Here all the highs and lows direct from the birdroom.

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.

click chosen month above to read diary entries

January 1st 2008
Already the 6 breeding pairs of Normals are showing different levels of interest in their nestboxes. The pairs I have kept together from last year are further on in regard of getting the nest to their liking before the eggs appear. There are 6 small images below showing the differences in the nests, remember that I finish off the nests with a lining of coconut fibre which means that there is no shredded paper visible in the nest bowl. You will see below that this has changed to differing degrees in the 6 nests.

b		b
	b

The differences in the business of nest building are clearly seen in the images above but this does not mean that the pair that do not appear to be nesting much will lay their eggs last. It may be that they like the coconut fibre lining to their nest rather than using shredded paper. I am confident that all pairs have been in the nestboxes so this in its self is a good sign, and also all pairs seem to be getting on well with both sexes in each cage perching close to one another and no squabbling being witnessed to date.

January 4
The Java nest building is progressing nicely in all nests but still no eggs as of today. I think that I may have the first eggs appear within the next 3 days or so; in one or two nests anyway. I am also keeping my eyes on the individual nests and how they are being built and whether or not I feel more nesting material is needed by the breeding pairs. If it is I will place in small amounts of shredded paper and review again until the eggs are laid.

January 5
My favourite pair of Normals have laid the first egg of 2008, no real surprise to me this one but good news none the less. Knowing this pair quiet well I think a clutch of in the region of 8 eggs will follow in the next week.

Above the very reliable '03 & '04 pair.

The first egg of 2008, how many will follow?

I have also got the first egg in a Gladwin & Drury pairing in another breeding cage, it is nice to see the eggs begin to appear again, it has been a while!

January 6
Another egg appeared today and it was from the pairing with the hen being the first Normal Java I bred in 2007, please see the image below, go to my java growth page to see how this hen developed from the egg into a fine looking hen Java. Half of the 6 nests now have eggs in them with 5 eggs being laid in total so far.

January 13
Eggs in 4 nests now with the first egg in nest 4 being laid today, I have a total of 26 eggs at the moment in the nests with 10 showing signs of fertility. The 3 nests with completed clutches (I think?) now have got 8, 8 and 9 eggs in. I noticed that the pair featured in my January 5th diary entry had got a partially covered egg and I removed the piece of shredded paper that had covered the egg slightly, this is a good example of why daily nestbox checks are important and why having your Java nestboxes on the outside of the breeding cage, it is a lot easier to facilitate the checks.

Please roll place your mouse over the image below to see the situation in the nest when I first looked in today and then the second image will show you the better looking clutch with nothing obstructing the eggs and thus possibly stopping the eggs being correctly incubated.

I do have concerns about the state of the nest of another pair of my Normals, it is rather flat and elongated and this could mean that eggs could get rolled into corners of the nest and not be incubated and eventually hatch. You will also see in the photo below that the eggs are not in the nice round arrangement when you have a pair that has a nice, reasonably deep nest bowl.

The last nest I checked today that has its first egg laid is also one I have got to watch as the other eggs appear as you can see by the image shown below, once again daily checks will ensure the clutch if fertile, will hatch normally.

January 13
The Java shown below was thought to be a hen, well today, I witnessed it singing! This just goes to prove that it you should always observe your stock for health reasons and also to ensure new breeding stock are sexed correctly. The newly discovered cock is shown below.

This cock bird was "paired" to another Java and not surprisingly their pairing produced no eggs at all! So, I have now put in the spare Stuart Drury hen I have in with the 100% known cock to see what happens, eggs in 2 weeks I hope!

I have moved the 26 x 2007 bred Javas I still have here into 2 groups of 13 and also out in the cock above in with one group. The 18 late bred Javas were in lower, poorly light cages and I feel this along with the winter conditions is stalling the birds moult into adult plumage. I have uploaded a couple of shots the the 2 groups of Javas below.

Above the newly discovered cock bird in with 12 late 2007 bred unmoulted Javas.

Left, a late bred Java and second right is the 2/nez/07 cock
Java that is still not 100% moulted around the head.

