CATS WITH BIRDS ... IT CAN WORK ... CAT TALES

Cats love to watch birds, and can be taught to leave them alone.

Many years ago, before I had a cat of my own, I visited a home with a big, beautiful, solid gray cat that slept on the sofa. On an end table next to the cat rested a cage with two cockatiels. I was incredulous that the cat didn’t bother the birds and asked if the cat had been raised from a kitten with them.

“No,” they said, “we got him as an adult from the animal shelter.”

“Why doesn’t he bother the birds?”

“He never has. He’s just a good cat.”

Since then we’ve had many cats and our experiences with them and the birds have been mostly positive. Here are a few that I hope you’ll find interesting and won’t be afraid to introduce a cat into your life…if you don’t already have one.

PAWS CAT: Possibly the worst experience—which wasn’t really so bad—was with Paws. He lived to be 19 years old and over time co-existed with many tame birds. However, when he was very young, we had a pair of white zebra finches in a bamboo cage in the family room. My two children at the time were instructed to never leave the cat alone with the birds. If they were leaving the family room, they were to take the cat into their bedroom with them and close the door.

Well…one day I went shopping and when I returned and opened the front door, I immediately heard “chee, chee, chee!” It was an obvious distress call from one of the finches. Somehow the bird had exited the hanging bamboo cage (never did figure out how), and Paws had him! There were white feathers everywhere. I yelled at the cat! I chased the cat! He ran under furniture! He ran from room to room! Always with the bird in his mouth, feathers flying!

White zebra hen & pied mate. Young in nest.

After what seemed like forever, with me chasing and yelling, he finally dropped the bird! It was limp and lifeless. I picked it up, carried it into the kitchen and gently dripped cold water on the edge of its bill. I don’t know what convinced me that it wasn’t dead…maybe because there were no visible wounds and no blood on the white feathers. I put the unconscious bird on the floor of the cage and left it there. The next morning, it was sitting next to its mate, singing and acting like nothing had happened. Still fearful, however, I gave our zebra finches to Magnolia Bird Farm a few days after the “cat event.” If I had kept the finches, I doubt the cat would ever have gone near them again.

One lesson I’ve learned about birds. They can knock themselves out and still recover, so don’t give up on them right away. For instance, hummingbirds often fly into windows, can appear dead, and still recover. Once a bird is stiff, you can figure it’s a goner…

*****



Black cats are usually intelligent and have a sense of humor.

PANTHER CAT: One of my favorite cats was sleek & black, named Panther. Our youngest son had a tame blue budgie named Skybird. He lived in a cage in our son’s room. Well, the inevitable happened. One day the bedroom door was left open. I heard a crash and rushed into the bedroom. The cage was on the floor, split apart from the fall. The bird was up on the curtain rod, looking down nonplussed. No cat to be seen. I leaned down to look under the bed and drug a cringing Panther out. In the middle of his black nose was a red divot. He’d put his nose up to the cage and been bitten. In leaping back, he apparently knocked the cage off the table. Bird was fine, and Panther never went near Skybird’s cage again. Later, we added another budgie and two cockatiels. They moved into the family room where both Paws and Panther ignored all four birds. By the way, that was the only time that sweet budgie ever bit any living thing. Smile.

*****

Blue Point Birman. Our sweet Barley-cat loved the finches.

BARLEY: This gorgeous blue-point Birman actually came from an animal shelter. He joined our family when he was five years old. At the time, we had two cages of white and pied zebra finches behind closed doors in our bedroom.

These were not the same finches Paws went for in his youth. By now, Paws was elderly and had long ago proven to be reliable around birds. It wasn’t long before we found that Barley was safe around them too.

Two successful pairs of zebra finches.
A pair is in each cage.

The cages were on hooks from the ceiling and he would stretch out on an inside window ledge and watch them. Now, this was a cat that could jump straight up and onto the top of the refrigerator from a standing position. His high jumps were amazing. If he’d wanted to reach one of the cages hanging near him, he could easily have done so, but all he ever did was watch them. They raised numerous clutches and none of the birds feared Barley. They were very used to being watched by his incredibly lovely blue eyes. I still miss him.

*****

This is really Muffin, Me-Too and Fancy in our window seat,
not far from cages of birds. The birds are family too, and left alone.

MUFFIN, RAGS & ME-TOO: These three black and white guys were all related, I’m sure. Two were strays from a nearby horse ranch that was sold for an apartment complex. Many of the barn cats were forced across a highway when demolition began. Neither the former owners or the new buyers seemed to care about rescuing the cats, and those of us who lived in adjoining neighborhoods didn’t know about them until several appeared in our neighborhood.

None were house cats, yet they weren’t wild either. Those who survived oncoming cars crossing the highway entered our adjoining housing development. Unfortunately, I saw several who didn’t make it. There were four I know of who found homes among kind people.

Muffin made friends with our old Paws cat, and eventually I was able to lure him in with food. He was a sweet guy who only wanted to please. I could even tell him to go get in his bed at night and he did! Scolding him once for looking at the birds caused him to ignore them from then on. Muffin’s brother, Rags, (as in the two Ragamuffin’s) survived on his own for three more years before we coaxed him in. But, he never got along with Muffin, so we didn’t keep him even though he ignored the birds and got along with our two small dogs. Two weeks after Rags left, Me-Too showed up, hungry and injured. He was a juvenile, very likely a son of Rags, although we had each cat neutered within a day or two of their arrival.

