FEATURE


with the next round can upset proceedings. They throw the chicks out of the nest-box and drive them away. This is when feather plucking of chicks can occur. Plucking is not always rejection behaviour. It can also be a way of collecting nesting material – as demonstrated when parent birds pluck each other. Whatever the cause, feather plucking is


undesirable. One way of coping with the problem of ejected chicks is to provide a second nest-box. More often than not, the cock and the rejected chicks will occupy one, while the hen gets on with laying eggs in another. An advantage of this approach is that the first round of chicks is unlikely to damage the second round eggs. The breeding cage feeding arrangements comprises a large dish of a budgerigar mixture that is strong in millets and weak in canary seed, a small dish of panicum millet, egg food, a mixture of mineralized and oyster shell grit plus clean drinking water. Once chicks are out in the cage the small dish of panicum is replaced by a large one. Zebra finch chicks love panicum and consume twice as much as they do the budgerigar mixture. We do not offer millet sprays at this stage because the parents would shred them up and use them as nesting material, possibly on top of incubating eggs. Many zebra finch breeders assume that


when chicks have been seen feeding themselves it is safe to remove them from


the breeding cage. We do not agree. We prefer to use the calendar as our measure of maturity. We set up nursery cages with batches of youngsters removed from their parents at the same time. So, on a given day, usually a Saturday or Sunday, we remove every chick that is over five weeks old. The reason for this approach is that


when there are chicks of different ages in the same breeding cage it would be easy to remove a chick before it is fully self- supporting. Since adopting this method our losses of chicks during the weaning period has fallen to less than one per cent. Our nursery cages are, in effect, flight


cages formed by removing dividers to form triple or quadruple cage units. Such a cage will comfortably house 20 to 30 youngsters. Zebra finch youngsters seem happiest when in a large group at this stage of their development. This is the point when millet sprays are added to the diet that they enjoyed while in the breeding cage. The sprays provide plenty of activity as well as nutrition. One of the most enjoyable experiences at this period of the zebra finch year is watching youngsters take a bath. It is then their individual characters can be seen at their best. Some plunge straight into the water without a moment’s hesitation, others merely dip in a toe and a few skirt all around the dish hardly getting wet. It is a lovely sight to see. Third and final part in the next edition


BIRD SCENE 23


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48