To be kept.

In February I had to take Ickle to the vets because she was egg-bound. The vet could not do anything for her (evening was apparently too late to operate and they had no calcium for an injection), so they told me to come back in the morning if she was still alive.

I put her in a plastic aquarium, filled with soft hamster bedding, covered with newspaper to keep it dark and placed on a heat pad at full-whack. nursed her all night. I fed her some olive oil by mouth (with a cotton bud) and smoothed a thick layer on her vent to lubricate the egg. I then hand-fed her water in which I'd mixed shavings of iodine-mineral block and had to force feed her egg-food. I then placed a small pot of each in her aquarium and every hour took her out to give her water.

Luckily she survived the night and in the morning she seemed more lively, was eating and drinking although she had begun to prolapse.

I decided to take her to another vet, who yet again, clueless about birds, said they couldn't operate until tomorrow morning and they didn't have any clacium either.

Out of luck, I took her back to the other vets and they admitted her to be transported to their main surgery for her operation. I was told to phone at 1pm to see how she was doing. I rang and they said she'd passed the egg on transportation! I collected Ickle at 6pm and kept her in her aquarium for 2 more weeks just so she was completely strong before I put her back in with her dad Moss.

As soon as she was back in her breeding cage with her dad she began to look poorly, so I removed both of them and put them in with Wingu, my harmless disabled Cockatiel.

I provided a small cardboard box (the one small packs of speciality bisuits are in), hung in a corner of Wingu's cage, filled it with shredded newspaper, intending for it to be a roost as normal - they have always had nests for sleeping in but never have bred before. Ickle proceeded to lay 2 eggs and one baby has hatched.

Update 7/04/07 - Baby is doing well, is now 10 days old and always calling for food.

Update 20/04/07 - Baby has fledged! came out of the nest on the Friday morning, but decided she'd had enough and went back to be in the afternoon and stayed in until Sunday.

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Update 27/04/07 - Baby has been named - Started weaning on Tuesday 24th at only 27 days old! A very fast learner! Moss & Ickle are teahing her well and she's happily munching inot bread, millet sprays, her seed and egg food.

Update 5/06/07 - Indigo is a little boy and is perfecting his song and dance. Helping with rearing the new babies below...

3 beautiful very lightly pied Chocolate & White babies.

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Fledged Saturday 8th September 2007. Mismarked Self Chocolate. Now named Dazzle.

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