NIM'S BREEDING PLAN POSTPONED

The breeding of Nim and Lorraine had to be put aside for the next few months because they both went into molt soon after the temporary separation.

I had estimated Nim’s tail to be 11.7 inches and was pleasantly surprised when I measured the dropped long tail feathers to be about 12.5 inches instead (I have the tendency to underestimate the tail lengths of my own birds). Hopefully, the tail will grow even longer from this molt.

It seems the recent unusual weather here had affected some of the more experienced breeders as well. There had been too much rain, even storms that had caused flash floods over here during the last couple of months. This is quite unusual as mid-year over here is usually the driest and hottest period of the year. From what I had learned, this abnormal weather could cause the breeding period to cease prematurely and the breeding birds to go into molt earlier than expected.

Lorraine was returned to DDS and to save some face from my failure to breed from her, I had 'accused' DDS of providing me with a female which is not even good enough to hold on to her feathers for a little while more. I had even tried to claim for a ‘full refund’ but was gently reminded that I was never charged in the first place for borrowing her. Of course, I was merely testing my luck, in case the weather had affected my old friend's memory as well....hehehe. Being a good friend like I had always been, I had promised to take Lorraine in again after she has completed her molt, to 'help lighten his load'.

Meanwhile, I am crossing my fingers for my other breeding pair. Funkie was recently paired with Ballerina (daughter of Ballet Dancer). Funkie is now 16 months old. His tail length was measured to be 11.5 inches from the first molt and 12.75 inches from the second molt. His tail feathers were quite stiff from the first molt but were much softer from the second. Ballerina is still a virgin, well endowed with a soft and curved tail, measuring 8.5 inches. I had insisted on choosing Ballerina from DDS’s pool of females. Surely, he can’t be expecting me to accept anything else less elegant to be matched to my funky prince.

Funkie seems to be in top breeding condition right now but there is suspicion that Ballerina may be going into molt. Hopefully, if luck is on my side this time, she would be able to produce a clutch before that happens.

Thanks again David, for your generosity.

TEMPORARY SEPARATION OF THE PAIR

This is the picture of Nim taken this morning. I had decided to temporarily remove him from the breeding cage. Meanwhile, Lorraine is still sitting on the unfertile eggs but in a few days time, she will abandon them. This time round, I will try to make sure that the timing is right before releasing Nim back into the breeding cage.

CANDLING RESULT

I candled the eggs when Lorraine came out of the nest-box early this morning for her first feeding. The last time I counted the eggs was on the day she started sitting and there were 4 of them. As expected, she had laid another the next day but the candling shows that all 5 eggs were infertile. This was also quite expected because although Lorraine was ready to be bred at the time the pair was introduced, Nim wasn't and no mating took place before the eggs were laid.

I will remove the nest-box and the eggs when the time is up, in a few days time and will observe the pair to decide when to put it back. I would expect that the next clutch will be fertile. Hope this expectation will come true just like the others so far.






Although they were not fertilised, having 5 eggs in this clutch, all of normal size, had indicated to me that Lorraine's diet prior to laying was ok and she was in pretty good physical condition.






Lorrain is a very good hen in many ways. She has a stable temperament. With a little effort, she was quite easily conditioned to allow me to remove the nest-box periodically for inspection of the eggs. I think not all shama hens will tolerate this and some may even abandon the nest when disturbed this way.

LORRAINE HAS BEEN A GOOD HEN

It's been a week since Lorraine started sitting the eggs. She has been doing a very good job, only coming out of the nest box for short periods during the day to feed and bath. Before she started sitting, she will feed during the night, up to the time the lights are turned off at about 9 pm. I had already installed a dim night light to ensure that there is sufficient light for her to find her way back to the nest-box, in case she is still out when the main lights are turned off but that seems to be quite unnecessary. Ever since she started sitting, she has never leave the nest-box after 6 pm even though the lights are on at night, as usual. Perhaps the incubating hen senses the drop in temperature as night approaches and instinctively will not leave the eggs even for short periods.

I have not candled the eggs to check if they are fertile. I was advised by DDS that even if they are not, it is best to let the hen incubate the full period instead of discarding them which will stress the pair and may cause the hen to shortly lay another clutch that is likely to be unfertilised.