January 21
Today I have split up a pair of Javas due to the fact they had nested but nothing else has happened, the pair a 2006 Stuart Drury cock and a 2007 bred Nesbitt hen obviously did not get on. So I placed them both in one of my outer flight cages with some of the late bred 2007 young featured above. Immediately the cock I removed on January 13 made his way to her and begun to sing and dance, so I will now be catching the two birds up and placing them into single breeding cages for a week or so so I can then introduce them to the breeding cage at the same time and this time to hopefully breed.

I have got my 2008 close rings from A C Hughes as well and I am looking to use all of them, I ordered 60 and would not be too disappointed if I had to order some more, the 60 close rings can be seen below. Oh yes and they are in my favourite colour too!

January 21
While doing my usual daily checks today I came across a thing that made me smile and remind me why I love the character of the Java sparrow so much. One of the nest that has got a full clutch of fertile eggs has now got the remains of the 5 sticks of millet sprays I hang on a cup hook inside the nest wedged in acting like some type of flimsy roof! Take a look at the photograph below and if you can explain why the Javas would do this please e-mail me your thoughts via the e-mail buttons dotted around the justjavas.co.uk website.

The millet sprays can clearly be seen with the masking tape I use to hold
several pieces together for hanging in the cages at the bottom of the image.

There are 5 active nests at the moment with 4 having a total of 27 fertile eggs in, so a promising start to the 2008 breeding season.

January 26
The first chicks of 2008 have appeared a single java in 2 nests. I got my hatching calculation of 18 days from the fourth egg being laid was 100% correct in one nest and a day late in the other.

Above #1 chick in 2008 from the my very reliable pairing featured on my January 5th diary entry

Chick #2 above with its remaining half shell
still in the nest awaiting removal by its parents.

As soon as I get chicks in the nests I hang the closed rings that will be fitted onto the nestbox, numerically as they hatch they are placed on an old storage pin and hung on the nestbox as a reminder that I have to ring young in the days to come. I also write the ringing date, 10 days from hatching on the nestbox sheet along side the number of the close ring to be put on the bird when it is big enough to accept it without it falling off!

Nestbox with ring hanging on it ready to be used (inset - the ring on its holder for safe keeping)
click above for larger image

I also mentioned back in my January 13 post I was concerned about the flatness of the nest with a certain pair of Normals. Well I have now tried to address this worry now a chick is in the nest (#2 Java above) and I have as you can see below placed some nesting materials to increase the 'bowl' effect in the nest to try to stop any chicks being dragged out of the nest. I will of course be checking this nest on a regular basis from now on and will keep you posted to see if my nest rebuilding has worked.

Above, I have put a half ring of coconut fibre and shredded paper
as a defence for stopping chicks being dragged out of the nest.

January 28
The chicks are coming thick and fast now with the nestboxes with young in them having 15 chicks in them. The nest featured above with the rebuilding in it seems to be working with 4 chicks in there today. Please see the next set of images taken yesterday.


	n
For larger photo of Java gape ~ Click above image	Above 1st egg from a Dutton & Drury pairing.

January 30
I am still waiting for the eggs to being to hatch in one nest and for a pair that have been put down to breed later than the rest to begin to lay their first egg (this hen is a 2007 bred first time breeder, they are nesting but no eggs yet!) but the 3 nests with chicks in are now at a total of 20 young birds, with a clutch of 8 in one nest and then 2 lots of 6. All young seem to be doing fine. The other pair on eggs, the Dutton & Drury pairing featured on my January 28 post are now on 4 eggs.

February 2
The total number of young Javas in the nest rose slightly to 23 after the fourth clutch of eggs began to hatch a day earlier than I had thought. 3 chicks hatched on the same day. All 23 baby Javas are doing ok and are being fed well. The other nests have 7 eggs in one with still no eggs in the later paired birds so a decision will have to be made here regarding whether to split the pair up for a while at the back end of the week coming up.

Please see a couple of images below that you have to time well to be able to take, well more luck than good timing really, the actual time a chick hatches or begins to at least.

Classic hatching with the young Java wearing the
'blunt' end of the egg as a hat at least for a while!

A few minutes later and the 'hat' is removed with only a few good leg stretches needed to escape fully.