Me-Too, being young, quickly acquiesced to Muffin and they became friends. Me-Too (as in I’m here too), was always friendly and out-going. He never bothered the birds. In fact, we once made an 8-hour trip away from home and back, not realizing we’d left Me-Too asleep in a window seat inches away from several cages. He never bothered a bird, and probably slept the entire time we were gone.

*****

Pretty Fancy was a Snowshoe from the Animal Shelter.

FANCY: This pretty Snowshoe cat joined Paws and Muffin before Rags or Me-Too came along. She was a replacement for Barley when he passed away. She, too, came from an animal shelter, age unknown.

It was her blue eyes that reminded us of Barley that won us over. Again, she quickly accepted the birds as part of the household furniture. Speaking of furniture, it’s always been easy to train our cats to leave the birds alone and to stay off counters and table tops, but furniture is more difficult. We are regularly reminding most of them NOT to scratch the furniture, and to use their scratching posts instead.

Fancy, like Barley, was already de-clawed when we adopted her, so neither she nor Barley had an issue with scratching. I do believe both of them had overly sensitive feet, however, because of the de-clawing. Neither one wanted their feet handled or touched. I can only assume there was some discomfort from losing their claws, which also included most of their toes. Fancy, like most female cats, was quite a huntress. She caught countless mice and other small rodents. I never saw her with a bird or found a dead one though. I really believe being expected to leave the indoor pet birds alone can carry over to outside birds too…a very good thing.

MEI-LING: I have a special fondness for black cats, and when looking at a litter of black kittens, intending to adopt one, she chose me. I stood across the room and called, and she was the one who came. Ever since, she’s been my constant, loving companion. I love my birds immensely and they give me great pleasure, but I wouldn’t trade Mei-Ling for any bird, or even any number of them.

Mei-Ling currently lives with us. She is
one of my favorite cats of all time.

As a kitten she quickly responded to a scolding voice. As of this day, she won’t go near a bird unless I hold it up to her and tell her it’s okay to look at it. Once I was hand feeding a baby bird, fully feathered, that decided to fly and landed smack-dab right in front of Mei-Ling! I don’t usually put the cats outside if I’m only hand feeding. Well, Mei-Ling froze until I came and picked up the baby. She made no attempt to harm it. Although, I was also yelling, “No Mei-Ling” at her and she knew why. She has internalized that birds are “off limits” much more than the cats we adopted as adults. Mei-Ling will be five in May, 2011.

PATCHES: This pretty calico has been with us for four years now. Judging by her missing teeth we think she’s very mature. She appeared on our back porch one cold November. My husband tried to feed her, but territorial Me-Too chased her off.

A few years earlier we had moved to the country and knew all our rural neighbors and their pets and she wasn’t one of theirs. I thought she might have been dumped, but no longer believe that. I prayed for that pretty little stray for months before I saw her again. In January it snowed and I worried about her out in the forest all alone.

Then in March I saw her! It’s a long, spiritual story, but we were able to bring her home and heal her bloody ears (mosquitoes), get her wormed, shots, etc. Her stomach was bloated and I wondered if she was going to have kittens. We always spay and neuter. Because she’s so pretty and kittens are so much fun, I actually hoped she was expecting. I would have enjoyed the kittens without any guilt over it. Smile. However, Patches was already spayed.



Patches' favorite window seat viewing site. Our birds don't fear her.
There are four Splendids in this cage.



We soon learned she isn’t afraid to climb into a car’s trunk. That’s how I think she ended up away from her original home, wherever that was. If my niece hadn’t seen her behind the suitcases in their trunk one day, Patches would have ended up thousands of miles away before the trunk was opened again.

We call her Patches only because so many calico’s are already named that and we thought she might find it familiar. She’s used to it now, but in retrospect I don’t think it was her original name. I could have called her what I wanted to, which was my miracle cat, “Miry-cat.”

In spite of Patches’ advanced age, she too quickly learned to leave the birds alone. However, like Barley, she loves to lay nearby and watch them.

Patches was a stray we took in. She's not young, but quickly learned
never to scare the birds. She watches them without getting excited,
and doesn't harm them.

When I let the tame birds out of their cages, I always send the cats outside or into a bedroom with the door closed. One morning though I didn’t realize Patches was not outside…my husband had let her in and she was curled up on the couch. Normally, the birds come out for a flight of 15 minutes to a half hour. Rarely, maybe an hour of play time with me. Well, this morning, I sat down at the computer and let time get away from me. The birds flew everywhere, including all over me, around the computer, over and onto the couch. When I finally came out of my “computer daze” and realized I should put them away, it was two hours later!

I turned around in my chair and saw Patches. She looked at me, got up from the couch and leisurely stretched. Shocked I picked her up and took her to a bedroom. She’d had every opportunity to snatch a bird out of the air if she’d wanted to, even had them walking on the back of the couch just above her. She never made any effort to try to catch one…Amazing…If ever she were going to be tempted, the opportunity was there. Living wild in the woods for many months, she had to have done a lot of hunting. In fact, once I removed a chipmunk from her mouth and held her as it ran off into the woods, unharmed. Now, she leaves them alone too.

This white Budgie lived to be over 12-years-old. Despite how it looks,
the dog never hurt her...in fact they became quite friendly with each other.
Never leave your dog or cat alone with your bird, however.
It's best to ALWAYS be present, just in case.

 God bless cats & dogs. They can be trained.