Uriah Heep - Sweet Lorraine

4TH EGG

Lorraine laid the 4th egg earlier today. When I came home, she was in the nest box and it appeared that she has started sitting the eggs. If that is so, it would mean that this clutch will consist of 4 or 5 eggs.

If any of the eggs are fertile, they will hatch in about 11 days time. The only way of finding out if they are fertile is to candle them. I was told by DDS that the best time to do this is after 4 days from the time the female starts sitting the eggs.


Will update again when I can confirm whether they will become chicks or omelette.

3RD EGG

Lorraine laid her 3rd egg.








Up to yesterday, the pair was fed only live food consisting of crickets, mealworms, pineapple beetles and froglets. The insects are gut loaded with dog food, chicken feed, Nestum cereals, carrot and a little powdered calcium. The egg shells of the 3 eggs were well formed, suggesting that there were sufficient store of calcium in the female bird so far. I am afraid that she may be quite depleted by now and I will also be supplementing with a liquid calcium from now on. Additionally, small guppies will also be included in the daily diet.

2ND EGG

THE FIRST EGG

At around 10am, Lorraine came out of the nest box. Here's the pic of the egg.

4TH DAY AFTER NEST BUILDING

I haven't been paying very much attention to the pair for the last few days. I woke up early this morning, replenished the feeder boxes and sat in front of the breeding cage watching the pair in anticipation (as if I knew something will happen). At about 8.15am, Lorraine entered the nest box. I had seen her entering the nest box occasionally, since the nest was built but had not seen her stayed for very long inside.

It's been more than half an hour and she is still inside as I write. She is laying the first egg.

WILL NIM BE READY IN TIME?

Sometimes, I am not quite sure if the female shama is merely a passive party awaiting to be wooed during the courtship. Lorraine was observed yesterday to be repeatedly taking off from the perch and making quick u-turns in mid-air to return back to the perch. This type of flight in the presence of a male, I would think, signals the female's readiness to breed, although so far I have not seen any males reacting to it.

The following is David's point of view, extracted from an email I received from him:

"The female shama in top breeding condition tends to exhibit a distinctive flight pattern that is quite different from her normal flight. Usually, in the confines of an aviary, the shama (male or female) will fly from perch to perch and from floor to perch. In other words, there is purpose in the flight - to travel from place to place. However, the female that is really ready to mate, when in the company of the male, frequently flies from her perch in a quick but seemingly fluttering flight that takes an elliptical loop and returns her to about the same place on the perch without her first landing anywhere else. She may do this again and again. Her action seems reflexive and pointless as, all the while, the male appears unconcerned with her antics. The lack of reaction from the male suggests that such flights are not part of a courtship display or intended to stimulate the male's sexual interest. I am not sure of the function of such flights in the mating process and only wish to observe at this time that the ready female will tend to have such flight patterns. "

(Perhaps, if Lorraine could learn to sashay like the sexy lady passing by DDS , she too would succced in arousing Nim).






















Lorraine was very busy throughout this morning building the nest from the nesting materials provided. I hope Nim is up to it.

EARLY INTRODUCTION OF THE PAIR

Lorraine showed signs of readiness and was introduced to Nim. I had taken the necessary precautions to prevent serious injuries to Lorraine and to minimise stress to the pair should they need to be separated quickly.


During the initial 20 minutes or so, Nim went at her fiercely but stop short of pecking at her whenever she was cornered. Lorraine is a very matured and aggresive bird herself and in her stage of readiness, she soon began to relax. This also causes Nim to relax slightly. An hour later, she was relax enough to start eating and will stand her ground whenever Nim advances aggresively. In about 2 hours time, they were observed to be taking turns to bath at the bath tray provided. The introduction was successful.

