CAGE BIRDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22540, 3 October 1936, Page 7 (Supplement)

CAGE BIRDS

By TAIL-FEATHERS

Letters requesting information regarding the care of cage bird# will be answered In this column each week. Readers are Invited to write to Tailfeatbers, New Zealand Herald Office, Auckland.

Hints for Breeding Budgerigars

(continued)

AT first, the extra quantity of seed consumed is not great, but as the young budgerigars grow rapidly in size j?o docs their" appetite enormously expand. A lot can be done to ease the work of the industrious parents by feeding them extra quantities of hulled oats and a good quality white millet seed in addition to their usual mixture. These two seeds are particularly full of nourishment, and enable the birds to quickly shell them and fill their crops. When tho young commence to hatch, some fanciers givo extra quantities of green feed, Biich as sow thistle, silverboot, groundsel, chickweed, seedling grasses or other food of a like nature. Ovor doses of green stuff produce looseness in the bowels, and for this reason some prefer to rear their young ones on dry seeds alone. Personally, I consider this wrong. Feeding a small quantity of different kinds of green vegetable matter is essential, in my opinion. Nervous Hens Remove left-over green food daily and in collecting green food be sure it has not been spoiled by frost or poisoned by fruit-spray. Budgerigars do not mind you looking in the nest, particularly after the young ones aro hatched, therefore, during the whole of the time until the young are independent you can clean out the husk twice a week; or once, if you have got a large one or a wooden box. With nervous hens it is advisable not to look at their eggs until they have

hatched, as occasionally birds desert if disturbed before they feel and see live young ones. Never dust the chickß with insect powder until the youngest is able to hold its head a little upright. Losses have been directly attributed (with birds two or three days old) to their nostrils filling with insect powder collected from the bottom of the • nest. Critical Days Be careful to remove daily the green food not consumed. It is far better to feed such a small amount that it is eaten in three or four hours, and for the rest of tho day no green food is available. Remember that investigations overseas incline to the opinion that the after-life of a budgerigar is mostly determined by the way it is fed during tho first 14 days of its life. Keep in front of the birds a small piece of rock salt and a small quantity of some form of powder or block to make good any possible mineral deficiencies in the diet. Many obscure diseases nre really caused by deficiency of some mineral, and lack of vitamins is not always the cause of trouble. Continue sprinkling the top of the seed mixture with canary or white millet seed which has been soaked in cod liver oil—one teaspoon to a pint of seed. Follow this feeding routine and you should not lose many youngsters. After the birds have been in the nest about 21 days, they will gradually work toward the entrance, and, according to their growth, will hop out and test their powers of flight.