February 6
Good news as things appear to be very positive for all 6 pairs of Normal Java I have down at the moment, 4 nests have a total of 26 healthy and growing young birds, another nest has got 8 eggs in it and due to incubation seriously taking place now 6 of them are fertile, will the last 2 be too, we will see!

Below you can see a fertile Java egg from the nest mentioned above. Clearly you can see forming veins coming from the mass which is actually the Java developing. If you get the chance to look at your own fertile eggs at this early stage you will be able to see the heart beating, it will look like a very small pulsating dot and no more, a quiet incredible thing to see really.

The last pairing a Stuart Drury cock to a 2007 bred Nesbitt hen now looks like eggs will follow soon as the young bird I bred last year (#10) has now got a very swollen vent area indicating an egg is in place for impending delivery, again we will see.

When you have Java chicks in the nest you will notice more urgency at feeding times from the parents and I see on a daily basis the parent Javas diving down to the softfood and seed when it is replenished and in some cases I do not get my hand out of the cage before the Javas are sampling the fresh food. Below is a photo of such a bird that at times like this, a nest full of chicks it seems to lose any fears and its main priority is to feed its hungry young birds.

I have also today begin to place the first close rings of 2008 on a few young Javas that are big enough to ensure the rings will not come off again when they are put back into their nests. I rang a total of 5 young and will be checking on a daily basis all young in the nests for either the need to fit a ring or to check that one I put on the day before is still on the Javas leg.

February 7
I rung 7 more young today and had a good look at the 26 babies in all nests at the same time, I feed the pairs, supplying them with fresh seed and eggfood and while they are busy eating this in preparation for feeding their young I remove the nestbox to look and see how things are going.

Today I managed to get a photo of a Normal cock that refused to leave his young and to test his resolve I left the lid of the nestbox in the open position while I got my digital camera to take a pic, he never budged! See below, I had to move him off the young with a finger. it took several times before he relented and let me check his family.

"I ain't going no where mate!"

February 10
All is going well with the 26 young Javas in 4 nests and the 8 fertile eggs in a 5th nest begin incubated in true Java style, the 6th pairing of Javas has now begun the egg laying and the hen is on 2 eggs today.

I have been altering my birdroom round a little too. The end of my birdroom which held some breeding cages and storage cupboards has been totally revamped to accommodate a small colony of Timor Sparrows I have, 6 have been placed in the 6 foot x 3 foot inner flight. Nestboxes will go up soon to see if they will breed in this arrangement, sadly cages has not worked. A couple of images can be seen below, one shows the flight from the birdroom doorway and the other the fittest and best looking Timor I have in the colony, it is a cock bird.

Above the new inner Timor flight and the very tidy Timor cock, his companions are not so fit though, yet.

February 13
A more detailed update for you today of how things are going in the breeding room with images from all but one nest (the one with 8 fertile eggs in has been left alone) you will be able to see below that all the young Javas are doing well and now developing their feathers at the usual fast rate.

6 Normals at around 14 days old		Another nest of 6 Normals around 16 days of age.
	b
Large nest of 8 healthy Normals		5 eggs now from the last pair of 6 in total to go down.
	b
All but one Java in the nests with chicks in are now rung.		6 Normals (shown left) that were removed from the nest for close ringing. click image for larger photograph

I thought it would be a good idea to show how I judge whether or not the close ring fitted to my Javas will stay on the bird. Once the ring has been fitted (go to my close ringing page) I slowly and gently bring the ring back over the ankle joint of the Java to see if it passes right off the foot or not. The rollover image below will I hope show you the difference in a bird that is OK and one that will need to be checked tomorrow to see if it has grown sufficiently to accept the 2008 close ring and that it will not fall off in the nest ands potentially get lost for good.

Move your mouse over the image

February 18
Today 4 chicks featured in my February 6 post have hatched out, please see photograph below. There are 4 more fertile in the nest I wonder if I will get my second nest of 8 young Javas? The last nest of Normals has got 7 eggs in the clutch but after looking at the eggs and candling them I am of the opinion that they will not be too many, if any fertile ones in the clutch. I will check daily as usual and let you know.

4 more siblings to come?

February 19
Sadly not 4 more siblings to come from the nest where eggs are currently hatching, another has hatched, making 5 in total but after counting the remaining eggs I saw there was one short and after a little hunting in both the nestbox and the cage I discovered the missing egg. It was in the softfood dish, please see yellow ring in the photograph below.