BOURKES, COCKATIELS & EGG LAYING

Chloe asked, "I have a female pet cockatiel. She's going on 6 years old, and has not yet demonstrated any wish to lay eggs (although she has not had a mate). I do not wish her to start laying eggs - even though they'd be infertile - as I am worried about egg-binding, and other health issues.

This weekend, I will be bringing home a young male Rosey Bourke's. I've read from your posts that they will feed any female Bourke's or Splendid - sometimes even a less dominant male, and I was wondering if they would try that with a different species, as well (ie. my cockatiel)?

Should I be worried about him triggering her motherly instincts? Also, will he become protective of her, and become aggressive to me?"

Chloe, My experience is it's unlikely that a Bourke or Cockatiel hen will lay eggs if they don't have a nest box or similar "safe" place to hide in. Even when a male is present, they need that nest box. My first tame pair of cockatiels were in a large 3-sided cage that fit against a corner wall. When they started chewing a hole into the wall, I was annoyed and didn't realize at the time that they were attempting to carve out a nesting area. The hole got quite big, but before they could use it, they were removed and the whole wall covered with mahogany siding. (If the room's siding is ever removed, someone will wonder how that big hole got there).

 

As long as my pair didn't have a nest box (over a decade), the hen never laid an egg and no mating occurred.

 

With that same pair, I also had a tame blue budgie who was allowed out of his cage when the cockatiels were. He did all sorts of mating display behaviors in front of the cockatiel hen, but she ignored him. He was smitten with her, but she cared only for the male cockatiel... Who, by the way, never seemed to be bothered by the budgie's wooing behaviors. None of the three birds ever became aggressive to each other or to people. When a budgie hen was eventually provided, all four birds got along splendidly.

 

Although Budgies will attempt to breed with another species, Bourke's have never been known to do so. For this, and other reasons, they've recently been classified in a genus all their own, no longer with other Neophema's. It is unlikely that your male Bourke will attempt to feed your cockatiel. Hopefully, however, they will form a friendship of some kind.

 

There is no need to worry about him "triggering her motherly instincts," as it's her eggs that would do that. Also, having a hen around has never made any of my male Bourke's aggressive to me or anyone else. Their only aggression might be toward another male trying to steal their mate, but even then I've never seen them hurt each other (although for Splendid breeders, I have seen male Splendids draw blood on another male, and need to be separated). Bourkes tend to be very mellow, sweet birds.

 

Hope this helps. Good luck introducing your new friend to your older one. I wouldn't expect any problems.

Bourke & Splendid Update on Switching Mates

BOURKES:

This post is mostly about disappointments, however, keep in mind that we did just band baby Bourke #25…so there is also much good news for 2010.

Currently, Brandy is on three eggs with Rory. He never produced fertile eggs with Bella and we hope he does better with Brandy. She is the hen who had a baby savaged and others injured. I had to rescue all her babies with Chitter and hand feed them. Now, Chitter is with Bella (Rory’s former mate). Chitter and Bella are successfully raising one baby, the only fertile egg that Bella has ever laid. This baby is still in the nest, but fully feathered and has never had any injury. So, Chitter and Bella may prove to be a happy, successful pair with Chitter exonerated.

If Rory is also unable to fertilize Brandy’s eggs, then perhaps she is the best hen for him to have, since it is beginning to look like she is the guilty party who injured her young. Brandy is currently on two eggs with more expected. She came from one of our best breeding pairs. They were wonderful parents. One of Brandy’s hand fed daughters is my favorite bird…very affectionate, very intelligent and so sweet. Genetics isn’t reliable at predicting what a bird’s (or a person’s) personality is going to be like.

Sugar is back on three eggs. She and Spice have had two previous clutches that were fertile, but did not hatch. She seems devoted to incubating her eggs, so I don’t believe the problem is that they got cold. Must be something else. Spice is a hand fed Normal Bourke. Rosie, my favorite hand fed Bourke hen, is very interested in him. If none of Sugar’s eggs hatch this time around, I may replace Sugar with Rosie. Sugar isn’t tame, and for that matter, isn’t as pretty as Rosie. I could put Sugar with Spicy’s father, Bing Jr., as his hen, Willow, is older than Bing Jr. and she’s no longer interested in brooding.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

SPLENDIDS:

If you’ve been following this blog, you know that our two pairs of Splendids haven’t produced any youngsters for the past two years.

And so, this year I swapped Splendid mates. Although Rainbow and Rivka were observed attempting to mate, her eggs were not fertile with him either. It’s so disappointing! The other new pair took longer to become friendly with each other. The hen, Jewel, has entered the nest box and Rainbow Jr. has been feeding her. However, no attempts at mating have been observed. It seems unlikely that she will hatch her eggs either.

There is one other recourse available, short of finding new Splendids, which I haven’t been able to do. We have two extra Splendid males. Unfortunately, Flip is unable to fly due to a “window accident” as a very young bird … hence his name … after his accident, when he tried to fly with his injured wing, he’d flip over. The other male, Rudy, is one I traded for. He came from the same breeder who provided the hens and the breeder can’t tell me whether the three birds are, or are not, related to each other. I had hoped to acquire another hen for Rudy, but it has never happened. I’m considering putting him with one of these hens and see what happens. They just might accomplish something.

Decisions, decisions.

Looking ahead to future posts:

• Budgies make great kids’ pets. How to be sure the Budgerigar parakeet you buy is a young one.

• Photos of intricately carved egg shells.

