BBB Aviary

10/09/2023

Update time.......

Out of the incubator and the turkey hen sitting, I had one lone little turkey chick hatch. S/he has been named Fergus and I will most definitely be keeping it now 😅😅 in just a week the little guy/girl has grown so much. He loves to have a little snuggle too 🥰🦃

One pair of c**katiels quickly went from one egg to a clutch of five then have already hatched one chick out this weekend already somehow, I don't know where that time went. More to come in the next few days.

The 2 other turkey hens have been busy with one starting to sit n her clutch and I just discovered today another nest has been started by the remaining one. Fingers crossed for better results from these girls.
Duck duck didn't want to miss out on all the breeding action and has sneakily made herself a nest too 😅 🦆🐣

Including some bonus picture of the locals that scavenge a free feed.

14/08/2023

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!!!!

OK maybe not officially..... but the birds and trees are telling me otherwise 😅
So it was time for the boxes to be placed back in the aviaries, before the hens decided to start laying where ever else they deemed suitable.

The turkey girls have also been busy laying eggs, which is just perfect!! As it seems I accidentally bought myself a new incubator. Most of the 17 eggs I've collected show signs of being fertile, I'm hoping the same can be said for eggs I've left for the hens to hatch themselves. They've been cooking for just over a week so an update in 3 weeks time I guess.

I'm also excited to see some of the natives I've been planting throughout winter are starting to bud up and flower! Wasn't expecting to see anything so soon and I'm still just amazed I didn't have any casualties 😅😅

20/05/2023

Anna has decided she doesn't want to wait until spring and has started to incubate some eggs. Will have to wait and see how she goes, may have some cute little poults running around in around a month.

The front of the c**katiel aviary has also received a little sprucing up. I've planted some native shrubs to beautify the aviary and also provide branches and flowers for the birds and bees. I also bought and planted like a bazillion other trees and thinking I may have an addiction to plants now 😅🤣

22/04/2023

In my downtime over summer and autumn, I apparently got a bit bored and decided I needed some turkeys. I managed to source myself 3 beautiful girls and just needed to find myself a boy to complete my quad. But in true me fashion I found 2 boys 😅😅 so let me introduce Christian and Anna along with Gerry, Maureen and Laureen. All young birds and will be first time breeders. Anna has already started gifting me with some lovely eggs however I'll wait until the spring time before I start incubating them and hope for little Turkey poults.

03/09/2022

For those that may remember I posted a couple months back about the fruit and native trees I'd planted. Well the fruit trees have started to wake up from winter and leaf up again (after a slight panic that I'd killed them when they lost all their leaves after I planted them 😅😅) and all the natives have sprung new shoots and are growing.
I was surprised to see the mulberry tree already fruiting as well, wasn't expecting anything from any of them for a couple years.

03/09/2022

Another weekend another nestbox clean out.
I've been a bit slack with the updates however I haven't forgotten to take progress pictures. Unfortunately 3 c**katiel babies haven't made it this far, it's sad but is an unfortunate part of breeding. Not all of them make it to the perch.
On a more positive note the rest of the tiel babies are doing great and the first one hatched is 4 weeks old today. Another week or so and they will start fledging and start to learn about the world outside if the nestbox.
I had one lone bourke parrot chick hatch with the rest of the eggs looking to be infertile, I'm still happy they managed to produce one chick for their first attempt this year. About week and a bit for this little one to fledge as well.

Now the galahs... there is good news but there is also bad news...
Good news being they've laid 4 eggs so far. The sad news being they've broken them all the day after laying them. I'm not quite sure why this is happening just yet and still trying to figure out a way to overcome the problem. I've added extra calcium and protein to their diet on the off chance it's a lack of nutrition issue, which I'm skeptical as they get the same chop mix as everyone else everyday and I make sure to load it full of calcium and protein rich vegetables. They have a ladder in their log so they aren't jumping down and breaking them. And they get plenty if fresh browse to shred and chew as well, I am currently at a slight loss as to what to do. Maybe with the next lot something may just click with them, here's hoping at least.

17/08/2022

BABIES! So there are now 12 babies from 3 clutches. There were some infertile eggs in the mix or some that failed to hatch. 1 baby I'm keeping an eye on as it had a fair bit of air in its crop, gave it a burp and placed back in the nest so hopefully all is now ok with him.
Unfortunately this season has shown me that one pair of c**katiels just arent working out as their now 4th clutch together all eggshave been infertile. I'm thinking this is due to a foot injury in the male and not being able to mount properly, I'll try pairing up this hen with a spare male (a brother to the male in question 🙊😅) and see if that's the case.
Time for a nest box clean on the weekend I think.

