Baby Bourke Parakeet's Eye Issue Treated & Cured

Forgive my following rant: I put this video together and entered You Tube to launch it at 9 p.m. on Friday night. For whatever reason, it didn't go up overnight even though I checked it 3 times during the night. It would show 78% then back down to 65%. By morning it showed 92%. Great! Finally. Then it backed down to 78%, doing this all day long. Long story, but at 2:30 p.m. the next day, Saturday, it finally loaded and was up. Also had this kind of trouble with the video before this one too.

Don't know what is wrong. My new computer? Using Windows 10 now? Is it the new wi-fi carrier that bought out Frontier? Is Microsoft sabotaging it since I'm still using Google, and not Bing, and not using their newest version of video editing?  I don't know, but it's getting more difficult to put up videos. Wish I had an answer and could fix it. Sad. Especially sad that it was easier on the OLD computer, and $700 later, things are worse than before. The new set-up was supposed to make everything faster and easier ... wrong.

Question: When Will a Bourke Hen Lay Eggs?

 

I get questions on my YouTube videos nearly every day. Thought this common response is worth sharing on this Blog too, so here it is.

All our birds love these swings.

Bourke's Parakeet hens should be at least a year and a half old before laying eggs (18 months). Some may want to lay as early as one year old, but there is a risk of egg binding in a hen that is too young. Best age for breeding and laying eggs in Bourke's is two years of age. For the first year they are still building their own bones and should not use calcium to lay eggs before they are fully mature.

If your question is about how long after you see them mating will they lay eggs ... I don't know. It can be different for each hen. Even hens without a mate can lay eggs. They won't hatch, of course. It is day length (day light) that triggers egg laying in all birds and fowl. Wild birds lay when it is warmest during spring or summer. As days shorten, they don't raise babies. Our domestic birds are the same way. Even indoor lighting can trigger them to want to lay eggs. It is called circadian rhythm. 

We can control their urge to lay eggs by limiting the amount of light they get to only 8 to 10 hours per day.  Or, to encourage them to lay, provide indoor lighting that lasts at least 14 hours per day.  But, be sure to allow them some night time, at least 8 hours.

It is also important to provide good calcium sources. Cuttlebone is essential. We have two cuttlebones for each pair of our Bourkes. We buy 6 to 8 inch sized cuttlebones, not the tiny ones found in too many pet stores. If you do an online search you will find them. We also provide a white mineral block, but even more important, we add a brown rabbit salt block. These salt blocks have iodine and other trace minerals that are advantageous for birds. Don't worry about the salt. Your birds will only use as much as they need. Keep the salt blocks away from cage wires, however, or they will damage them. We place ours on the floor with newspaper under them, and away from overhead perches. 

As an FYI: Since adding these brown rabbit salt blocks several years ago, we've not had a single egg binding incident. These were recommended to us by a long-time bird breeder who used to travel across the USA and Europe giving speeches about small exotic birds. He knows his stuff, and we're happy to share it with you. They also increased the size and success of our birds' clutches. 

Some recently weaned 2020 Bourke's Parakeets.

PEACE AND BLESSINGS!