want to go back in.
The chicks (besides the poor little one that died suddenly ) all seem healthy, for a first clutch I have heard that this many babies hatching is quite good... Zoe seems happy and active. If anything she has lost some of her agility, and waddles around on the perches... perhaps from sitting in the nesting box so much she has naturally lost a tad of her usual spriteliness?
I have been giving Zoe the bread and biscuit stuff in addition to their normal diet for quite some time, and she seems to thrive on it. I also add some cat kibbles to their mix, my Kaks love them.
Zoe seems to have eaten the shells from the hatchings as I have not seen any egg shells. Is this normal? I assume she is doing what is best for her, either way.
Oh, and by the way, I have tonnes of Loquat fruits flowering in my back yard and that some of your Kaks love them... mine aren't interested at all!
Also, I have recently learned that many apple seeds can be toxic to Kaks, so I am much more careful about removing those now. Another thing they love (and get lots of) are the stamen cores of roses... are these bad in large amounts?
My apologies if any of this is answered elsewhere. I did a scan of the boards for answers, but as I am worried about these chicks I prefer to ask all of my questions at once and hopefully you guys can get back to me soon.
Will Zoe know to push away these eggs if they are not going to hatch?
I have a therory that not all the eggs are ment to hatch, but 2 or 3 act as a hot water bottle for those times when the hen leaves the nest on cold days...kakariki will go to nest and raise chicks with frost on the ground.
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Will Zoe know to push away these eggs if they are not going to hatch?
And
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How long should I leave the eggs in there if she doesn't seem to want to throw them out?
We just leave the eggs in the nesting box....sometimes till all the chicks have left the nest, sometimes remove them at some time after the chicks have a good coating of adult green feathers...all depends if when I check I have a container in my hands to put them into or what Im doing at the time.
Bottom line its really not an issue, other than it maybe with very young chicks and my hot water bottle theory.
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I have heard that holding the eggs up to an unsuitable light can damage the chicks inside so I have not checked them that way
This is called candling...there are special powerful lights used for this..they generally are powerful for use on bigger thicker shelled eggs and produce a lot of heat and intesnce light....of caose the thicker the egg, the more light and heat absorbed....doing so too often and too long can cause damage to the eggs....
Of kakariki eggs, I just use a small AA battery penlite torch..The only time I do so is when I remove the "hot water bottle" eggs..be it when cleaning the nest box out or earlier as described above...I cant rem ever having a ferile egg that died.
We just work on the phylosphy, If the hatch they hatch..was meant to be, If the chicks wean into healthy adults , it was meant to be...If we get below a 75/80% rate we are dong something different or wrong, or on rare occassions a male with low feritliy or has difficulty during mating.
Hang on just looking for the next question
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Also, should I be worried about the faeces building up in the base of the nesting box?
No...often after a hen has raise 6 or 8 chicks, there is about 4 " of sold poo in the bottom of the nesting box...the 2 1.2 to 3 inches of orginal nesting materal has disappeared.
I have never cleaned a nesting box until the chicks have been weaned...have not lost a chick in a nesting box for ...at least 5 yrs
This stuff is excellent around roses and flowering/fruiting type veggies...peas beans, tomatos .
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If anything she has lost some of her agility, and waddles around on the perches... perhaps from sitting in the nesting box so much she has naturally lost a tad of her usual spriteliness?
No that is not normal....maybe if breeding in cages..I have never done that, but in flights where they can fly ...no.
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I have been giving Zoe the bread and biscuit stuff
We have never done that...I have a problem with refined flour in our diet, (bread, cookies, pasta, pastry etc) and the sugars thats added... let alone giving it to the birds....Some ppl recomment arrowroot biskets....if you want arrowroot dig up a bit of canna lilly root...
this may have something to do with her agility....
Balanced consisrtant diet is absolutly critical for strong chicks, and healthy hen that repeat layes 5 to 8 batches per yr...We have a very long stickey thread on the subject.
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I have tonnes of Loquat fruits flowering in my back yard and that some of your Kaks love them... mine aren't interested at all!
So do we, I break of bunches before the black birds, thrushes, white eyes and tui get to them, and just throw into the flights...Some of the kakariki go crazy, others cant be bothered
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Also, I have recently learned that many apple seeds can be toxic to Kaks, so I am much more careful about removing those now
I have never bothered..apples pears have arsinec...arsinec thu fatal in high concentrations is still required in low concentartion for good health.
I would not eat a couple handfuls of apple seeds, no feed in such a concentration to the birds....on the other hand I dont think i have ever seen a handful of apple seeds .
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Another thing they love (and get lots of) are the stamen cores of roses... are these bad in large amounts?
I hope not..been feeding rose hips and flowers to our birds for yrs
We used to have around 250 carefully selected historic roses, but had to stop spraying them yrs ago...what survived servived....I woyuld be vert caustious feeding roses to birds unless you know 100% they have not been sprayed for insects and/or black spot etc....these are symatic type chemicals, they are absorbed into the rose plant so when a aphid or what ever stick their little feeding tube and suck out the sap..it is posinoius to them.
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My apologies if any of this is answered elsewhere.
Yep some have been, others sort of....but its Friday evening, week is over and chilling out so nps m8
Now my question
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Nesting box & chicks - some time sensitive questions
I get all the way down the bottom waiting to find the "sensitive " part and cant find it
Cheers
Steps _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
just to back up Steps... my kakariki females can also fly properly when they come out of the nest, the only thing is that they usually seem to be in a bad temper, they remind me of my girlfriend
(hope she doesn't read this)
About eggfood... I stopped using commercial stuff some time ago. I just have a few back up biscuits for a 'just in case' urgency, as I have the birds 20mins drive away from where I live.
For the kakariki you don't really need eggfood, they are like chicken, they eat everything and feed it to the chicks, from all sorts of veggies to meat and bones.
Cockatiels are a bit more stubborn so the eggfood is advisable for that little bit of extra 'power'.
I cook at home the typical home made 'barre bretonne', with eggs, whole wheat flour and olive oil (not refined) and whole cane sugar (not refined). Then I make breadcrumbs out of it.
I usually cook 3 at the same time, make the breadcrumbs and then freeze part of it.
Then I sprinkle a few spoonfuls each time over the veggie mix or the soaked seed.
And when I have a bit of leftover bread at home I boil 1 or 2 eggs and it goes into the mixer with the piece of bread... and I have instant eggfood.
I feel it's a bit better than the commercial eggfood honestly.
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) all seem healthy, for a first clutch I have heard that this many babies hatching is quite good... Zoe seems happy and active. If anything she has lost some of her agility, and waddles around on the perches... perhaps from sitting in the nesting box so much she has naturally lost a tad of her usual spriteliness?
...at least 5 yrs
.
