50 Shades of Green

[Agapornis]

Well, things have finally settled down around here, going from X-rated to a solid R rating. Fiji seems to have lost interest in her eggs already, so that's good. I can still hear them mating in their cage when I put them to bed, but they aren't doing it on my shoulder anymore thank God! Fiji has lost her brooding weight, and is almost back to normal. She is normally around 70 grams, weighed 94 grams at the peak, and is now 75 grams. Although she still seems a little nippy, she's not AS broody as before!

So the mating season really only lasted a month or so! I expected it to go on for longer. I'm not complaining!

 

[Agapornis]

here is a pic of her, taken last week. She is a good little mama bird, sitting on her eggs.

 

[SilverSage]

I'm glad things are settling down!

 

[Agapornis]

Whew, me too! She rejected her fake eggs, so I took your advice and boiled her real eggs. I felt bad doing it, but she never knew the difference, and now she has no interest in them! Some day I would like to let some hatch, maybe when I am retired and have lots of time, lol. I really want more birds, you are lucky to have so many of them!

 

[SilverSage]

Lol yes but they are LOT of work! Haha, maybe you can come visit mine! I have added colors to my GCC flock! I now have one normal green, one yellow sided, four turquoise, two turquoise/cinnamon, and one turquoise/yellow sided. One pair of my turquoises is on eggs!

 

[Agapornis]

OMG! please post pics as soon as those eggs hatch! Do you start hand feeding the babies right away? Do you put the eggs in an incubator or let them hatch in the nest, THEN put them in the incubator? I wish I already lived in Hawaii, I would buy one of your babies

 

[SilverSage]

Lol I believe very strongly in co-parenting when possible, so I try to avoid doing any hand feeding at all, however this clutch will not be co-parented because their mother would remove all my fingers before their father was even able to get there to help! These are Sully and Acu's eggs. I will wait until they are about 2-3 weeks old and pull them for hand feeding and keep them in a brooder. I don't incubate eggs because it is important for the mental development of the chick to hear their parents just like babies hear mom while in the womb. Chicks actually start squeeking back at mom and dad several days before hatching! I want them to get as much time with mom and dad as possible. If I had a way to safely remove mom from the nest and keep her out while I handled the chicks, I would let her raise them. Unfortunately she will not allow that

 

[Agapornis]

She sounds like a good mama. How fun! I think Fiji would be that way too, she was very possessive of her nest at first. Sundance would stand guard at the open door of their cage, waiting to bite anyone who came near, lol.