Bird Shows – Also Buying Birds

In my previous Blog I promised Noah to talk a bit about my experience at bird shows. They are exciting and lots of fun. However, it’s a good idea to know how to reach the breeders/sellers after the show. Most have business cards, pamphlets, or something. If not, ask for a contact number and hope it’s real. You should recognize healthy birds and avoid those that seem lethargic. Expect healthy birds to be active, or at least responsive to you when you approach or talk to them, they should have dry vents and clear, alert eyes ...

The best price I’ve ever found on cages was at a bird show. I’ve since ordered more online, but shipping costs made them more expensive than from the bird show, and they were exactly the same. Boxes of California millet at the show were also more reasonable than from our local Grange. And, the quality was better.

When I decided to raise birds again, I investigated varieties that I’d not previously owned. Bourkes were said to be quiet, peaceful parakeets in addition to being beautiful. That won me over. I started looking for breeders, but none were close. However, there was an annual bird show in Hillsboro, Oregon and they listed Bourkes as a variety being offered. It was a 4-hour drive for us, but it turned out to be well worth the trip.

Our first bird show wasn’t as huge as others I saw in Ohio, but there were a lot of bird dealers present with all kinds of birds. The number of finches was particularly impressive. There were also lots of parakeets, and at least three people had Bourkes for sale. The one thing I never saw at any of the Hillsboro shows was a Scarlet-chested, or Splendid, parakeet.

The best-priced Bourkes were offered by an elderly woman from northern Washington near the Canadian border. A friendly male Bourke came right up to the side of the cage when I talked to him, so he was my first pick.

The friendly hen I selected at the show apparently had the same color band as the male indicating she was a close relative. So, she stayed and the woman pointed out another hen she was certain was unrelated. I took her and named the pair Rhett & Scarlett.

Scarlett turned out to be a wonderfully sweet bird, but not very robust. In her too short lifetime, she produced only one baby, Bonnie. However, she fostered another bird’s egg and when a hen rejected a newly hatched chick, I gave it to Scarlett whose infertile eggs were close to a hatch date. She fostered the baby … something that’s not supposed to happen. As I said, she was a very sweet bird. Yet, fostering that baby wore her down and she died before the baby was fully weaned. Rhett finished feeding it. Although elderly, Rhett is still with us and still producing!

A year after buying Rhett & Scarlett, I chanced to see an ad in our local shopper for Exotic birds and called to see if they might have Bourkes. Turned out that she had individual pairs of many kinds of birds, and Bourkes were one of them. I bought the Rosy pair and her only pair of Splendids. Later, I had an opportunity to buy two Normal hens from a bird store that was going out of business.

The Rosy male was quite a singer, so I called him Bing (as in Crosby). His mate became Cherry. They did not reproduce, so he acquired a Normal hen, dubbed Stella (a variety of cherry tree). Bing and Stella became champion producers and very tame, wonderful birds! As we’ve discussed before, all their Normal offspring were males and all their Rosies were hens. The males were the brown wild shade like their mother and the Rosy hens were dark pink like their father.

After Scarlett died, Rhett acquired Willow, the other Normal hen. He fed her and wooed her, but they never reproduced. Eventually, Willow found a mate with Bing, Jr. and they’ve done remarkably well at producing beautiful babies. Although Bing, Jr. is a Normal Bourke, as is Willow, their daughters have all been Rosies, and all the Normals have been males. He has to be heterozygous.

As Willow transitioned to Bing Jr., lonely Cherry went into Rhett’s cage. It was love at first sight, even if Cherry is a bit bossy. They have produced quite a few beautiful Rosies and Rhett’s sweet nature over-shadows Cherry’s pushy personality.

Wanting to add new blood to my lines, a few years later I made another trip to Hillsboro for the annual bird show there. I bought a beautiful Rosy Bourke male to put with Bonnie (actually not the first Bonnie who died young like her mother. This one is out of Rhett & Cherry). He became Clyde, and they’ve done well together.

That same trip, I also bought a white faced pair with pink eyes. They were a mistake. I bought them from the same woman I bought my first young pair from. She said she simply wanted to downsize her flock, but I suspect these were not two-year-old birds like she said. They had not interest in breeding and within the first year, the hen was dead on the floor. The male moved to an aviary elsewhere in trade for a Splendid hen. He did reproduce for that person, however, and I actually have a male Bourke out of that union … another trade.

So, maybe the buy wasn’t too terrible, as I ultimately got a Splendid hen from it. She mated with a son of Merlin & Millet, my first Splendids. That union produced three more sons, however, the hen died of egg binding with her second clutch. So sad. Merlin & Millet’s son, Rainbow, has had two other hens since then, but all eggs have been infertile.

In the past two years, poor economy has caused the Hillsboro bird show to be cancelled. With the price of gasoline so high, fewer people attended and many out-of-area sellers weren’t willing to make the trip to Portland, Oregon any longer.

***

The single baby photos are of our most recent addition, Band #25 for 2010, out of Chitter and Bella. As an aside, Chitter is the father of three clutches (8 babies) with Brandy, and an earlier clutch of three with Candy. All of Brandy’s babies had to be removed and handfed because of one death and injuries to other babies. He was my first suspect. However, no harm has come to this little one. Is Bella more protective? Or, was it Brandy who was guilty all along? If she has a clutch with her new mate, Rory, we shall see. I’m monitoring Chitter’s offspring, and later will monitor Brandy’s offspring very closely. Don't want to lose any.

