A Splendid Question Regarding a Surprise Egg

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Sharing another Reader Question Below:





Female and male Scarlet-chested parakeets,
also called Splendid parakeets.



QUESTION:

Hello,

I just discovered an egg on the cage bottom of my pair of scarlets. I've had them for several years and they have never produced an egg. I read that if they don't have a nesting box they will probably not produce eggs. Well, they don't have a nesting box but now we have an egg. What do I do?

 

Neither the male or female seem concerned about the egg so my thinking is that it must be infertile. Should I remove it from the cage or just leave it for a while? Should I get them a nesting box?

 

Looking forward to your reply... thank you.

Tamara

 

Future dad outside his nest box.

 

ANSWER: 

Hello Tamara,

I would get them a nest box. If she's laying, I suspect they are breeding, or she wants to. This egg isn't likely to be looked after by them, but fertile eggs remain good for several days after being laid. I'd put it in the box anyway even though it's unlikely to survive. You've nothing to lose if you do. Or, if you know anyone who has parakeets on eggs, you could try to foster it out.

 

I assume these are scarlet-chested parakeets, right? Also called Splendid parakeets. If so, they will need a parakeet sized nest box or larger...don't get one too small. Add some pine shavings to the bottom of the box. They sell pine shavings for hamster cages and such. My Splendid hens usually throw some (or most) of them out of the box. Then they form a bare area in the shavings, either in the middle, or in a corner. The pine shavings help keep the eggs from rolling away and absorb the babies' droppings.

 

Hen is on cuttle bone.



If you give your pair a box now, they may or may not go into it right away. It should stimulate them to want to continue mating and probably to try to raise a clutch. It's great fun seeing babies hatch; and where I live there's a demand for Splendid parakeets that goes unfulfilled. So, I suggest you let them breed.

 

Be sure she has enough calcium. She should be chewing on cuttle bone. I also have a mineral block and add oyster shell for mating hens. There are calcium supplements you can get for their water, but I've not used them before. With three other sources of calcium, I believe they have enough. However, if you have access to that instead of the others, then it's fine too. Be sure to carefully follow the instructions and change their water at least daily, with or without calcium supplemented in it.

 

Hens that are laying need lots of fresh water. They will drink and drink and usually also bathe in it.

 

 

A sister and two brothers.

 

Good luck. I hope you get to experience this fun-filled adventure. However, if they lay and brood and still nothing happens...well, first time parents aren't always successful. My first pair of Splendids hatched their first clutch, but didn't know to feed them. It was years ago and I wasn't hand feeding yet and lost all of them. Their second clutch, however, they did fine and raised the three they hatched very successfully. Best of luck.

 

Peace and Blessings! Happy New Year!

 

 

WINGS AND FEATHERS TO IDENTIFY SEX

Each Parakeet variety is different, and so are the methods for sexing them. This post is intended to clear up a mistaken idea about sexing Rosy Bourke Parakeets. It may have occurred because of a discussion over sexing young Splendids. 

Splendids and Bourkes sharing a cage.

I've posted before that young Splendid (Scarlet-chested) Parakeets can often be sexed before a male's' red chest fills in. Simply look under a young feathered bird's wings. Hens have a white stripe under their wings. If the underside is all black, they are male. Occasionally, you will see broken white bars and their sex is still questionable. In my experience, the birds with broken white bars later lost those bars and were males. However, I don't guarantee that this will always be the case with all young Splendids who exhibit broken white bars.

Splendid wing photos are courtesy of:  www.grassparakeet.co.uk

Underside of Splendid hen's wing.

Underside of Splendid cock's wing.

Broken bar. This one turned
out to be a male Splendid.

A comment was made that Bourkes, too, have white bars under their wings and that this is indicative of sex. Not so! When I first read that, I thought, "Can this be true? After all the years I've raised Bourkes have I overlooked something this simple?" 

Rhett Jr. is definitely a male Rosy Bourke. All my male
Rosies exhibit a white stripe under their wing. This is
not a valid way to identify sex in a Bourke.