Not much to report on the galahs still, they're keeping me in suspense with all the courting and breeding behaviour, the hen has however been hiding in the log all afternoon and was none to pleased that I interrupted them with room service 🤣

09/08/2022

BABY COUNT... We're now up to 9 tiel babies!! All are looking to be fed and healthy, so proud of my parent birds! Looking at eye colours I'll have some mutations that I've not produced before here, like the 2 white babies in the clutch of 4 (so far) that have pink eyes which will be whiteface lutinos (albinos) and I can nest s*x as females. Can't wait to see how they grow and colour up! I haven't seen any young from the bourkes yet but they won't be far off, not that I'll be able to tell as the hen is a very tight sitter and will not budge in the slightest for me to see. Busy times ahead for the parent birds and me keeping up with feeding and caring for all these extra lives.

06/08/2022

Baby alert!! The tiels have started hatching, it feels like it was just last week they started laying! 3 healthy looking bubs so far with many more yet to come, can't wait to see what colours are produced this year. 2 new pairs with lots of possibilities laying this year.

23/07/2022

This week's fresh chops mix consists of some lovely home grown silverbeet and celery leaves along with some brocolli, cauliflower, red cabbage, beans, carrot, radish, capsicum and apple. The macaws amazons and alexanderines got the an addition of paw paw. Now that breeding season has kicked back in extra variety and larger servings to keep up with their nutrional and vitamin demands.
Mrs galah also pictured after she came out of the log to voice her displeasure of me being the aviary and too close to her log, leave the food and get out thank you! 🤞🤞 fingers crossed for eggs soon, she has been spending more and more time in the nest.

20/07/2022

Just a little update on the eggs. The bourkes have started laying!! There are 3 eggs between 2 nests. We will wait and see if the 3rd pair produce anything now...
The c**katiels are up to 8 eggs between the 3 pairs with one of the remaining 2 pairs spending alot of time in their nest so I wouldn't be surprised if by tomorrow they've laid an egg.

17/07/2022

In my last post I mentioned it being out of breeding season. Well we're now about midway through winter and the birds have been telling me it's the start of the new breeding season. The weather is warming up, days are starting to get longer and trees are starting to flower again, spring is about to be sprung. Last Thursday I started a week off from work so I took the opportunity to place the remaining boxes out for the birds I intend to breed this year. The c**katiels have not messed about, just over a week gone with the boxes in and I have 3 pairs already laying with the other 2 not far off, the bourke parrots are showing promising signs as well again this year! The alexes I'm not expecting too much from but have given them a box to see how they go, I've left the entrance hole a little smaller so they can put their beaks to work and chew it their size liking. The galahs are still showing good signs with both the c**k and the hen working the log now and they've been loving all the fresh gum branches I've provided them to line their nest with.
Let the excitement of spring/breeding season begin!!

26/06/2022

Being out of breeding season the past few months there's not much been happening with the birds, they still get all the same diet and most luxuries they do in breeding season aka keeping me busy still. However with the bit extra time I get on my days off I've busied myself planting fruit trees and native flowering trees to increase my home grown produce and browse. Just have to wait a couple years now to reap the benefits 😅😅 As we're now gearing up for breeding season I utilised this weekend to hang a log in the galah aviary as I knew it would be a bit more work than putting the rest in for the others. Well a few hiccup and maybe more than a few curse words i succeeded in installing it. They started showing interest straight away so hopefully promising signs for these guys already.

09/04/2022

The pink chickens have settled in wonderfully! Nothing phases them and they've already started making friends with the locals!! 💗🤍
The green chickens also made the move out to an aviary last weekend, much more comfortable now with a little bit more room to spread their wings!! 💚❤

03/04/2022

The residents of the new aviary have arrived! A stunning pair of galahs, the female is a lutino and the boy is split lutino. This means in the coming breeding season I may have some lutino galahs being produced here! I'm in love with them already!

02/04/2022

New aviary is in place and almost set up, just needs a few more minor alterations, some fresh browse, food and water bowls added and it's ready for some exciting new arrivals later today!