Now I do not know why the chick was unable to get out of the egg but maybe it unfortunately died trying and the parents knew this and decided to remove it from the nest. Anyway it is a sad bit of news but sometimes happens in both nature and aviculture alike.

February 22
I had a great night doing my first Java talk in 2008 for the Derby & District Bird Breeders Club and I hope that the club members that attended enjoyed the insight into the great bird that is the Java too. Thanks to all who came especially Dean for arranging the talk and my mate Stuart Drury who both had seen the talk before but still seemed to have a good night, all were very friendly and I even met a new JSSUK member Dave too, which was great!!

As expected the only pair of Javas I have on eggs now are sitting on 7 infertile eggs, so I am going to remove the eggs and split the pair up for a week or so. I will then decide what to do from there. All other young Javas are doing well and with all the eggs in the nest mentioned on February 19 doing well, with only the single causality shown above. This give me a total of 33 young in the 5 nests and with this I am pretty content.

March 3
I have just returned from an enjoyable but busy day manning the Java Sparrow Society UK sales table at the popular UK Stafford March event, myself and 8 fellow Java fans, Dave, Brian H, Stuart, Andy, Billy, Tommy, Brian G and Norman had a good day I am sure and I was really pleased to talk to many, many Java folks during the day, so Simon, Brent, James B, Stan D, Fred and plenty more great to see you all today (apologies if I forgot anyone!)

The birdroom is now filling with the sound of young fledgling Javas, a total of 20 from 3 nests are checking out their quarters. The nest with the later hatched young in are doing well with 2 of the 7 being close rung now and hopefully the rest will be rung successfully over the next couple of days. Please see 2 photo's below of some of the newly fledged young and one showing the progress of the 7 later to hatch Javas.

March 6
3 of the 5 nests with young in them now have got a total of 14 second round eggs in them, a 4 and two 5's. It is not unusual sometimes for these eggs to be infertile with the hen laying her eggs and the cock being busy caring for the young birds in the cage. We will soon know what the score is here regarding any fertile eggs.

Last night March 5th, I gave my second Java sparrow talk of the year to the friendly folks of Kettering & District Cage Bird Society and again I hope I opened a few peoples eyes to the wonderful Java and some of its history and future too, thanks to Steve and all for a great night!

March 17
I have been a little busier over the last few days, especially the weekend. I have been removing first round babies from their parents, changing nesting materials in dirty nestboxes and generally tidying up around the birdroom and aviary section.

The first 20 young Javas have been placed in the large flight I have along with as usual, an adult hen to ensure the babies are soon to learn where the food and water is located in the birds new housing.

These 20 Javas above were moved early on in the day on March 15th to ensure plenty of daylight to let them settle in.

You can see from the photos below that once a pair of Javas has just about weaned their current round of young the next set of eggs appear quiet quickly and this is good in one way but problematic in others, areas like:

The new pair of Normals I put down at the end of February now have begun to lay their first clutch, I bought a pair of Javas from Newark sometime ago but sadly when I got the pair home I saw the cock had 2 toes missing, this was not seen when I bought the birds in the hall as it was always on the floor and its feet were buried in the deep seed covering the bottom of the cage, I should have known better!!

The 2 images below illustrate nicely the differences to look out for if your hen in a breeding pair is about to lay her eggs. Look at the vent areas in the 2 photos below and you can clearly see the swollen vent of the hen, in fact she laid her first egg for me the day after this image was taken on the 15th of March I think!

Above left at the front the cock bird in this pairing and right the hen with the swollen 'fluffy' vent area.

March 23
I have removed 7 eggs from pair today, these eggs were not going to hatch, I could tell by the condition of them and also when I candled the eggs with a torch they were clearly not incubated correctly. I would expect this pair to have eggs again within 10 days.

Good news in 2 other nests (see 2 photographs below), both have had young birds hatch, only 1 in each nest but that is ok, I do not think I will get more than 3 in each of these 2 nests due to the fact the eggs we laid while the pairs had young still in the nest and as the pair above where all the eggs were removed, the full clutch was not incubated in the right manner.