Shared the photo of Australian parrots just because they're pretty and added a lot of color. Smile.

Peace & Blessings!

Bourke Pairing & Nest Boxes ... Question from Noah

Noah asks: "I had a question about a pair of my bourkes and was hoping you'd be able to help.

Around 5 months ago my wife and I bought a pair of bourkes from a bird fair. We were told they were a proven pair and had just recently come off eggs (chicks taken for hand-feeding). Their age is said to be 2 years. Well, in the 5 months we've had them, we have not even seen any mating tendencies between them. They have a nest box and a constant stream of fresh foods we give them daily but they don’t touch ANY of the fresh foods.

Long story short, I'm confused. Cant quite figure out how or what I need to do to get them 'going' if they were said to be a proven pair. That, or we got lied to. If needed, I'll snap some pictures. Both are rosies.

Thank you! And my wife and I love your blog."

Noah, Thank you for the compliment. You made my day! My first pair came from a bird show too, but that’s another story.

If your pair is truly only two years old, that’s a perfect age for reproducing. However, there is the potential that the breeder wanted to rid him or herself of an older pair who were no longer productive. Sad, but possible.

If they aren’t eating fresh foods, it might be they never had them before. My Bourkes don’t like fruit and I don’t know why. But, they love vegetables. Their favorite is fresh Kale sliced into small pieces. They also like fresh spinach, lettuce, corn, carrots, peas, and broccoli. Be sure seed is always present.

About Breeding: If they’ve been with you five months that should be more than enough time to get used to their surroundings and feel secure. Could they have been in an aviary before and moving to a cage bothers them? That seems unlikely, however.

My guess would be that it is something about the nest box that puts them off. Is the opening big enough? My swallow boxes outside have an opening big enough for swallows, but too small to allow a sparrow to enter. A Bourke wouldn’t be able to get into them either. Our parakeet boxes have round openings two inches across. Some of my Bourkes are even using cockatiel boxes because I had some available. Too big is better than too small.

Although I’ve known people who had a pair nest in a Quaker Oats box on the floor of their cage, most Bourkes prefer a box with its opening near the top of their cage. But, where there’s motivation, most anything will do. What your birds need is motivation. Smile.

Are you using pine shavings in the bottom of the box? About an inch to two inches thick is good. Do NOT use cedar shavings…the odor will put them off. Budgerigars don’t use shavings, but Bourkes and Splendids do.

If you have a successful pair the male should be feeding the female. He should also be investigating the box to be sure it is “safe” before she enters. In rare instances, a female will enter first if the male hasn’t been attentive enough. But, correct sequence of events is that he checks it out first.

Lastly, but MOST IMPORTANT: Are they getting enough light? Day length triggers the breeding response. They should have over 12 hours of day light each day, preferably 14-16 hours. Artificial light works too. Where I live in Southern Oregon it’s currently still light at 9pm and light again by 5am. Artificial lighting isn’t necessary as our birds are all near windows.

If you read my earlier blogs, last summer we had several visitors that upset our Bourkes and they didn’t breed. Hence, we used artificial lighting in the following fall and raised several clutches then. We turned lights on when we got up at 6am and they stayed on until the sun came up. In the evenings, the lights stayed on until 9 or 10pm. That triggered the birds to begin breeding.

Are your birds in a quiet place? They can get used to children or pets, but it might take a while if they were used to solitude before you bought them. Is the nest box secure enough that it doesn’t wobble?

Be sure your birds have calcium sources: cuttlebone and mineral block. I also like to give mine small amounts of Petamine breeding formula almost daily during breeding season. It’s a treat they love and should give them extra vitamins, etc.

I hope this helps. I’ll post later about my experience with my first pair from a bird show. It was much like yours. Good Luck!

Bird Tales … on Changing Mates

A couple of months ago I talked about shuffling four pairs of Bourkes and two pairs of Splendids around for various reasons. This is an update on how effective that was.

Chitter left Brandy after they’d produced three clutches together, and she deserved a long rest. Chitter joined Bella who’d never had fertile eggs with her first mate, Rory. With Chitter, Bella laid two eggs and recently hatched one, her first baby. Finally successful, this hen’s future clutches with Chitter will probably be larger.

Rory was put with Brandy so she wouldn’t be alone, but her nest box was closed off so she could rest. After ten weeks, I reopened her nest box yesterday, and Rory is investigating it – as a good male should. Hopefully, Rory will do better with Brandy than he did with Bella. If not, Chitter is going to be kept busy hopping back to Brandy in a few months.

Candy, too, had once been with Chitter, and raised three lovely birds with him. But, she was constantly scolding him…an annoying sound. Dolph was a young, extra male and Candy took to him immediately. Last year and this year they cheerfully raised babies together. Although they were content, they produced less than beautiful offspring (in my opinion).

Bonnie & Clyde were the other Bourke pair I split up. Although perfect together, Bonnie needed a rest after three clutches.

Dolph and Candy switched mates with Bonnie & Clyde. With Dolph gone, Candy began asking Clyde to mate, but for ten weeks he refused her, sometimes even scolding. He never sang and sat quietly, sometimes with his head down…obviously unhappy.

Meanwhile, I opened Brandy’s nest box. She and Dolph both ignored it.

Taking a clue from these two pairs, I returned Clyde to Bonnie and witnessed instant bliss! Clyde perked right up and started strutting for her. Dolph went back to Candy and immediately began feeding her. These two pairs were apparently not intended to be split apart. In this case, both males knew who their mates were and remained loyal to them, unlike the promiscuous and productive Chitter.

