Training a Rock Pebbler By Dorothy Schwarz
First appeared in BirdKeeper Magazine. Reprinted with permission.
L
ittle Flo has just completed the first ten weeks as a pet bird. Nothing odd in that youmay say, but Little Flo is a rock
pebbler (Polytelis anthopeplus) and they’re usually aviary birds. Howshe became a pet was through an accident; her success story could easily have turned to tragedy.
My homemade aviary houses a twenty
eight strong collection of parakeets and par- rots. Little Flo hatched inApril, 2009. Iwasn’t expecting fertile eggs because young Les, the sole male Rock Pebbler at present in my aviary, was a 2008 chick, only just starting to show his adult yellow plumage. Evidently he is a precocious juvenile for all five eggs hatched. Neither parent stayed much in the nest box. Inexperienced at bird breeding, Iwor- ried incessantly and asked two experts for ad- vice: “Leave themwell alone,” said one. “Weigh them all together daily so you can monitor their weight,” said the other.
I took the latter’s advice. For a week the
chicks gained and then dropped off. Nor- mal I presumed for theywere feathering up ready to fledge.
But not Little Flo! Her skin looked raw,
heavily plucked, either by parents or sib- lings so I brought her inside to hand-feed and re-grow feathers. She was around five weeks old. Within two days she was eat- ing readily from a spoon, nibbling kernels of sweet corn and chickweed. She lived in the large King Cage in the sitting room. Each night, at six PM, as though wearing a wrist watch, she’d climb down the cage and sleep in the cardboard box provided on the cage floor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONLQZjVpkKI 320 px x 240 px
40 Good Bird Magazine
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