The only nest with feathered young in today had all 7 Javas fledge, I noted today's date on my calendar and will remove the babies in 14 days time now I have seen all the young birds out of the nest. I would also expect to see eggs follow soon from the hen in this pair. Check out the picture below showing all the young with the parents and if you click this image a larger one will open focusing on 3 of the 7 young nicely posing on a perch.

March 26
Today as I normally do I did my usual check around all the nestboxes and breeding cages etc. and can now report I have got 5 chicks in 2 nests, a 3 and a 2. I do not think there will be any more hatch in these 2 particular nests due to the poor incubation I highlighted above.

The other pair on 6 eggs sadly will soon have their eggs removed due to them not showing any signs of fertility. This is the second hen the cock in this current pairing has ben put with and so far I have got no resulting young so it may be down to him for some reason not mating correctly or indeed at all.

I do have a spare cock bird to put with the hen but he obviously is not in top breeding condition so when I decide to split the pair in a few days I will possibly put both birds in the outer flight cages for a rest.

March 29
Yet again the Java sparrow has proved me wrong as I have had some more chicks hatch in the 2 nests I was speaking about on my March 26th post. I have now got 7 young in the 2 nests and all are doing well as you can see from the images below.

I am sorry if you have tried to access my site over the last 2 days and not been able to get on it, this was due to some technical issue. Do not ask me what but all is ok now. I am going to the Java sparrow society AGM tomorrow in Worcester and am looking forward to meeting Java pals both old and new at the meeting.

I have removed the 6 clear eggs and split the pair up as I said I was going to do. I am unsure if I will put them down again as a pair, I will decide in a couple of weeks but in the meantime I have taken out the divider from this no vacant cage and the one next to it that is holding 7 young newly fledged Javas to give them more room while I have this option available. Being able to do this is a good example why dividers between your cages are in my mind, a very good idea because of the flexibility they can give you at times like this one, please see photo taken today of the family of Javas enjoying more space before the young birds are taken from their parents next weekend. Already the hen has begun to lay her next round of eggs with egg number 1 coming today.

I am also saving all the discarded, infertile and fertile eggs from 2008 to see how many are typically thrown away in a Java breeders birdroom in a season. The image below shows the amount I have saved so far with the 6 clean but sadly infertile eggs being at the bottom of the dish.

April 3
I am very pleased and it is a fantastic honour to have been elected as the new Chairman of the Java Sparrow Society UK (JSSUK) at the AGM last weekend. It is really good to be working to promote the Java sparrow in the UK and beyond and I am really lucky to be working with so many great people who share the same passion for the bird.

I have had 2 days away for work and was working up near Sunderland so the first thing I did today on my arrival home was to check out the young in the nests in my birdroom. All was fine with the 7 young fledged Javas doing well and looking all set for their removal from their parents and placing them in the large outer flight I have.

The 2 nests mentioned on my March 29 posting have got 7 healthy young in and the last pair on their second round who's eggs were due to hatch around this date have produced 4 young so far, maybe 3 more to follow. So I am really pleased with this and these young appearing yesterday from this Drury x Pover pairing, can be seen in the photograph below, these 4 young take the number of Javas hatched so far in 2008 being 44.

April 7
A pictorial update today for a change, all about the 5 pairs of Normal Javas that I currently have down on eggs and chicks.

April 12
I have had a busy day today, cleaning out the 2 large flight cages in my outer area. As well as doing this I caught up the 16 or so late 2007 bred Normal Javas to see if I can begin to sex them into cocks and hens. I also put down a pair of Normals that I split up a couple of weeks back after they had a round of clear eggs, hopefully I get better luck this time!

You can see from the 2 photographs below how dirty and dusty the job can be when cleaning out, as if you didn't know already eh? The 4 flight cages I have do have quiet deep litter in them, I use say around 30mm minimum of EasiBed but when left for a while this can easily double in depth due to wasted food etc. and in the image below left you can see just how big a pile of dirty cage litter you can have at cleaning out time, surprising eh?

Also shown below right is a rather scary photograph of yours truly showing the precautions I take while I am cleaning out my birds, I wear a mask, sorry but I know its a bit worrying to look like this (some say I look better like this!) but it is a vital piece of kit in the birdroom to stop getting harmful dust and germs into your chest and airways.

