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April 2009, at the end of my Gouldian breeding season, while cleaning out the old nests, I found one egg among sip was fertile.
It was cold and probably dead in the shell but I placed it among a group of 'close to same hatch date' Bengelese.
Miraculously, the Gouldian hatched same time as five Bengelese chicks.
Mom and Pop fed all their brood and Baby Gouldian equally for 7 days. On the 8th day, the babies eyes opened.
I checked the chicks legs and being just the right size, all chicks were close banded including the Gouldian.
I noted that his crop contained one white millet seed whereas the Bengie chicks were stuffed with egg food.
All day I heard the little Gouldian's begging calls among the others. He called long and loud but he didn't get fed.
Again I closed the nest box thinking…feeding a tiny finch is too demanding with my work schedule……I've never fed a finch before
…..…hand fed birds don't make good breeders……….better to let nature take its course!
Next day I again heard the plaintive calls of a starving chick. I hadn't thought he would make it through the night.
I checked his empty crop and he eagerly reached up to my finger when I touched his head, squawking all the while …..
two big eyes and an even bigger mouth. I couldn't resist his determination to survive.
I warmed up some pablum and with the small tool provided for applying split bands, I fed him in his bengie nest.
I was surprised that he had no fear of the 'spoon', he practically devoured it with each mouthful.
I bought a can of Lafebre's Nestling Food, fed him four times a day and he thrived on it.
Two days later, I had to go to Calgary for a weekend conference. What to do!!
By now I had named this audacious chick ' Sparkle' because of his lively personality.
Can't quit now, I would just have to pack him along!
So a big shoe box was found, a heating pad, a nest, the food and dishes required to maintain a micro birdy environment in a
Calgary hotel for 2 days. I lifted him from his warm Bengelese siblings and propped him up on Kleenex in his new home.
I filled the hot water bottle, wrapped it in a towel and set it beside his nest to keep him warm on the 3 hour journey.
Once in the hotel he let everyone know it was dinner time, so the food was warmed, the heating pad was plugged in,
he ate until he could hold no more then snuggled down in his nest, and was once again a happy camper. What a trooper!!!
Back home, each morning and when I returned from work, I was greeted by loud hungry chirps from the shoe box..…
I had definitely been adopted as his Momma! Sparkle was fed in my hand and then on my finger for 18 days.
At 28 days old, he began to fly away, come back to my hand to grab a bite, then fly off again.
At this point I introduced him to a cage and a 'teacher' bird, a small gouldian hen from a previous clutch.
She never cared to get very close to me but she certainly took Sparkle under her wing and encouraged him to try the sprouted seeds,
egg food and veggies in his dish, as well as how to hang upside down and eat spray millet.
Sparkle flourished…his baby feathers were smooth and shiny, and he was a full sized juvenile, slightly larger than the hen.
Being fully weaned he was moved into the aviary with his hen friend and she continued to be his mentor right through his adult moult.
Every day when I entered the aviary, he would fly over to me and sing his soft song. He hadn't forgotten me!
By January 2010, Sparkle was a gloriously colored very handsome dude!
I decided it was time to try him out and see what kind of father he would be.
The hen I chose for him was experienced as a Mom and two years older than Sparkle.
I fixed up the nest, the hen took a shine to the furnishings and within 10 days she was laying.
She began incubating the eggs but Sparkle kept his distance and would not enter the nest.
I thought he might come around eventually but he never did. Sparkle was obviously very fertile as all 5 eggs hatched.
Mom fed them to maturity with absolutely no help from him. When the babies fledged and begged him for food, he flew away.
I was saddened that perhaps Sparkle would never be a good parent.
When a second clutch of eggs was laid I removed them since the hen needed
time to recover before attempting to nurture another clutch.
One month passed and a fresh batch of nest material was packed inside the nest.
Sparkle took an interest and rearranged it all to his own liking. The third clutch of eggs was laid.
The day of the fifth egg, to my delight, Sparkle was in the nest with the hen, incubating the eggs.
He sat with her day and night until five chicks hatched and then devoted himself to feeding.
The chicks were banded at 9 days, strong healthy babies with big fat crops full of eggs and sprouts.
Sparkle paced the perch while I banded each one and returned it to the nest. The chicks moulted out beautifully at four months.
Out of 10 chicks, seven were red head normals just like Mom and Dad and three were Blue backs!
What a surprise, Sparkle and his hen each carried the gene for Blue!
Somehow between nest 1 and nest 2, Sparkle had learned to follow the instinct of his species.
Though he began with no interest in caring for his chicks, he obviously picked up the finer points from the hen who led by strong example.
Sparkle and his hen were in separate flights during the summer moult and rest period.
Now, December 2010, another breeding season is beginning and they are back together in the breeding cage.
Sparkle has built a lovely nest of coco fibre completely covering the entire inside of the box including the top so I can't see in!
He is singing his love song and doing his very special dance of courtship and his missus is responding with all the right moves.
Soon I will hear the soft peeps of new life!
This promises to be a very good year!
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Lessons I Learned from Sparkle!
Lesson 1: If attempting to foster a Gouldian chick under Bengelese that have their own youngsters, be prepared that they will favor their own and at some point they may abandon the foster chick.
Lesson 2: Never underestimate your ability to feed a small finch, especially one that is 8 days old and very willing to eat.
Lesson 3: Just because you hand feed a bird does not mean it will be a poor breeder or parent.
Lesson 4: All birds deserve a second chance. Sparkle survived first as an abandoned egg and then as an abandoned foster chick. Again later, he had a second chance at being a good Dad and he became one!
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