13/02/2022

Happy second birthday Isabel!!! Enjoy your fruit salad, special treat of extra nuts and your new mini giggles you (they didn't have any giant ones sorry girl) I'm sure you and Louie will have it destroyed within a day!!! 💚💙💛

23/01/2022

These boys and the bourkes are now looking to move out of home into a new aviary now. If you think you have what they're looking for please send me a message for more details!

17/01/2022

I would like to give a very warm welcome to the newest member to the flock. Please welcome Sir Joh and Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen. A gorgeous young pair of alexanderine parrots. Surprisingly these aren't mine or for me but they're my partners first birds and introduction to bird addiction 🤣

30/12/2021

Today we celebrate new years eve, more importantly this big boys second hatchday! HAPPY HATCHDAY my big boy Luís!! 🎉🎂💙💛

24/12/2021

Wishing all my friends and followers a very Merry Christmas!! 🌲☃️🎄

21/11/2021

Babies babies and babies.... the first 3 are the same clutch, they are the first ones out of this particular pair of c**katiels to make it this far. They're first time parents and had a couple hiccups the last couple of times they tried, but they've figured everything out now apparently and things are going well!
The parents of the last 2 lots of bubs have laid and are hatching out their next clutches of babies, they've been doing an amazing job! With these new bubs coming along I've removed the last lost from the aviary including the bourkes as they all seem to be independent now and will be looking to spread their wings elsewhere in the next couple of weeks!! I love breeding season!

10/11/2021

06/11/2021

A big happy 2nd hatchday to this little green monster!! Can't believe you're growing up so quickly!! Enjoy your new toy for the all of a day it'll last 😅😅 lots of nuts and treats for you today Pablo! 🥳🥳

02/11/2021

Absolutely stoked to announce that 4 of the 5 bourke babies have finally fledged. So so happy with these guys!
Cocos babies are still going strong as well thankfully and had another hatch yesterday, I'm still keeping my eye on them but fingers crossed she and her partner have finally got the hang of being parents, cant wait to see what colours come about from them.

28/10/2021

Update on the babies....all of the yellow clutch are out and about in the world now and aren't far off of weaning. 2 of the white clutch have also emerged with the 3rd not far behind and the youngest about another week I'd say. The bourke parrots, wow I'm in absolute aww and so proud of this pair!! All 5 babies are doing amazingly and by the looks of them will be fledgling themselves in the coming week! Well I hope so they don't have much room left in their log 😅.
Finally I'm hoping third time is the charm with coco, the eldest sister to the white c**katiel clutch. She has hatched out 2 babies and seems to be feeding them wonderfully so far, I do however have everything I need incase I do need to step in this time (I'm hoping not 🤞🤞) but so far so good!

18/10/2021

Also I would like to say please throw your support behind That’s My Crew rescue!! This is a good friend of mine that helps absolutely every animal that she can, with amazing results! Whilst it might not be much at the moment (And she doesn't know about this yet) a percentage of my sales will be going towards helping Darby with what she does helping these animals in need! Please follow share and donate if you can.

18/10/2021

On a sunnier note, over the weekend the rest of the yellow c**katiel clutch have made there way into the big world outside of the box. The white clutch aren't far off of coming out of the box either. And most excitingly of all (for me at least) the bourke parrots are ALL still going strong!! I've also been keeping something as I wasn't sure anything would happen but I've had 3 gorgeous ducklings hatch as well. There are babies happening everywhere for me at the moment and I couldn't be happier!!

18/10/2021

Even with this lovely weather we've had this afternoon birds still need to be fed, which is why they have a full tummy and I was wet and cold. The tanks and the dam are full though so I guess it's not all that bad

10/10/2021

As promised some more pics

10/10/2021

Little bit of an update after being absent for a bit.
I had a bit of a shakey start to the breeding season with some unforseen mishaps, but I have things back on track and with all these babies every where I think I can say the birds are all happy and healthy. The first 12 pictures are of the same clutch of c**katiels from one of my most reliable pairs. 13 and 14 is the oldest of that clutch that fledged today sitting with uncle's and aunties with mumma bird sitting up the back on the box keeping a watchful eye in her baby.
15 and 16 are of my other old reliable pairs clutch, they have 4 bubs and yes the youngest is about 4-5 days younger then the next youngest but the parent are keeping it fed beautifully and it's going strong!
Finally the last few pictures I'm so happy to say are of my bourke parrot babies!! These are the first ones I've hatched here and all five, FIVE!!! Of the babies are going strong and the parents are doing an absolutely amazing job! Can't wait to see them on the perch!
More photos to come later this afternoon