Cages

After losing more birds than I want to count to rodents in only two cages, I had enough. I put the two remaining button quail, Sterling and Monique, in a small cage while I finished cleaning out the coop, formerly known as the Honeymoon Suite. Miso and Taffy had been in there for long enough to need a cleaning, and I had moved them to a cage near my back door. Once their coop was reset for them, I put then in and put the buttons in their cage.

I thought I had a locked room mystery when I put a young button quail hen in with Diego. She was gone the next day, with no signs of blood, no feathers, and absolutely no clues as to what had happened. But when Mike helped me fix the air lock door, he found a pair of wings still connected that had feathers to match the poor hen. That’s when I realized, no matter how much I clipped and secured the doors on those two cages, the doors into the air lock has slide up doors. Even if I clipped them closed so they could not slide, there was plenty of room along the sides of the slide doors for a rat to get in. Apparently also for a rat to drag a button quail out.

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I don’t think I will use those cages again unless I can replace those doors. If I sell them, I will warn the buyers about the situation. I could put the money into having a friend build a new aviary for doves and quail. That means putting the current flocks on hold for the time being.

Sterling and Monique

I moved the buttons that were in the large aquarium into a cage that is rather small for them. I want to keep one of the normal color males to replace Diego. I might but him in a small cage that I used for Sterling and Monique, or I could use the cage that I had the juvenile canaries in. They just turned six weeks old on the first, so I will be posting them for sale. Then my new Diego can live in that cage. Lace is sitting on eggs in the big aviary, so if they hatch, I will pull a female out of that clutch. And if Wiggles turns out to be a girl, I can pair her with Diego.

Wiggles became a mom, much to his surprise.

I have taken in two cockatiels over the last month, and each came with a cage or two. I am always looking for a better cage for Tron, the sun conure. But the first ex cockatiel cage is huge and not easy to put together. It won’t fit in the office and he’d be lost in there. The second one is not very wide but very tall. And about the same size as the one he’s in now, just in a different configuration. Neither is going to work. Still looking.

The mixed clutch at six weeks

With luck, I will have two breeding pairs of canaries this spring. I kept the pretty pied chick from Barney and Thelma Lou’s first clutch this year. It turns out to be a male. Their last clutch, both chicks were pied and beautiful. I sold them and now need a female Fife for Laurel, the one I kept. I have a source, just need to work out the details. That means my sweet Irish canary will go into a cage by himself and the flight will be for the newly mated. I need to get more leg bands.

Cuddles, the newest of two new cockatiels

Thanks to someone suggesting a barbecue brush to clean his African Gray’s cage, I made a good start on making Bo Dangles’ cage less awful. I have made it around the cages in the office with cleaning out the boxes and trash and replacing them with new boxes. I cleaned the two canary flights and two cages in the bird room. So I am happy that slightly cooler weather has given me more energy. I might get the house and yard clean enough for inspection by the end of the month!

Thanks for reading, I’ll be back next Sunday.