To verify or deny that comment, I grasped some of my tame birds and looked under their wings...(this is not a position they particularly like).

Sugar, a Rosy Bourke hen. The underside of her wing
is very much like the male Rosy Bourke's. Her face is
darker, which is often the case with hens vs. cocks.

In all cases, my male Rosies have white bars (or stripes) and so do my female Rosies. There was no significant difference. It was interesting to note, however, that my Normal males don't have a white stripe ... only the Rosies do.

Spicy, who is mated to Sugar above, is a Normal male Bourke.
Notice that under his wing there isn't any white bar.
That's different from the male Rosy Bourkes in my flock.

The lovely color wheel below was made by Washington State Artist Chris Maynard of Featherfolio. All of the small feathers from Bourkes and Splendids below came from our flock. Smile.

A Link to:  Feather Art

Peace & Blessings.

Splendid Hand Feeding Question and Answer

A female Scarlet-chested parakeet.

Question

Catherine writes:  "I'm wondering if you can help me. Our female red chested parakeet (splendid) had her first clutch. Out of 6 eggs only 4 hatched. Sadly, the very smallest chick completely vanished. I could find no sign of her, not in the nest or on the floor. Now the hen has damaged her wing. We checked the chicks and yesterday their crops were still full, however this morning they were empty. So we put the nest box on the floor so the hen could get access to them easier. The hen took no notice.

When we went back late afternoon 2 chicks had clambered out of the nest and stood under their mother, but she did not feed them, just ignored them. The smallest chick was still in the nest, and when I pulled it out, I thought it was dead, but it was still breathing and after heating it up in my hands it started chirping. Since then I've taken them into the house to hand rear them. Reluctantly they are eating from a syringe. The vet has ordered us chick feed. We estimate the chicks to be 2 and a half weeks old. Can you give me advice on how often to feed, how I'd wean them in the future etc? We've never had Splendids before and I don't want to lose these chicks. Thank you!

A male Scarlet-chested
Splendid Parakeet.

Answer

Not sure where you live, but most communities in the United States have Granges or Pet Stores that carry Exact Handfeeding Formula for birds. I hope the chick feed your vet is getting isn't for chickens. Buying Exact at a pet store might be more expensive than ordering online, but you need it NOW. I recommend calling pet stores and/or anywhere else that sells pet food or caters to birds. Try to find it immediately.

If you enter "handfeeding" into the search window on this site, you will get other posts about feeding baby birds.

Since your babies haven't been fed enough recently, I'd offer them warm food every two hours during the day for the next few days. I'd even be tempted to get up in the middle of the night for the first day or two, just to get them healthy again. Try to feed them until they look like their crops are swollen and large. If they shake their heads, and refuse food, they're full. If they want to keep eating, let them.

You need to keep them warm as well as fed. A space heater near the box they are in will help. I've even put a piece of flannel over tiny ones with no feathers. If all three survive they will help keep one another warm. Since they've missed feedings, they will be more susceptible to cold, so warmth is even more important.

First thing, try to find some local business that carries the hand feeding formula and go get it. Once your babies are eating well, and seem healthy, you can cut back to feeding them four times a day ... about every four to five hours.

After my babies no longer huddle together inside a box (especially at night), I make sure there is other food available. Even when they start pecking at it, you will need to continue feedings for a while. They may get some food from seed, but not enough. Continue to offer feedings at least two weeks after they appear to be eating some food on their own. I give them spray millet and a nestling formula, as well as parakeet seed. They also get Petamine Breeding Formula. All of this isn't necessary, but I have it, so I offer it. They also like the usual vegetables, kale, spinach, corn, lettuce, broccoli, carrots, peas, etc.

It's not surprising that an injured bird gives up on her young. She is focused on recovery, poor thing. I recommend bringing her indoors too. Confining her in a small cage will give her wing a better chance to heal and protect her from harm. If she's staying on the ground, she's at risk from night time predators. Better to keep her warm and safe during her recovery.


