Watch me hatch and grow! [Cockatiels]

itzjbean

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Hello fellow parrot lovers!

A new and exciting journey has officially begun! Spring is here and I have recently set up my pair of mature pet cockatiels with their nest box and now you will be able to experience the miracle of life with me! I will be taking tons of pictures and videos so you can see what goes into the process of being a breeder and caring for both parent birds and babies!

Introductions are in order! This is my pair of cockatiels -- Peach and Boo. They have been together since before I got them in 2015 and I am still in touch with their original owner in Michigan.

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Peach is a female cinnamon pearl cockatiel (age 5) and Boo is a male normal whiteface grey (age 6). They are both tame and are my only birds. They have had one clutch of babies before with me in May of 2016 and one clutch before I got them so this will be their third clutch total.

Here is their breeding cage setup!

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They were set up in this cage with the nestbox on March 3rd. Normally you should mount a nestbox outside the cage but with the other pets in my household it is safer for it to be inside and there is enough room for them to still climb around and open wings fully.

It is very important to note that this pair is 1.) mature - sexual maturity in cockatiels is at least 2 year old, 2.) they are experienced with caring for babies and 3.) I am prepared as a responsible breeder to assist in raising chicks at any point in their development. Should eggs need incubating I am ready, should chicks hatched need pulled and handfed if the parents refuse or abandon them I am ready will all my supplies. What these supplies are I will add in another post.

Their first egg was laid on March 16, just under 2 weeks after setting them up with their nest box. I have only observed them mating once but here's a fun fact -- a hen can store sperm in her body and produce an entire clutch of eggs with just one mating.

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Here they are tending to their nest. Their second egg was laid 48 hours later, on March 18.


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSjSIZAbfPQ"]Here is the proud father, tending to his babies [/ame]


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The pair will sit on the eggs on and off all day but will not sit on them overnight until the entire clutch is laid (2-8 eggs). As a novice breeder the first time I saw that they were not sitting on eggs overnight I was very concerned, but this is completely normal and the eggs will still be viable without being sit on for up to 7-10 days.

To be continued! :)
 
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LordTriggs

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ooo, sign me up for this thread. I'm completely enamoured by growing up birds (I find the baby food begs adorable)

Also this could be a really good source of info for how a pair of birds should breed and raise their young for any newbies getting into breeding
 

texsize

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Your breeding pair is similar to my pair.

I had/have a male whiteface and a female cinnamon (not pear however)

in each of 2 clutches I had 1 Lutino.

will watch with great interest what mutations you end up with.

texsize
 
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itzjbean

itzjbean

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Your breeding pair is similar to my pair.

I had/have a male whiteface and a female cinnamon (not pear however)

in each of 2 clutches I had 1 Lutino.

will watch with great interest what mutations you end up with.

texsize


Their last clutch was an incredible diversity!! I got....

1 - normal cinnamon

1- whiteface pearl

1 - cinnamon whiteface pearl

1 - whiteface lutino (albino) - she is the one in my avatar pic

1 - normal pearl

Can't wait for this clutch to hatch :yellow1::grey:
 

GaleriaGila

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I'm scared to follow this... I know I'm gonna fall in love and contract IWannaCockatielBabyItis!
 
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itzjbean

itzjbean

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Happy first day of Spring everyone!! Peach laid another egg this morning, bringing our count to 3!
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Peach is laying an egg now almost exactly every 48 hours, in the morning around 6:30am-7am. By my birthday (on Saturday March 24 I'll be 29!) we should hopefully have 5 eggs. What better present than eggs from my babies!
 
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Tami2

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OOOO Very Cool!! :heart:

I will be sitting on the edge of my seat taking it all in.
:) :yellow1: :)
 

Owlet

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oooh yes I love watching birds grow!
 

Kiwibird

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Lucky us! All the fun of watching them grow, none of the hard work. That's all for you:) I'll be happy to sit back and observe:p
 
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itzjbean

itzjbean

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We are up to 4 eggs today!

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As eggs continue to be laid (I suspect they aren't done yet) and the two parents prepare for chicks, I myself am also busy! I am getting my brooder prepared, my hand-feeding materials ready, beginning documentation/record keeping of the clutch, as well as making sure the birds have the optimal environment they need to produce happy, healthy young.

Right now one of my main focuses is their nutrition. The female's diet right now is very important as she is making eggs and needs added calcium, protein and water. And what they eat will end up feeding the chicks, so soon I will be making a post focusing on what I feed them during the breeding season to keep them in their tip-top shape for raising healthy babies! So stay tuned....
 

