Bourke's Parakeet Hens First Clutches of Spring, 2022

Our twelve babies from first clutches of 2022. 

Nest Box Construction

This post is taken from Chapter 17 of my book,
 "Rosie Bird's Guide to Small Exotic Birds" by Gail A. Lewis

Home to multiple clutches of baby birds, the humble nest box duplicates
the hollows where many varieties of birds nest and reproduce in the wild.

Making a nest box for your birds need not be an overwhelming project. Anyone with basic carpentry skills and a few tools can produce an inexpensive and functional box. The sizes given in this chapter will yield a box suitable for the various Grasskeets discussed in this book. It also works for Linnies and Finches. If you plan to raise larger birds, proportionally increase the dimensions.

Tools You Will Need

A saw capable of cutting plywood.

A 12 inch ruler or tape measure.

Drill with a 3/8 inch bit, 1/8 inch bit, and a 1¾ inch hole cutter.

Piece of 3/8 inch dowel – about six inches.

Rasp to round off corners.

Sandpaper to smooth edges.

Carpenter’s glue, such as Elmer’s Wood Glue.

Clamp(s) to hold pieces together as they dry.

A generous handful of small finish nails.

A hammer to drive those nails.

Pliers and small wire cutters to install nest box.

Each nest box is constructed of a bottom piece made from ¾” exterior plywood. The sides and lid are made of 3/8” plywood.

We asked our friendly local lumberyard to rip a sheet of plywood into nine inch strips lengthwise. Since a sheet of plywood is 48 inches wide, this yields five 9” x 8’ strips and one thin remainder. Save that remainder to use later. If you’re only making a couple of nest boxes, check with your lumber yard to see if they sell half-sheets of plywood.

Here’s a cutting list of pieces needed for a Grasskeet-sized box:

Floor – 9” x 8 1/4” piece cut from ¾” exterior plywood.

Front – 9” wide x 11” high plywood piece with the entrance hole, and a row of four or five small holes, 1/2” down from the top.

Back – 9” wide” x 10” high cut from plywood.

Side A – 9” wide x 9 ¾” high cut from plywood. This ¼” is the lip that the lid will rest on.

Side B – 9” wide x 10” high plywood piece. This will become the hinge side.

Top or Lid – 8” wide x 10” long plywood.

Schematic of the Nest Box

Viewed from above — Lid not shown

All corner joints are glued and nailed
for strength and stability.

Preparing for Assembly:

1. Cut your plywood floor to size.

2. Cut out the plywood pieces from a 9 inch strip of plywood.

3. The front will be mounted against the cage. Determine where you want to place the entry hole. [This will be determined by the location where you intend to remove several bars of the cage so the birds can access it from inside the cage.] It can be centered, or off to either side. Draw a horizontal line across the back (the 9” x 11” piece) about 3 ½ inches down from the top. Draw a vertical line where you want the middle of the entry to be. Where these two lines cross marks the center of the entry hole. Drill a 1¾ inch diameter hole there.

4. Carefully sand and smooth the edges of the entry hole to protect your birds.

5. About ¾ inches below the entry hole, drill a 3/8 inch hole on your vertical line for a perch.

6. Take your six inch dowel and carefully drive it through the hole under the entry. Enlarge the hole slightly if necessary, but not so much that the dowel doesn’t fit tightly. Center the dowel so there’s as much inside as there is outside. This allows a mother bird in the nest to stand on it while the father bird in the cage feeds her from outside the box. You can make this easier by placing one of the cage’s perches adjacent to it.

7. Drill a series of four or five 1/8 inch holes in an evenly-spaced line about ½ inch below the top of the board. They will be used to attach the nest box to the cage.

Creating the hinge:

1. Take the thin leftover strip of plywood and cut a piece equal to the width of the lid. This will be used to form a hinge. The lid is hinged from side-to-side and is attached between the front and back of the cage.

2. Apply glue, clamp the strip tightly, and let it dry.

3. After the glue has dried, use the rasp and sandpaper to round the bottom and top edge of the hinge end. This will allow it to open and close without binding. You’ll also want to round the exterior corners and edge, sanding them smooth. You’ll be lifting the lid often to check the eggs and baby birds...so smooth is nice.