If your birds are outside, even in an enclosed building, it's possible that your hen threw the dead baby chick out of the nest and a rodent found and carried the body off overnight. They can get into spaces you'd never believe possible, and are attracted by bird seed.

 

 

A pair of Scarlet-chested, or Splendid Parakeets.

 Best of Luck. If you're not too late, you will have wonderfully tame, beautiful birds.

Budgerigar Personalities vs. Splendids or Bourkes

A safe way to hold baby Budgies and not have them fall off
 a child's lap. These four pale blue babies haven't fledged yet.

I love Budgies and have owned many of them in my lifetime. My grandfather raised and sold them before Bourkes or Splendids were even heard of in the USA. As everyone who loves birds knows, each individual bird has its very own personality, just like every other animal and person.

That said, there are some similarities among related species. Budgies tend to be active, fun and intelligent little birds. They come in almost every color of the rainbow, excluding red, pink or solid black ... although I'd expect to see a solid black Budgerigar parakeet someday if anyone sets out to give it a shot (something I once considered, but never attempted).

Budgies like to chew on anything interesting, and will sample crumbs off your table, or nibble the page edges off a book, newspaper or magazine. Houseplants need to be a safe variety that won't hurt them, and you may want to keep an eye on your Budgie if he or she lands on a curtain rod holding expensive curtains. There's no guarantee they won't chew holes in them too, or the molding around windows, or picture frames. That said, they won't all do that.

Male Rosy Bourke.

Bourkes usually aren't chewers, but they also aren't the playful little clowns that Budgies are. They are less active, but develop an attachment to their owners too. Most tame Bourkes will kiss, sing and climb all over you, just as a Budgie does. Like Budgies, they are curious birds, but typically they take fewer risks than a Budgie will. They tend to be more cautious. Bourkes sleep a lot during the day and become very active at daybreak and dusk. Budgies are happy to be active any time the sun is shining.

Male Splendid or Scarlet-chested
Parakeet.

Splendids chew almost as much as a Budgie. They have active personalities like Budgies, and spend more time awake during the day. They aren't a morning and evening bird like a Bourke. They love water and will put anything and everything into their drinking water, requiring that it be cleaned frequently. Like Budgies, Splendids love swings and other toys. They are clever birds and I've seen them learn to open cage doors.


Albino Budgerigar Parakeet.


Budgies are good mimics and will try to copy what you say to them. Bourkes and Splendids won't. However, Bourkes do wolf whistle naturally and have a pretty song. Budgies chatter and talk more than the other parakeets, and some of them can become noisy... particularly during breeding season.

Male Splendid on left and Normal-colored Bourke male on right.

The uncommon coloration in Splendids and Bourkes makes them a uniquely beautiful pet.  Budgies are inexpensive birds with great personalities and, when tame, they make wonderful, affectionate pets ... especially for kids! Every parakeet variety has its advantages, and it's fun to learn as much as you can about each of them before selecting the right one for you.

Splendid Parakeet Portraits, Scarlet-chested Neophema's

Rainbow, son of Merlin & Millet. Now our old Patriarch.

The flash reflects off their faces making them look turquoise
like their shoulders, however, their faces are actually a dark cobalt blue.

I love my birds and tend to cover much more about Bourkes than my Splendids. That’s probably because I have 22 Bourkes right now, 19 Rosies and 3 normal’s. No doubt that’s why I successfully raise more Rosies than Splendids, hmmm?

Yet, my clownish, very fun Splendids deserve attention too! I only have two hens, but have four male Splendids, all in their normal wild color.

Rainbow is the father of two of our other males, Flip and Rainbow Junior. Handsome Rudy came to us in a trade for one of Rainbow’s other sons in order to introduce genetic diversity.

Although Splendids don’t sing as lyrically as a Bourke parakeet, they do call back and forth to each other, especially the two bachelors who want mates of their own. Not an easy feat to find them though.

If you keep birds, you’ll find the colorful Splendids lots of fun. They love to tear up paper, play with toys and are crazy about swings! They like taking baths, and water cups are just another plaything for them.

