Honey and Rook's chick
Honey and Rook had a baby!
I bought them a nest box to sleep in ages ago, because they were in the house until I got the big aviary and I didn't want it to be too much of change once they went out. I bought them a budgie sized box thinking that if they turned out to be a pair the box would be too small to breed in so no chicks. I was wrong. They laid in there and I let them sit the eggs, at this stage I knew honey was a hen but had no idea about Rook. I have always thought of him as male but he doesn't talk and is very calm so he could have surprised me and turned out to be a hen. Once it had been about a month I noticed a discarded egg, I took it out and opened to see if it was fertile or not and it had a dead chick inside. I'm not sure why the chick didn't make it, it was nearly fully formed but had obviously been dead awhile because the smell was one of the worst things I have ever had the misfortune to smell in my life. The way the nest box is positioned I can see into about half of it because I took the roof off when I gave it to them. I looked in there and could only see eggshell so I figured that they had destroyed their other egg early on (Rainbow lorikeets almost always lay 2 eggs). I thought to myself ok, shame the chick didn't make but at least now I know they are a pair and I will take the box so they don't breed anymore. I don't want them to breed because I don't want to have to rehome the babies and I can't have anymore birds! I have 13 now!
Later that night I hear an odd high pitched noise that sounds like a baby keet. I think to myself, nah they can't have a baby in there but Honey doesn't make those noises. So I take my camera out and move like a contortionist so that I can take pics from the entry hole to the nest box. Luckily for me Honey and Rook are both good calm keets and aren't too worried, if I tried this with some of my others they would attack me. When I bring the camera out I notice that there is a baby inside. It would have only hatched that day. I can't take it away now and I don't have time to hand raise it so I am going to have to let them raise it.
Everyday I check the chick and for the first two weeks of it's life Honey kept it rolled on it's back. I guess to make it easier to feed? Maybe to warm the crop directly when she sits on him to aid digestion? I was worried for awhile but since alot of the time I could see into the nest box, I saw it pull itself up off it's back and potter around. When Honey would go in to check the chick I noticed she would roll him back onto his back. Very cute. So I let it be. She talks to her chick when she gets in the box, she isn't the greatest talker so I can't tell if she is saying "honey" or "bubby" because Wes lives in the aviary next to her and talks about bubby all the time.
Now the baby is just over two weeks old with open alert eyes and the very start of feathers. He is always sitting up now and looks very healthy. I will take him out soon and have a good look at his leg and feet development soon to make sure he isn't splaying at all. But the box has a wood bottom and wood litter so he should be fine. *Birds can end up with splayed legs when they are raised on surfaces that are kinda slippery and don't allow them to get any grip and develop leg strength. Poor nutrition can factor in as well.
Honey and Rook are great parents I am hoping they won't mind too much when I get the chick out. Lorikeets are very territorial and especially once tame have no hesitiation attacking. I have had keets bite through fingernails when cranky! Once Wes bit me on the lip through the bars on his cage when I was kissing him and I was so close to needing stitches! I learned my lesson that day... Never trust a teenage rainbow lorikeet :P
No idea yet what i'm going to do with it when it grows up.....
I bought them a nest box to sleep in ages ago, because they were in the house until I got the big aviary and I didn't want it to be too much of change once they went out. I bought them a budgie sized box thinking that if they turned out to be a pair the box would be too small to breed in so no chicks. I was wrong. They laid in there and I let them sit the eggs, at this stage I knew honey was a hen but had no idea about Rook. I have always thought of him as male but he doesn't talk and is very calm so he could have surprised me and turned out to be a hen. Once it had been about a month I noticed a discarded egg, I took it out and opened to see if it was fertile or not and it had a dead chick inside. I'm not sure why the chick didn't make it, it was nearly fully formed but had obviously been dead awhile because the smell was one of the worst things I have ever had the misfortune to smell in my life. The way the nest box is positioned I can see into about half of it because I took the roof off when I gave it to them. I looked in there and could only see eggshell so I figured that they had destroyed their other egg early on (Rainbow lorikeets almost always lay 2 eggs). I thought to myself ok, shame the chick didn't make but at least now I know they are a pair and I will take the box so they don't breed anymore. I don't want them to breed because I don't want to have to rehome the babies and I can't have anymore birds! I have 13 now!
Later that night I hear an odd high pitched noise that sounds like a baby keet. I think to myself, nah they can't have a baby in there but Honey doesn't make those noises. So I take my camera out and move like a contortionist so that I can take pics from the entry hole to the nest box. Luckily for me Honey and Rook are both good calm keets and aren't too worried, if I tried this with some of my others they would attack me. When I bring the camera out I notice that there is a baby inside. It would have only hatched that day. I can't take it away now and I don't have time to hand raise it so I am going to have to let them raise it.
Everyday I check the chick and for the first two weeks of it's life Honey kept it rolled on it's back. I guess to make it easier to feed? Maybe to warm the crop directly when she sits on him to aid digestion? I was worried for awhile but since alot of the time I could see into the nest box, I saw it pull itself up off it's back and potter around. When Honey would go in to check the chick I noticed she would roll him back onto his back. Very cute. So I let it be. She talks to her chick when she gets in the box, she isn't the greatest talker so I can't tell if she is saying "honey" or "bubby" because Wes lives in the aviary next to her and talks about bubby all the time.
Now the baby is just over two weeks old with open alert eyes and the very start of feathers. He is always sitting up now and looks very healthy. I will take him out soon and have a good look at his leg and feet development soon to make sure he isn't splaying at all. But the box has a wood bottom and wood litter so he should be fine. *Birds can end up with splayed legs when they are raised on surfaces that are kinda slippery and don't allow them to get any grip and develop leg strength. Poor nutrition can factor in as well.
Honey and Rook are great parents I am hoping they won't mind too much when I get the chick out. Lorikeets are very territorial and especially once tame have no hesitiation attacking. I have had keets bite through fingernails when cranky! Once Wes bit me on the lip through the bars on his cage when I was kissing him and I was so close to needing stitches! I learned my lesson that day... Never trust a teenage rainbow lorikeet :P
No idea yet what i'm going to do with it when it grows up.....