Pepper and Slinky

[papaya]

Hi there,

since I gave my intro a couple of days ago I will now move to the African Grey site.

I am owned by two African Grey Timneh's Pepper (female) and Slinky (male) since they were both 6 months old. They are now 6 years old.
I had recently noticed mating and nesting behaviour and have since put a nesting box up. They both share the same cage and have been my pets. About a week ago Pepper laid her first egg and I think Slinky (male) was so surprised that he was rolling around the egg too much and it broke. On 4/27 Pepper laid her second egg and today the third. I have added pictures, now there are only two eggs because the first one broke and I removed it.
They are housed in our living room so I can see what is going on all the time.
Pepper is still as sweet as can be and I will play with her or let her out of the cage for short periods of time. Slinky is not the hands on parrot however he loves attention and will always dance and wave for me. He never liked to be touched even when he was a baby. Now he has gotten very protective over Pepper and today actually lunged at me and got hold of my sweater. He has never done that before however has bitten me on numereous occasions. He does step up and will let me transport him from the inside cage to the outside aviary I put them in weather permitting.
Well, this is all new to me. I am not a breeder and I am not sure what will happen if they actually hatch. I am excited for my two birdies however.
I will keep everyone updated (however incubation time will be around 28 days). In the meantime I will read all these wonderful posts on these beautiful animals.

 

[cdog]

Congrats on the new eggs. I'm sure you are very excited. Are you prepared to handfeeding if need be? If you haven't had handfeeding experience then I recommend you get in contact with a breeder or an avian vet and they can teach you how to handfeed.

 

[papaya]

Hi cdog,

thank you. Yes, I am excited too. It is like being pregnant. I do have a breeder that would hand feed but I am really hoping that nature will take its course correctly and that Pepper and Slinky will know what to do. So far they have been great, except for the incident with the very first egg. Now Slinky goes in and out of the nest and the eggs are still ok. What a good boy. I did see him feed Pepper for the first time yesterday. This whole thing is certainly a learning experience for everyone.
They are just so interesting to watch.

 

[cdog]

If this is their first clutch chances are they will make mistakes so you just have to be prepared to take the babies. The first couple of clutches are a learning experience for the parents,a lot of things could go wrong. She might not feed them enough or he might not feed her enough. She might not sit on them enough and in a worst case scenario they might take care of the eggs but abandon or mutilate the babies. So just be prepared to jump in if you have to. Make sure you are giving the parents enough food and clean water to not only feed themselfs but also feed the babies. Offer lots of fresh foods and give them eggs once a week but I would recommend scrambling the eggs with the shell instead of giving them a hardboiled egg because hard boiled eggs look just like the ones they are sitting on so...
Good luck!

 

[wolf0994]

How exciting! Congratulations!

 

[papaya]

I have really never given them egg or egg shells to eat. They are on High Potency Harrison's coarse pellets and I only give some seed (safflower) and apples, grapes, broccoli, carrots and nuts. Now that Pepper has been laying eggs I bought cuttlebone that she did eat pieces of. I think she knows what is good for her.
Cdog, you are right. I know there is a lot that can go wrong, since it is their first clutch but I do believe their instincts will kick in.
One thing however does worry me. In case they do hatch and the babies can stay with their parrents I am not sure what I will do with putting the leg band on at the age of 18 days. I am afraid that my birds will try taking the leg band off the babies and will injure them. I don't want to pull them at the age of 18 days. Ideally I would like the parents to raise them with me interacting with the babies daily.
Any information or thoughts?

 

[cdog]

For leg bands try placing a couple in the nest box a week before you put them on so the parents can get used to them.
As for instincts, this is my pairs third clutch and their last two only three babies survived out of 5. I know I have said this already but be prepared. But don't check on them too much because the parents might abandons the babies or kill them. Only check the eggs once a day and check on the babies twice, once in the morning and once at night just to make sure they are feeding their babies. And I knock on the top of the nest box before I open it to let the parents know I'm there. And it's better to check on the babies when the parents are out of the box.

 

[papaya]

Cdog, that is a good idea placing the leg bands in the nest box.
I have been checking the nest box about 5 times a day because I was a bit concerned after the first egg being broken. Then Pepper laid her second egg 4 days later (I read it takes usually 2 to maybe 3 days) so I was worried she might be egg bound, etc. Then her third egg she laid 3 days after the second one. They are very tame birds and I do interact with both contantly. I hope I can keep up the good relationship throughout them raising the babies. I was planning on handling the babies from week 2 on maybe? 20 years ago I had a pair of pet cockatiels. I let them breed twice and it was the greatest experience. I was handling the babies and playing with them all the time while the parents did the work feeding them, etc. I would want the same with my Greys.
My birds are set up in the living room and we have a very active household. 3 big dogs, one cat and two young children. I vacuum every day (yes, birds are messy, we all know that) and clean their cage. None of that is bothering them, except that Slinky is protective of the nest box and of Pepper. Pepper could care less, she loves her head rubs and kisses. Everything stayed the same, except that there are eggs in the nest now and Pepper spends most of the time in the nest box.
This is all very exciting.