The 2007 bred Javas are slowly, very slowly getting their adult feathering and I have now as I said placed them back into the cleaned flight cages in what I think are cock and hen only arrangements.

Above. 2 hens (I hope!) illustrating the differences in their moulting process, both birds are about 7 months old.

Above, 5 cock birds again, clearly showing the different rates that separate bloodlines of Javas can moult at.

I have got a couple of Java friends waiting to take up to 6 pairs once they have fully moulted but the birds have got different ideas and are taking their time in doing so, but there is not a lot I can do but wait, I reckon by the end of May they should all be about ready, which would be a moulting out period of around 8 months.

April 13
I managed to ring 5 of the 6 youngest Javas I have in nestboxes currently and as you can see from the images below they are all doing well aged around 8 to 11 days old. I always mark on the nestbox sheet 10 days after the chick has hatched to act as a reminder for me to check but I also use a visual guide on the actual Java chick itself.

I look at the length of the growing feather quills on the birds wings too, usually at around 10 days of age you get a quill growth on the wing of about 3 to 5 millimeters and this is a pretty good guide the young Java is nearing the time when the closed ring will stay on. See the image taken today of the quill growth of a Java that successfully had its ring fitted with no chance of it coming off, a perfect fit! If you click this photograph then another, larger image will open up showing the difference in oldest and youngest birds in a clutch as mentioned above. The 2 Javas in the larger image are 3 days different in age.

Obviously what I am detailing today does not mean it is always the same for every clutch of Javas but is more of a guide on how I work in my birdroom for you then to look at how things go for you and your Javas to then let you develop your own methods in managing your livestock.

Above, all 6 young settling back into their nest after 5 of them have been successfully rung today.

April 19
Not a great deal to report but all is going well with the Javas and I have now got chicks hatching out again, please see the image below of a single bird that has got I hope, 3 more siblings to come soon. The Java chick below is #47 in 2008, so I am nearly half way to my planned 100 to be bred in this breeding season.

April 23
All going swimmingly with all young Javas doing well and even the smaller clutches are doing well when sometimes I have noticed in the past that the parents can seem to switch off the maternal button a little when they have fewer mouths to feed in the nest but all seems ok this time around in that respect. 4 Javas in one nest now fledged and all together on same day too see photo of the family below.

Cock Java is far right with hen to his left and the newly fledged family alongside the watchful parents.

The youngest Javas I have currently in the birdroom are growing well, now 3 to 4 days old, image of the small clutch below.

April 30
I have now rung Javas #47, #48 and #49 so half way to my planned century. More eggs are appearing in other nests too and this coming weekend will see a few fledged Javas taken from their parents. I will keep you posted on this all as is happens.

May 12
Yet again a pair of Javas with a clear round, this is the same pair as mentioned back on March 26, were split up recently, the hen is laying the often quoted textbook 6 eggs but sadly again the cock has not filled a single egg. I have now moved in a proven Stuart Drury 2006 cock bird to see what happens now with the unproven hen. I may try the cock with another hen later on in the year but the only other hen I could pair him to is an 2007 bred Nesbitt bird which is moulting at this moment.

I have had to do a lot of nestbox 'housework' over the last few days too and as you can see from the 2 images below it is vital to check your next clutch of eggs are in a nice deep and clean nest bowl to try to ensure they do not get dragged out by earlier round young that may still be in the nest or an over sensitive pair that shoot from the nest as soon as you enter the birdroom.

Out of these 9 eggs there are 4 to 5 eggs showing signs of fertility and this will the last round of young from this pair, certainly over the summer months anyway. I do have a concern that this nest will only have one or two young hatch out as I think the fact the earlier round of Javas has meant the parents were unable incubate as they would have liked, this could due to caring for their earlier bred young, but we will see (this is becoming a catchphrase for me in 2008 I think!).

I took 4 young Java from a pair over the weekend and noticed 3 of the 4 young have lost their tails for some reason, initially I had thought only 2 were like this but the tail on the 4th young Java was not in a brilliant state either. I am not sure why this is the case, I have had it occasionally happen in the past but not with so many young in one nest.

