Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch

I am so proud of Goldie, she finally laid her first eggs last October 10th! 

She had been busy preparing her nest a couple weeks earlier. She tidied her nest and threw bigger wood shavings out.

I could feel her bulging tummy, when I checked her.

Then one day, I knew she had laid her egg because she spent a lot of time inside her nest and... Baby Blue was inside too! 

I guess he was there to give support to laying Goldie, as Baby Blue is an amiable budgie. I love him so much.

 Then, two days after, she laid another egg, and so on ... in total she laid 4 eggs.

She started to sit on her eggs after she laid her first egg and only came out to dump and stretch her self out. She also drank a lot but ate a little since she spent only a little time outside her nest. Baby Blue had done his tasks as the male budgie very well, he always standby to feed and preen Goldie every time she popped her head out of the window hole. Often he accompanied her female inside the nest... don't know what he was exactly doing inside since I couldn't open the nest's door without disrupting them and their activities. I guess he did it as a form of protection.

Normally it takes 18-21 days for the first egg to hatch. But after about 1 month, I decided to removed the eggs out because none of the eggs hatched. I accidentally dropped one of the eggs and it's obvious to me that the egg was not fertilized. 
It took Goldie a couple days to finally realized it.
Though I was disappointed but I have guessed that, I think.

Oh well, I wish they would really mate and produce some squealers someday... <sighing> 

Rascal

After four days of pain and mostly spent snuggling in his blanket, sometimes in my arms, Elmo decided that he's too bored. So, he sneaked into his neighbor's cage and planned on an ambush. LOL

  

It's my  day to day entertainment and chaos... LOL 

Sometimes, I need to intervene in breaking up their fights. Many times it's between Goldie and Elmo since Elmo is very curious and loves to have a peek over Goldie's nest. 

Goldie has been quite territorial lately, since she is sitting on her eggs for over 3 weeks now.

The World Belongs to Those in Love

Mating season has come for the birds! 

And Goldie seems to finally reach maturity! 

she looks ready to lay her first eggs. 

They had been checking their nest quite often now. 

Compared to the first time I brought the nest to their new cage 

a couple months ago, it's so different now. They're no longer afraid to go inside.

Baby Blue has also been a gentleman. He preens and feeds his mate a lot. He dances and sings and plays with her. To my wonder Goldie was still not very interested to mate with him. 

As far as I notice, Baby Blue has not yet successful in convincing Goldie. 

Feathered Friends --- Outdoor Activity Edition

Beside providing premium mixed seed for my feathered friends, I also supplement them with fresh veggies and protein. Usually I give them corn and some greens like my homegrown kale, green beans and oregano, as well as broccoli, carrot, peas, and mung bean sprouts I buy from the market. 

Occasionally I give them minced apples, pears and grapes. But, they don't seem to really like them since fruit contains a lot of water which my birds, especially the budgies, consume very minimally or not at all.

I also let them play outside their cage every day, so they can play and eat together, hop around the metal perch.

I used to sunbathe them every morning for about 30 minutes to keep them healthy. And that means I bring them to the rooftop where my container garden is located. So during this time I sometimes take them out to play around the plants. Just enough to let them enjoy being in the nature and not always in  confinement.

But I had my lessons to be careful when I do this since my bird almost flew away. 

It's scary to even think about it...

Because even though they are tamed, but in the inside they are still wild birds who will run away back to the wild when given the chance.

So I have to make sure that I have the tips of their feather trimmed from time to time.

Though it looks cruel but better for their safety.

The only one I expose much to the garden is Elmo-the lovebird. Almost every day I will take him with me to the garden when I water the plants. I will let him perch on my shoulder during that time. But he will always climb up to play under the first layer of my straw hat as soon as I put the hats on. I like to double the hat, and he seems to be very delighted running round the bottom layer of the hat while I work. He's such a cutie!

When his flying feathers have regrown I decided not to trim them because I believe that he's tamed and bonded with me already. So I try to test him from time to time by bringing him with me to the garden, so he will get familiar with the house and the surrounding and make it his permanent home. Inside the house he never tries to escape but usually if I take him to play in my bedroom I will always close the window because I don't want him to be tempted, since there's a bird shop next door where he could listen to all the chatters of his kinds.

And then one day at the garden, he might be startled when I fix the position of my hats that he flew away and down to my neighbor's rooftop. 

When I jumped across the wall to pick him up he flew again to a quite long distance but he stopped because there's a wall against him. Thank God he didn't flew down the 3rd floor! I couldn't imagine how he will end up! Lesson learned!  

                             

My New Babies Part 3

Hello, back with Baby Blue and Elmo again!

During daytime, I let them out to play and socialize. During this time also, I introduce them to different food besides their staple 'mixed seeds'. I let them try sweet corn, broccoli, beans, long beans, carrots and apples. They don't really eat much but my mission is to get them familiar with fresh veggies and fruit. And I think this mission was accomplished.

My other mission was to make them get along to each other. 

Look at how cute they are in the above pictures. 

At the same time that also expresses how they  sometimes turned their faces away from each other. 

Actually, I have felt content with only two birds, 

Baby Blue and Elmo. Though, they sometimes fight but so far I can see that they're quite connected to each other. 

Until one day I saw something inappropriate...

Baby Blue was trying to mount Elmo!!!

I've seen from the Internet that a parakeet can practically mate a Lovebird but they are unlikely to have offspring out of that relationship since they are different species. 

I was really perplexed. 

Could it be that Elmo is actually a female? 

I don't have the answer.

But I know what I should do...

And after several days... 

taaaa daaaaa....

I bring Goldie home!

I've noticed Goldie at the Bird Seller for sometime. She is a quite active and cheerful female among others. She's also younger than her peers in the cage. She has only one shortfall, one of her toes is deformed. It could be a birth defect or caused by an assault 

from other birds. 

But the point is, this defect will prohibit her from being purchased as she is not considered impeccable.

This was one of the determining factors which led me to decide to purchase her, besides her personal characters which I believe will be compatible with Baby Blue who is a gentle and kind bird.

See, I act like a mother, picking her daughter in law!

 Haha... just kidding! :-)

But surely, choosing your pet carefully(which is translated into their characters)is an unwritten laws, since I have had a not so good experience with Snowy before!

You better make sure that they have good characters and can get along with others, including their masters! 

So, here is Baby Blue with her new Bride. And Goldie was the name that popped up in my mind the first time I brought her home. I also called her Chica, 'cause her face and color reminds me of a chick. And Chica also a word in Spanish which means girl.

Surely Baby Blue is the happiest Parakeet on earth right now. 

Ever since Goldie was brought home, he was very clingy to her, always trying to feed or preen her.
He's such a good gentleman. 

He did try to mate her, but she refused... 

and she still refuses until now. 

Maybe she needs time, or maybe she's not mature enough yet. 

And I see that Baby Blue has been kind and gracious. 

He didn't force himself on her, but make an effort to bond with her.

What a sweet guy! :-)