 

[cockatielfan17]

Hope to see some babies soon.

 

[cdog]

I would cut back on the checking when the babies hatch(if they are fertile). If your pair are ok with it, coparenting(handling in the nest instead of handfeeding) would be a better option then handfeeding if you don't want to do the hard work. That is if your pair does a good job raising them otherwise you or your friend will have to handfeed.
Have you candled the eggs to see if they are fertile? How long has it been since the eggs were laid, candling works better if you do it a week after they were laid.

 

[papaya]

I have not candled the eggs. First egg was laid 3 days ago and second today. I was reading up on candling, don't really know if I should or not. I am a bit worried to "mess" something up, like shaking the egg too much, etc. and then it really does not make a difference. Either something hatches after 28 days (plus a few extra days) or not. I would not get rid of the eggs in case they were infertile anyway because I would like Pepper to sit on the eggs full term.
Yes, co-parenting is what I would love to do.
Here is a picture of the cage. Now, I just took this picture (night time) so the cage floor is not clean. I clean the cage in the morning.
The handsome TAG in the picture is the daddy Slinky. Pepper is in the box.

 

[cdog]

You dont have to hold the egg to candle it, just put a maglite on it in the box and see if there is anything in it. And you would have to leave the eggs in until she gets bored with them if they are infertile. Knowing if they are infertile helps because then you don't have to worry about them not feeding the babies or not, and then you don't have to be so stricken on checking the eggs, if they are infertile that is.
Slinky is very handsome.

 

[papaya]

cdog,

oh... I thought I had to pick up the eggs to candle them. Don't get me wrong, I sure would like to know. 28 days is a veeeeeery long time. Knowing if they were fertile or not would be great, but I might worry more knowing there are actually little chicks in there.
If I can candle them without touching them, I will certainly do this. When is the best time? One week. So what is with the second egg that is 3 days apart from the first?
In case I do have little babies and would like to co-parent. When do I start interacting with the babies?
I appreciate all the help and thoughts. Thank you.

 

[cdog]

The best time to candle is from 1 week onward. I would start interacting between 2-3 weeks old, no later then 3 weeks. Just hold/play with them for like 10-15 minutes multiple times a day. When they get older you can play with them longer.
Do you have an extra cage for the babies after they are weaned(if you let the parents raise them), because papa birdy will probably get aggressive with the babies after they are weaned, especially the males.

 

[papaya]

Great advice, thanks.

I was wondering how long I could keep them together. I was more thinking that my female (Pepper) would have a problem with the maturing babies because she is so attached to me and is very jealous of other birds. Hmm... but you say that the males will get aggressive. In case I do keep them until they get weaned I would buy a cage for them. I really haven't decided what I will do in the end? I am taking one step at a time.
First the candling. I will update again in a couple of days when I candled the eggs.
Wonderful forum, thanks!

 

[wolf0994]

This is exciting... keep it coming. I hope for the best for you.

 

[Cliffordsmom]

waaaiiittt. I have a question. Sorry that this is off topic, you feed eggs with the shell????? why?

cute eggies by the way im excited for you!

 

[papaya]

Thank you for all your good luck wishes.
cliffordsmom, I don't feed egg with shell, but have read that many people do. I usually don't feed cuttlebone, since they are on a good pellet diet. Now that Pepper has been laying eggs I figure it will not hurt.
Today I noticed that Slinky (male) ate some cuttlebone (that is a first) and went to feed Pepper. Aren't their instincts amazing. I am excited and I am learning so much by watching them. So far I am very impressed how the two are dealing with this new situation. Pepper is very faithful in sitting on her eggs and will not even mind me banging the cage with the vacuum cleaner. She will not come out of her nesting box.
Now that the second egg was laid yesterday Pepper is defenitely sitting tight on the eggs and will only come out to eat and poop real fast. Whenever I see her I make sure to take her out of the cage and kiss and hug her and give her a special treat or two.
Slinky (male) has relaxed a little bit. His new thing is whenever I open the water bowl door he quickly climbs through. (This happens several times a day, since they both like dipping their pellets in the water to soak them and half the pellets will fall into the water, so I change the water frequently). I then ask him to step up which he willingly does without hesitation and then I bring him back into the cage through the main door. I really don't know why he is doing that, but that is new to me. He is still very protective over the nest box however and I am not sure about how he will react when I plan on interacting with the babies. I know Pepper will probably be ok.
After getting some advice I am planning on candling the eggs over the weekend. I will certainly let everyone know if they are fertile or not. I hope I will be able to tell, since I have never done this before.

 

[cdog]

I feed the eggs with the shell because the shell has a lot of calcium, which the mommy bird needs when laying eggs.

 

[Sulphiria]

Congrats on your eggs! I keep reading this thread waiting for more updates and pics!

Side note...my birds go nuts for eggs with shells. I toss an egg in a bowl, squish is all up, microwave for 20 secs or so, stir, micro for 20 and done. My cag smells them and starts walking back and forth on his cage with his wings open just begging.