Day # 72 Entry Memo @ 5 weeks, 1 day old!

Its been a long time since I last updated...I'm finally getting a bit more sleep and time to do other things besides feeding Memo. I changed my birdie's name from Nemo to Memo...=p...my bf named it Memo...Me from daddy Melon and mo from mommy Momo. I'll always remember Momo and Melon. I had to give them away and I'm still sad about it...hopefully they're doing well right now and will go to a loving and caring home. =(

Memo is growing up very fast. I really want to know if its a she or a he...too bad you can't tell the gender physically. The only way I can find out is by doing a dna test..unless it shows some kind of sexual behaviour and actions. (humping something or laying eggs) I'm hoping Memo is a male...sometimes I have a feeling its a female and other times male. Its the first time I'm not certain about my birdie's gender. I got all 3 of my past lovebird's genders right based on my feeling that I get from them...and after a while, they showed the sexual behaviour and I was right. I might get a better idea after I transfer Memo into a cage...I'll see how it stands on the perch. I read in a book that female lovebird's legs are more apart when standing and that they are a bit lower onto the perch than males...so far that is true with my past 3 birdies. It was more obvious with Momo and Melon since I get a side to side comparison. =D Well...female or male, I'll still love Memo...just don't get too aggressive if you're a female!

Here is a pic of Memo that I took yesterday (5 weeks old!)


Memo is such a messy eater! It's so hard to get the formula out of its feathers and they harden like cement...that's why the feathers below the beak area doesn't look right.

Day #56 Entry- Nemo @ 20 days old

I haven't updated for awhile about my birdies...many things happened!

After stressing and thinking over and over again as to what to do, risking or not, if I can manage to handfeed, etc...all of the sudden, Melon made the decision for me. My original plan was to somehow remove the egg with holes on it last thursday coz that's when the baby bird is exactly 2 weeks old. If anything bad happens, that would be the good age to pull it out to handfeed. Last tuesday evening, for no reason...Melon decided to crack open the egg and took a bite out of the dead baby inside the egg...which was all black and dried up...o_O. When I checked up on them, I accidentally saw a egg cracked open in half and some black dried up thing was in it. I immediately knew I have to remove it right away. It was 2 days earlier than my plan and I was shaking at that time thinking about what I'm about to do. One thing I'm glad is I bought all the supplies I need before this happened. Or else...that would of been quite bad I think. At first I've been trying to decide if I should just try to take out the egg and leave the baby with them...maybe they won't harm it...or I should just take the whole nesting box away so that I won't regret it if anything bad happens to the baby. At that time, I quickly made the decision to just remove the whole nesting box...that way, it can also prevent Momo from wanting to lay more eggs.

I took out a rubber spadula and a oven mit, I blocked the entrance to the nesting box with the spadula from the outside. (after waiting for the both of them to go to the food bowl to eat) I then, opened the cage door and put the cap on the entrance wearing the oven mit. At that time, Momo was right in front of the box. (I knew she would dash for it) If the spadula and the oven mit wasn't there, she would of attacked my hand. o_O....I removed the spadula, and I took out the box with both my hands. My whole body was really shaking and it lasted for a few hours. I took the baby bird out from the box and into the brooder. The baby's crop was full from Momo's feeding so I didn't need to feed it soon. I took a look at the cracked open egg and it was really gross. There was a tiny chunk of it missing...>.<...I think I did the right thing by removing the box...coz it can't be healthy at all from eating bird jerky. In the end, the bird jerky would be fed to the baby bird if I didn't remove it asap.

My first handfeeding was a few hours later at 12:00am...I was really scared. If I do one thing wrong, that can lead to instant death. I was relieved it went well....and even more relieved the baby bird is still alive~! After a week of handfeeding, and its still alive! I'm very happy....seeing the baby bird grow so fast everyday, makes me want to cry...T___T. The baby bird has a name now....and its Nemo. My bf named it Nemo...I still don't know if its a male or female yet...I'm hoping its a male...coz I don't want it to end up like Momo being so loud all the freakin time! Tomorrow, Nemo will be 3 weeks old! and that means I can extend the time between feedings! so instead of having to handfeed it 7 times a day, it'll be 6 times! Yes I've been having to feed it 7 times a day...with 3- 3.5 hours apart. From prep to feeding to clean-up, it takes about 1 hour. I also have to get up in the middle of the night to handfeed as well. That is the most painful part. I'm becoming more and more like a panda now!...but seeing Nemo grow so fast and eating well is all worth it~...but seriously if Momo lays any more eggs, I'm gonna replace them with fake ones coz I don't want to go through this again. Plus I can't have any more birds and I don't know where to give them to so its better if no more hatches...its a cruel thing to do. When this whole thing started, I didn't want to replace or boil the eggs so they won't hatch coz I feel its a cruel thing to do...but after experiencing all this, its better if this doesn't happen again.