D&R birds

30/12/2024

Hand rearing formulas?
Getting very expensive now?
I’ve hand reared for some 40 years now ?
Something to think about almost every bird hand rearing formula has not for human consumption written on its packet ?
All human consumption products with very similar ingredients vitamins and minerals never say not for baby chick consumption?
Yes we use hand rearing formulas of course we do we also use a lot of human products! ( at a faction of the cost)
Our gains in chick development are the same size health ect most go on to become good breeders ect ?
Somtimes you have to ask the question why ?
Avian products are getting ridiculous in price ?
While most human consumption products are a lot more less expensive and giving the same results ?
Just thought I would throw it out there ?
Happy breeding 👍
Reason for this question a breeder brought his chicks here for us to finish off while he is on holidays his formulas are top of the range best you can buy ?
Our same chicks are reared on a much more cost effective formula with exactly the same results?
But I guess fancy packages and veterinary approval cost a lot ??

30/12/2024

Cross breeds !
Some people like cross breeds for pets some cross breeds are nice ( some not so nice)
Birds in photo are of black headed caiques x while bellied caique? Why would the breed & sell these as pure ? The greed of some breeders shocking ?
To the owner sorry to say to most keepers they are worthless sad but true!
But on a positive they would make nice pets if tame ?

15/12/2024

15/12/2024

Preparing for next eggs due for hatching 2024
Ecelectus IRN caiques alexandrine 👍2025 looking very promising also
2024 39 eggs 27 ferlile 26 successful 👍

15/12/2024

Pigeon racing south line Cebu !
The south line racing is over with and D&R lofts are very happy on the over all efforts with the race team👍
All our imports scored very happy with that👍we won some prizes along the way most importantly we were very competitive onwards and upwards with the north line 👍👍👍
Big shout out to all the clubs we flew with very solid competition 👌

14/12/2024

Incubator temperatures
We all know incubation works best from 36.6 degrees Celsius/ 37.7 as a rule 👍
Some species do better than others at the high end some do better than others at the low end ?
Most do okay in the middle let’s say 37.2 ?
Then you need to consider your room temperature this is also important especially if you live in a place that day and night temperatures fluctuate a lot ?
Happy breeding and good luck 🤞

14/12/2024

Entering the egg early often results in death ( chick drying out or damaged blood vessels and chick bleeding out )
We have all panicked and done this one time or another!
Once the internal pip happens ( chick breaking into the air cell) the hard work is about to happen escaping the egg final hatch)
I have a stethoscope and use it to listen to the baby inside ( holding the egg to your ear also helps) as long as I hear the chick chipping away there is no need to interfere on the second day if your still hearing the chipping along with a little chirp time to time from the chick every thing is fine ) day 3 you should se a lot of progress on the external of the egg if not a newly born chick 🐣 👍
If you listen to your hatching egg 3/4 times a day you will know if your chick is in trouble it’s a cry for help then and only then we enter 👍
Some chicks take 24 hours to get out some take 48 or more important thing is not to panic as long as your temperature and humidity are correct things should work out fine 👌🙏👍

14/12/2024

Some useful tips I’ve found with hand rearing along the way!
1/ first feed out of the egg = pure honey / glucose powder / spark = for rehydration 👍
2/ hand rearing formulas some are heavy way too fatty some are light not enough fats and proteins = we choose 3 different types and make our own blends 👍
3/ get your babies on vegetables and fruits ASAP we normal start then at two weeks old not every day but 2/4 times a week we also blend in the fruits and vegetables along with the hand rearing formulas together ( if your feeding lorries ecelectus the results are far better)
4/ feeding thickness we never feed the same some thick some slightly thin ( runny) as long as the babies are growing well and peak at his or her due dates your going well 👍
5/ feeding we tube feed we also syringe feed we also spoon feed for stimulation.
6/ we always cool the chick before feeding then straight back on to the heat after feeding ( found this to help a lot with digestion.
7/ don’t be scared to let your chicks crop empty out
8/ we never top up feed ( feeding while food is already in the crop ( your going to ask for trouble by doing this)
A few handy small tips 👍👍

13/12/2024

You get what you pay for !
Incubators we run 5 models ranging from
6,000 p ( cheap as chips )
30,000p ( good base model)
75,000 p ( good and reliable and very accurate)
100,000 p ( the ducks guts 10/10 )
Your cheaper incubators are fine if you know how to set them up all cheaper incubators are not accurate so care and testing is a must often all the readings are wrong also water chambers are far to big 👍
The cheaper units tend to spike in temperature ( so every time you check your eggs and put the lid back on you are shocking your eggs)
Yes we have a few set up for hatching mostly and our cheaper eggs do we trust them no we find you can spend 2 days calibrating having to do it over again 2 weeks later ?
The middle range units eg brinsea r-com tech force ect better a lot better but now you are paying 25-50,000p ( if your buying local here it’s a lot more ) we use 2 middle range incubators and they suit our needs well but you still need to keep an eye on them 👍
Our better incubators 75-100,000 ( the ducks guts set and forget) very accurate very reliable!
90% of our eggs go into our two better units👍
So you do get what you pay for 100% fact
Of coarse it comes down to
1/ affordability
2/ how serious you are going to be.
3/ the eggs you are incubating.
A good friend of mine local breeder lost over 200k in one setting then 100k on the second ? ( one egg out of 17 successfully hatched)
Although cheaper incubators are more readly available much more affordable you really need to think of the pros and cons also the $$$$$$
Surprising you see so many trying the cheapest thing they can find even with brooder heating a common light bulb used for heat ? ( I can not even stare into a 60 watt light bulb for more than 5 minutes without getting sore eyes or a head ache though some breeders chicks have to do it 24/7 to stay warm ) ?
Just thinking out loud so to speak happy breeding

