During August one of our bonded pairs began to show signs of nesting interest.
We noticed large holes appearing in the walls of the parrot enclosure and both parrots personalities changed.
Up until recently all six of our Galahs, 3 males and 3 females lived contented with each other in an enclosure.
For some reason back in August this year (2009) the males began to squabble, then the bickering escalated to fighting. Fearing for their safety I separated the male that I thought was disrupting their community.
The male "Little lad" aged 10 and his bonded partner "Lady" aged 7 were moved to a temporary accommodation on the 25th August 2009.
During their stay in the new house I thought at this stage it might be a good idea to introduce a nest box. The nest box was an instant success, within days both Little lad and Lady were spending several hours of the day playing and preening inside the box.
To my surprise on the 2nd of September just 8 days after giving them a nest box one egg was laid.
1st egg laid 7:24am on the 2nd Sept 2009. Egg measuring 34mm by 15mm and weighed 11grams.
2nd egg laid 08:25am on 5th Sept 2009.
1st egg hatched 14:53hrs on 27th Sept 2009.
3rd egg laid 14:46hrs on 8th Sept 2009.
Day 2 since the first egg hatched, still no significant change to the size of chick 1.
The remaining 2 eggs not yet hatched.
It is now the 30th Sept 2009 and the second egg has now hatched.
As expected you can see that the first chick is slightly larger than the most recent hatched.
Chick 1 is now 4 days old.
Chick 2 is just 1 day old.
It's now 2nd Oct 2009 and the second chick should be 2 days old. However sadly the 2nd chick has died.
Concerned for the one remaining chick I have made the decision to remove the one surviving chick from the nestbox.
On the 4th Oct 2009 the remaining chick was removed and placed in a brooder for hand rearing.
The one last remaining egg should have hatched out almost a week ago. Using a candler the egg was checked for any signs of life, but sadly it appears that the egg is infertile.
The nest box is again empty.
Meet "Billy" pictured here aged 7 day old.
Billy weighs 33g
Below Billy captured at 15 days old.
Billy's weight is now 54g
Left Billy captured at 20 days old.
Billy is slightly under weight at 75g
Feed time for Billy
Billy captured at 28 days old.
His weight has increased to 174g
Billy at 32 days old.
His weight has increased to 225g
Billy pictured here at 7weeks and 3 days old.
He is now regularly preening and stretching his wings ready for his maiden flight.
Billy at 49 days old.
His weight has increased to 304g
Billy's first day in the garden.
Pictured here at 9 weeks old.
Billy took his maiden flight today aged 7 weeks and 5 days.
Billy aged 3 1/2 months old.
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short video