As for the Splendids, Rainbow and Rivkah have eggs that are due to hatch and I hope they will. Rainbow Jr. and Jewel are still ignoring each other. However, nothing has been lost there as neither of them had fertile eggs with their previous mates anyway. If Rainbow and Rivkah produce, the swap will have been well worth it.

So, sometimes swaps work and sometimes they don’t … Fortunately, in this instance the two pairs that didn’t work out were both switched with each other and easily switched back.

May all your couples remain happy together and produce beautiful baby birds!

A Splendid Question ... Today is a Day for Questions ...

Ron in Delaware asked about Splendid molting patterns and personalities of Bourkes vs. Splendids.

Ron, I have four male Splendids. Two are sons hatched here. Before they were out of the nest, I traded a Bourke for an unrelated Splendid, sex unknown because he was very young. My parent birds produced three male Splendids and I traded one, leaving me with two.

All three babies, who are actually younger than the one I traded for, gained their red chests quickly … long before the other male did. I don’t remember exactly how long it took him, but a year or more is probably the case. Even when his red feathers began to come in, they came in a lot slower than the others. Yet, today they all look alike. He was older and slower, but he caught up with the rest. I hope your bird will do the same. As for losing his tail and not flying well… that happened to the “late bloomer” too, but not to the others. He now flies equally well and looks just like them.

I think being slow to get their red chests has something to do with their parentage, and different birds sometimes develop at different rates. That said, the common scarlet-chested parakeet in its wild color is beautiful, but is being domestically bred to acquire different-looking birds. Some have more red and some less. Some have no red at all and are all yellow or blue in front.

So, although the odds are against it, you might end up with something that looks different than the standard Scarlet-chested parakeet. The person you bought your bird from should be able to tell you what the parents were like.

About personalities of Bourkes vs. Splendids: Check out the labels at the bottom of this post and click on “personalities” and/or “Splendids and Bourkes” and/or “Relationships.” This was discussed at length in earlier posts and the labels should find them for you.

Typically, Splendids are little clowns who like toys and games and will “play” more than Bourkes. Our “pink parakeets” tend to be more subdued. However, each bird has its own personality. I have one female Bourke who loves to play with bells and toys, unlike most of the others. All of my Splendids like the toys and are more active than the Bourkes.

My one and only handfed Splendid (actually the father of the three babies we discussed) was very tame, but once he got a mate and I quit handling him as often, he quit being as tame. He still comes to the door and nibbles or pecks my fingers, but doesn’t want to leave the cage any longer. If I force him to, he will sit on my finger, but is reluctant about it. He used to try to “feed” me and was very affectionate. However, he’s transferred that to a mate and other than talking to me every morning and trying to get my attention, he’s not interested in leaving the cage to visit. He’d rather talk to me and nibble fingers through the bars.

The same is true for a male Bourke that I hand fed. I didn’t keep handling him after he got a mate. He’s still willing to sit on my finger, but he could care less about me. He’s only interested in his mate.

Perhaps if these males had tame mates things might be different. I’m planning to give that a try with three handfed youngsters I intend to keep (and not sell). Odds are good that I’ll get a pair from those three and if not, I’ll hand feed until I do get an unrelated tame bird of the right sex. Then, I intend to handle them more frequently than I did with the others. Interaction and “sweet talk” is key.

Best of luck. Just be patient with your male Splendid…as long as his diet is healthy, give him time and you should have a beautiful bird.

Here are some young Splendids who don't have all their red in yet. It did eventually fill in all the way across their chests.

That's the Way the Egg Rolls...

Or, don't count your birds before they hatch...  Smile.

Sugar & Spice's third clutch of three eggs was fertile, but did not hatch. She stayed with them long after they should have hatched and I left her alone until she abandoned them herself. Opening the eggs, the babes were about half developed. Did they get cold one night because she was frightened off them? I keep a night light on so that won't happen. They could always find their way back. Who knows what caused it, I don't. It is, however, very disappointing ... most of all for her. Poor mama, she's never raised any babies.

On a happier note, one of Bella's two eggs has hatched! The other is due to hatch today or tomorrow and hopefully will. She, too, has had two clutches that did not hatch. Her first two were infertile. So, I moved her mate, Rory, to another hen who needed a rest between clutches and put successful, Chitter, in with Bella. He got the job done! Hurray!

It's unusual for a hen to only lay two eggs. She laid a third, but it was very tiny. Realizing it wasn't any good, she pushed it away. I have no idea why they sometimes lay tiny eggs, but that's better than when they have one too large to pass and egg binding is the result. (There's more on egg-binding in previous posts).

We have to watch this pair very closely. If you've been following this blog, you will remember that one pair were prone to injuring their young and their babies had to be pulled and handfed. I moved each of the parents to other mates. This is the male, Chitter, from that pair. Is Chitter the "bad" parent?  He successfully raised three babies in another household with a different hen before I acquired him.

The potentially "bad" hen's history is different. She also had a clutch in another household (not the same place) with a different mate. Only one egg hatched, and that baby died too. I didn't see it, so I don't know if it was savaged or died a natural death. If she is successful with the so-far unsuccessful Rory, she will have to be watched too. More so, if Chitter successfully raises his clutch with Bella.

