Tag Archives: hen

My Elderly Hen Canary is Dying…?

Posted on January 18, 2012 by admin| 5 Comments

She’s surprised both of us by making it over the 7 year mark, but her feathers have grown increasingly shabby and she’s done very little flying over the last 6 months. Now she won’t leave the bottom of the cage although up to this morning she was still eating. As I write she sits in a corner, hunched, eyes closed, tail bobbing. She’s ignoring the nest I brought down to the bottom and stuffed with tissues for her. I was hoping it would keep her warm and take the stress off her toes.

Question: should I scoop her up and put her in a box or something enclosed at the bottom of the cage that’s lined with warm tissues or will that stress her even more before she goes? I know there is nothing more that can be done for her but I want her to pass feeling relaxed and happy. Keep in mind I have 4 cats including one teenager that would love to jump on the cage while she’s on the bottom. Her mate of 6 years, Floyd, is staying down on the lower perches to be near her. His concern is obvious, but the cats would freak him out, too. So should I move her into a small box inside the cage or not?

Thanks in advance.

PS: Her name is Geraldine, and for those of you who have interest, canaries are incredibly hardy and easy to care for and they have delightful personalities. Geraldine has been a singer all her life- only about 25% of the females sing. This is how she got her name, actually- we thought she was a Gerald because of the singing, until that first egg. Then Floyd came along and they’ve been together ever since, so he’s not exactly young either. She’s always been a happy and fun bird to have around. I’ll miss her : (
EDIT: Can’t wrap up or heat my cage because it’s a flight cage- 2ft deep 4ft high 4 ft wide. I love this cage- canaries do so well in it. Maybe I’ll try the hot water on top of the radiator in the room- and I’ll up the valve on the radiator. I can’t make her eat if she doesn’t want to…and she’s already over 7 years so I don’t know that any medication can help…the oldest I had a canary live to was 8. Thanks so much for advice…why do lousy people live forever and good pets die so young….?

Questions for God if and when we ever see Him, huh…
UPDATE: 24 hours later, she’s still on bottom, looks a little livelier but still not good. Sweetest thing- Floyd is feeding her. Like he fed his babies over the years.

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Posted in Bird Nest Boxes

Tagged bottom, cage, Canary, corner, DYING, feathers, hen, mark, Morning, stress, Tail, tissues, toes, year

How should I take care of my baby parakeets, when they hatch?

Posted on January 16, 2012 by admin| 1 Comment

I’m very worried on how I should go about caring for my baby parakeets when they hatch, the hen is currently nesting her eggs, however in the past she’s laid a batch (1 hatched and died after a single day). I want to avoid the same thing from happening again, and I don’t have the heart to break the eggs like others who don’t want to go through the trouble do. The problem starts when the babies are first born. (about the first week or so) the mother doesn’t really know what to do when the babies hatch, and she just continues to sit there paying no attention to the baby at all. While I’m afraid to touch it since when they first hatch they seem so frail and soft, and I’m not sure if I should. I’ve bought a Nesting box for my hen, some bedding, and baby formula with a Syringe to begin the feeding, such as that I’ve seen on youtube. However I don’t think it’s possible to start feeding the baby birds 1-3 days out of the egg since their mouths are so small. What do birds eat when their 1-6 days old? When should I start hand feeding the birds? Should I take the hen out of the nest after the eggs hatch? How long should it be until I stop hand feeding the babies and introduce them to seeds? If there’s anybody out there who is an expert on baby Parakeets i plea to you, PLEASE help me!!

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Posted in Bird Nest Boxes

Tagged babies, baby, baby birds, baby formula, batch, bedding, care, day, egg, eggs, Hand, heart, hen, mouths, Parakeets, plea, problem, seeds, single day, syringe, thing, trouble, YouTube

How Should I Feed, or monitor my baby birds when they hatch?

Posted on January 15, 2012 by admin| 2 Comments

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Posted in Bird Nest Boxes

Tagged babies, baby, baby birds, baby formula, batch, bedding, day, egg, eggs, Feed, Hand, heart, hen, mouths, Parakeets, plea, problem, seeds, single day, syringe, thing, trouble, YouTube

Cockatiel Laid A Egg?(Read All)?

Posted on December 24, 2011 by admin| 2 Comments

Okay,people said on yahoo-anwsers that hen a cockatiel or a bird lays a egg you need to get a nest but others say a nest box “What is the difference?” hich one should i but or if they`re the saame hich one is better to buy (please help!)
Dont Give Me Stup`id answers and give me REAL answers!

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Posted in Bird Nest Boxes

Tagged anwsers, Bird, box, Cockatiel, difference, egg, hen, hich, Laid, nest, nest box, read, saame, yahoo

Why doen’t my hen lay eggs?

Posted on April 17, 2011 by admin| 12 Comments

I have 11 hen and 3 roosters. They sleep in two different hen-houses but during daytime they’re free to walk around. I feed them leftovers complimentary to corn, but you’ll find them eating all kinds of things from under the trees.
Last year I had to kill all my chicken due to the bird-flu arriving in Greece, but in january I bought 16 chicks to raise a new flock (yep two didn’t make due to the presence of wild weasels here).
They’re seven montsh old now, which should be old enough to start laying, but they don’t???
Is there anybody that has a suggestion of what I can do to stimulate them laying eggs? In the previous years I never had a problem with this.

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Posted in Bird Feeding

Tagged corn, doe, eggs, hen, leftovers, roosters, sleep, trees

My budgie (parakeet) just had an egg. She is often out of the nesting box, though. Is this okay?

Posted on March 9, 2011 by admin| 4 Comments

I have two budgerigars, a male and female. They are now about two years old, and I recently put them in a larger cage with a nesting box included. My hen began going in the nesting box. However, she did not stay in there the entire time. Today, about a week after she began spending time in the box, she had an egg. I have had budgies have chicks before, but they normally stay in there the entire time after they have their first egg. However, I have seen her outside the box, eating and such, a few times today. I have noticed that my male refuses to feed her anything, as the male normally does feed his mate while she is in the box, so I assume that she comes out to eat and things.

Is this okay? Will her egg die if she is not always sitting on it? I’m assuming it’s fertile; is there a possibility it’s not? My birds do seem to be mates. Would it be okay to put some food in the nesting box with her, or would this disturb her?

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Posted in Bird Nest Boxes

Tagged anything, box, Budgie, budgie parakeet, cage, chicks, egg, hen, mate, Parakeet, spending time, time, time today, today, week