One Last Border Chick Leaves Its Nest

Family Portrait

Coloring like papa but the head shape of momma! The yellow coloring is very intense for this phase. Hope he will wean easily!!

This Weeks Breeder Reports, Questions and Comments

Please post breeder reports, tips and unrelated items to this post.

Tips

It is important to keep a watchful eye out for dirty vents, especially in weaning chicks. Weaning makes the problem more prevalent as many chick lose weight for a period before eating well! Wash the area with water to clean and make sure the vent is not plugged. Failure to act can result in chick death.


Question

Monday July 5

1. Do you have experience with artificial incubation of eggs, even hatchlings in the incubator?

Making More Room - Switching Nests

These German Rollers from my imports are so crowded that they stand on each others backs.


To give them more room, I put an additional nest in the cage and a perch between them.

From about 14 days, even though you think they have not left the nest yet, they freely switch back and forth to the new nest. This morning they were divided three and one. Since that looks crowded, I put one back in the other nest.

Momma roller feeds one nest and then the other back and forth to which ever nest is begging loudest! The noisy ones get fed first!!

Questions, Breeder Reports and Tips for Big Bird!

Use this post for tips, breeder reports, and questions unrelated to current posts.

TIPS:



Carol Stone sent me this lightweight plastic band tool which she like to use for hand feeding. I have started using it and its lightweight and easy cleaning is making it a favorite!! Thanks Carol....

BREEDER REPORT:


Having a full nest has stopped the German Roller hen from throwing her banded babies out of the nest!

It Works Every Time!!!

It works every time that Cry Baby Border gets this sad look on its face and starts that irresistible crying, Big Bird steps up and feeds him!! He is so good at it, he has me trained to feed him every couple of hours!







So far, even though he is a couple of weeks past weaning age, he only will eat a few bites of corn and peas and maybe a few sunflower sprouts.

My grandson Jeff, took a few of these pictures and afterward enjoyed playing with Cry Baby!!

He is reluctant to nibble on my finger and prefers to instead open wide like a baby bird! He is just cruisin'!
This Baby Border was hatched the same day as Cry Baby and it is confident and wants nothing to do with me!!

I first started feeding Cry Baby June 16th. Cry baby is the sad looking yellow border on that days post. He quickly learned to beg only Big Bird. He ignores his birth mother and foster mother, he is my baby!!!

I normally don't name my birds but anyone got a good name for Cry Baby??

National Cage Bird Show Cancelled

Date: June 24^th , 2010

Subject: Official Cancellation of the National Cage Bird Show - Jacksonville , FL

Exhibitors, Friends, and members of NCBS,

It is with great disappointment that I must make this announcement to you. Due to issues out of our control, the 62^nd National Cage Bird Show to be held in Jacksonville this November is being officially cancelled.

The NCBS Board had been working with the Hyatt hotel since January of this year trying to procure more floor space and rooms for the projected large entries in two of the Song Bird Divisions. John Muscato and I took an extra day and arrived early to the March Board meeting to try to resolve the issue with the hotel staff. We have literally contacted the hotel weekly trying to resolve the issue. The hotel was non-responsive and not willing to bring closure to the issue. We wanted to close the issue so we could direct these societies on acquiring space or extra judges to process their entries. We were straining our relationship with the clubs.

On Friday June 18^th, NCBS was contacted by the Sales Manager from the Hyatt hotel in Jacksonville . He informed me that another group that had an event at the hotel, during the same time as NCBS, has requested more floor space as they are expanding. This group is a repeat group to the venue. After numerous discussions between their event staff and me over the last 4 days, the hotel made a business decision to honor the other group’s legacy attendance at the facility and informed us that they were exercising the Cancellation Option in our contract. I now have the formal cancellation letter from the Hyatt Riverfront Jacksonville.

On Monday June 21^st, I contacted a few of the NCBS executive Board and apprised them of the situation and we have been exploring optional venues. While I am hopeful that we can find some solution I am not convinced we can. With only a few short months to plan what we typically take 12-18 months to do we cannot afford any type of negotiations with a new site over the contract details so we are contacting the last few show sites to see if first the venue is available on our date, and secondly if they would honor the last contract or help us out in light of the inconvenience we are experiencing. My hope is that we can in the near future report to you a new site. In the event that we do we will utilize email lists, yahoo groups, the NCBS Website etc. to keep you informed.

As pain As painful as this is at this late of date I felt it necessary to inform you as early as I could knowing that we may have a possibility of a new location and have to do this communication again. Understand we did not take this lightly and have spent an enormous amount of time trying to negotiate what is best for our membership. We will do all we can to find a resolution and host a 2010 show in the best fashion we can. It is OK to be disappointed and we hope you understand.

Respectfully submitted,

Gary Morgan,

President – National Cage Bird Show

Questions, Breeder Reports and Tips for Big Bird!

Use this blog post for this weeks unrelated questions and tips and for Breeder Reports.

Breeder Report: Tom Ressel

I believe I read on your blog that you gave the hen fattening food like song food and sunflower while sitting on eggs so that she would generate more heat to incubate the eggs.

I had been in the habit of removing the cock while the hen was on the eggs so he would not get too fat, also this allowed me to use him with hens. I had not been in the habit of returning the cocks back to the original hen until just before the chicks had fledged.

After reading in your blog how important it was to get the cock back with the hen early to get more fertile eggs, I started putting him back in her nest shortly after I banded the chicks.

It worked, this year I raised 30 babies from four hens.

Tips:

As you break up your breeding pairs, take a moment to trim their nail, oil their legs and trim the overgrowth tip off their beak before putting in a flight. I trim nails and beaks with regular trim nail clippers. When you trim nails, be sure and not cut the blood vessel in the nail. If you do, stop the bleeding with quik stop or regular flour.

Questions:

Monday

When I hand feed some of the border weaning age chicks, they just nibble air and don't get the feed. Surely they will die...

Tuesday

Aren't you afraid to band those German chicks as their mother threw the last chick out of the nest and resulted in its death? What will you differently this time? For Answer and tips to avoid this problem: click on comments on the posting Amazing Third Chance!!!