FEATURE
to trap the wasps in a jam jar filled to about an inch from the top with water, leave a little jam inside the jar to attract them and replace the metal lid making a whole in its centre just large enough for the wasps to entre, locate this trap away from the fruit, I prefer to hang them on the outside of the aviary in an attempt to keep the wasps away from my birds. The other approach is to stop using fruit at this time of the year but that seems a shame when fruit is plentiful and cheap. Kakariki will try almost any food, strawberries are a favourite. Recently I gave them some Fennel that was very well received possibly because of its strong aniseed smell/ taste. Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a hardy, perennial herb, with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is generally considered indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but it has become widely naturalised elsewhere and grows really well in my garden. It is a highly aromatic and flavorful with culinary and medicinal uses.
Cooked potato is also taken. Apple is always a good standby as is carrot, celery, sweet corn, tomato and radish. With all this variety of food being provided the Kakariki do not make much use of the Versele-Laga parakeet mix that is supplied. There are a number of Versele-Laga parakeet mixtures available and the one that I use is Big Parakeet Mixture Standard 20Kg Rose blooms are destroyed with relish maybe it is their perfumed smell or the pollen in the centre. I must
make a more careful
study of just what they like about these striking flowers. Always supply oyster shell grit and mineralised grit and cuttlefish. Their current brood is three young from seven eggs, all of which were fertile. All the young have black eyes but in the past I have seen young with red eyes from this pair but as they mature it is not easy to tell the black eyed young from the red eyed. In the future I will ring the red eyed young to see if they are all hens as I think my cock may be split for Cinnamon.
BIRD SCENE 47
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 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54
