I shouldn’t tell you this but......Romeo has been a bad, bad boy. While Pebbles was egg sitting (for Squawk and Cedric) Romeo was living up to his name and was courting Florence.
This didn’t upset Pebbles at all and all three birds took it in turns to sit on Pebbles’s eggs.
On the day Squawk hatched Florence decided to start laying eggs in the same nest. Every other day Florence would lay another egg while all three would feed Squawk and then Cedric. Pebbles had laid 5 eggs in total but only two were fertile. With Florence laying eggs in there as well this was by far the busiest nestbox I’ve ever seen.
Its looking more doubtful - I’m going to leave them another few days before checking.
I couldn’t wait any longer and decided to check what had happened. All of the eggs were fertile although the chicks hadn’t fully developed. The birds must have left them alone for too long at some stage. They are all young parents after all!
We’re going to have some fun with this round - especially predicting the hatch dates as I’m not 100% sure who’s laid the eggs and after moving some which bird is sitting on which eggs. (See Nestbox News).
To make things even more unpredictable the birds didn’t sit tight on the eggs straight away - although they are now.
Once hatched we will be able to tell who the real parents are as Daisy and Donald can only produce whiteface chicks and Frank and Nikitta cant. Lets just hope that Donald doesn’t get too suspicious if he ends up with a yellow chick!
These eggs should start hatching from the 13th April onwards and need to start school early in May. They will have the final graduation ceremonies mid to late June.
Pebbles has managed to get into the nestbox and lay before I had a chance to block it up! She’s got two eggs in there so far and is sitting on them all the time.
Daisy has seen sense and has stopped laying more eggs (she has 4 to sit on) but Nikitta has decided she wants a BIG brood. She’s laid an extra two eggs and is now sitting on 6.
I hope, for the birds sake that they don’t all hatch as they’ll have a lot of work to do to keep them all fed and happy.
With Daisys and Nikittas eggs hatching from the 13th April onwards and Pebbles brood starting about the 25th April I’m going to have to call in the builders to extend the school classrooms. I may have to look for some more classroom assistants as well.
The birds will start graduating from the middle to late June and that should be just in time for them to have a nice relaxing summer holiday away from school.
The fun has started - over the Easter break we’ve had four new arrivals.
Mildred, Colin, Tracy and Sebastian.
As both Donald and Daisy are both whiteface cockatiels they can’t make the yellow or orange colouring - their chicks will all be whiteface cockatiels too. Frank and Nikitta should produce chicks with cinnamon colours - no white ones!
In with Donald and Daisy we have Mildred who is a nice shade of yellow. Out of the other three eggs I’m only expecting two more to hatch as one isn’t fertile. Fingers crossed for a whiteface next so Donald doesn’t get too suspicious!
In with Frank and Nikitta we have Colin and Tracy - both yellow and Sebastian who’s white. They are still waiting for another two siblings with one infertile egg in this brood too.
Pebbles is now sitting on six eggs and has stopped laying now (I hope). These should start hatching from the 25th April onwards.
I think the hatchings have finished for Daisy, Donald and Nikitta and Frank. Luckily things worked out well - Donald and Daisy are looking after Mildred - Frank and Nikitta’s chick while Frank and Nikitta are looking after Sebastian - Donald and Daisys chick.
So we now have (in age order) - Mildred, Colin, Tracy, Sebastian, Sabrina and Igor. Donald and Daisy are looking after Mildred and Sabrina. Frank and Nikitta have a lot of work ahead looking after Colin, Tracy, Sebastian and Igor.
There’s still one egg in Donald and Daisys nest that could hatch and one in Frank and Nikitta’s too. I dont hold out too much hope for Donalds but poor Frank and Nikittas still has a 50/50 chance of hatching.
Pebbles is now sitting on six eggs and has stopped laying. These should start hatching from the 25th April onwards.
