For the Birds Episode 8: The Christmas Grand ParaKids

In the last episode I praised Sunny Jewel for being hospitable as she welcomed Marshmallow: "Congratulations to Sunny Jewel for being such a hospitable roommate that Marshmallow Cream seems more comfortable in her forever home. Sunny not only allowed Mallow to use her favorite perch, but also Mallow took over the pine bark mining operation." A few days later, we could tell that Mallow was born to be free. In what seemed lie a Mission Impossible scene, a little more than one year ago, Mallow flew like a dart and got out of the cage through a small crack as I was cleaning the cage- and flew ways never to be seen - A few weeks later we welcomed Ocean Coral. Sunny Jewel is very strong, aggressive and seems to get upset easily, Sunny on the other hand is gentle, chirps a lot, is more trusting than Jewel and as it turns out is a male. 

Gentle Ocean Coral

Professionals tells us that "the incubation period time can vary from 17 to 20 days by the parakeets. They incubate their eggs for at least 17 days to help the hatchlings properly grow within the time period inside. The days may vary, but it doesn’t change anything on the health of the hatchlings.'  We have watched how Sunny laid several eggs, then discarded the:  From dropping them on the floor of the cage, to the water bowl. 

While the eggs were obviously not fertilized, we did not know if the hanging- warming nest first added was doing the job.  We tried switching to a floor-based nest  and the same thing happened.  We finally added a longer nest and things didnt change - until about four months ago.  We noticed Sunny spending more time in the nest. More than 21 days passed and Sunny spent spent most of her time inside the nest, but nothing else.

Then something happened

Something was going on.  Ocean would spend most of his time by himself, but would also feed Sunny as she stayed in the nest. Sunny would be cooped up for days and rarely would go out of the nest.  If someone approached the cage, she would immediately go back.  Ocean would also take turns keeping guard outside the cage.  Both Sunny and Ocean are teaching us valuable lessons:   1) Life is valuable - they defend it with their own life whether born or unborn  2)  To care for the children, born and unborn is a team effort - it takes both a father and a mother.  3)  Caring for the born and unborn is a 24 X 7 job - there is not "me time" - with Sunny cooped up in a cage for days must be extremely hard on her body as she is unable to move, but she does not seem to complain. Whereas Ocean tells us when it is time to put the kids to bed - we have blankets over the cage and they like to call it a day after 9:00 pm

We have decided not to interfere with the incubation pprocess but Sunny and Ocean have shown to be very responsible parents.  We do not know how many eggs were laid, how many are fertilized, but we hear baby chicks chirping.  A clear sign that we have Christmas GrandParaKids -

We are looking forward to seeing the granparkids running around the cage!