# And we're off again!



## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

Slightly earlier than planned.. I had put all 4 birds back in together after Sarge ditched her eggs with a few days to go (I was told by Matt that Murphy jumped up on the cage and scared her that night so that would explain it!) but her and Spike started mating like crazy, within a few minutes of uncovering them, taking their seed outside and coming back in they'd be getting busy hahah, teenagers! And then she was getting nesty in the corner of the cage, so I took Jesse and Fawkes out and popped the box back up for her and Spike and last night (wednesday) we found her first egg (only put the box in on tuesday! ) So here we go with a second try, the box is up high this time so I think that should keep Murphy's cheeky little nose out of things


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

I wish you( and Sarge and Spike) the best of luck


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

The first egg or so may not (depends on how long its been since they mated before this last time mating) be fertile. I had this happen last year, Cinnamon jumped the gun and laid an egg two days after her and Baby had started mating so the first two weren't fertile. Fingers crossed this time!!!


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## clem&peeps (Nov 17, 2009)

Hope it all works out for you  Good luck!


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

Yeah they were mating monday and tuesday so we'll see how it goes


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Fingers crossed for you


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

Good luck to you! I know how exciting it can be. With our clutches, it seems out of 4 eggs, we usually only see one or two of the middle eggs hatch. The first egg always starts pipping but never hatches and then the last egg is always DIS. Very frustrating on one hand, but on the other, one baby or even two is a handful! lol


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

So far she has laid 3 eggs, with another definately on the way, due to be laid tonight. Two are definately fertile so far though (yay!). I'm sort of hoping that this will be it, and only the two will be fertile since she kicked Spike out AGAIN. Poor fella. I'm thinking I'm probably going to have to keep a close eye on her and have everything ready to assist feed if I need to. Will be ordering a better heat mat today in case I need to pull the chicks early


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

You could always force her to share...give her 6hrs then take her out and put him in for 6hrs. Could do this as well once the babies hatch so she isn't feeding them alone. But even if she is alone, she can handle the babies just fine. She'll just need lots of rest afterwards.


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

Yeah I hadn't thought of that. I'll see if she'll let me do that tomorrow. He's a bit of a pain to catch though hahah  But she needs a break, she doesn't come out much to eat which is the main thing that's bothering me, she's lost lots of weight (not sure exactly how much but around 10g I think, she's about 95g now) since she laid last time, and then now too. I did notice she's into the seed and corn though so she must sneak out when I'm not home


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## Storm (Aug 29, 2011)

Best of luck to the little lady  Hope she keeps the pace


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

Keeping our fingers crossed for you guys! My Hetty would have times where she would not let Gibbs in the nest box while she was sitting, but then she would let him in other times to have a sit himself. This last clutch was the first time I NEVER saw them both out of the nest box at the same time. We had two hatches this time and they both are being fed really well by both mom and dad. It will be interesting having two to feed this time when I pull them at 3 weeks.


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

Well today I checked the eggs again, she's got 4 with one more to lay tonight. 3 of them are fertile! So its looking like they got it right this time  This spurred me on to get my handrearing gear setup in case she can't manage on her own but I'm going to try and introduce Spike back into the cage when the babies hatch to see how she goes, or if I'll have to keep an eye on her and the babies to make sure they're all being fed and she's not too stressed out. Here's some photos of my setup!  I ordered a new heat mat which is pretty close to the size of the tank so that should arrive sometime next week hopefully, just gotta get a couple more digital thermometers since I can't find the ones I got last time :blush: Lucky they're only about $2 off ebay hahaha 

On the left is Jesse, Fawkes and Spike's cage. Centre is my new table I bought especially for this task, fits perfect! And then on the right is Sarge and her nestbox on the other cage 












More shavings needed?


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## Codyandme1 (Sep 14, 2011)

I've got a female like that to, except she didn't kick pretzel out, pretzel is just lazy at sitting on them, we have really cold mornings sometimes and when she comes out he doesn't go in. So I get worried about the eggs going cold, sometimes he will go in for about ten minutes then come back out expecting pringle to go back in, I feel sorry for her as she's in there 24/7


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

Yeah poor Sarge is in there all the time, I usually only see her once or twice a day when she hurries out for a quick feed and then scuttles back in again. I moved her water and pellet dishes up near the box and pegged some brocolli out there too to tempt her. I thought she had a 5th egg coming to lay last night, and it didn't happen. Was worried that she might be getting eggbound so this morning I got her out and sat her in a warm bath and she did a MASSIVE poo. I mean this thing was about as thick as my pinky finger and about 5cm long in the sink. Voila, no more egg bum! Hhahaha, oh poor thing was too busy sitting to come out and poo  She's looking much more comfortable now and is happily sitting on her 4 eggs


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## Storm (Aug 29, 2011)

Awww Bless her heart  Poor Sarge being a single mom 
Good thing she has you as a fostermom to take over when needed 
I'm impressed with your setup ! Looks really professional


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

Yes I'm definately going to be keeping a close eye one her. All four of her eggs are fertile and she has a foster eggy too. We just spent the weekend at my parents place and my brother's female has been laying eggs in their cage so he asked if I could foster it out to Sarge and see if its fertile so I said sure why not. It was only laid yesterday though so if it will hatch it'll be a few days behind Sarge's youngest so I'll keep an eye on that one. There are two possibilities as to who the father of Stormy's egg is. Either Gerry, a whiteface pied, or Fred, a normal grey. Stormy is a normal grey split to pied


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Sound exciting and now the waiting of hatching  when is the first one due


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

First was laid on the 14th and she's been sitting tight since day one so expecting it to hatch anytime after the 3rd  Soooo excited!!


