TehLizardKing
Sitting on the front steps
Howdy y'all!
So the story goes like this; a couple of weeks ago, I decided to extend the aviary with a nice big outside flight... The tiels were fine indoors, but everyone else was looking slightly cramped, and I really don't like seeing birds without a large amount of room to fly.
All of my fids are tame (except the zebs and the like), and I would love to have them in the house, but my mum is horribly allergic to feather dander although she loves the birds a lot. My thinking was, not only could the fids have more room to fly, but if there was a breezy, relatively dust-free outside flight, my mother could go in and spend some time with them too.
So anyway, long story short, we sourced a ready-built aviary from a really lovely elderly gentleman who had developed Parkinson's, and couldn't look after himself, let alone his birds, properly any more. It was entirely outside flight; 9x9 feet with boxes, and contained three zebs, three bengies, a hen kakariki and a pair of blue red rumps. The kakariki's mate had died the day before we got there... He had had a night fright due to a cat and boinked, quail style, into the wire
This unsettled me slightly; I didn't feel like adding untame, volatile birds to my flock, but if we didn't take them, they would have unfortunately been left to starve.
...We got the whole package for £100
A week later, and the flight was put up, the newbies were out of quarantine, and had integrated into the flock with no trouble at all.
Zoom ahead another two weeks or so, and the kakariki (christened 'Kiwi' for her lime green and fuzzy face) has been nowhere to be seen for two days. I was getting increasingly worried, hoping she was just foraging behind the shelving and coming out when I left... But on the third day I really had to do something. I rooted around the whole aviary: behind shelves and boxes, under logs, through shavings; I was very upset... surely she had had an accident and was no longer of this earth... But then why couldn't I find her body anywhere?
There was ONE last place... What if she was... under the cupboard?
VERY unlikely... But maybe?
Half an hour of tentative cupboard moving later (for fear of crushing her if she was indeed under there), and lo and behold a little green tail came into view, and she gave a little chuckle before shooting off over to sit by the tiels and glare at me. Now, I didn't know what to do... She was obviously nesting, but the cupboard is on shavings and if I moved it any more, I might be in danger of burying the eggs or misshaping the nest hollow. I couldn't see any eggs, but the space under the cupboard is only about two inches high, so there was no doubt she is good at squeezing into small spaces, they could be anywhere underneath it for all I knew.
I carefully returned the furniture to it's old position, and stood back to watch her return to the nest without a second thought.
Damn.
This is where I could do with a bit of expert advice...
What do I do now?
Is there ANY chance... ANY
That the eggs could be fertile after this long (roughly three weeks) without mating? I can't find them easily to candle them, and I don't want to wreck her nest. If there's no chance, I don't need to be so worried about disturbing her. If they are fertile, if possible, I'm going to let her hatch them and pull them for hand rearing... Kikis feed their mates on the nest don't they? I don't want her to starve, if I can help it.
(Whoah, sorry, I seem to have written a novel xD)
Any help would be very much appreciated... Lol, why do my birds insist on nesting on the floor!? *exasperated gasp*
So the story goes like this; a couple of weeks ago, I decided to extend the aviary with a nice big outside flight... The tiels were fine indoors, but everyone else was looking slightly cramped, and I really don't like seeing birds without a large amount of room to fly.
All of my fids are tame (except the zebs and the like), and I would love to have them in the house, but my mum is horribly allergic to feather dander although she loves the birds a lot. My thinking was, not only could the fids have more room to fly, but if there was a breezy, relatively dust-free outside flight, my mother could go in and spend some time with them too.
So anyway, long story short, we sourced a ready-built aviary from a really lovely elderly gentleman who had developed Parkinson's, and couldn't look after himself, let alone his birds, properly any more. It was entirely outside flight; 9x9 feet with boxes, and contained three zebs, three bengies, a hen kakariki and a pair of blue red rumps. The kakariki's mate had died the day before we got there... He had had a night fright due to a cat and boinked, quail style, into the wire
This unsettled me slightly; I didn't feel like adding untame, volatile birds to my flock, but if we didn't take them, they would have unfortunately been left to starve.
...We got the whole package for £100
A week later, and the flight was put up, the newbies were out of quarantine, and had integrated into the flock with no trouble at all.
Zoom ahead another two weeks or so, and the kakariki (christened 'Kiwi' for her lime green and fuzzy face) has been nowhere to be seen for two days. I was getting increasingly worried, hoping she was just foraging behind the shelving and coming out when I left... But on the third day I really had to do something. I rooted around the whole aviary: behind shelves and boxes, under logs, through shavings; I was very upset... surely she had had an accident and was no longer of this earth... But then why couldn't I find her body anywhere?
There was ONE last place... What if she was... under the cupboard?
VERY unlikely... But maybe?
Half an hour of tentative cupboard moving later (for fear of crushing her if she was indeed under there), and lo and behold a little green tail came into view, and she gave a little chuckle before shooting off over to sit by the tiels and glare at me. Now, I didn't know what to do... She was obviously nesting, but the cupboard is on shavings and if I moved it any more, I might be in danger of burying the eggs or misshaping the nest hollow. I couldn't see any eggs, but the space under the cupboard is only about two inches high, so there was no doubt she is good at squeezing into small spaces, they could be anywhere underneath it for all I knew.
I carefully returned the furniture to it's old position, and stood back to watch her return to the nest without a second thought.
Damn.
This is where I could do with a bit of expert advice...
What do I do now?
Is there ANY chance... ANY
That the eggs could be fertile after this long (roughly three weeks) without mating? I can't find them easily to candle them, and I don't want to wreck her nest. If there's no chance, I don't need to be so worried about disturbing her. If they are fertile, if possible, I'm going to let her hatch them and pull them for hand rearing... Kikis feed their mates on the nest don't they? I don't want her to starve, if I can help it.
(Whoah, sorry, I seem to have written a novel xD)
Any help would be very much appreciated... Lol, why do my birds insist on nesting on the floor!? *exasperated gasp*
I LOVE the name of your beardie!