Inger

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This is so interesting! Thanks for bringing us along on your journey.


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itzjbean

itzjbean

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When caring for a breeding pair of birds, I can't emphasize enough hoe important their nutrition is. I feed a varied diet consisting of several things. In my eyes there is no such thing as too much variety!

1. Dry mix

As a base, I feed them a dry mix consisting of Roudybush and Zupreem pellets, with some of their favorite Kaytee seed mix added in.


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2. Sprouts

These are a newly added favorite. They are excellent for birds and have a ton of nutrients and minerals and also protein. If you've never heard of it before, sprouting is allowing seeds to germinate and sprout so they look like little roots/plants. For an excellent article of sprouting I highly recommend Silversage Aviaries Sprouting for your Parrot.

To make sprouts you will need a trusted seed mix (I used Volkmann's Cockatiel non-sunflower seed mix), a fine strainer and apple cider vinegar. You can see my current batch of sprouts sitting in the bowl. They are basically soaked in water overnight, then strained and rinsed with water for several days until sprouts form. A little bit of apple cider vinegar is then used to clean/keep the sprouts fresh.

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3. CHOP

For even more nutrition I feed CHOP, which is a mix of chopped up fruits and vegetables. It is incredibly nutritious and you can be as creative as you want with it. You can add beans, grains, rice, etc. In this week's batch we have carrots, peas, green beans, corn, broccoli, cauliflower, and green pepper. Mmm!


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4. Cuttlebone and water

It is very important to have as much calcium available to the hen as she needs. When laying eggs, a female will deplete her calcium and therefore needs a supply of it throughout the entire process of the season. Luckily, my hen is a very good cuttlebone eater :) I always make sure to have one available for her. She will chew and gnaw on it as she pleases but she has never had issues with calcium. She will also be needing more water during this time, too! They do get more water through sprouts and the CHOP but I offer lots of water for them anyway.


Here they are, enjoying the feast...


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[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIJPBjYeEOI"]Pigging out on all the good stuff[/ame]


I hope this has been informative to those wanting to know what breeding pairs should be getting as a diet. I am by no means an expert but I continue to learn and want to give my bird's what they need to raise strong, healthy, spunky babies.
 
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FlyBirdiesFly

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ALL birds, breeding or not, should get this healthy of a diet! Great job and looking forward to seeing the babies grow up.
 
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itzjbean

itzjbean

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[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PtOfZjeyME"]Taking turns turning, incubating eggs and eating[/ame]

Over my birthday a cuple days ago (Saturday) the birds laid another egg, bringing the total to 5. With the clutch getting larger they are getting more diligent now with taking turns incubating, eating and turning the eggs. They will even sit in the nest together and share duties. The female's droppings have gotten increasingly smelly and massive in terms of volume, which is normal but it sure gets smelly quick. I have to wipe the sides of their cage pretty frequently now to get her projectile poops cleaned up. (lol) they should become more normal sized after the entire clutch is laid and she stops producing eggs.

Monday (today) I woke up to another egg, bringing our current total to 6 !!! When I open the nestbox now and try to see the babies this is often what I get...

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But finally Boo moved so I could see the new addition! I will be adding more bedding tonight to the nest box but they do like to move it around and throw some out so the eggs end up sitting on the bare wood. Chicks have a tendency to get splayed legs if they have no soft bedding underneath so I will try to prevent that.

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I can't wait for all my little baby Pidgeys to hatch :) (sorry the images are so big, I usually use Flickr but today it wasn't working so Imgur to the rescue!)
 
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Inger

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Watching them move the eggs around is fascinating-especially since you said that was the male!


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itzjbean

itzjbean

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Watching them move the eggs around is fascinating-especially since you said that was the male!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Yes it is very interesting how involved the male is and how diligent he is with caring for them. You can even see in the latest video I posted how he's trying to work an egg out from under the hen so he can incubate them too.
 
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itzjbean

itzjbean

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Egg update: Peach seems to be happy with her clutch and has stopped laying eggs, bringing our clutch total to 6! She is incubating the eggs for the entire night so now it is just a waiting game for the eggs to hatch! I will continue to watch for any changes in the coming days as the birds spend most of their time taking turns incubating.

Stay tuned...

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Inger

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How long do they incubate before hatching? Sorry if you already said. I’m too lazy to scroll up!


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