Assembling the Nest Box, Step 1:

1. Lay your floor board floor flat on your work table. It helps to lay the four sides of the Nest Box on the work table around the floor so you can visualize how it comes together.

2. Attach the sides. Apply glue to one side of the base. Put Side A in place and drive several nails along the bottom to reinforce the connection. Remember, the lid will close onto Side A; its placement determines the direction the lid faces. Repeat the process, putting Side B on the opposite side.

Assembling the Nest Box, Step 2:

Attach the front and back. Spread glue along the floor edge and the edges of the piece. Carefully slip it in between the sides you’ve already put on. Nail along the floor and temporarily clamp. Repeat the process with the final piece. Once it’s in place and clamped, drive some nails along the joint where the two sides meet.

Assembling the Nest Box, Step 3:

Install the lid. Put the lid on the box the way it will be installed. The hinge portion should slip in between the front and back sides. Hold in place by pressing down the lip onto Side A, the shorter side, so the lid is level. Mark this position on Side B with a pencil line.

Now turn the box on its side and align the lid with the pencil line. Move it away from Side B creating a tiny gap so it doesn’t rub when opened. Once the lid is properly positioned, drive a 2d (1”) finish nail through each side and into the thin scrap glued to the lid. The nails will act as a hinge allowing you to open and close the box lid.

How to attach the Nest Box to a cage:

Align the nest with the hole you’ve created by removing several sections of the cage’s bars. Feed an 8” plastic cable tie through one of the holes previously drilled across the top of the Nest Box. Loop it around the upper horizontal bar of the cage and tighten. Four or five ties securely hold the box in place.

You can view our nest boxes at the Link Below: 

ROSIE BIRD VIDEOS on You Tube

***

PEACE AND BLESSINGS! 

ROSY BOURKE PARAKEETS, SOME NEWLY HATCHED BEING FED

Bourke Parakeets: Determining Sex

Nest box being attached in February to begin new season
of breeding, egg laying and raising of young Bourkes.

QUESTION:
On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 1:35 AM, David wrote:
Hi Rosie,
I’m trying to sex 2 bourkes. One is the wild type the other being a Rosie.
Hope you may be able to help.
Regards,
David
----------------------------

 

Baby Bourke at 9 days old, ready for banding with
Budgie sized bands. His feet are at maximum length.
Any bigger and he couldn't have been banded.

 

ANSWER:

On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 10:53 AM,
Rosie Bird wrote:

Hello David,

Wild types are easy once they are mature. Males have a tiny line of blue feathers over the cere (nostrils). Females don't have that. Males are also slightly brighter in pink and blue areas, with brighter turquoise in shoulders. However, this feature varies between birds. So, the blue line above their cere is the main determining factor.

 

Normal Bourke Parakeet. This is a male. His colors
are slightly brighter than the hen's. Male Bourkes of
the wild variety also have a tiny line of blue feathers
above the cere (nostrils). Difficult to see in this photo.

Normal Bourke hen and chicks.

 

As for Rosies, only their behavior will give them away, short of having them DNA'd. Once mature, males will often display in ways that hens do not. They also seem to sing more and occasionally wolf whistle.

When I'm going to sell young Rosies and am unsure of their sex, I've sometimes sent a tiny blood sample in for DNAing. It requires clipping a toenail slightly short, dabbing a smear of blood on a card, and then dipping the "injured" toe into corn starch to staunch any further bleeding. I resisted doing that for years, but once done, I realized how easy it was and didn't seem to hurt the little birds. I use Health Gene in Canada. It's only $12 and they send a lovely certificate that follows up after an email giving the sex of the bird.  http://www.healthgene.com/avian-dna-testing/

Below is a copy from The Splendid Bourke Bird Blog on BlogSpot. If you go there and enter "Sexing" into the Search Box, you will get lots of posts on this topic. http://thesplendidbourkebirdblog.blogspot.com/

"Male Bourkes throw their shoulders back and flair their wings slightly at the shoulder, standing tall. I call this strutting. You won't see a hen do this and males do it at a very young age.

Hens take longer to behave like hens. If there is a male bird present they squat down and raise their tail, cheeping, (preferably for another Bourke, but I've seen them display for other parakeet varieties when no male Bourke is around). On rare occasions I've seen a male do this in front of a hen who doesn't want to mate...I think he's showing her how. :-) Birds have preferences for their mates too."