12/12/2024

6/14 out so far so good for December 2024👍

12/12/2024

Instalments 100% we help where we can👍
We currently have birds here now being paid off👍
How we do it is

1/ bird = ######
2/ deposit or commitment to buy = no less than 25 % depending on birds value ?
3/ instalments monthly
4/ duration 6 months ( open to compromise)
5/ bird remains in our care until fully paid !
6/ new owner can visit his or her companion pet any time with in reason 👍

We no longer take reservations on birds until birds are hatched and rung/ banded

We have a birds of intrest book you inquire we will contact you once we have chicks available ( we are only an average size farm and species are not always readily available!
First come first served.
Pricing is only discussed between us ( breeder) and new owner!
Kind regards happy breeding

12/12/2024

Why have a page ?
For me I am always writing things down so why not !
Followers great if he or she is interested?
It’s free advise and that’s all free some good some of no interest to others !
My friend has 1 million follows any body can pay $25 to create more followers👌if that’s what floats your boat so to say.
Every day I find a new page some of intrest some of complete rubbish it’s all free unless your paying that $25 to boost your page.
So all you will find on my page are things I’ve had success with also things that have gone wrong !
All breeders start some where and at some time or another some breeders are well advanced some are very much novices and a little free advise oftern helps.
AFTER All We NEVER STOP LEARNING 👍
A few things I post are free advice I have gotten from friends along the way.

12/12/2024

% of artificial incubation
1/ fertility 50/50 you have no control over this! ( good diet good pairs it’s up to them)
2/ fertile eggs we hope for 75/80% once fertile eggs are discovered
( things can and do go wrong during incubation)
3/ draw down enternal pip then you should look at high 90%’s ( at this stage you should fell very confident)
4/ new born chicks 99.99% success
This is our aim.
5/ trying to avoid human error ( easier said than done)

12/12/2024

Artificial incubation it’s not 100% successful not even close ?
It’s hard work but dose help👍👍

12/12/2024

Listening and learning
A lot of people I talk too around the world offtern use the weak excuse of ( you have been doing it for years ? ) I call this a lazy excuse nothing more nothing less!
Example no 1 my wife never owned a bird until she was 42 years old now a few years on she runs over 100 cages she can run our 5 incubators she can hand-rear from 1 day old too weaning she can do it all 👍👍👍she learns listens and research’s 👍
Example no 2 me mid 50’s owned birds since the age of 8 years old only this year learnt the advantages of using papaya ( instead of wheat germ) to help with poor crop movement in chicks
Most things are readily available on the internet now just to listen and learn 👍
Happy breeding

12/12/2024

Advantage of artificial incubation
In 2022 I purchased a mature proven pair of vosmeri ecelectus ( a beautiful large pure pair hard to find) the breeder did tell me the pair only hatched one baby at a time and they would stoop feeding the chick around 10-15 days of age?
After seeing photos of the breeding pair I could not resist so we made the purchase👍
A few months later the breeding pair laid great but sure enough the hen was leaving her eggs 4/5 times a day very unusual for ecelectus?
Even on inspection of eggs the hen just hops off the eggs and exits her box again very unusual ( ecelectus hens while sitting are normally very aggressive at inspection time and will stand her ground inside the box)
January 2024 we made the decision to pull all there eggs for artificial incubation ALL of them due to the pair being very unreliable?
Now it’s December 2024 our vosmeri pair have produced 14 eggs 13 fertile a very big plus just one of the advantages of artificial incubation 👍
We did remove the nesting box after egg no 8 but our hen continues too lay her eggs in her feed bowl ( hence the reason we named her chook chook)
Some might say it’s no good pulling eggs I disagree eggs are all in good condition breeding pair are still in perfect order 👍even though she has laid 14 eggs in twelve months? Over the years I have found African greys and macaws to act this way first time I’ve own ecelectus in such away ?
Happy breeding

11/12/2024

How long and why ?
Last 2 vosmeri ecelectus eggs for 2024
Ve-24- no 12
Ve-24-no 13
Both laid 2 days apart both set in the same incubator ( pro -com ) on the same day.
Both eggs from the same breeding pair ?
Ve-24-no 12 = 29 days to hatch = 1 healthy chick
Ve-24 no 13 = 34 days to hatch = 1 health chick
During incubation around day 16 I noticed ve-24 no 13 falling a little behind still developing but at a slower rate ?why ( like all births there is premature and overdue)
Now both chicks are 5 weeks old both very healthy and the same size 👍
I guess the moral of this story is don’t be to quick to think things are going bad because one egg is slower than the other.
Fully developed chicks in side eggs during ve-24 no13 draw down at day 31 and internal pip yes I started to worry at day 32/33/34 all things were as usual strong little chick working away inside the egg ( just a little late) in my younger years 100% I would have panicked and entered the egg at day 30 but being a little older and a little more experienced patients paid off 👍 I guess we shouldn’t be to quick to interfere with things ?
Happy breeding