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january
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The original Java sparrow birdroom diary is back! This page will detail all the highs and lows direct from the birdroom, all the information on now my Javas are doing generally and at the more interesting times like when I am letting the pairs go down to breed. Please select a month below to allow you to read about the diary of events in that period.
In 2010 I will be breeding with a total of 9 pairs to start with and this comprises of 3 pairs of Normals from a possible 6 pairs I have, 2 pairs of Fawn from 4 available, 2 pairs of Agate with a spare cock bird and last 2 pairs of Silvers. I will recap my 2009 season briefly for you below.
I did hope to hit the 100 mark again but again I did sadly lose a handful of fledgling young and so I fell a little short of my usual annual target but this is not an issue for me, I was particularly pleased with some of my Normals and the 3 first pairs of Normals I have put down today are all birds with my own rings on and so I am hopeful of some good young from these pairs. Also out of the 4 Fawns placed down to breed today 3 are bred by myself so my own bloodlines are now developing nicely here too. I have spent the last couple of weekends finishing the painting of the birdroom breeding cages and then moving onto selecting the birds I will be trying to breed with initially in 2010. Once this was done I placed all the cocks and hens of each colour in a cage on their own and have also over the last few weeks been slowly increasing the birds food stuffs etc. to I hope bring them into condition. Below you can see the birdroom as it is today with 9 breeding cages all set up and running. I have not yet placed the baths on the cages because they need a good wash and this will be a job for tomorrow, I also did not want to unsettle the pairs any more today as they have been in a busy and at sometimes noisy birdroom with me in their getting things all sorted out for them.
The top row, cages 1 to 3 has in it a pair of Normals and 2 pairs of Fawns, the middle row, cages 4 to 6 has in it from left to right 2 pairs of Normals and a pair of Agates, the bottom row, cages 7 to 9, has a pair of Silvers in cages 7 and 8 with the last pair of Agates in cage 9. I took a few photos, as usual when in the birdroom and for something different I thought I would post a photo of wash of the colour's I am attempting to breed with this year, the photos will have in them a true pair with the cock being on the left. You will not only be able to study the beak and eye differences in the 4 images but also in 3 of the 4 the feather differences too. The cocks in all but the photo showing the Normal pair have got noticeably darker skull caps.
When selecting the bird to put down to breed first it is always a good idea to check up on the state of the claws on all birds and as you can see from the image below I had to do some manicuring work too, the image is of an Agate cock bird whose claws were a bit long to say the least!
I hope the next posts will be my the beginning of my journey breeding more Javas in 2010, we will see, I cannot decide this the Javas will! To close I can update you on Paddy 'n' Max the 2 hand tame Javas we have in the house, as you can see from the images below they are colouring up nicely and are also becoming more confident when leaving their cage to venture into our from room, quite often if they are out an done of us is on the PC they will land on either the back of the hand while you are trying to type or the keyboard itself to see what's happening, these birds are great pets, if you get the chance get one or two you will not be disappointed!
January 17 Good news on the 9 breeding pairs, 7 of those put down last week began to nest within 2 hours of being put down, good news in itself but it does not necessarily mean fertile eggs will follow. The photo below shows 2 nestboxes and just how much nesting activity has taken place in 6 days, the lids on all 9 nestboxes were flat as you can see if you refer to the large image posted on January 10 and now these 2 particular nests belonging to 2 pairs of Normals are showing positive signs along with the majority of other to differing degrees.
I have got eggs appearing in 2 nests of Normals and a pair of Fawns, the first 2 pairs to lay can be seen below, first was my best pair of Javas (Normals) put down to breed this year, I am hoping for some very good birds to come from this pairing, they are both first time breeders as they were bred in 2009 by myself. Cock to the front and hen at the back on this image below, can you see the difference in the birds?
This Fawn pairing below is today on 2 eggs and is made up of again of 2 2009 Nesbitt bred Javas the hen is on the right.
I do see signs in other hens, low and swollen vents becoming more apparent so hopefully more eggs to follow in other nest soon. January 20 January 27
Fertile eggs in the nests are growing in number and I hope to see some chicks appear on February 6th of my calculations are correct, I will of course keep you posted on this and any other news from my Java birdroom. The other pair of Agates I feel will be producing a clutch of clear eggs and if this is the case I will look at changing the cock bird and try the new pairing from this point, I can swap this colour around a little as all birds are unrelated. February 7
There are now a total of 4 chicks in this nest as of today with the possibility of 2 more to follow. The first Normal of 2010 has hatched out today and this is from my best pairing so I hope there are more to follow and that they survive so this good bloodline is carried on.
Sadly I am not having much luck with the Agates with the remaining pair of visual Agate to visual Agate clutch of 6 eggs being removed today due to infertility. I will let them have one more go to see if the cock mates with the hen. This is frustrating to me as this pairs behaviour is matching what you would expect from a fully bonded couple of Javas. February 9
I thought I would show you just how I track the progress of my breeding pairs. The image below shows 2 active breeding cages at different stages of progress. The top cage (number 3) has got chicks and once they appear in the nest I change the cage drinker to a larger one and also the seed tray is changed to one that is able to hold at least double the amount of seed in it.
You will also notice the close rings hanging from the nestbox, as each chick hatches I mark this on the nestbox sheet and place the correct numbered ring onto the nestbox. Also on the nestbox sheet I mark when I should be looking to look and check for actually fitting the ring onto the baby Javas leg. All these act as visual reminders to me as to the stage each of my breeding pairs are at and the notes on the nestbox sheets act as a reminder for me not to forget to put on the close rings. So if today you could see all my breeding cages you would see 4 with large drinkers on the outside of the cages and 5 with smaller ones and looking into the cages themselves you would see 4 large seed trays and 5 small oval ones. I am then immediately able to tell which cages have young birds in and thus need attending to first for feeding, watering and later close ringing etc. February 21 I have got a total of 31 chicks in the nest counting after today's sad Silver death and I hope more Fawns will hatch soon in a nest full of fertile eggs. I did have to split up a pair today, the Agate cock was always in the nest but the Normal hen was doing exactly the opposite, not going anyway near it! I am already thinking that I will not be too successful in rearing any Agates as was hoped, we will see though a rest and pairings later on in the year may prove me wrong, I do hope so. February 24 The Fawn pair on 7 fertile eggs are sitting tightly and I hope that these hatch out ok and this should begin around the 26th of February. I am also hoping that the Agate to Agate pairing that is now on 7 eggs will produce fertile eggs, I will let you know when I am able to inform you with confidence. All other young are doing ok with the majority now being successfully close rung. My Java news from July to December will continue on another page ~ link to follow in July! |
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