Peace and Blessings,

Gail

An Oregon Coast Sunset taken above Larson Slough,
about five miles from our home.

 

PEACE AND BLESSINGS!

 

 

Rosy Bourke Fosters Another's Baby At 18 Days of Age

So many things to post about and so little time. 

There really are five baby Bourkes in this photo.
Red-eyed baby is laying in front of the two in back.

Our Rosy Bourke, called Rosie, is the sweetest of birds. She and Fuchsia were both on their 3rd clutch of the year and I didn't want them to begin laying more eggs even before their current clutch had fledged ... just knew they would. To prevent that, I removed their youngsters to hand feed and took the nest boxes off their cages.

 

I'd been hand feeding their babies for a day and a half when the unexpected happened. It looked like my husband was having a stroke and I called 911 for an ambulance. Fortunately, it wasn't a stroke, it's Bel's Palsy, which most people recover from in a few weeks ... thank you, Lord.

 

However, Wednesday morning proved very chaotic. I had to follow to the hospital. What to do with the hand fed babies!? It seemed highly possible that they might fly my husband to a larger city than our rural community. Even if they didn't, under no circumstances would I get home in time to keep feeding the baby Bourkes. We live a half hour drive one-way to the hospital as it is. I wouldn't leave him and commute back and forth while he was in danger.

 

As they loaded him into the ambulance he asked if I'd be following. "As soon as I can," I said. Then raced around the house making sure the dog and cat had plenty of extra food and water. Fortunately, I'd already freshened all the birds' waters, but I added extra water bottles to all the cages and gave them all two sprays of millet (that was fastest).

 

Still, what about the babies?

Hand feeding baby birds, I change their box each time
they're fed. Throw out the paper towel liner, and allow
pine shavings under them to dry from droppings that
soak through the towels. A clean box at each feeding.

Fuchsia's nest box uses plastic cables to attach it to her cage and my husband puts it up while I hold the box ... not a quick fix.

 

I decided to trust my sweetest bird, Rosie. Her box has two hooks that allow it to quickly hang from the side, easy to install. I sliced through half the duct tape covering the hole where her nest box had hung and folded it back like a door. Then put the box back on. It hadn't been cleaned yet, but that wasn't much of an issue.

 

The real issue was, will they re-accept their young after almost two days absence? And, more worrisome, Will Rosie and Pretty Boy accept a foster baby that is already 18 days old? Not even a newly hatched chick?  Not only do they need to feed it, they need to not "savage" it as an intruder in their nest ... a potential risk.

 

Yet, it appeared to be my best option and I put all five babies into Rosie's nest box.

 

No one was home at our house from early Wednesday morning until late Wednesday evening after my husband was released from the hospital. I immediately checked the babies. All five were stuffed full and contented. 

 

What a wonderful bird is Rosie, our Rosy Bourke hen!  And, what a grateful diagnosis for my husband. He may be very uncomfortable for several weeks, but it isn't life threatening. God is good.

 

I still want to post photos of the two pretty baby Linnies we've had for two weeks now ... that post is coming up next, I hope. If things will only slow down a bit, smile. 

Peace & Blessings.

 

Bird Breeding Tip for Small Exotics, Especially Bourke Parakeets

I've raised a variety of small exotic birds over the decades of my life. As a child my grandfather gave me budgies from his flock. Later, my father added a variety of finches, doves and quail. Except for a parade of tame budgies, all others lived in outdoor aviaries.

 

Flame and Pretty Boy, male Rosy Bourkes in adjacent cages.
They spend too much time displaying at each other.

Today —although I have several other birds— my favorites are the grass parakeets, especially Bourkes. They're gentle, quiet birds, and less messy or destructive than other varieties.

 

Putting up a visual barrier between the cages. Any old
piece of cardboard works well.

We recently gave nest boxes back to our Rosy Bourke parakeets. As usual, the two males began displaying at one another and ignoring their hens' attempts to entice them to breed. These photos show what steps we take each breeding season to help our males focus on their mates and not what they consider to be the competition next door.

 

Flame at left. Pretty Boy on right. Visual barrier in place.



Flame & Fuchsia on left. No longer does Flame stay on
the side of the cage next to his neighbor, ignoring his mate.
Pretty Boy also now focuses on his mate, Rosie.

Fuchsia at the opening to her nest box with Flame nearby.



