Continued from page 1What's That Sound?
Like many people, I had always thought that male finches sang, females didn't. Don't tell that to cordon bleus! I had the bleus for five days when I heard a strange new song coming from the aviary. It sounded like a quieter and scratchier version of the male bleu's song, with a somewhat different melody. After some time trying to locate the rhapsody, I found the female bleu singing. All my female bleus now sing on a regular basis, and they occasionally dance with a grass in their beak as well.
After a summer of sunshine and fresh air, the weather changed to cold and gray. I brought the pair of cordon bleus into a newly constructed 8 x 4 x 6 ft. indoor aviary. This particular aviary would house the cordon bleus, lady Gouldians (Chloebia gouldiae), red-eared (black rumped) waxbills (Estrilda troglodytes), Bengalese (or society) finches (Lonchura striata var. domestica), and an old "retired" pair of zebra finches.
I only had a pair of each species and the aviary was well foliaged, so overcrowding was not a problem. Just for fun, I put several small covered wicker nest baskets in the aviary.
Fun To Eggs
The pair of cordon bleus soon adapted to the change of environment and the male bleu began to fill all the nest baskets with grass. The female bleu chose a basket and the male ceased his nest filling. The days went by, the pair of "retired" zebra finches started nesting (what did you expect from zebras?) and I waited. After a time, I noticed the female bleu was straining to pass an egg. She was egg bound. The bleu was extremely weakened, and in a matter of moments she could no longer grip the perch. She tumbled to the ground and sat on the floor, exhausted. I quickly placed the female bleu in a hospital cage, being as gentle as possible so as not to break the egg or needlessly increase her stress. I put a light near her cage for warmth and to prevent draft, I put a towel halfway around her cage. I gave her cooked egg shells to increase her calcium supply and I put cod-liver oil in her seed to help lubricate the cloaca and vent, to make passage of the egg smoother.
I also gave her a slice of orange because she was having trouble perching near the water. She ate the egg shells but did not touch the seed, so I gave her bread crumbs and mealworms. These she ate ravenously. I put a red incandescent bulb near her cage for the night.
The next morning I gave her broccoli, and that afternoon she passed the egg. I waited until the following day before I released the female bleu back into the aviary, so she could fully recoup. The male bleu was quite excited to have his mate back, and sang and danced to her immediately upon release.
A week later I checked the bleu's nest. Lo and behold, I saw three lovely white eggs. A fourth egg appeared the next day. At first I did my nest checks very cautiously, as I did not want to disturb the bleus to much.
However, the female bleu soon got used to my intrusions and she sat tight. I mean tight -- I had to lift her off the eggs to peek and even then she remained in the nest! The male was not this strong-willed about setting and he left the nest whenever I approached. Fourteen days after the fourth egg had been laid I checked the bleu's nest. The female was setting, so I lifted her up slightly with my finger. There appeared to be something pink underneath her. Was it just the female's foot or something else, something alive? I lifted her higher and the pink thing opened its beak and begged.
I provided an extra large portion of mealworms and egg food, which became the male's main diet. I also gave a prepackaged dried bug food and pellets, although the bleus never touched these. The female bleu fed mostly on the egg food and various vegetables, such as corn on the cob, chopped apple and broccoli. She was not interested in mealworms.
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