 

  

You can see some of the shiny, dark cobalt blue of his
face under his beak. The wing color is correct, but their
faces are actually very dark blue, almost black.

Photos at right and below are of Rudy. Hole in nest box doesn't have to be so big. They adapt to various sizes.

They do like to put things in their water! Change their water dish at least once a day or more, and provide them with another source too. A tube of water on the side of a cage works well. It isn’t as likely to be splashed out. Keep an eye on it too, however, because it is likely they’ll make soup in the basin of it as well.

Here is a better depiction of a Splendid's true face color.

As an afterthought, here are other relevant photos, even though they've been posted in earlier articles.

These are young Splendids. Hen is below.
Males above do not have all their scarlet color yet.

Young Male Splendid with a young male Normal Bourke (in wild color).

Very young Splendids. Actually there are four males and
one hen in this cage, but their color hasn't come in yet.
At the time the photo was taken, I didn't know their sexes.
As they matured, the hen had to be removed as she was so outnumbered.



Young Splendid hen with her first egg.



May your Birds Bring You

Peace & Blessings

and Keep You Smiling!

Splendid red chests

In an earlier post Ron in Delaware asked about whether his Scarlet-chested parakeet might eventually acquire a redder chest. In thumbing through my copy of "Parrakeets of The World," by Dr. Matthew M. Vriends, I came across this photo representing a typical pair of Splendid parakeets. 

Although my own Splendid males have very splendid red chests (pun intended), obviously not all do. As I mentioned earlier, people are trying to produce other colors in the Splendids. However, even if one has red all the way down his front, or is all blue, I like the contrast of the bright yellow next to the red. This pair doesn't look typical to me. All the Splendids I've ever owned have had brighter colors all over ... red, yellow turquoise and blue.

This photo isn't taken as close, but you can see the brighter colors even at a distance. What I notice most about photos of male Splendid parakeets is that a camera cannot capture the iridescent quality of their cobalt blue faces. In fact, in all the photos I've taken, the males appear to have lighter blue faces than they actually do. In real life they are so much more beautiful than in pictures.

My copy of "Parrakeets of The World" was published in 1979. However, Amazon.com appears to have more recent, inexpensive copies. Here are scans of the front and back cover of my hard copy  book.

I glean valuable bits of information from many bird books, but ignore  any material that I disagree with.  "Take what you like and leave the rest."

To my USA Friends: Have a fun, safe Fourth of July Holiday.

Click to Link to Amazon for this book:  Parrakeets of the World

Splendid Sex Identification

Thanks to reader, neversink7, for providing the site address below which has photos of Splendids, including the wing bands mentioned in the previous post.

http://www.grassparakeets.talktalk.net/sexing.htm

Sexing Splendids

Although there are many hybrid colors of Splendids, I think the normal variety is the prettiest. Why fool around with a good thing? Adult male Splendids in their normal wild color are easy to recognize. The males have a scarlet chest and the females don't.

All young Splendids look like hens. It could be many weeks before bits of red begin to show on their chests, indicating that they're male, gradually filling in to cover most of their chest.

As with Bourkes, I'm not going to go peering inside a bird ... it might injure them and I wouldn't know what to look for anyway. I'm not a vet. Leave this to the professionals!

However, there is another way that may help determine the sex of your young birds. Splendid males tend to have black beneath their wings, whereas, females have white bands within the black. If the white bands are broken, you may have to wait and see whether the white bands fill in or disappear. In my case, I've seen partial white, broken bands fade out to become all black (males). If the underside of the wings are already black, then you know you have a male. If there are strong, unbroken white bands (lines) on the underside of the wings, then you have a female.

I posted this description once before and a reader said he appreciated it. He used this and said it's always proven true for him since. Handling the babies to check the feathers on the underside of their wings should also help tame them.

Good luck sexing your youngsters!

