Post subject: Roscoe is in breeding mode again--Help
Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 2:48 pm
Finch
Posts: 195 Joined: Feb 2012 Gave happy chirps:47 times Got happy chirps:10 times
To begin with Snwflake (daughter of Roscoe &Bitsy) is wanting her own babies. She sneaks in the nestbox but doesn't know what to do. She has started laying eggs--2in her cage and 1in nestbox. She doesn't sit on them.
Roscoe is really in breeding mode. I have caught him with babies and now today with Bitsy. I'm afraid for them to have a third clutch but don't know what to do. I'm thinking about taking the nestbox down. Babies are 4weeks old. One is still spending a lot of time in the nestbox. Should I separate Bitsy & Roscoe and not let them out of cage together. But then how will they take care of babies?
I think there is something bad in my water because I even found a baby on top of another baby today LOL.
tielfan
Post subject: Re: Roscoe is in breeding mode again--Help
Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 4:29 pm
Site Admin
Name: Carolyn
Posts: 7987 Joined: Jun 2008 Location: Arizona Gave happy chirps:201 times Got happy chirps:725 times
Taking the nestbox down sounds like a good idea. At four weeks the babies should be very close to fledging anyway. You could put an open-top box in the bottom of the cage for babies who aren't quite ready to leave the nest yet, and give the parents a light dose of the long nights treatment. Nothing too extreme, since you don't want their hormones to go down so much that they stop taking care of the babies. But maybe an hour longer than the night length they're getting right now, to give them the idea that the days are getting shorter.
Babies can get sexual very fast. Last year an 8 week old chick was sitting in the seed cup. Her sister climbed on her back trying to get at the seed, and the weight pressed the bottom chick's vent against the edge of the cup. She started doing the hen mating cry, and I was astounded. She wasn't even completely weaned yet.
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Bjornlefevre
Post subject: Re: Roscoe is in breeding mode again--Help
Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 12:59 am
Budgie
Name: Bob
Posts: 747 Joined: May 2015 Location: West-Vlaanderen Belgium Gave happy chirps:140 times Got happy chirps:52 times
Yeah, I'd take down the nestbox 2. Maybe moving around some stuff in the cage could help, but I'm not sure if that would cause them to stop tending to the chicks
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