After years of raising Bourkes, to find a "bad" parent is very unusual and highly unlikely. Most are very attentive and sweet-natured birds. I'm eager to see which one of the two it was, as there were no other birds in their cage with them.

Bella, on the other hand, is fiercely protective of her eggs and baby. Just peek into her nest box as I just did, and she scolds and hisses. Many of my hens are so used to me that I can pick them up and look under them if I want to, and they don't get at all flustered.

Bird at Left:  "Somebody tried to help catch me who isn't an experienced bird person. They grabbed and I got away, but lost my tail! It will grow back, but now they call me Stumpy!" Frown.

P.S. Although Stumpy's photo was taken today, the photo above is of Bonnie, not Bella. Since this is Bella's first successful clutch it's understandable that she's wary of intrusion into her nest box. I'm being very careful with her.  Bonnie is an experienced mom and accepts my "visits" as routine  and no big deal. Smile.

Peace & Blessings,

and if you put all your eggs in the same basket, may they all hatch anyway!

Baby Birds with Problem Parents

Neversink7 asked, "...have you ever had problems with splendid or bourke parents pulling the feathers off of their babies?"  His Splendid parents are misbehaving and he wonders if a nutritional deficiency could be a possible culprit.

I don't think nutrition of any kind would cause this. There are plenty of feathers available that fall off the birds naturally and I often see my birds "playing" with fallen feathers, as well as routinely preening themselves. They can chew on all the feathers they want to, so why take them from their babies?

I've never had Bourkes pull feathers, except for the incident with one pair savaging a baby. With that pair, I always rescue and handfeed the young almost as soon as they hatch. I believe the male wants to breed again and dispatching the babies will allow that. I recently put the hen on "rest" and moved the male to another hen whose eggs have always been infertile. She's now on fertile eggs and I'm interested to see what happens. I may end up handfeeding her young too, if this male is actually the "bad" parent.

[UPDATE: After the cock was successful with another hen and a good dad, it turned out that the mother of the brood was to blame. Although she could hatch her eggs, she would not raise the babies and would begin savaging them as soon as all the eggs hatched. I still have two of her offspring (a brother and sister) that were hand fed and are wonderful parents with their mates. Both are very sweet natured. Their mother eventually developed an odd "droop" and died a few days later. I've wondered if she had a brain tumor that made her crazy or something. Also, she was sold and came back to me after her first clutch with a different mate also died. I don't know what her history was for the two years she was away from me.]
 

My experience with Splendids is different.  Many years ago I bought my 1st pair and the hen's back was bare. I was unfamiliar with Splendids, but didn't like the fact that the male pulled the feathers from her back. She was sweet and tame, but he was wild...drew blood the first time I caught him.

Their first brood died. They didn't seem to know to feed them. Their second clutch of three did fine and I still have a male from that clutch. He has NEVER pulled feathers from his mate(s) and neither has his son (the grandson of the 1st bird). None of my Splendids have ever pulled feathers from their young. I was happy to let that original bird go as a lone caged bird to someone else who enjoyed watching and listening to him.

To Neversink7:  How many clutches have your problem birds had? I'd limit them to two or three, with a few months in between. Maybe they're tired of feeding and caring for their young...? Sounds like you are doing the right thing by pulling and handfeeding them. 

Another thought ... if the young birds are fledged and able to eat on their own before the parents begin pulling the feathers, in the wild they would try to chase them off to live elsewhere. In a small cage or aviary, they can't leave. Is only one parent feeding and the other pulling feathers? That seems likely. I remove my own young birds as soon as the father begins to "chase" them from their perches. By then, they're eating okay and he wants them gone.

Past experience with Finches:  I once had a beautiful pair of Zebra finches. The hen was all white and the male was pied. They produced gorgeous babies with a "saddle" of color over the backs of white birds. Very pretty. However, about the 3rd year the male began to throw newly-hatched babies out of the nest. I'd put them back, and he'd throw them out again. He continuously did this and wouldn't raise them any longer. They'd produce another clutch and he'd do the same thing. My belief is that he felt he'd produced enough progeny and only wanted to continuously mate, not work to raise young. I gave him away to a bird store.

Past experience with button quail:  As a kid, I had a pair of cute button quail that hatched a large clutch. I

was shocked one day to go out to the aviary and find half the clutch bloodied and dead. Apparently, a male button quail will kill his sons after a certain age ... Sad. I don't know if every one of them does this, but enough do, that babies shouldn't be left with their dad for very long. Perhaps removing male button quail as soon as their eggs hatch is wise.

This sounds like it's the males of the species that savage their young. That might be typical, but I did have a female budgerigar parakeet who visited the nestboxes of other hens and killed their young. After she'd done this more than once, I finally caught her in a box that wasn't hers and realized who was doing it. She was "dispatched" and I never had another problem in that aviary.

There must be good birds and bad birds, just as there are good dogs and bad dogs, good people and bad people.

More on Sexing Bourke Parakeets & a little on Splendids

Just noticed one of my young Bourkes doing a bounce and flair on his perch. He's definitely a male. Not only do male Bourke parakeets put their shoulders back and slightly flair their wings at the shoulders, but if they add a bounce too, that's a clear indication of a male Bourke.  In this photo, the male is at the far left, shoulders back, head up.

Females tend to have darker faces than males, but that's not totally reliable. I have a lovely male with a blue-gray face that's actually darker than some of his daughters. But, the girls will darken up as they mature, or so is the case with my hens. Once they are laying eggs, their facial feathers seem to come in darker than when they were youngsters. 