Rosie in the doorway of her nest box. A swing is in foreground.

Top of Fuchsia's nest box is open. She's only
just begun to set up housekeeping.



A composite of two photos ... Rosie is half out of her
nest box opening. Pine shavings line the bottom of box.

 

If you have a large aviary, you can put Bourkes together when they're ready to breed. But, they do best one pair to a cage when indoors. I've found that mine get along better with other varieties of birds than they do with other Bourkes of the same sex. They can be competitive for mates and/or nest boxes. The same holds true for Splendids (Scarlet-breasted) Parakeets and possibly most grass parakeets.

 

Peace & Blessings.

Cleaning Nest Boxes and Bourke Parakeet Egg Laying Habits

For her first clutch this year, Fuchsia laid five eggs. The first two didn't appear to be fertile. She hatched three. Those three are now out of the next box, but not yet weaned.

 

Flame has taken over their feeding and Fuchsia went back into the box and started laying a second clutch. The box needed cleaning, so I removed her three eggs today and emptied out all the pine shavings and replaced them.

 

She hesitated about going back inside, standing outside the entrance and looking in. It was different in there. I wonder if I should have left well enough alone. Only time will tell. However, as you can see from the photo she did return and is covering her eggs again.



Fuchsia's nest box cleaned and ready for her 2nd clutch.
Fresh pine shavings in the bottom. She's covering 3 eggs.

I noticed when I picked up the eggs that I could feel one of them "pecking" against the shell already. Amazing. She usually lays five eggs, so will probably lay two more. At least the box is clean and sweet smelling again.

 

Since they are in the house, I like to clean the boxes between clutches. However, I noticed she had turned the shavings over and done a fair job of making it nice herself. But, there was stuck food on the sides that had started to mold, so it is better to have it clean, I think. Hopefully, the eggs didn't get cold. I cleaned very fast and they were warm when they went back, but her hesitation to immediately return is bothersome.

 

Being tame I expected her to recognize the cleaning routine from previous years and go right back. If all the eggs don't hatch, that will tell me I did the wrong thing. It's been okay in the past, but usually I was able to clean sooner. This year she was in a hurry to begin her next clutch.  ;-)

 

Rosie laid and hatched four eggs with her first clutch of the year. The three oldest babies left the nest, but little one in the photo below remains. Notice how dirty the box has become. I wanted to clean it today when I cleaned Fuchsia's. But, with a baby still in the nest, I'll wait until he leaves. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to clean it before Rosie begins laying more eggs! She and Pretty Boy have been mating and I feared she'd have eggs too, but there are none as of today.

 

Bourke hen in back is Rosie. Her last of four babies
is still in the nest. He's in front. The nest box has
gotten pretty dirty. Hope to clean it and add new
 pine shavings as soon as this baby joins
his siblings outside the nest box.

 

Cherry's two babies are still in the nest box. They hatched later than Fuchsia's or Rosie's. Cherry laid four eggs and hatched all four. However, the first two had red eyes and both died within a few days.

 

Many of the red-eyed babies don't seem to be as healthy as those with dark eyes. Yet, those that do survive must have a different set of genetics than their less lucky siblings. Out of the same pair, Cherry and Rhett, I have a red-eyed male from 2011 that is large, strong and gorgeous. His photo is below.

 

My "Sweetheart" Rosy Bourke.
He is an opaline fallow with red eyes.
 

As an FYI: My Splendid (Scarlet-chested) parakeets have always waited a while between clutches. Not so, the Bourkes who go right back and begin again ... often even before the previous clutch is completely weaned.

 

Peace and Blessings.

 

 

 

Bourke Parakeets on Eggs

Fuchsia is on three eggs so far...



Fuchsia's box opens on top. Lid is hinged to open to the right.

 

Fuchsia asks, "Who's peeking in at me?"

 

Rosie, below, is also covering three eggs as of today with more to come.

Rosie's box has a sliding door in front. She's chosen a spot off
to one corner of the box. Her entrance opening is at the
upper left corner, unfortunately not shown in this photo.

 

It helps to have tame hens. They don't get frightened when I take pictures of them. However, even Bourkes that haven't been hand fed will typically remain in their nest when you peek in at them. Most Bourke mothers are reliable and will stay with their nest. Cherry is one of those. However, she and her mate, Rhett, are getting up in years and I wonder if they will reproduce again this year. Cherry has been in her box, but no eggs yet.

