Day 54, April 18, 2017 Tuesday I haven’t been sleeping in the house lately because I needed to stay in the city due to some family business concerns. So when I got home I took every opportunity I could to really clean up the cage so that Bonnie and Clyde will have a comfortable home even while I’m gone. Bugging Bonnie to leave the nest box I took a quick peek not really expecting much and then I started getting goosebumps….. AN EGG!! MY FIRST EGG EVER!! (okay technically Bonnie’s) And here I thought I could never breed anything aside from dogs! AVICULTURE 101: Once a month it would be good to wash with soap the bottom tray to avoid bacterial proliferation and growth. Also bird poop attracts  ants. Day 58, April 22, 2017 Saturday Finally back home and haven’t checked on the nest box for the past few days so I’m excited to see if Bonnie laid a few more eggs because I know they can lay but to 5 eggs. However you can …

Day 46, April 10, 2017 Monday I’m finally able to check on my birds properly! I didn’t want to wake them up last night so I checked on the nest box in this morning. Result? No eggs 🙁 Even if there were no eggs I’m just glad that the babysitter was able to keep them healthy, hydrated and happy. I can see that they definitely got busy with the nesting as it’s very clear with the dry strips of palm leaves or at least what’s left of them. The large container of Fertivit is nearly consumed so the water container is definitely good for one week. Day 47, April 11, 2017 Tuesday To encourage more nesting activities I have added more palm leaves into the cage. I also added some more Moringa more for feeding rather than nesting. I do hope I get some eggs very soon. Counting the days going by makes me feel like it’s taking so long for them to breed. Somehow I kinda want to quit logging daily. They really are …

Day 41, April 5, 2017 Wednesday The cold weather here in China made it impossible for me to see anyone keeping birds (save for that one shop that had a very cramped up small cage with a crested myna inside). I wonder how my birds are doing. The quick video view at night revealed that like most nights, Bonnie and Clyde spend it safely in the nest box. My fear of predators doing anything to them is much lesser because they are safely tucked inside. The video reveals a small ribbon tying the cage doors down, Ate Jel is smart and cautious for my dear lovebirds. I sleep assured. Day 42, April 6, 2017 Thursday This is the first time I got to get a good observation of my birds and I can’t help but ask the same question that I continue to ask since day 1: “Are there eggs?” I can only guess. I do see a lot of seed husks on the floor so I’ll guess that Bonnie and Clyde are getting a …

Day 36, March 31, 2017 Friday The sun is starting to shed  light across the outdoor and somehow my birds are now in foraging mode as they leave the nest box. Quite simply I just add a scoop of the bird mix into the food bowl and as soon as I leave they’re already feeding on it. I checked their cuttlebone and looks like I see a chunk chewed off! Is it possible that egg laying will be happening soon? I most certainly hope so.   Day 37, April 1, 2017 Saturday Today is going to be the firs bird show I have ever attended. Though I’m not too keen on competitive and selective breeding of birds to yield desired mutations but you gotta admire the knowledge and expertise in genetics to be able to gain certain outputs. Also present were some big birds like Cockatoos and Eclecti (which were up for raffle but I didn’t win). The Sulfur-crested cockatioo was extremely fond of being scratched, all the more makes me want to buy a …

Day 31, March 26, 2017 Sunday Okay, I didn’t get to log this yesterday but last Saturday I ALMOST made an impulse buy. If there is one way to stimulate your temptations, Facebook Videos is definitely the best way. After watching some videos of freeflighted cockatiels I head down to the online community and search up whatever available chick there was. Thankfully the responsible breeder told me to be patient and just consider purchase when I’m ready to commit and not when I have a 7 day trip out of the country coming up. AVICULTURE 101: Buy from a breeder and not just from a pet shop, and if you do buy from a pet shop make sure they have carefully considered their breeder suppliers. My temptation tamed, I’m only a week away from my out of the country trip. I need to make preparations.     Day 32, March 27, 2017 Monday   Biggest discovery of the week! Apparently we have the moringa plant at our backyard and all along I kept thinking I …

DAY 26, Mar 21, 2017 Tuesday Almost 10 days since I last cleaned their poop tray, you see bird keepers, you have to have commitment and daily check on your birds if you are going to be taking care of them. Birds are not the neatest of pets when it comes to poop and although there are mentions of potty-trained birds, I have never actually seen a potty-trained birds. They will poop most frequently at where the perches will be located. They will poop in your nestbox, heck they will even poop in your food bowl! So constant cleaning is a must. Truth be told, this is a chore but it’s the kind of chore that feels satisfying right after you see a completely fresh looking environment. Thankfully now that I’m located closer to the garden, I don’t need to throw dirt and other stuff to the trashcan, I can throw it directly into the garden where other birds can feed on the leftover seeds which fall off the food bowl (seriously these birds are …

DAY 21, Mar 16, 2017 THURSDAY The birds are still quite scared of my presence. This is getting really hard for me because I have this distorted expectation of birds being interactive with me. Well I can’t blame them, I haven’t had the opportunity to really stay with them and get them used to my presence. I can’t put them in the office either because they’re quite loud. I pretty much gave up with my bird cam. I can’t blame it though because our router range is very weak. (default router from PLDT, our internet service provider). Because of this I’m considering moving them to the other office where there’s an outdoor space. My fear is still with cats and rats which is a real problem here in Cebu. Future bird keepers out there? Don’t expect bird keeping to be as fantastic as you’ve got it imagined in your head. Bird keeping isn’t like Snow white with the animals of the forest. You are dealing with a species that is not human and you have …

DAY 16, Mar 11,2017 SATURDAY I attempted placing a “toy” in their cage which really was a wooden beads bracelet. After watching a couple of times from the bird cam it seem like that they were still more interested with the colorful paper clip which I used as a wire hanger for the DIY water container I made. It looks like colour matters for them after all. Yesterday I didn’t see any poop land on that floor guard that I made but today after check I saw about two poop marks which proves that the floor guard is indeed effective! Peering into the bird cam also showed them bringing in more nesting material. Compared to before, I found that the nesting material seems to be lined better in their nestbox bottom, I guess it’s important to always provide them with new nesting material options to play around with instead of just leaving them with the existing ones. The cam showed me the female busily chewing on the stalk while sticking out of the nest box. …

DAY 11, Mar 6, 2017 MONDAY Still hopeful everyday, I did my check and tried to see if there are any eggs laid. Still none. I noticed that over the weekend, the new water dispenser I bought for them did not seem to lose any water content aside from the evaporation. This looks like an experiment opportunity to see if they would rather drink from the DIY water container I made for them. I removed that container and just left the water dispenser. Note that I’ve mounted across their swing perch, just at its level so that it’s within their line of vision. The fact that their nesting material was removed from their nestbox, I got really bothered. After a few readings I found out that adding of freshly chewed strips of stalks was actually for humidity controlling! Brilliant birds! They were making the nestbox conditions more to their liking! This is new information for me. After learning about their humidity controlling activities, I decided to stock up fresh moringa stalks and leaves for them …