Please see images below, you will notice that on the photograph below right the new feathers are growing already and that they are the beginning of the classic black tail of the Java when it is in adult plumage.

May 21
Since the 12th of May I have done 2 talks on the Java for Severn Counties Foreign & British Bird Society in Bristol on the 15th and then on the 19th for Lincoln Budgerigar & Foreign Bird Society. I would like to thank those who came along to both talks and I hope that you all enjoyed the evenings as much as I did, your hospitality on both occasions was most warming and welcome.

If you have a local club or society that I may be able to travel to in one night and you think they would like to take the weird and wonderful journey through the history and more of the Java sparrow then please do e-mail me via the links on this website.

The season in regard to breeding has gone well with a total of 53 young either fledged or in the nest, this is not counting the fertile eggs in other nest too, so more may come yet before I begin to wind down the Javas breeding season for a well deserved rest over the summer months of July and August and also into September.

I have had a lot of clear eggs and clutches that were removed due them being laid to early (when previous round young were still in the nest) and not incubated correctly for the same reason I feel. I have also had a first in all the years I have kept Javas, this I will recount in both words and photographs below.

The pair in question is my oldest one with the Nesbitt 2003 bred cock being with a Phil Thompson 2004 hen bird. They have reared 2 clutches, I think 9 young in total and during the rearing of the second round the hen began to lay round number 3, not unusual at all in my birdroom so nothing concerned me at all here.

The hen typically lays largish clutches of 8 and 9 and true to form 9 eggs finally appeared and incubation of sorts started, of sorts because for some reason the hen got in her mind to keep covering the eggs with shredded paper and thus the eggs at the bottom were not being heated correctly by the hen as she was not in direct contact with them as you would expect.

Anyway the hen carried on this burying process she had decided to embark on and when I could I removed the paper to reveal the eggs again, eventually I decided to make a paper 'bowl' from some kitchen towel and placed all 9 eggs in this to see what happened, yes you have probably guessed it, the same again and almost immediately too!

I thought ok I will see what happens the next day and then make my decision to either remove the eggs totally or not. I saw on the next day then hen had laid another egg on top of the hidden clutch. She is now on 4 eggs and I have not bothered yet to remove the eggs from under all the paper under the new clutch. Please see 3 photographs below of the egg sandwich story!

I then noticed then that the cock bird appeared to be a little bald under the chin, it would seem like the hen as been over zealous in the preening stakes and as you can clearly see from the image below no trace of feathers at all, the total area of black feathers usually seen under the chin of Normal Javas is no gone!

So quite an interesting time and we will see what happens with these eggs that follow. Have you experienced this kind of thing before with your Javas? If so please e-mail me to let me know by e-mail.

The earlier bred young Javas are doing well and moulting out nicely and oddly enough they are coming into adult colour quicker than the 16 or so late 2007 bred ones! Another oddity that I cannot really put my finger on as to why it is happening, perhaps you can let me know too!

2008 bred Javas. looking rough at the moment but I am confident soon they will look great!

The 2 nest with young in I have at the moment are doing well with 3 now fledged and in around 10 days they should be ok to move from their parents and a nest of newly hatched young are doing good too with the 4 Java babies being cared for in true Java sparrow fashion, see image below of chicks #50 to #53

June 14
I am now in the process of winding the breeding pairs down in readiness for their well deserved summer month break. I have got 4 pairs that are on chicks at differing levels of growth, see a few recent images below.

Close up of a Normal chick close to fledging, in fact this birds siblings are out in the cage today.

Latest Javas to hatch with a possible 3 more to come, this is from a pair that I paired
up late, then hen's previous cock did not fill any of her 12 eggs from 2 rounds.

A nice nest of 6 Javas with 4 of them being close rung, the last 2 will be done in a day or so.

The birds above if they all survive will bring me to a total of 66 young bred so far in 2008 with 64 being from 5 pairs. I am pleased with the way the birds have bred overall and still could get another 3 chicks from the nest with only 2 hatched out in so far, we will see.

Due to the fact I am winding down the breeding for a while I guess that the regular diary entries may slow down, but I soon hope to show you some of the young bred in 2008 that are now colouring up into their adult plumage nicely

My Java news from July to December will continue on another page ~ link to come