A Match Made in Heaven Part 2

Still remember Elmo, the Blue-Masked Mutation lovebird which I also called Bibi? In earlier post I was determined that Elmo is a female because it acted out like a female lovebird in mating mode when it is around me. Especially if I pat its back. It would bend its body, spread its wings and lifted up its tail! Until one day... Elmo tried to mate my hand like a male lovebird!!! Now I admit that what experts had said is really true that all those early signs can be very...misleading!

Since the day I brought Olive home, I have tried to make her and Elmo friends.  Elmo hang out with Baby Blue and Goldie almost every day under my supervision but of course they have a huge gap because they're not the same species. 

So I wanted Elmo to have a same-species buddy.

Different from Elmo, since the beginning I was certain that Olive is a female. She is a Dutch-blue-mutation peach-faced lovebird. Beside the fact that they are different sex but they didn't seem to be attracted to each other. They even fought every time they played together. It's mostly Elmo who attacked her. I think Elmo was just being territorial.

Exploring new nest

So, I decided to match them. I moved them into one big cage which I used for the budgies and I housed the budgies into a new smaller cage fit for their size. I moved them in with great anticipation. Thank God they can get along pretty well. After sometime, I introduced them to a nest. I did this because Olive would always prey upon the budgies' nest and always tried to enter their cage and harass the keets. I knew it's mating season and she wanted a nest. 

Look how cute they were as they were exploring their new nest!

After sometime, they started to mate and Olive laid 4 eggs. She laid her first egg outside the nest. Coincidentally I was not home and by the time I was back, my mom reported that the egg was broken. And when I checked I saw a hole on the egg which probably caused by Elmo or Olive. Maybe they tried to move the egg, thus, accidentally 

broke the egg.

After a couple of days, she laid her second egg and so on. Then after about 26 days, her first egg was hatched and 5 days later the second chick was hatched. The third egg never hatched. It may not be fertilized so I removed it.

Today, the first chick is about 16 days old and the youngest is around 12 days old. I introduced them to hand-feeding today but only partially in the afternoon since the mother still feeding them. And I do not separate them from the parents. I don't want to encourage the parents to mate again by doing so.

Oh one thing that bothers me is the information I got from the internet saying that they are actually not the same species and thus should never be matched, as their offspring may be sterile and will have lots of health problems. I wished I knew this since the beginning but it's just waaaaayy ... too late! I can only wish for the best for these chicks! 

It looks like they inherrited the looks of their mother and probably the color too. Well, let's see how it turns out when they're fully grown! :-)

A Guest in My Rooftop Garden

This is a late post of a wild bird, a Yellow-Vented Bulbul, which chose my garden as her favorite nesting haven. It has laid eggs in  this same nest twice, and each time only one egg hatched.

What was amazing about this bird, the chick grew only in about two weeks and then it's gone with the wind... :-)

Anyway, I'm glad to haven been chosen as a host...

A Match Made in Heaven

Goldie is sitting on her new eggs. Yep, just after about a month since I removed her unfertilized eggs she started to lay new ones. I thought this time would be different, but maybe I am wrong...again. She has been sitting for almost a month but nothing has happened. 

I took pity on Baby Blue because Goldie still refuses to mate with him despite his debonair personality. He's been a very nice male budgie anyway. He's been taking care of Goldie and has always stood by the nest, feeding and preening Goldie all the time. I'm starting to think that they are not soulmate.

Parakeet is a social bird, they love to live in a pack, so don't be surprised to find two same-sex budgies kissing and regurgitating(feeding) to each other 'cause they can mate with other same-sex keet with just no problem. They just need a mate to play and hang out with. I guess, I was thinking that Baby Blue needed a female budgie when he started to show signs that he wanted to mate. He tried to ascend Elmo in several occasions! But giving him a female budgie has been proved wrong since budgies and lovebirds are well-known for their choosing of their own mate. 

Beside that, one thing that bothers me much is the fact that Goldie likes to abuse Baby Blue. Every time he ate I noticed Goldie would be making loud noises and thus discouraged Baby Blue from eating, she also liked to shove-him-off the perch to the bottom of the cage. Baby blue seemed like a stressed budgie. He loses weight and feathers. His molting seems never finished despite all the vitamin and medication I gave him. He pluck his wing, back and tail feathers, both of his sides are also bald. He's a lone bird, he doesn't like to explore anymore and he's no longer happy. He always stands on his perch. I had tried to separate them several times when I see the bullying was escalating. But not only Goldie but even Baby Blue cried for other every time I separated them to a different cage. It's funny to have found Stockholm Syndrom in animal, where the abused has strong emotional ties with its abuser. But I know I have to do this to save him... before too late...

Baby Blue in shaggy feathers. Looks old and unenthusiastic.

In the end, I bought another 2 male budgies to be his friends. Noel (white) and Tweety (yellow). They quarrel with each other sometimes but so far they can get along together in the same cage. Of course I provide them their own perch and food.