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New Casa

Atomiklan

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So I decided to upgrade Charlie and Emma to a new house. The cage I originally purchased for them was just a starter finch cage that was pretty flimsy and was really just a stop gap solution until I could find something I liked better. I finally settled on a cage I really like that has most of the features I desired in the form factor I preferred. It is still too small should I decide to expand my flock with baby birdies, but for now, for the two of them, this is the perfect solution. The cage is not too big, can be divided internally, and has both pull out trays and grates. The most important part was the ability to separate them in future should I need to. Overall I am fairly satisfied with the build quality of the cage. No major complaints so far. Here are some pictures of the old cage verses the new cage as well as a few cute pictures of the fids and some peppers I picked from the garden yesterday for them.

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TWR

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So cute, I love them peeking out from their coconut hidey hole
 

finchly

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Hehe Love the coconut shell photo! I have a friend who has changed over all her cages to the ones like your new one. She says cleaning is a breeze and so is the ability to separate them, as you said. Of course she's like me, so her cages are stacked to the ceiling!

Very nice. I applaud you for how well you care for your little ones.
 

iamwhoiam

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Very nice new setup. They look very happy together.
 

saroj12

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Very nice! One thing frightens me....when you talk about breeding:)
 

Atomiklan

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One thing frightens me....when you talk about breeding
Believe me, it frightens me too. I am sure I am getting in over my head. Going to ultimately try to prevent it as much as possible.
 

saroj12

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Believe me, it frightens me too. I am sure I am getting in over my head. Going to ultimately try to prevent it as much as possible.
Good. Dummy eggs from dummyeggs.com. You could overnight the real eggs to a breeder as and when they get laid...one by one...
 

finchly

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You don't even have to do the dummy egg thing. Take away the nest, don't give them one, and they won't get started. Throw out the eggs if she lays any. They are not technically fertile until they start incubating them.
A lot of people believe societies 'need' a nest to sleep in but they do fine on a perch. I hang fake plants around my cage to make little hiding places since they don't get nests. I also have a 7' tall artificial tree that all mine gravitate to.
 

Atomiklan

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This is going to sound really stupid and probably aggravating...

I totally hear what you are saying. I have read everywhere that you just shouldn't give them a nest. I know this fully and yet despite all this I am still ignoring all the expert advice for some reason... Sounds really stupid I know... Don't give them a nest. I gave them a nest. Don't give them nesting material. I gave them nesting material, etc. I brought this on myself and knew full well what would happen in the end. I can't really justify my reasons because they are silly and again, go completely against tested, proven, veteran, expert advice. Part of me wants to breed them at least once. Part of me wants to just experience the process once to observe their behavior during this time (In some ways, this whole experience is still an experiment for me too as I slowly get into birds and understand their behavior), part of me just thinks they are so cute in their little coconut nest, part of me hates the idea of taking that away from them even though I know you are 100% correct that they will be fine. I guess in the end, I was hoping that I could help control it with the dummy eggs, or that their breeding frequency would be such that it would be manageable. Perhaps I am being selfish and not thinking about their well being. I guess the other part of my logic (er... faulty logic) was that it was inevitable. I have read numerous times that they will nest and breed regardless, even to the extreme of just laying eggs on cage floor. Cant stop nature. So I guess my thought process was, well since I am stuck with a male and female, and since its going to happen anyways, I guess I will just give them something cozy and safe to nest in instead of on the cage floor. Again I realize that this is all probably pretty faulty logic and that I am probably just being selfish. This is why I went ahead and prepared to separate them with the new cage. I have not brought myself to do it yet, or to remove the nest yet, and part of me still just wants to go through this first cycle anyways for the experience. I have learned a lot actually just in these last few days. Complete change of behavior in both of them. It's exciting to see something completely new. I will go on to say that I feel I have prepped as much as I can. They have a cuttle bone a mineral block in the cage. I am providing egg food as well as fresh hard boiled eggs with the shells. I'm prepared to take them to the vet if necessary (egg binding or something else). I have dummy eggs in the mail. I have also been doing extensive reading on the ins and outs on breeding so I am ready when I do decide to actually hand raise my first clutch. I look forward to all the backlash from this post haha.
 

Atomiklan

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You could overnight the real eggs to a breeder as and when they get laid...one by one...
From what I understand you are not supposed to replace one by one as this defeats the purpose of the dummy eggs as this method does not suppress her egg laying motive. I guess if the intent was to let her lay eggs, but just send the eggs off to a breeder then yes that would make sense, but still would be putting her at risk in the long term. I would probably use them as directed and place all in the nest to suppress the egg laying process.
 

saroj12

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From what I understand you are not supposed to replace one by one as this defeats the purpose of the dummy eggs as this method does not suppress her egg laying motive. I guess if the intent was to let her lay eggs, but just send the eggs off to a breeder then yes that would make sense, but still would be putting her at risk in the long term. I would probably use them as directed and place all in the nest to suppress the egg laying process.
I meant send the eggs off to the breeder one by one. Nothing to do with the frequency of replacing the eggs!
 

Atomiklan

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I still don't understand then. If you place all the dummy eggs in the nest as soon as she lays her first egg, this should suppress her normal cycle and stop her for laying any additional eggs (other than maybe one extra egg while her cycle shuts down). She would not be laying anymore eggs, therefore there would be nothing to send to the breeder. What am I missing? Thanks
 

saroj12

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I still don't understand then. If you place all the dummy eggs in the nest as soon as she lays her first egg, this should suppress her normal cycle and stop her for laying any additional eggs (other than maybe one extra egg while her cycle shuts down). She would not be laying anymore eggs, therefore there would be nothing to send to the breeder. What am I missing? Thanks
I only had one egg layer and nothing would stop her! She had nine fake eggs I think but kept right on laying. Let's hope Emma falls for the fake egg trick!
 

Atomiklan

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Ah yeah, if that's the case, then the dummy eggs would of course be useless at that point. Hopefully that doesn't happen. I hope they work well for her. She laid her second egg today and I am expecting the third tomorrow. So far she seems to be laying one egg per day in the mornings or possibly overnight. So far I have only discovered them in the afternoon. I need to pay closer attention tomorrow morning to see if it occurs overnight, or in the morning. Is there an average time of day for birds? Or is it just completely random, based on species, or just on a per bird basis?
 

saroj12

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Ah yeah, if that's the case, then the dummy eggs would of course be useless at that point. Hopefully that doesn't happen. I hope they work well for her. She laid her second egg today and I am expecting the third tomorrow. So far she seems to be laying one egg per day in the mornings or possibly overnight. So far I have only discovered them in the afternoon. I need to pay closer attention tomorrow morning to see if it occurs overnight, or in the morning. Is there an average time of day for birds? Or is it just completely random, based on species, or just on a per bird basis?
can't comment -- don't know :). I hope she stops too!
 

Atomiklan

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Finally got around to a video of the new cage setup.

 
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