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

Ooops, and Gerry is a whiteface split to pied, typo!


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Not long now


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## Buggy (Jan 27, 2011)

I am so happy your going to have babies!


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

Me too, I can't wait!


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

So I noticed the air cell in one of the eggs is significantly larger than the other 3, so I can assume this one is probably going to be the first to hatch, right? How much longer do you reckon it'll be? Oh my golly gosh I'm excited


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Whatever date they were laid...count 17 days at the least. This last season I had almost all my eggs hatch at day 18 so it should be close to that.


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

Yeah its 18 days today. First was laid on the 14th and she's sat tight right from then so I'm expecting the first to hatch any day now


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

Upon closer inspection of the egg with the large air sac, I noticed a small crack in it, so maybe late tonight or tomorrow I'll have my first baby! Sarge has been out of the box for about the last 10 minutes chowing down so I gave her some fresh veges and she's going nuts for them. I also noticed what looked like the dark marks on one of the other eggs so it may be a DIS


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Fingers crossed you have a baby very soon  and hopefully its not a DIS


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

I have fingers crossed too but it's looking less likely now. She hasn't been in the box since about 6 (so almost 4 hours now) so I put the three good eggs in the brooder just after 8 but I don't know what will come of it now. The pipping one still only has the one spot. Arrghhh we got so close this time. She goes from being such a good mama one minute and then the next she just loses all interest. asfnslkvldjfk. Things can be so frustrating


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Hopefully it will hatch soon or you might have to


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

Yeah I'm keeping an eye on the 3 good eggs. Still praying that if this pipping one hatches that Sarge will take it back and raise it because just my luck, they've put me on full days at work now instead of just afternoons. If I was still on my old roster, I'd be able to try handfeeding from day 1 (I started 4.30, boyfriend finished at 5) but work now wants me in at 11.30 so fingers crossed she'll be a good mama and take her baby back if it hatches. I've left the box in the cage with DIS and the infertile egg from my brother's female but I'm pretty sure she hasn't been back in since 6pm yesterday so that's about 14hrs now :wacko:


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## luffy3001 (Sep 1, 2010)

crossing fingers btw when ur birds were mating did they mate first then go into the nestbox or did they go into the nestbox then they started mating


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

Why did you take the eggs out again?? I think I would put them back. Just before they hatch sometimes the parents just leave them alone to let them cool down and get ready to hatch. If you can hear pipping, they can too. I really, really vote for putting them back in the nest box.


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

Yeah I heard cheeping from the pipped egg so I'm about to put them back in now. Fingers crossed she'll take to them, I'm hopeful for the bubba 

Luffy - They mated a few times, then I gave them the box and the mated a couple more times then Sarge stated laying and kicked poor Spike out


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

Keeping fingers crossed for you!!!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Next time if she kicks Sarge out you can give him his own box with fake eggs and let him sit too just in case she decides to abandon them then you can foster them to Sarge.


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

Good idea Roxy!


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

Hey yeah I never thought of that! It is a great idea  The pip mark is a little bigger now, and I can hear lots of tapping when I hold it up to my ear, as well as the occasional chirp!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Sounds like you'll have a baby soon...I came up with that idea this season when I was having issues with Hershey. Fuzzy really wanted to take care of the babies so I figured next year if it happens I'll give him his own box and he can raise them.


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

I'm getting less and less hopeful that she'll look after them. She won't go in the box now unless I put her in there, and even then she is only in for a few seconds then comes out again. The pip mark is the same as last night, but still can hear the tapping. The eggs were fully cold (as can be expected when she won't sit in the box) so I've put the pipping egg in the brooder to warm up and see if that will help it along. But I get the bad feeling that she won't look after it even if it does hatch.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

what about dad can he look after them


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

I think its too late now anyway, I don't think Sarge has gone into the box all night. Plus there's no more cheeping or tapping from the egg and the pip mark isn't any bigger and Sarge shows no interest whatsoever in any of the eggs since 2 days ago when I first noticed the air cell was tilted. I think I'll just have to leave it at that and not use Sarge for breeding. She sits well but doesn't want anything to do with the eggs when it comes time to hatch. She's lucky I love her so much  I think I'll just have to wait till I can get an aviary and have a couple of pairs specifically for the purpose of being aviary birds rather than inside pets and see how that goes. Won't be till I buy a house though which is a few years away yet


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Have you tried to open the egg to see if its still alive


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

Yeah I did, and the little critter wasn't alive. It hadn't absorbed all its liquid yet either. Broke my heart to think it got so close.


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## fuzzipurr (Aug 17, 2011)

I'm sorry Geenz


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

It's ok, it's all experience for future breeding attempts!


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## Buggy (Jan 27, 2011)

I am so sorry.I really hate when this happens.I was so excited for you....


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

Dangit! You have such a great attitude about it though! Yes, it is experience for the next time. You have learned so much through this clutch. Hopefully next clutch will be more productive.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Im so sorry


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

I hope so too. Sarge is happy being back in the cage with her friends for now though, I'll give her a break for a few months. Spike and Jesse have been trying to mate but I'm not even going to try and breed them, Jesse has NO CLUE how to mate properly hahha, she chirps away and as soon as Spike tries to hop on she's like "Whoa man why you climbing on me?!" and runs off to another perch


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