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January 1st
HAPPY NEW YEAR! As mentioned in one of my last updates, my breeding season has got off to a very poor start. I had a pair of fawns on five fertile eggs but only one has hatched (pictured right). This chick hatched out on Christmas Day (7 days ago) so there is no chance of the remaining eggs hatching......this makes a total of 13 "dead in shell" so far. It seems quite an alarming amount of DIS however, all of the pairings are unproven birds so this may be due to a lack of experience with the parent birds......time will tell.
Some of these new pairings have done nothing at all so I will be splitting them up this weekend and pairing up some of my proven pairings.
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The only chick to hatch from 5 fertile eggs.
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I have also had two young Agates hatch (30-12-08 & 31-12-08) from a clutch of four eggs.
The remaining two eggs in the photo (right) are still to hatch and should do by tomorrow........unless they are dead in shell......I will update accordingly.
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The first Agates of 2009!
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January 4th I went into the birdroom this morning and discovered a young 08 bred Normal lying dead on the flight cage floor. This bird seemed perfectly fine when I locked the birdroom up last night......strange! This young Java was one of 14 that I have bred from a pairing that comprised of an 07 hen bred by me and a cock bird that came from Chester Zoo. This pairing have brought some much need fresh blood to my stud.
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Some bad news from an Agate pairing too.
I mentioned that there should have been aother two eggs due to hatch in the nest but unfortunately I have been hit with another two that have turned out to be "dead in shell". To top this off, the parent birds have only been feeding one of the two chicks that hatched......suffice to say, another loss today. |
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This young Agate was neglected by its parents.
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January 8th Yesterday my JSSUK rings finally turned up in the post. I just managed to get ring number 1 on to the leg of the one and only fawn chick that I currently have in the nest. Ideally the quills in the wing should be around 3mm (1/8") long when the young Java chick is ready for ringing. You can see in this photo that the quills are around 10mm long. The ring was quite tight when fitting, however, as this is the only chick from the nest it is smaller than usually expected (in general Java pairings with only one chick are not so active when feeding their young, hence, they tend to develop more slowly. I am not concerned with the slower development of this young Java as I have found that they soon catch up in size once they become independent of thier parents. |
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Notice the long quills.
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January 14th Another blow to what I can only describe as a disastrous start to my breeding program.....the single remaining Agate chick has died. See the photo to the right, there is food in the crop so it's not a case of the parents not feeding this youngster......maybe I should, once again, put this down to bad luck. I am doing nothing different with my Java's to what I have done for the last two years but things are just not going to plan at the moment. |
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Another blow to the start of 2009!
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January 15th This afternoon I drove to Anfield Crematorium, Liverpool, to attend the funeral of JSSUK committee member Billy Hughes who sadly passed away on January 5th. Billy was well known within the Java world for "the big white Java" that won in virtually every show Billy entered, but he was primarily known to those that new him for his kind nature and his sharp scouse wit! I first met Billy at Stafford in October 2005 when I attended the sales day at Bingley Hall, since then he attended almost every show and sales days and I got to know and appreciate his dry sense of humour and genuine love of the hobby.....he will be greatly missed! |
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Billy Hughes (and the infamous "Big White") winning Best In Show at the JSSUK members show 2006. |
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January 18th
Just got back from Port Talbot (South Wales) where I spent the day with my JSSUK colleagues at the Welsh National Bird Show. Most of the guys had entered the show and after viewing the birds benched it's clear that the standard of Java Sparrows on the show bench is getting better. All of the birds entered today were of an excellent standard. I only entered three birds, an adult Normal (second) an Adult White (second) and a CYOB normal (fifth).
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Some of the JSSUK committee (in coats...it was freezing).
Left to right: Norman Chapman, Steve Nesbitt, Dave Pover, Tommy Sisson, yours truly and Brent Jackson. |
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A few days before Billy Hughes sadly passed away, Dave and Andy went to visit him in hospital and told him they'd like to enter his "Big White" in the Welsh National. Billy was keen for them to do so, as Billy was too ill, Dave and Andy arranged for the bird to be entered. Once again this stunning bird took the accollade of Best in Show....well done Billy! |
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Once again, Best In Show!