Splendids

Since my Splendids haven't hatched any eggs in many months, I've not been blogging about them very often. To make up for that, here's a photo of our last clutch of youngsters taken quite a while ago. All look like hens, but all developed the typical scarlet chest ... all were males.

As with my Bourke book, I don't often find books about Splendid parakeets. However, I found this one on Amazon. I don't own it yet, but I'm tempted to order it. If you are too, here is the location: 

Splendid Reflections: 40 Years of Grass Parrakeet Husbandry

Tomorrow:  Recent insights on egg incubation

PEACE & BLESSINGS

Differences in Newly-Hatched Parakeet Varieties

For the fun of it, here are photos of new baby Budgies, baby Bourkes and baby Splendids, just to compare the differences.

A baby Budgerigar parakeet.

An albino baby Budgie parakeet.

Budgerigar parakeets don't have fuzz and hatch out completely bald. Notice the one on the left has dark eye sockets and the other doesn't. The one on the right grew to have pink eyes, an albino. It is five days old already and still not fuzzy.

Newly hatched Rosy Bourke parakeets. Not bald like Budgies.

Bourkes sometimes have pink eyes too, but their feathers are typically still pink, although their faces are often white. You can always tell who will have pink eyes and who won't, by the color of the sockets even before they open their eyes. These all have dark sockets. Baby Bourkes show very pink skin under their fuzzy down. Of all newly hatched babies, I think Bourkes are the cutest. There are four babies shown here, huddled together. Unlike Budgies, Bourkes like pine shavings or something similar under them, rather than an indented wood surface. So do Splendids.

Splendid (Scarlet-chested) Parakeet chicks also hatch with fuzz.

These are Splendid/Scarlet-chested baby parakeets in my hands. Their skin color is slightly darker and more tan-toned than pink like the Bourkes. They, too, have soft fuzzy down, but less than on the Bourkes. And, certainly more than on a Budgerigar!

Splendid Parakeet chicks (also called Scarlet-chested parakeets).
They have more "fuzz" than Budgies, but less than Bourke parakeets.
All three varieties of parakeet are approximately the same size.

Splendid Scarlet-chested Parakeets

The lovely bird above left is a female Splendid parakeet from Australia. Her colors are more muted than her mate's. However, her many shades include light blue, bright yellow, many hues of green with iridescent turquoise on her shoulders. Although more subdued in color than a male's vividness, she's still bright and pretty.

The handsome fellows above and to the right are both male Splendids, also called Scarlet-chested parakeets for obvious reasons. Because of their vibrant colors it is no wonder they're named Splendids. Only the males develop the scarlet chest when mature. Young birds look like the hens. Photos can't capture the iridescent nature of their sheen, especially on their cobalt blue faces. The male on the right is holding a white feather. Their backs, not shown in the photo, are dark emerald green.
Splendids are spectacular to watch. They are active birds, true clowns who love toys and swings.

Unfortunately, they also love to make soup out of water cups. Like the Bourkes, they love corn or almost any vegetable. They eat them, but much of it will end up in their water. Even if you only feed seed, you'll find hulls floating in their water every day. For this reason it is imperative that their water be changed daily, at a minimum. They love clean water and you will be rewarded with their funny antics as they bathe. Since much of the water in a cup is dispersed after a bath, it's wise to also have a water bottle always present too. However, Splendids also drop things in the narrow opening of water bottles too. Of course, you can introduce a shallow bowl of water for them to bathe in as well.

Although Splendids are higher maintenance than a Bourke parakeet, they are personality plus, not to mention their vibrant colors. As far as song goes, Splendids can't match the Bourkes for song. Bourkes have a lovely floating song, and males include a soft wolf whistle in it. Splendids make cheeps and chirps at varying levels. However, as you get to know your bird, you will recognize a certain sound that he uses to call you. They crave attention.

I like to keep the bottom of my cages covered in newspaper that I can throw out when it's soiled. It makes cage cleaning easier. Splendids chew newspaper... Smile. Some Bourkes chew too, but only a few, whereas I bet every male Splendid will mince newspaper.

Next time: Hints on breeding.