Have you seen my birds?

My Little Birds B and C have been missing for a few days now – too long. They were very loyal to return each day, so this can only mean that they have gotten into trouble and probably will not be seen again.

I can justify their fairly short lives (13months old) by the fact that they were ones full of adventure, fun, good health and prestige over their wild brethren (they had the best of both worlds - being free to live and fly outside also with the security of their cage(home) always offering good food, fresh water and protection from the weather and predators). I know they knew they had it good.

R.I.P. little birdy's. They have given Tia Ayako and I much enjoyment throughout their lives. These photos were taken of them sitting in their favourite tree just a few days before they disappeared.

Learning to fly

I put the baby birds outside on the balcony table to get some air and afternoon sun (as they have been locked away in their cage in the garage with minimal light their whole lives). When I wasn't watching the two oldest ones ...flew. Not that well but pretty well for a first go, with Dad working with them. The oldest one was definitely much better and finally flew to the top of a tree where I had to ultimately climb up to retrieve it just before it got dark. Silly bird.
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Two little lovebirds sitting on a fence

Today both Bird1 & Bird2 went outside together, the final test and they passed — being that they were relaxed and playful and also took a journey away from the house and returned without concern. Now the doors are open for them to come and go as they wish.
Congratulations guys ...you are free.
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Free Love[Bird]

I took Bird1 outside for his first free flight in the big wide world.

He flew back in the house no problem, I had to then keep taking him back out. Then I just left the doors open for a while and left him thinking he'll be fine. He went back out then I think got a bit lost as to where the door was to get back in. He flew around the front of the house and we had to get bird2 to call him back. It was interesting to see both birds communicating from a few houses away.

Anyway he made it back and is ok. Check it out. He looks pretty cool in the tree. Better than the cage I think.
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LittleBirds A, B, C & D

Well just like "The Cat in the Hat" book we now have LittleBirds A, B, C & D. All four eggs have hatched. The final one this afternoon. I cleaned the cage about 3pm with one egg left. On inspection at about 6pm it had hatched. Mumma bird looks a bit ruffled due to her dedicated sitting, with Dad feeding her to then pass onto the chicks. It's quite funny, they are growing so fast all the birds are in sequential sizes as to hatching order. LittleBird A is more than twice the size of LittleBird D. They remind me of the Russian Dolls that are all the same with different sizes.

Anyway not bad, 100% success so far, which I was not expecting. I'll remove them to be hand fed in a two weeks.

LittleBird A

Today we noticed one of the Lovebird eggs has hatched. The miniature bird looks to be healthy and strong. It is even flapping its little wings. In the picture it is probably only about 8 hours old. It even has a small belly button hole from the umbilical cord. It's pretty cute. Surprisingly there was almost no trace of the shell left, one of the birds must have crushed it up or something. The rest of the eggs are expected to hatch in two day intervals, as they were laid and in the same order.

We have named it LittleBird A (like Little Cat's A B C & D ect from the Dr. Seuss book the "Cat In The Hat Comes Back" which Tia and I have been reading recently).
- you can click the image to enlarge -

4eggs

Bird2 has been sitting on four eggs now for a week so we think that is all there will be this time. We'll see if they all hatch in a couple of weeks.

Bird Egg

Recently our 2 little lovebirds have been living up to the name "lovebirds", if you know what I mean. Its quite a remarkable sight to see. Anyway the birds and the bees aside we now have our first Peachfaced lovebird egg. I'm not sure that we really need more birds but the process will be interesting. Apparently the hatch strike rate is not too high so this one may not even get there, but we are also expecting about another 5 eggs.

I'll keep you posted when they hatch.

Lovebirds

Well today was my birthday and Ayako, Tia and Yuko surprised me with their gift. Two beautiful little Peach Faced Lovebirds which are small parrots (bread in Aust) originating from south west Africa. They are called lovebirds because of the bond they form (with other birds and people) and generally are sold as a pair.
I've given it some thought, and named them Bird1 and Bird2 (aka. shmupples and derik respectively). I'm now training them to be good obedient little birds.
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