 

Our outdoor wild bird feeders. Aren't the daffodils lovely?
This year the feeders are popular with chipmunks and
deer...even more so than with migrating birds. Smile.

 

Peace and Blessings.

 

 

 

Installing Parakeet Nest Boxes

Three nest boxes went up on Sunday. Before that, however, the cages came down and were thoroughly cleaned, including laundering the skirts, and cleaning nearby windows, walls and counter. Smile. Boxes are also clean and have new pine shavings inside.



Removing Duct tape that covered the hole after a nest box
came down last year.  Clean and ready, they're going back up.

Husband preparing nest box opening as Rosie watches eagerly.
 

The side of a cardboard box between cages keeps males from strutting and warning one another away instead of focusing on their mates. I leave it off except when they're preparing to mate or raise young.

Clyde sitting outside his nest box while Rosie is inside, just four days after the boxes went up.
I expect that she will be the first to lay and hatch eggs.

Rosie in a box with a sliding door on the side.
She's rearranging the pine shavings to her liking.

Fuchsia has been quickly in and out of her box. However, Cherry, who is much older than the other hens, has peeked in but not ventured inside yet. She and Rhett are interested, but for several years now I have wondered whether it would be their last year to reproduce. They've surprised me by continuing as long as they have. I limit them to one or two clutches a season because of their advanced age.



Flame and Fuchsia immediately after the box was attached.
Actually, Fuchsia kept landing on my husband's arm and
tried to see into the box while he tried to install it.



Fuchsia getting a closer look at the box opening. Taken
before she'd been inside. She has been since.



Three boxes on four cages. Two in front, one off to right side.
Birds in lower right are young and still unmatched, or unmated.

Limit the number of clutches you allow your birds to have in a 12-month cycle. Bourkes go right back to lay more eggs shortly after their last clutch has left the nest, and often even before they are completely weaned (eating on their own). Dad's take over the feeding when Mom goes back into the nest to start another clutch.

Young birds can tolerate three clutches a year if adequately fed and watered. Laying hens drink lots of water, so keep it fresh and readily available, both for drinking and bathing. Clean boxes between clutches if you can. I've even removed eggs, cleaned a box and put them back without a problem. Better to get it cleaned as soon as the babies leave it, however -- before new eggs are laid.

Although I clean cages often, once a year I take them down, let the birds out and clean EVERYTHING in or on the cages. Also clean all around them...counters, walls and windows. Skirts designed to catch extra seed are shaken out and laundered before being put back. I like to have everything very clean before the birds go back to raising their families. Odds are, I'll do this process again in the Fall.

Peace and Blessings.

May all your eggs hatch and your birds produce beautiful, healthy babies!

 

Bourke Nest Box Preparation, A Question

 

I've posted Flame feeding Fuchsia before, but it's one of my
favorite photos. Caught them at just the right moment.

QUESTION:
I am putting a pair of bourkes down to breed this weekend, have made a breeding box, sizes as instructed on an internet bird page. Can I use shredded paper as nesting materials?
 

Willow, a Normal Bourke hen
with her new little ones.

ANSWER:
That's better than nothing and my Lady Gouldians love it. I've never offered it to the Bourkes, however. Bourkes do not "make" a nest by carrying material into a nest box like finches do. In the wild they find a hollow tree, and those usually have bits of chips, bark or other detritus already in there.

 I buy a bag of pine shavings (never use cedar). They are usually sold to put in the bottom of cages for small animals like hamsters. You must put them in the box yourself, about 1 to 2 inches deep. I remove any big, sharp pieces I see.

 

Bonnie with her very young babies.

 Some Bourkes will push them aside and hollow them a bit. These help keep the eggs safely together and absorb the babies' droppings. Mothers usually go outside the box to defecate, although first-time mothers sometimes are afraid to leave their eggs even for a moment or two. Fathers feed through the nest box opening. A few will go inside the box, but most do not.

 
I've seen posts of people only offering a budgie box with a flat floor and nothing in it. Bourkes can use this in desperation, but it's not what they prefer, or what is best.  It’s going to tax a mother more if she has to keep gathering the eggs under her to keep them from rolling away, and if they do, they’ll cool and may not hatch. Many may also refuse to breed if an appropriate nest box isn't present.

