Where's number 5?

We have spent part of the last two days with the 'tiels outside on our (screened) patio where their home is. It's hot here in Miami (yesterday the high was 90 degrees). We gave both Victoria and Pierre (mom & dad) baths yesterday. We also gave Paris and Lucky a bath yesterday. Paris (after seeing Pierre take a bath) seemed more into taking a bath than Lucky.

In the evening we decided while cleaning the nest box that we would check the babies out and feed them (if they were hungry). We prepared some formula, got out the cue-tips and some clean water and got to work. The parents seemed ok with this as they went over to the corner of the patio and checked everything out. Well, to our suprise (and disapointment) there were only 4 hatchlings in the box. We cleaned them up (some had some food dribble around the nose and eyes) and gave them just a small taste of food (as their crops were almost full). Finally when cleaning out the nest box and putting clean bedding for them we found #5 buried under some of the nesting materials. Empty crop, and emaciated body. It appears that we waited too long to check them out (Thursday thru to Sunday). It looks like he just wasn't getting enough food.

Everyone else seemed to be in good health (and spirits). We put clean nesting materials in and put them back in. The parents went about feeding them later that evening.

We'll check everyone out again today and try and remember to take some pictures (& maybe wiegh them!) today.

Playtime

Victoria (dad) has been having fun lately in the evenings. He loves to come in when we get home and help out with dinner (so he can nibble on anything he wants :). Here he is trying to help writing some notes for us. If you look on his beak you can see the food where he's been feeding the babies. He's had a nice bath since this picture was taken.  

5 Hatchlings and counting

Here you can see the new hatchlings. The two on the left side are the oldest, and if you look carefully you can se the head of the newest hatchling at the very bottom center of the pile. His head is as big as the eye of the largest hatchling, but he will grow up just as fast as the others soon. 

New Hatchlings

The other two eggs have hatched. I've cleaned out the nest box and gone back to my old standby of using Peat Moss for a nesting material. It seems to be good in a number of things, including retaining moisture, easy collection and removal (cleaning the nest box), as well as nice soft comfortable material for the babies.

3 Babies Hatched

Three of the babies have hatched. You can see the discarded shells on the right side where the parents moved them to after the babies hatched. You'll notice that the babies are all huddled together (mostly for warmth as they hatch without feathers). 

Busy, Busy, Busy

I've been so busy this week that I'm having to catch up on these posts, but everyone is doing great. Victoria and Pierre are eating like they havn't eaten in days (of course now they are eating for 3!). Paris and Lucky are feeling more chipper and got to get out of their cage the other day and play with us.

Quiet, a little too quiet

It's been strange to go from 9 birds to only 4, especially when 2 of them are busy in the nest box feeding their young and taking care of them. All of the birds have noticed that something is "wrong" and are kind of quiet and a bit withdrawn. Although Victoria and Pierre are busy with feeding, they can get excited about seeing me, especially Victoria who seems to be very attached to me.

Paris has been especially quiet lately, he usually vocalizes a lot more so I guess he's a little sad. Lucky is also not chirping as much as she had in the past. I'm sure they will get over missing their brother and sisters.

Feeding Time

I've been giving the parents (Victoria and Pierre) more fresh food lately. They have really gone after the Rice, Millet, Peas and Bread. I've also been leaving them Corn, and Lettuce and from time to time some Spinach. Now that they are feeing the little ones more and more (they are getting bigger) they need more food.

New Home

We found a new home for some of our birds. "George" bought 5 of our birds for his aviary. All of the birds that he has (more than just Cockatiels) were healthy and seemed to be happy. He put them into an area that he has for helping them to adjust to his environment and company so that made me feel more comfortable about selling them. I've always wanted to find someone that would take care of them. He has Frankfurt, Geneva, New York, Washington, and London. All of them were named for places we've visited over the last few years.

26 Days from laying to hatching

I was just going over everything, and it seems that it's been 26 days between hatching and the egg's being layed. That's a few over the 21 days, but not out of the ordinary, in fact it's about the same as last time. I'll probably wait until Thursday evening to check in on them again and see how many more have hatched.

Looking at the old pictures of the (now 1 year+ olds), I'll try hand feeding them around 18-20 days old until they get old enough to be weaned off of their "baby" food, and onto solid food. I'm going to try to get them used to eating pellets instead of seeds, so we'll see how that goes (mom & pop don't seem to like the pellets for some reason).

Victoria (male) keeping a close eye on the hatchlings. 

and Baby makes One....

Monday night, I swore that I heard a hatchling, but when I called my wife to check I couldn't hear anything and neither could she. All the birds were riled up and excited. Last night we both heard the baby chirping so there's at least one that's hatched, probably Monday. I didn't get a chance to go in (it was around 9:45pm) and see if there's more than one that's hatched, but I'm sure there is today. I'll try and check today to see if there's more than one.

6 eggs

I checked the nest last night and found that Pierre had laid another egg. They are definitely keeping a close eye on them, as one of them is always around the nest box, or sitting on the eggs at all times.

Pierre in the evenings goes out to a concrete type planter that we have in the screened in porch and seems to chew on it, and also eat some of the soil in that pot and one other pot. I guess she's after some nutrients that arn't present in their normal diet.

5 eggs and Counting

I was able to check in on them Sunday evening and there were 5 eggs in the nest. I think that's all they will have, but I'll have to check again tomorrow.

I'm putting some of the other babies up for "adoption" since there's new ones on the way. I put an ad in the local Flyer to see if I can find some of them new homes. If you are interested, drop me a line and I'll try and get in touch with you.

We have eggs!

I checked last night to see how many eggs they had layed so far, and there are three tiny eggs in the nest box. Hopefully, they will all hatch, but I'm afraid that the first one may not hatch (like last time). Pierre gave me a good nip this morning as I put food in their cage. They definitely don't like me getting close to the eggs!

Victoria

Well, this weekend Pierre (the female) spent most of her time in the nest box with the egg(s). I was busy most of the weekend and I just decided it was too much headache to check on the eggs especially since they seem to be doing a good job of defending them :). Victoria seems "left out" sometimes, so he came inside with me for two consecutive evenings (less than 2 hrs each). What's unusual you say? Well, usually if Victoria and Pierre are apart for more than 30 seconds and they can't see each other they both scream at the top of their lungs until they can see each other. He seemed to be looking for reassurance that everything will be ok, and it will.