AN UNFORGETABLE MISTAKE FROM THE PAST

It is expected that when a female white-rumped shama is introduced to a male who is not ready to breed, he may attack her violently. I would very much want to share a very unpleasant experience that I had sometime ago, when a female was introduced to an unready male. On that occasion, the male did not attack the female violently but had just did enough to prevent her from having access to the food and water. I had not realised this in time, thinking that all is well. Since there appeared to be no indication that the female will come to any serious physical harm, I had left the pair together. As a result of this carelessness in observing the pair during the introduction, the female died 3 days later, not from physical injuries but from starvation. Sometimes it is hard to forget a mistake, no matter how many ways I looked at it afterwards. Perhaps, by sharing this mistake, I will have to bear with the disgusts of the more experienced but I hope that it could also be of some use to others who are less experienced.

PRE-BREEDING CONDITIONING

So far, the pair of white-rumped shamas Nim and Lorraine seems to be far from being ready to be introduced to one another. I have already started the pre-breeding conditioning. They are given lots of livefood daily. Twice a week, they are supplemented with multi-vitamins and minerals and on all the other days, vitamin B-complex. In addition, they will be given vitamin E once a week. The feeder insects are also gut-loaded with food rich in calcium before feeding to the birds. Hopefully, all these will bring them into breeding condition soon and also give them a better chance to succeed.

There is a reason for Nim to be out of condition at this time of the year, when he should be in good form and breeding condition. Not long after his recent 2nd molt, Nim was hand-caught from his cage to cut the overgrown toe nails. As he is not used to being handled this way, he seems to be quite affected by the stress. At about the same time, I had also switched him from my home made dry food to commercial pellets. This change of diet although done gradually, must have further stressed him. As a result, Nim went through a partial (stress) molt. Only the tail feathers were shed and he had just completed growing them. Luckily, all seems to be well now and his form is gradually returning.

THE BREEDING CAGE AND OTHER STUFFS

This indoor breeding cage was constructed with the help of my friend Osbert, another shama hobbyist.

There are 4 doors. The small door at the extreme right upper half of the cage is to enable easy access to the nest-box. Another small door at the lower half of the cage is for easy movements of the feeder boxes in and out of the cage. The largest door at the bottom is to allow for a bamboo cage to be placed inside whenever it is necessary. An additional large door at the top half was constructed so that when the birds are removed and all the doors are opened up, every part of the inside can be reached for cleaning or for disinfecting purposes.

The roof and 3 sides of the cage were covered with light plywood over the wire mesh, leaving only the front open to provide for a better sense of security for the breeding pair. The height of the cage is only 4 feet from cage-floor to roof and about 3 feet from floor to nest-box. This low height from floor to nest-box is to minimise injuries to newly fledged chicks. Later on, additional perches will be added to some areas below the nest-box to further minimise injuries to falling fledglings.







This nest-box was given to me by David DS. (If the breeding is not successful, I could always put the blame on the ugly nest-box).

This plastic guppy tank measuring approx. 13" long and 8" tall is ideal for using as a feeder box. A variety of insects such as crickets, mealworms and 'pineapple beetles' can be placed inside. It is tall enough to prevent the crickets from jumping out. Some birds may need a little encouragement initially to enter the box but in no time, they will be jumping in and out of it with ease.

This plastic turtle tank is just right for feeder froglets. The cover was cut leaving a narrow strip around the edge, overhanging the opening to prevent the froglets from climbing out.

THE CHOSEN MATE FOR NIM

This is Lorraine. She will be introduced to Nim when the time is ripe.

Lorraine possesses a good neck and was observed to be very willing to flick her 8 inches tail quite high. I would think that it may not be easy to breed from her but with the encouragements from David DS, who is also her breeder, I look forward to the challenges in the coming months, with the hope to be successful in this pairing and to producing offsprings of decent quality.

PREPARING TO BREED NIM

I spent the last couple of days preparing a breeding cage for Nim. Nim is almost 2 years old and among the shamas that I have kept during the last few years, he is my favorite in terms of physical structure, posture and songs. He has no glaring faults and is overall quite a stylish bird when in form. However, he is slightly lacking in one aspect during display. Although he has an aggresive style of display that comes with multiple tail flicks, Nim do not flick his tail feathers high enough for my liking. This could be partly due to his 11.7 inches long tail feathers being too broad. I would have to keep this in mind when selecting for a suitable female. She would also have to be equally sound in her overall physical structure.


It is always easier said then done. Still, I would hope to be able to produce offsprings from him that are equally good in physical structure and better in tail-play.