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February 1st The single young fawn (mentioned on Jan 8th) fledged around a week ago. I have great expectatios from this pairing as both parents are of the darker fawn variety (known on the continent as Moccabruin). You can see in the photo opposite that the fledgling has a clear distinctive line seperating the cheek patch from the main body. I hope this line moults through fully as I believe this line very often gets lost and allows the colours to "bleed". |
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February 20th Updates are difficult for me at the moment as I just don't have the time. However, the fawn pairing (mentioned Feb 1st) have now hatched out 4 of 6 fertile eggs.....the remaining 2 eggs should hatch within the next couple of days.
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The remaining 2 eggs from the fawn pairing (mentioned Feb20th) have hatched and the parents are now busy feeding their 2nd round of chicks.
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February 28th
The Agate pairing mentioned at the beginning of the year lost both of their chicks from round 1. Round 2 is going ok with 4 visual Agates featering up nicely. I have never paired 2 visual Agates together before due to the lack of genetic divercity....and when they first became available they were very scarce. I have accuired several new Agates from new bloodlines so I hope these young turn out to be as stunning as their parents.
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March 22nd
Just to let you know that I am still here although my website has been taking a back seat in my life at the moment.
About a month ago I was contenplating giving up my bird keeping hobby as I have been struggling to find the time I need to look after my birds. My work commitments, and general life outside of my employment have only allowed me to feed and water my birds on a daily basis.....in all honesty I have only managed to get 20 minutes per day with my birds.....they deserve more than that.
There are a few things happening for me at the moment which will hopefully allow me to dedicate the time I need for my birds....and my website.
Today I have spent around 4 hours cleaning the birdroom from top to bottom....very soon I hope to have more pairs down to breed.......hopefully my next update will be in a few days.
April
Sorry...No updates this month.
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May 24th
This weekend I managed to free up some time to spend in my birdroom. I decided to paint my main flight cage as I haven't been using it for a while and it was looking rather dirty.
I took out the old fixed dowel perching and painted all surfaces with Dulux Vinyl Silk white emulsion. |
I have replaced the 12mm dowel perches
for natural willow perches. |
I removed the fixed dowel perches as I found it difficult to catch the birds with them in place. Using natural willow perches is great for three reasons, 1) It comes in various diameters which means my Java's get to exercise their feet more. 2) I can easily remove them when I need to catch any bird. 3) They are very easy to replace!
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Ready to house some Java's!
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Some of last years Java's settling in well!
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A nice shot of an excellent normal (left) I bred in 2007 perched next to a 2008 normal (centre) that hatched in March 08. Notice this bird has not completed it's first moult. this happens quite often with Java's and I find that it can be common with certain bloodlines. That said, the rest of this Java's siblings have moulted through very nicely. All being well, this Java's next moult will hopefully take the white adolescent feathering from its head and leave it completely black as it should be. Notice that this Java (centre) is slightly smaller than that of the Java to the left. This bird is a result of out-crossing one of my bloodlines to that of a Java that the JSSUK acquired from Chester Zoo. This new bloodline is much needed in my stud and I plan to use this line later in the summer.
June 28th
Brief Update!!!! I went to the Parrot Society show today to man the stand of the JSSUK along with my fellow friends and colleagues below:
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Left to right: Brian Hilditch, Dave Pover, yours truly, Steve Nesbitt , Andy Dutton and Norman Chapman. |
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July 4th
Today I had the afternoon free so I took a 70 mile drive to visit my good Java pal, Steve Nesbitt. I spent around 2 hours with Steve....as usual talking about our favourite bird. It was nice to have some free time....my job and other commitments outside of work have been taking their toll which, as I have said many times in my diary, has not allowed me to spend the time with my birds that I'd like.
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Me and Steve in the Nesbitt birdroom!
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