ISSN #1492-8132
Issue Number 45
EXTRA
Copyright © 2002
All rights reserved
no reprints without permission

Don't miss this chance to place your bird product or service in front of an interested audience! Flock Talk ads remain available in the online Flock Archives, and may be viewed many times over.

To advertise your bird product or service in this space for only $7.50 US per issue, please contact us

We invited Leanne and her digital movie camera over to record this historical occasion - you can find a short movie of our antics posted here

All the email addresses of every customer to buy one of Robirda's new Bird eBooks in March and April were entered, with each purchase counting as one chance to win. And our winner is (**big drum roll**) ... Jennifer Sweet! Congratulations, Jennifer - your new book will be on its way soon!

This issue's question;

"My hens have raised two nests of chicks each, and want to have another. Is there any reason not to let them continue to have babies, if the conditions are right?"

Robirda's answer;

"Do yourself and them a favour, and set your hens with plastic eggs if they want to keep breeding after raising two nests worth of youngsters. The fake eggs will help keep them occupied until the moult begins, and they begin to naturally come out of breeding condition. You don't want them to exhaust themselves in this breeding season, or you could have problems next year.

"Laying too many eggs is not nearly as exhausting as raising too many babies - that can really wear a hen out.

"The problem is that a hen will rarely show signs of exhaustion until she begins to moult. Then, she will have a long, heavy moult, and a rough winter. If she is badly exhausted, she could die. Many won't recover adequate energy in time to breed the next year, while some never attain full breeding condition again.

"It is easy when you first start breeding to 'trip' over this problem - once you have figured out how to get fertile eggs, you don't want to throw any away! But sometimes it is kinder than allowing the hen to half-kill herself by raising every egg she lays.

"One reason wild birds have such short life-spans, is due to this instinct to keep breeding as long as possible. It is good for species survival if the adults can continue to produce babies as long as conditions allow, but it exhausts the parents' ability to retain enough energy through the moult to be able to withstand predation.

"In Nature's world, this instinct allows for the survival of both the birds and their predators - but we don't have such a system in our aviaries, and tend to forget that we are dealing with an eon or two of natural evolution, when it comes to our birds and what they will want to do."

Young chicks or birds that have been stressed, suffer from decreased immune response, and are wide open to a variety of lethal infections.

Bio-Plus is a multi-strain probiotic that includes garlic extract, vitamins, minerals, electrolytes and glucose polymers. Used twice a week, it acts to restore and refresh beneficial gut bacteria, and establish a more favorable environment in which friendly bacteria will thrive. This in turn helps improve the bird's resistance to infections, especially those of the digestive system.

For more info visit www.birds2grow.com

Our next issue is due out May 26th - until then, may you and your birds enjoy all the best of everything!

Robirda
May 12, 2002
Vancouver, BC, Canada

• Lovebird parents Zeus & Zoe
  
• The 'magical' Easter babies
  
• 'Easter Baby' at 11 days old
  
• 'Easter Baby' at 21 days old
  
• The First Meeting
  
• Learning to feed

• Look Mom, Two of Us!
  
• What's It Taste Like?
  
• A Good Place to Sit
  
• A Chance to Help Out
  
• A Thoughtful Bird Toy
  
• Let's visit the Birds Board!

Lovebird parents Zeus (left) and Zoe (right)       top of page

The 'magical' Easter babies       top of page

Easter at 11 days old       top of page

Easter at 21 days old       top of page

First Meeting       top of page

Learning to Handfeed       top of page

Look Ma, Two of Us!       top of page

What's it taste like?       top of page

The seat with the best view       top of page

Oh boy, a chance to help!       top of page

Maybe nobody'll notice me if I pretend I'm a hair ornament...       top of page

Let's go visit the Birds Board!       top of page

Photos copyright © 2001-2002 by Rebecca Stapells