 

If all you have is shredded paper, you’ll have to place it in the box for them and press it down as firmly as possible. Don't leave it loosely in the box. Keep it thick and "squashed and flattened."

 

If they use it, let me know. But, with pine shavings, you know you have the right medium.

 

Fuchsia with an egg. Several more to come.

If anyone else has used shredded paper or anything other than pine shavings for their Splendids or Bourkes, please comment. Thank you.

Click on Tab at top of page "Building Nest Boxes"
for detailed directions.

 Peace and Blessings.

 

Baby Bourke Parakeets Today

These clutches began hatching June 18, 19 and 20. By three weeks of age, parent Bourkes spend more time out of the nest than in it. The optimum age to begin hand feeding is also about three weeks, although I've hand fed a few birds from day one, when necessary, and they did fine.

Parents, Flame and Fuchsia were both hand fed and are very tame.
Their first baby hatched on June 19, then every other day thereafter.
Four babies here.

These two are from Rhett and Cherry, my oldest birds.
(His 1st mate was Scarlett and hers was Bing).Their first
egg hatched June 18, 2012. Four of the five eggs hatched,
however, two babies had dark stomachs, indicating
some internal physical defect. Neither survived long.

Rosie and Pretty Boy are the proud parents of these two.
She laid four eggs. Only these two were fertile. Rosie was hand fed
and is very tame. Her mate will get on my finger if I insist,
but he was not hand fed and isn't as tame as the others.

Looks like he will explode! So full he can barely move.
This is an early photo of one of Cherry's babies (also
shown in the 2nd photo above when older). I was worried
about how absolutely stuffed she'd made her two, but
apparently it didn't do any harm. He's healthy and happy.

On Friday I'll begin hand feeding some, or maybe all of these. I may leave one in each nest for the parents to finish...haven't decided yet. I don't want the parents to be upset over having all their children stolen at once, but two of the pairs are tame and will want to "share" in the hand feeding process with me. They like to eat the hand feeding formula whenever they get a chance. I'll be hand feeding at least five of the eight. Flame, Fuchsia and Rosie all join in when I'm hand feeding. The babies will all share the same cardboard box and later the same cage. Colored bands help me remember who their parents are.

Six Baby Lady Gouldian finches have their own cage away
from Mom and Dad now. They need new homes.

Flame and Fuchsia are bathing in their water dish.
So is their bachelor neighbor, Sweetheart, next door.
Sometimes they start splashing me before I can even
finish giving everyone fresh water. They're so cute!

May all your eggs hatch and

all your babies grow to be beautiful adults.

Peace & Blessings.

Prolific Lady Gouldian Finches

Duke and Duchess have successfully fledged their second clutch. All six hatchlings are healthy and eating on their own. Meanwhile, even before the babies left the nest, Duchess had laid two more eggs! Currently, she has five, but her first and second clutches were seven. Probably more eggs to come.

Duke has a mouthful of paper shreds. Baby at left.

Cup holding paper shreds.

I like to have newspaper on the bottom of our cages.
It is changed regularly and keeps everything clean.
Since Duke was tearing it into big shreds, I gave him a
cup full of paper from the paper shredder. He loves it.

Duke is happily revamping the nest box. No chance for me to clean it out, but he makes sure it's nice and tidy for another clutch. He has covered up all evidence of the last clutch and made it look spic and span. One problem, however. He covered up Duchess's first two eggs. Then she laid two more. He covered those up too!

So, today I went into the box and dug around to find those eggs. Found five buried eggs and moved them back to the surface. I candled them first, but since she hasn't been sitting on them I'm not certain if any, or all, are fertile. Two appear to possibly have veins in them, indicating fertility. They were probably warmed by the previous youngsters who are still returning to the nest box at night. The first clutch of five babies didn't do that, but this second clutch of six does return nightly.

Held the camera inside the cage for this photo.
Duke with shreds in his mouth.

Eight birds require a lot of food. Several dishes on the
bottom of the cage with a variety of food for the
babies to learn to eat on their own.

Duchess is still feeding her brood, even though they are eating on their own as well. Duke isn't interested in the young birds and has even knocked one or two off the perch when they've been in his way. Soon they will be moved to a cage of their own.

Peace & Blessings.