Hello from Sunny SA

DesireeVenter · Post by **DesireeVenter** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:53 am

Hi all. My name is Desiree and live in Gauteng SA. I am new here. I have 2x yellow IRN, 1x blue/grey and 1x Grey. My male yellow talks. Says hello, good night, Hello John and a few other words.My blue and grey have paired up and so far I have 3 eggs in the nest. Super excited! I know nothing about breeding so will be asking lots of questions and looking for advice. Thanks for adding me to the forum.

MissK · Post by **MissK** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:22 am

Hi. Get in touch with an IRN breeder locally and become their best friend. You can't expect to get timely and appropriate advice on critical issues in an internet forum. You need someone with you.

Wessel Gordon · Post by **Wessel Gordon** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:29 am

hi Desiree

Welcome to the forum.

Breeding season is in full swing in South Africa so depending on when the eggs was laid they should hatch any day now. Keep up a constant flow of the hen's favorite treats (especially soft foods that she can easily pass on to any chicks) and of course fresh water.

Depending on the location of the breeding pair's cage/aviary you should be able to hear the chicks within a day or two of hatching. A good policy to have is to get the hen used to you carrying out ''nest inspections'' every now and then so if there is any chicks you will know within a few hours and might spot any trouble sooner than I am able to. I am in a wheelchair and my breeding pair in an outside aviary which makes it impossible for me to personally check their nest so have to ask someone to do it for me. Unfortunately I lost two chicks last year and one this year because of a hen that hatches the eggs but doesn't feed the young. I was able to pull one chick that was barely alive for hand-rearing but it's very tricky since it's only about 4 days old and I've never hand-reared anything that young. Luckily I have an experienced breeder on standby.

Wessel

DesireeVenter · Post by **DesireeVenter** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 12:09 pm

Hi Wessel,
Thsnks for the info, if I am correct first babies should hatch end of the month. I will definitely keep a close watch on what's happening in the nest, now that I know it actually ok to do that. The aviary close to my bedroom window, so look forward to hearing the baby birds. Will keep you posted as to progress. I am hoping to hand rear St least one of the babies, any advise in this department will be greatly appreciated.

Wessel Gordon · Post by **Wessel Gordon** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 12:54 pm

If they hatch at the end of the month the breeding season is basically over and the first chicks will be around a month old. Breeding season in South Africa start about beginning of August with the first chicks hatching end of August/beginning September.

Regarding hand-rearing there's a sticky post all about it in the ''breeding section'' and you will do well to read it thoroughly and make sure you have all the supplies mentioned. If you do not have an incubator to house any chicks that might be thrown out of ignored by the mother an unused microwave or an old oven works well as I discovered in the last 24 hours. If you have to resort to use the microwave or oven make sure that everyone in the household know not to use them and switch them off at the outlet and pull out the plug so they can't be accidently used. In the microwave/oven you put a warm water bottle covered with at least two layers of a towel and then put the chick on top of that and cover the chick up by the rest of the towel. The most important thing for a very young chick is constant heat and to be kept out of drafts. My 3-4 day old chick is still on 2 hourly feedings but feeding something that's two-thirds of your thumb and very very fragile is incredibly tricky. I had a bit of a scare with it not producing any poop but it has since started to generate waste so I know that his innards apparently function as they should.

I am in the south-western Free State between Kimberley and Bloemfontein and as MissK noticed it's crucial to have someone that can take over in a hurry. If you would feel better having at least one person on standby even if I won't be able to drop everything and go save your chicks I am willing to send you a message with my contact details.

Good luck.

Wessel

DesireeVenter · Post by **DesireeVenter** » Fri Sep 11, 2015 9:17 am

So I was going through some of the topics and saw someone asked if their birds were Indian or African. Seen as I not an expert thought I wud do the same to make sure. Not sure how to upload the photos... Eish

Wessel Gordon · Post by **Wessel Gordon** » Fri Sep 11, 2015 11:33 am

Eish indeed.

Try the following link to see some of the differences between the two:

http://animals.mom.me/difference-betwee ... -8808.html

DesireeVenter · Post by **DesireeVenter** » Sat Sep 12, 2015 3:27 am

keeps saying my photo file is too big. Can anyone help please?

DesireeVenter · Post by **DesireeVenter** » Sat Sep 12, 2015 4:33 am

These are the paired birds

DesireeVenter · Post by **DesireeVenter** » Sat Sep 12, 2015 4:39 am

My other pair

DesireeVenter · Post by **DesireeVenter** » Sat Sep 12, 2015 4:47 am

This is the mommy to be

DesireeVenter · Post by **DesireeVenter** » Sat Sep 12, 2015 4:52 am

The daddy

DesireeVenter · Post by **DesireeVenter** » Sat Sep 12, 2015 4:53 am

ok finally managed to upload photos. Probably not the best quality, but it the only way i could get it done.

If someone can confirm if these are infact IRN or ARN i will much appreciate.

thanks

Wessel Gordon · Post by **Wessel Gordon** » Sat Sep 12, 2015 11:17 am

Desiree,

Those are IRN's....ARN's are suprisingly rare in this part of Africa.

Wessel

DesireeVenter · Post by **DesireeVenter** » Sat Sep 12, 2015 11:34 am

Thanks Wessel.

Just had to make sure.

DesireeVenter · Post by **DesireeVenter** » Sun Sep 13, 2015 5:37 am

Hi Wessel, is it true that in SA we now need a permit to keep IRN?

Wessel Gordon · Post by **Wessel Gordon** » Sun Sep 13, 2015 7:31 am

The last I heard, yes...but I'm not sure what the conditions are to get a permit or what it costs etc.

DesireeVenter · Post by **DesireeVenter** » Mon Sep 14, 2015 10:04 pm

So this morning i as i am about to leave i notice that my one female is not moving around like she normally does (Yellow female). Upon investigation it looks as if she hurt, though i can't see any blood. She is on top of my grey females breeding box. Do you think it is possible that they got into a fight?

Is this normal behaviour?

Wessel Gordon · Post by **Wessel Gordon** » Tue Sep 15, 2015 1:32 am

It could be that she got into a fight and hurt a wing or a leg. Try to catch her if you have a net and try and pinpoint the problem. If it persists get her to a vet.

DesireeVenter · Post by **DesireeVenter** » Tue Sep 15, 2015 7:43 am

Seems my yellow bird has taken over the nest. but she not sitting on the eggs, just preventing the mother to enter. Should I put het in a separate cage?

Wessel Gordon · Post by **Wessel Gordon** » Tue Sep 15, 2015 9:18 am

That seems like a sensible solution...how long has she been denying the mother access?

DesireeVenter · Post by **DesireeVenter** » Tue Sep 15, 2015 10:08 pm

about a day i would say. do you think the eggs will still be ok?

Wessel Gordon · Post by **Wessel Gordon** » Wed Sep 16, 2015 1:26 am

They should be. A good idea might be to give the invading hen a nest of her own in a separate cage so take care of her brooding instincts. Even if she doesn't lay any eggs it helps safeguard those you have in the other nest.

DesireeVenter · Post by **DesireeVenter** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 10:43 pm

So just an update. Out of the 4 eggs layed. 2 hatched, of which one dissappeared. Not sure what happened to the baby? So I still have one baby left. It's about a week old now. Mom and dad are such caring parents. And often find both in the nest. Mom allows me to look in the nest. And baby seems to be doing well. Very excited to see how my baby gonna look and if it a male or female. Anyways will keep you all updated.

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