Baby English budgies!!!

Well, I've been without a computer for a few weeks now!!!...seems like forever. I have lots of birdie news but no way to upload the photos so they will have to wait a little while :o(
I'm currently hand feeding my first EB babies. They are reeeeally adorable. There are three of them. Three out of six eggs hatched. They are the first for proud parents Winston and Hedwig. Both parents are blue. Winston has a yellow face and Hedwig a white one. The little ones are all looking slate grey at the moment but there are starting to be hints of blue feathers coming in.

Also Oliver and Tabitha(peach-faced lovebirds are on their first clutch...four eggs so far. It's very exciting.

My November lovebird babies have all found nice homes. Those parents - M&D - are very "nestie" at the moment . They will have their nest box back in a week or so.

I'll update with photos as soon as I have my own computer again.

Happy New Year 2011 to all!

Weaning Cage

Big bird cage is all set for the babies. Everything is down near the bottom so that they can find it. They easily find their food and water dishes. What smart birds. It didn't take them any time at all to learn how to climb up the bars and sit on the high up perches. I thinks that they are proud of themselves...I'm proud of them.

We love our new cage. We can see through the bottom just like our brooder.

Ozzie Want a Cracker?

Two year old Cedric shares his cracker with Ozzie the budgie.

How about a drink to help wash that down?

Ozzie Want a Cracker?

Playing Catch

What's for Lunch? Birdie Menu and Dishes

Today's special is brown rice, spinach, carrot, green beans, and egg noodles. This is just a little sample of some of the dishes I've collected for feeding. The flatter ones are great for my finches. The deeper ones are fine for the parrotlets , splendid parakeets, american budgies while the lovebirds and english budgies like the medium sized dishes. ( There is a glare from the camera making spots that aren't really there.)

Bedtime Snack for Babies

Hey...what's that??

GOT IT !!

Hey..I want that

sharing is good :o)

Pip's "Window Seat"

Some time last year, while flipping through the latest bird magazine, I saw the coolest thing advertised. It was essentially a three sided clear acrylic box. It had big suction cups on it in order to stick it to a window. Your little bird buddy could sit there and enjoy looking out the window. Well....I wanted one. I immediatley googled that item...but...alas...the size for my birds - small birds ...$100.00 ouch. Oh well - not - going - to happen :o(

Being me I couldn't leave it at that. My birds needed that item!!!! Well, I was in a kitchen store a couple of days later and discovered the answer to my quest. It's really meant to stick on a bathtub/shower wall and hold bottles of shampoo etc...and the best thing... $12.00. The suction cups stick really well and I can put food and toys in it too. Pip is my model in this pic. He loves it.

Coming along babies

Everything is great in bird land. Today the three oldest baby lovebirds had their first bath. What fun! They've started eating some weaning pellets and some little pieces of avicakes. Even the tiniest guy is catching on to it. They're exploring and playing a lot. These past two weeks have gone by too quickly...they grow too fast.

Play Time for Babies

snuggles..

cuddles

We're staying awake for longer periods of time and are more aware of the world around us. Of course we still love to snuggle.

November babies two-three weeks old

I just wanted to say that for anyone who buys one of these November babies and would rather not have them come home until after Christmas - I will be happy to hang onto them until then. I have over thirty birds here who need feeding and care every day...even Christmas. It is my pleasure to do so. I have a routine. It is not a rigid routine but I stick loosely to a feeding schedule.
A word of advise on that: Though a bird needs feeding and water changes and playing with every day, it is best not to do these things at exactly the same time every day. Here's why - if your bird is used to getting these things at the same time always and - for whatever reason you will not be able to provide that suddenly- it will be very upsetting to the bird. Also if your bird is used to having the exact same dishes put in the exact same place in the cage always a) that's pretty boring for your little buddy and b) the dish breaks or wears out or whatever and your fid (feathere kid) has never eaten out of anything but his"red" dish (or yellow or ceramic or whatever) then you may have a problem. Change it up. Move dishes around and use different ones if possible. Let the bird go foraging. In nature they must do this. I have collected many little ceramic dishes from kitchen stores,dollar store, China Town etc. They are sold as sauce dishes and are all very different. My finches like eating out of flat dishes so sometimes I use little ceramic thingies that are meant to put used tea bags on sit or spoon holders. You can use plastic or metal too. I just like the pretty little ceramic dishes. They clean up very nicely too which is sometimes more difficult with plastic. I have lots of spares so I can just collect everyone's dish and replace it with a clean full one. Then I throw all the used ones in the dish washer.

Feathers coming in

Our Green feathers are starting to come in aren't we pretty?? Well mom thinks so.

Santa Baby

Santa Baby....where did I leave those reindeer???

Little Sweeties

These little cuties should be weaned and ready to go by Christmas. Of course they will look a lot different by then. They will have their smooth adult feathers and their face colours will be known by then. these will probably have the deep rosy coloured faces but there is also a chance of a white-faced bird here.

November Babies

Getting Set Up...scale...thermometer...syringes...formula...brooder...paper towels...paper towels...paper towels...

November Lovebird Babies

Looking Like a Dinasaur...sort of...

