Sparky!!

I expected to have all sorts of garden news to talk about today, but its all been surpassed!!  This morning my Scarlet Chested Parrot hen bird, Marla, got off her nest and flew away.  This is the second nest for Marla and her partner Pablo.  Last time the eggs were infertile.  They are a young pair and I wrote this off as beginner troubles.  They very quickly made a new nest and Marla laid again, but with no noise from the nest box I feared that they had yet again been unsuccessful.

I put up a climber frame - star pickets and some old gates I bought from the tip buy back centre - and planted out the ornamental grape vines.  On the way through the orchard paddock, I thought I'd steel myself to collect Pablo and Marlas' nest box, disinfect it and get it set for next season.

I had all the tools and stuff in the wheelbarrow, and stopped off at the aviary.  I am saddened to find not unhatched eggs, but a baby at the bottom of their nest box.  I went to throw it out, and it moved!!  I grabbed it up, it was very cool and lethargic, abandoned the wheel barrow and dashed inside.

Popped little Sparky in a tissue nest and straight into the incubator with the eggs!!  A dozen phone calls, and a few trips to pet shops/grain stores later we have Sparky set up in his own incubator, set at a lower temp.  He's had something to eat, but this next 24 hours is critical... DO NOT GET TOO ATTACHED, OK??

I had Sparky in with the eggs, and I gave him (if its a she its bound to end in tragedy!!) some Revive (orphaned/injured bird mix).  And waited for my daughter to get home with the parrot rearing mix... he was sooooo uplifted he shuffled out of the tissue nest and managed to get himself caught in the mesh bottom of the incubator.  Picture this - teeny bird - see above, wedged in plastic grid, head down, only bum and flailing legs visible, millimetres above the water/hydration tray at the bottom!!  Grabbed the eggs, almost threw them into the other incubator - you know, the parallel system that ALL good breeders run!!  LOL!! - grab the plastic grid, find this idiot bird's tiny wings and push them back through to the right side and tip him up the right way!!  Have we got another Chumbawumbah here or not???  LOL!!  If he makes it through the next 24 hours it will be a miracle!!  Keep your fingers and eveything else crossed.