Poppy our male. Pictured below. He came to us through our neighbor across the street.
The neighbor works construction, and Poppy flew onto his shoulder at a job site. After bringing him home, it was decided that Poppy was too much for his family to take care of along with their two children.
Next up is our female, Bird-Bird. We purchased her from the Bird Store.
Bird-Bird has been with us now for close to two years. She is also close to 2 years old. We are not sure how old Poppy is, but we believe he is slightly older that Bird-Bird.
Last year Bird-Bird and our male at that time Bob, had 7 eggs. None of those eggs turned out to be fertile. Bob passed away shortly after that. Fast forward to this year. Bird-Bird and Poppy have 4 eggs which as of Saturday all hatched.
Looks like we have one baby that will be a Pied Cockatiel like mom and 3 that will be gray like dad. The Pied (Yellow) baby is the first one to hatch and is therefore the biggest.
It is surprising how much care the male gives to the babies. It is definitely a 50/50 relationship. Sometimes it even seems like Poppy spends more time with the babies than Bird-Bird. It has really been quite an educational experience for all of us.
Stay tuned to my blog, I will try an update this as things progress.
TVH
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5-5-09 update - we started hand feeding the babies today. Man do they grow fast.
Proud daddy Poppy looks on.....
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5/14/09
Things are going great. The babies just keep getting bigger. We have started to hand feed them, but Poppy and Bird-bird still feed them as well.
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5/20/09
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5/24/09
Man the babies are getting so big so fast. Almost the size of the parents, the oldest 2 fledged today. As we tried to hand feed them, the oldest jumped up and flew around the kitchen and landed on top of the cabinets. Not long after that, the 2nd oldest also flew around the kitchen as well.
The first born
2nd oldest
All the babies on the perch inside the cage
5 comments:
I have an inherited pair of cockatiels (now about 18-20 years old, we got them when they were 10) When they moved in with us, they started laying eggs like crazy!!! We let them have two sets of babies (we still have one of the daughters!) and then took the eggs away after that. Those tiny eggs were saved and colored at Easter!! At least your male is a good dad, ours was not!!! Keep us posted on their progress!!
I'd love to hear/see more about the babies as they grow. It must be neat to watch the whole interaction of mom, dad and babies. ~Mindy
Wow, that's neat! I had cockatiels when I was a kid and I took one to college with me. Never had more than one at a time, though. So no babies! I look forward to watching them grow!
Congratulations! We raised several babies from 18 pairs when I was growing up so I know the joy of watching them. They grow and change very rapidly. We always started hand feeding and training them early to be people friendly and they make great pets. I bet Erika is in heaven watching her little birdies, I know she loves them so much! Have fun, keep us posted~Jacque
Congrats to all of you! Just when i think I get so excited over The Tattered House,and the girls,and TVH, now I am so thrilled to see tiny baby birdies! I have never seen such tiny birdies,,this is amazing,how fun for the kids,and yes,Erica and TVH,,I can't wait to see them grow! Thanks again for sharing,I must check this more often,,
Have a great weekend,,
Love,
Tina
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