Baby

So Arwen is a boy! Their first baby hatched -- to Piper the mummy and Arwen the daddy!!! How delighted I am. A beauty - one with whith down and pink skin. Definitely a blue series baby - a white face, hopefully a violet whiteface like the parents. 

Arwen -- now Ah Wen more likely, is a capable father and the mummy a fantastic one. I'm eagerly waiting for the rest of the eggs to hatch. Hurray hurray hurray.  

Goodbye Amigo

I was still too upset about Amigo's death last week to post a record of it. Mum tried so hard to nurse him back to health, and he was gettign better. But a week after they left, probably left to himself more and not spoonfed sometimes by mum, he had grown weaker. 

I did not know that the bath I gave him that afternoon would cause his death. I just heard a plop and there he was, dead on the floor beneath the perch. If i did not bathe him while he was so weak, he might have lived for longer. 

Forgive me. 

Loss

In the span of a month, I lost Opal, Topaz, Ruby, Pebbles and an unnamed opaline that was given in replacement for Oppie. Oppoe had a serious eye infection which Pebbles caught. Ruby could have died from asperation and Topaz just dropped dead in its cage one day without warning. The small unweaned one was weak and in very poor condition, refusing to eat in the first two days. When it actually started, it lasted only for a day or two and yesterday morning it just died in the cage. 5 birds. unweaned babies are no fun. 

First Egg

Arwen and Piper has their first egg today. But to my great surprise it seems that Piper is the female and not the male as I had thought. I saw a bulge under her tummy. I can only candle the egg a week after this to see if they are fertile at all. I may have two females for all I know. I did not see them copulate. So my experiment may be blah. Haha, at least I know that Piper is a girl. Now I think I have to change Arwen's name depending on what he/she turns out to be...fingers crossed. 

Opalines - the gems

I've named them:

The little fiery green is Topaz.

The affectionate red head Ruby.

The sweet lacewing is Silver. 

And the pied blue beauty Sapphire.

The large and cuddly blue will be Opal. 

 

Pocket Gems -- the beginning

A fantastical attraction began in November last year. And it all started with a Sunday outing to the bird shop at Serangoon North. 

I saw an Indian boy walking into the shop with his lutino cockatiel for a wing trim. The sweetheart was sitting quietly with her tall crest fluffed up, and sporting her surreal orange cheek spots. Ooh...it it would be great to have a bird like that. 

There were two tubs of fledgelings for sale in front of the shop and I looked out for one like her...but what did I see? Balls of lovies in all colours of the rainbow. I don't know these birds. I thought budgies were the lovebirds and thought that if I were to get any, it would be that one -- they were the kissing ones in the Cannosa Convent aviary that fascinated all of us kids who were there. 

The mustachioed uncle said that the best birds to get for a child is a lovie. I thought a little bird like that could keep my mum occupied and attached too -- my kids is more attached to my dad and my mum may feel left out. She's also showing signs of disinterest in going out and doing fun things. That worried me. I would like her to find attachment in something -- I want to see her vital and alive.

Well, to cut a long story short. My mum fell in love with the pied lovie amigo and i was hooked too. And along came:

1. Fluff the plucked cockatiel --- got her when she is about a month old. Did not know anything abt birds then and could not tell that he was quite poorly nourished and was plucked quite severely by his parents. He turned out to be quite a spunky male bird who whistles a lot. 
2. A tame lovie pair - Princess a green australian cinnamon and Kipper a dutch blue. By now I am reading very much into cockatiel and lovie genetics and am hooked by the science of it. It was a challenging mire at first, but now I think I have a good grounding. It was a sad day a week before Christmas when Kipper was lost. He had butted on top of his nest box and flew away. I searched for him over many days and put up notices etc...but no news of him. I pray that he is in good and loving hands.   
3. A wild violet lovie pair in Dec 08. Could not resist the violet colour here and I just had to get them....Arwen is a white faced violet dark factor bird and Piper is a violet pied. They bonded well....but perhaps they are still young, I have to wait. I must say by now that my curiosity about genetics and love for lovies have taken root - I want babies!!!! But of the in life, murphy's law often applies. Perhaps I should just look away and not want it so much. 
4. Now, next came Pearly the whitefaced pearl cockatiel. She is about the same age as Fluff and she looks great. Plump, big boned and amazingly affectionate. She is really a darling. 
5. After Kipper went missing, I got Booger the Splitcinnamonino with a violet rump back for Princess. Princess had already mothered a clutch or two, and Booger is the young upstart. They didn't click. Booger is in awe of her and sits at the opposite ends of the perch. 
6. Along with Booger, I also got little AB, that rhymes with Baby. He is a month old dutch blue. And he's my baby. AB also stands for Aurora Borealis.
7.  Then came Tobey the quaker. A funny clownish boy(?) who grew attached to me after a week. He is about seven months old and in his first moult. 
8. I thought it would end one day whe I find my dream lutino, but I found Lady instead. My other dream bird. The reverse pied whiteface. She is indeed a beautiful sight. 
9. The bug continued to work its trick --- and I got a call from Rupert Gwee who said that he's got a lutino with no bald patch....she's the dream bird I've wanted from day one. So it took some hesitation, but I said yes. And she's now sitting in the aviary. I named her Evee: for the first one who started it all. If it turns out male one day, he would be Adam, but my guess is that its a girl. 
10. While at Rupert's I caught sight of a cinnamon whiteface lovie, a beautiful colouration - I brought her home. She's Desiree, named after the craziness that took hold of me. Desiree has a leg ring and Booger was wowed by it. He fell head over heals with her and is in hot pursuit, preening, toying with her leg ring and and yesterday, feeding her. Eeeww...poor Princess.   
11. Now, I have gotten past embarrassment and just feels resigned to my birdflu. I got home a pied American Cinnamon split orangeface  from Serene and his brother a cinnamon double dark factor or a slate ( a two week old) and thought it will end there. They are Patches and Pebbles. But noooo....as fate would have it, I came across the first Opalines in Singapore (perhaps) at GW and I now have 5 at home. 2 greens, 1 blue wf, 1 blue wf pied and 1 silver lacewing. 

I know I'd stop for a while and perhaps pare down, but here it is...the bug that caught and infected my senses. Total head count 18 birds in three months.....