That does look really nice Mandy! Your coop is really well designed for your yard and your climate.So in response to my hawk problem, we added a new wing to the coop. It's now 20 ft long and four feet wide. They still free range but I'll feel better about cooping them up when I'm not around to watch them. I think it looks pretty good!
Viola, Le Palais de Poulets
Thank you!! That means a lot coming from you, Mary.
After two disastrous non-hatches due to humidity issues in the incubator, I have 13 eggs due to hatch tomorrow and 5 are already pipping. Go, chicks! You can do it!
Yeah, I knew about the parrots in NYC...I think there is even a documentary about them? For whatever reason, besides a stray parakeet here or there, wild flocks have never established in Tucson. Which is good, I know. We have lots of other invasive birds. Anyway, I wonder what why that is, if it's not the cold? Predators? Niche already filled by something else? No food source? Oh haha, see you said food source already. But plenty of people feed birds here?Normally I put my 2¢ in, I have been corrected at times. Sometimes my souses are not as good as I hoped they were. When corrected, I dig a little deeper to confers. After I get my facts straight I amBecause I now have learned something I would not have if I had said nothing.
I used to bread both English budgies and American in Minnesota. It is cold there. I had an out door/indoor flights. All year long they went in and out. I belonged the the Minneapolis Budgerigar Society.
If you could have them out door lights were nice to have. A senior member had a garage size building. One side had 2 out door out side huge flights. It was as big or bigger then some of our chickens have. -15• they would be flying around in the freezing cold. I heard of budges that would stay out all night. Their inside aviaries had to be kept at just above freezing. They were hip fat and hardy birds. The breeding room the kept in the 60's in the winter. Food, not the climate is why they do not survive in the wild. If they have food they can make it just fine. Most have lost the ability to forage. City's, such as NYC have populations. Because of limited food, feeders with seeds they usually do not eat, competition from other birds, it is a hard go.
Budgies would show up at aviaries all the time, attracted to the chatter. One member said, he opens the door to his aviary, sprinkle a few seeds on the ground into the building. Come back and close the door. After netting them he said he examined them, they were usually thin and hungry.
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Five healthy, bouncing chicks. A sixth I helped out of the shell and may cull. It wasn't shrinkwrapped or stuck to the shell or anything, just couldn't get out even though it had been 1/2 unzipped for 16 hours. Not a good sign. It is a large chick and it is having trouble getting its legs into position to stand. There is nothing visibly deformed. The healthy chicks are in the brooder. The sixth is back in the hatcher gathering strength. If it's not up and about soon I will cull it. No pips on the other 7 eggs. I'll leave them in the hatcher for another day or two but I'm not expecting much.
These are eggs from four different crosses with known hens and known cocks. All five healthy chicks are from one hen. 83% hatch rate from her. She wasn't my first choice as a breeder at first, but I'm changing my mind now
So far my fluffy butts have stayed clean, however I have a couple birds who are really messy eaters. I feed ff, so sometimes it is a little wetter, and one bird in particular (Snoop) continually has a chest full of dried crumbles. We nickname her piggly wiggly. Leticia is the second messiest, nd the other two seem to eat fine without scattering it everywhere. We give all 4 of them a bath in the backyard with warm water and a washcloth, then let them air dry. Phillie looks very cute in her towel!Anyone else have a bird that's butt fluff seems to get messy all the time? The past couple months Phillie has gotten dried poop clumps on her fluff every couple weeks. I end up giving her a bath to wash them off. Her poop seems normal, I guess it's mainly the cecal poop that messes up her fluff. She does very well in the sink soaking in warm water to dissolve it. And she looks so darn cute wrapped up in a towel when she's done. I always wait until afternoon to do it so she can go out in the sun to dry.