Other sources say the hens have a flatter head than the males do. Possibly the males flair their head feathers slightly when courting. As youngsters though, this isn't obvious to me, and that's when you want to learn their sex. Once they are mature, their actions will project their sex pretty clearly... That is, unless you have two males and one is dominant... then, you may have trouble telling that the subservient one is male and not female. However, in a mixed aviary where at least one hen is present, the males will "strut" their stuff and show off so that you should be able to identify them pretty easily if you pay attention to their behavior.

Females who are harrassed by too many males are likely to "scold" loudly. They also do this if they don't like the mate you gave them. Then it's time to switch them.

By the way, remember I moved my female Splendids to different males because for two years neither has had fertile eggs? Well, my 5-year-old patriarch was attempting to mate with his new lady. Wish them luck! They've been in the nest box together, but that's no guarantee. His attempts with her were better than with the previous hen ... just hope he's successful. All may depend on how stable she stands through the process. But, at least they're trying ... that's more than was done before with their earlier mates. This hen has never produced before, but the male, Rainbow, is the father of her previous, unsuccessful mate. Rainbow's first mate passed away. He's no youngster, but seems healthy.

Currently, have two Bourke hens on eggs and another asking to breed with her new mate. Should have three raising young soon (I hope!). Have several others who have each raised three clutches recently and are "resting" for a few months. Their boxes are closed or removed.

Have six babies almost ready to sell, only one is still being handfed occasionally. The others are eating on their own. They are so sweet. It's always difficult to part with them.

This photo is of the last six I sold. They are in a travel cage. It's not a cage where any babies live. It's too small. However, a divided cage like this works fine for temporary transportation. The links to Amazon below are for books I've discussed in the past.

Peace & Blessings!

Splendid Reflections: 40 Years of Grass Parrakeet Husbandry

Bourke's Parakeets

Bourke & Splendid Relationships

The following question came from a gentleman in Delaware:

"I was wondering if you could post some thoughts on your BLOG about Bourkes and Splendids getting along together. One friend of mine warned me that Bourkes could be mean to Splendids ... but other people have told me they get along fine, even caged together. I have no problem keeping mine is separate cages but I was hoping they would be friends when out of their cages. I also heard that, though related, Bourkes and Splendids will not try to interbreed – hopefully that’s true because I wouldn’t want to cross them."

Male parakeets of any variety can be aggressive with one another if confined together. They may want to chase competitors away from their breeding area, even if there's no hen present, and certainly if there is. Housing hens together, however, shouldn't be a problem, nor should housing a male with a hen or hens. Bourkes and Splendids are very compatible and I often keep them together. During breeding season, however, my birds are separated as pairs in a cage of their own.

The only drawback for housing Splendids and Bourkes together is that Splendids love to destroy their drinking water. Bourkes are a lot less likely to do this, but if they share a cage with Splendids, they may be forced to drink yucky water. All my Bourkes get fresh water every morning. However, cages with Splendids in them get their water changed even more often. As a Splendid owner, you'll see why.

Years ago I had a budgerigar hen destroy the nest of another hen, killing her babies. They were in an outside aviary with extra nest boxes, but she wanted that specific one. That budgie hen didn't remain with the flock once I discovered who'd done the dastardly deed. I can't imagine a Bourke doing anything like that. I've even had normal Bourke hens share a box together with no problem. In that instance their eggs weren't fertile, so there weren't babies to share. Don't know how that might have turned out, but I suspect the two would both have fed them.  

Bourkes are very gentle birds and easy keepers. At times I’ve had more hens than males and could house hens together without a problem. The same thing when I’ve had extra males and not enough hens for them. As long as a hen wasn’t present to argue over, the males got along fine in the same cage.

Splendids have interbred with other neophema grass parakeets. Everything I’ve read about Bourkes says that they won’t interbreed with any other species. Yet, at one time I had a widowed Splendid male that I put in a cage of extra Bourke hens so that he wouldn’t be alone. One normal Bourke hen, Willow, was very eager to breed and invited him to mount her.

Now, this particular male Splendid, Merlin, had been an abusive husband to his sweet little mate. He had a habit of pulling out her feathers when breeding, leaving her back bare. (No others have done this to their mates, not his sons or his grandsons).

Merlin decided to accommodate Willow, put a foot up on her back, and plucked out a feather. She screeched and moved away, turning back to look at him. An accident? She decided it must be, and invited him back. He moved to her, put one foot on her back, leaned forward and yanked out a feather. She screeched again, turned and leaped at him, chasing him all over the cage as he cried in fear. (Bourkes are slightly larger than Splendids). Willow went into a nest box and laid infertile eggs, but every time she came out to eat, Merlin dashed into a corner and cried. She ignored him ever after.

Eventually Willow got a young male Bourke as a mate and has raised countless, healthy baby Bourkes. This last summer she decided to “retire” and isn’t laying any longer, although she still enjoys allowing her mate to feed her.

This is a very young pair of Bourkes ... a rosy and a pink Bourke. They are from the same clutch.

There's more on breeding Bourkes in my Blog from October, 2009.

Privacy Please ...

Mated bliss photos show male on top of hen below. Spicy, is a tame male Bourke with normal coloring. He is also the tiny, newly hatched chick being handfed in a side column photo. His Rosy mate, shown here, is Sugar. Photos may not be the best ... I didn't want to move in close enough to disturb them. Smile.