November Babies

Weighing Time soooooooooooo Huge! LOL 17 grams for the tiny one :o)

November Babies 2010

A Bird in the Hand

Babies Day Out

Exploring Already

Heavy Head

Colours Showing

12, 11,9.and 5 Days Old the oldest one will surely be GREEN {:>}=

Tiny Baby Has a Full Crop - Good Job M & D

November 12 Nestbox Updates

Mommy Lovebird Keeping and Eye on Me

Four Little Sweethearts

Well, I'm pleased to say that we have four healthy lovebird babies. Sadly number four out of the five eggs did not make it ;however, number five - even though he/she is much smaller than the others- is doing great!! What a little trooper :o) That's the way it works regarding size. A baby will hatch every second day. Given that they grow soooooooo fast a six day old baby can be much bigger than a two day old baby. I was surprised and delighted to find number five chick to not only to have survived but be a feisty little guy - doing great. I haven't intruded with my camera today but I did get some shots a few days ago. M(mommy) and D(daddy) are doing a wonderful job. It is a huge job and very tiring. They both work together to keep all the little mouths well fed. Mom does most of the sitting and dad eats and eats and eats and then goes into the nest and regurgitates it to feed wife and kids. He does this all day long.

I'm keeping their food dishes well stocked with veggies, rice, eggs, pasta and sprouted seed and legumes. It really is worth it to feed the healthy diet. it keeps the parents and babies strong.

Next week I'll start hand feeding these little sweeties.

Baby Lovebirds

Four Beautiful baby Lovies!! The biggest one is a week old now and we can tell that he/she'll be green. They are growing fast and I'll pull them in a week's time for handfeeding. It looks like the week between Christmas and New Year's Day is when they will be ready to go.
I'm very much looking forward to the hand feeding. It is such a wonderful experience.

So far nothing has hatched in English Budgie land...being patient (:>}=

UPDATE on Babies

Well...it's been a very crazy month. I've had a couple of family crisis so I've been away from my computer for most of October.
Here it is Halloween already and to mark the day we have a brand new - less than a day old lovebird. I think that this one will be known as "Pumpkin". This little chick looks great and actually quite large for one so young - a real bruiser!
Stuart and Sunshine were taking great care of their clutch of five eggs but alas - they were not viable. That's not unusual for the first time. Sunshine is now sitting on two new eggs - we'll see.
Hedwig and Winston (English Budgies) have six eggs in their nest box - the first having been laid on the 20th of October - good job Hedwig :o)'
On October 5th I acquired a beautiful pair of Splendid Parakeets at a bird show here in Ottawa. They are just as their name suggests - splendid..
I have also just finished making my very first homemade bird cage. it was fun and I still have a couple of finishing touches to add. Two Gouldian finches and two Bengalese finches are living in it so far. As soon as I get a chance I will post pictures of all of the above.

Eggs-iting!!

Stuart and Sunshine have three eggs in the nest. This will be their first clutch. I realise that sometimes things don't go smoothly the first time around so I won't count my budgies ...just yet.
English Budgies have their nest boxes. They are still suspicious of them though. "What the heck...??" They should soon get the idea.
The lovebirds are also working on their nest. They are experienced though as this will be their third time at parenting. They are really sweet and gentle birds and make really nice babies. I'm still hoping for a chick that looks like the mother - dilute yellow with a baby blue rump. It is a really beautiful colour. Right now the pale yellow on mommy LB's face is grubby looking as she's tearing up newspapers. She needs a bath.
Ozzie has expanded his vocabulary and is now saying "good boy" and "sweet baby" as well as "good budgie" It's so cute and really amazing to hear such a voice on a little fellow who's head is hardly bigger than a grape.

New Birds

I'm so very excited to be getting back into the swing of things. September is always a new beginning for me - more so than January 1st.
The summer was great. Our family a few fun getaways. We love spending time in nature - both camping and cottaging. There's nothing quite as nourishing for my soul as a good campfire and sleeping in a tent. However, I really missed my birds and am glad to be not going away from them for the next good while.

The latest arrivals at Heartsong are lovely lovely birds. They are beautiful and cute at the same time. They are gorgeous colours and I can't stop admiring them. What are they?? English Budgies... big beautiful English Budgies. I have three pairs now and they are great!!! If you're not familiar with English Budgies you should be (:>}= They are MUCH bigger than the American - pet shop - version. They are also very calm - which I love. So two pairs will get their nest boxes in October. The other "pair" are too young being only three and five months old. I may end up taming them and just playing with them for about a year as they are simply adorable.
I also have a pair of regular budgies working on their nest. One of those is Stuart and the other is Sunshine. They are both pied and should have some amazing babies. They are going through the cuttle bones like crazy. They are also eating a wide variety of fresh foods as are all the others. Well, all but the new EB's but I will gradually introduce these to fresh foods. First I'm letting them get settled in... and spending a lot of time just admiring them.

OZZY SPEAKS

Oh Happy Day!!! Yesterday as I was playing with my baby lovebirds(still available for sale BTW) I heard Ozzy say it -plain as day- "Good Budgie". I've only said it to him a million times. I've heard him chattering away into his little beaded mirror so I know he' s been practising. I know he's working on more words. They usually become clearer with practice. Our parrotlet Jazz has been talking for years in his funny little voice but Ozzy's voice is clearer than Jazz's. I'm so excited...we have another talker...GOOD BUDGIE!

Birds in the Streets of London

I'm always looking for birds - even on our recent vacation to London, England

Royal Ravens London

Royal Ravens at the Tower of London. To find out the amazing story of these royal birds go to: www.historic-uk.com/DestinationsUK/TowerRavens.htm

Birds in London

OK... so it's not a bird - it's a dragon - it flies right - oh and that's me :o)

Visiters

Terri, Oliver the lovebird, and Lisa It tickles when you get a new birdie hairdo - in other words they "preen" you the same way they preen each other. It doesn't tickle so much when they preen your skin but they do do it out of love .

Lisa and Oliver - I think Oliver is smitten!