Scaly Crowned Weavers.

[PAUL HEARN]

Hello all,

Many years ago I tracked down a small number of Scaly Crowned Weavers from all over the UK to form a colony of these birds and despite my best efforts over three or four years and trying to breed them as a colony in a 9ft long x 6ft wide x 6ft high planted aviary, as single pairs in 6ft long x 3ft wide x 6ft high aviaries, large indoor flight cages (mini aviaries), I failed to rear chicks further than nine days old.:sad:

Last year during the latter part of Summer I bought a pair of Scaly Crowns from Dorset Birds, they were put into a 6ft long x 3ft wide x 6ft soon after buying them, they went on to produce nests and eggs but nothing came of their attempts.

This year they were put out into a 6ft x 3ft x 6ft aviary with a pair of Desert Finches, despite attempts to nest the Weavers were put off by the flighty nature of the Desert Finches.

Then due to aggression between birds in my 9ft x 6ft x 6ft aviary I had to move several birds around, this resulted in my pair of Green Singing Finches being removed to the aviary that housed the Weavers and Desert Finches and the latter were put into the 9ft x 6ft x 6ft.

After this the Scaly Crowns took over and lined a nest suspended from the roof that was built by my cock Taveta Golden Weaver (who had been removed to another 9ft x 6ft x 6ft aviary housing a pair of Elliots Laughing Thrushes due to his aggressive behaviour towards the smaller occupants of the previous aviary).
During incubation the cock Scaly Crown became extremely aggressive towards the cock Jacarini Finch who was displaying in what he believed to be his territory due to his mate incubating at the same end of the aviary the Weavers were nesting, the harassment of the cock Weaver directed toward the cock Jacarini became so bad I decided the best action would be to remove the cock Weaver and let the hen rear on her own.
This didn't work out and the hen reared the chicks on her own to only five days old, when this round failed I had only one option in placing the pair in the Japanese Waxwing aviary, during this time I received a call from a fellow Waxbill Finch Society member who despite losing several chicks was pleased in having fledged two Scaly Crowned Weaver chicks.:D

My Weavers chose a large wicker nest basket to nest in and when the Waxwings failed to rear their young they were removed from this aviary, this allowed the Weavers access to Livefood prepared in the way the previous breeder had suggested, mini Mealworms chopped and mixed with Insectivorous mixture, but I also added a powdered vitamin supplement for Livefood from the Continent for my birds.

I'm pleased to say this has resulted in the first Scaly Crowned Weaver chick fledging in my aviaries, I hope the second chick will fledge tomorrow.:grin:

Until this year I didn't think I would ever get to the stage of rearing Scaly Crowned Weavers to the fledging stage, this result is by far the best I could have wished for this year!

Paul. :lol:

[kenny]

hi paul
congratulations mate.i am really pleased for you nad to breed something that is not that easy to breed must be a feather in your cap ,fantastic news paul



ken;-)

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Ken,

As pleased as I am with breeding the Red Crested Finches after a long period of failures,:D I am really chuffed to have bred the Scaly Crowned Weavers after so many years!

I am a very happy chappie!!:lol: :lol:

Paul.:wink:

[Waxbillman]

very well done Paul

i am really happy for you, all the hard work and stress has finally paid off

Matthew

[chris]

Hi Paul,

brilliant news mate, hopefully they'll be the first of many

Chris:wink:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies,:grin: my results wouldn't have been possible without those of Steve Hood of the WFS, Steve called me and told me of his results in fledging two chicks and explained the details of his feeding regime.

Without Steves information I doubt that I could have done this on my own?

Many thanks Steve, Paul.:wink:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hello all,

I'm pleased to say that although the second Scaly Crown chick is a couple of days behind the other it has safely fledged and is making it's way around the aviary almost as well as it's older sibling and can fly very well considering it's smaller size and not being as feathered up as the older chick.

I will take some photos of these because I will be writing an article on this breeding for Lauras homepage and whoever else want to publish it?

Paul.:D

[chris]

Hi Paul,

great stuff, go on you know you want to send a copy to C&A:razz: £20 per 500 words, but they seem to cut out 250 words in every 1000 at least in my experience. make it as long and detailed as possible and you'll be rolling in it!:shock:

Chris;-)

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Chris,

There are a few specialist magazines as well as Cage and Aviary Birds that I would like to publish the article/s I will be writing, but seriously I would rather the article will find more keepers/breeders of these birds who would be willing to exchange birds with myself and Steve Hood in order to preserve the species in UK and European Aviculture.

But that's not to say I would turn down any payment offered from Cage and Aviary from a published article.:lol: :lol:

Descriptions in field guides are beneficial to keepers of certain birds that aren't regularly bred in captivity, but real accounts of captive breedings count for a lot more.

Depending on how Steve feels, I would like to publish a joint article describing our past failures and our current successes?

As well as finishing in rearing their first successful round of chicks, my pair are currently building a monster of a free standing nest in Conifer that I hope will produce another successful round of chicks before the year is over?

Paul.:D

[laurab]

WOW! An article from Paul :shock:

Seriously mate, you have done a great job, well done.........and get writing!!!! :lol:

[Waxbillman]

would make excellant reading Paul i am very sure and i am glad the WFS has played a part in this thing, if i didn't get you to join you would never of been a co-ordinater for those weavers and so would have never got in contact with Steve

once you have finished the article on weavers i believe theres a few more you need to write...

Matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Laura and Matthew,

Laura,

Thanks mate, as you know with my promises or ideas I may well get there one day? :lol:

Matthew,

I agree entirely with you mate,;) if I hadn't joined the Waxbill Finch Society then I wouldn't have heard from Steve Hood regarding his successful breeding of these birds.

I do believe that in joining the WFS through your advice and the resulting contact with Steve has contributed a great deal towards my successful breeding of these birds, so thank you Matthew!:D

One question though, what other articles do you think I should be writing after this one?

Paul.

[dave85]

hi paul,

Congratulations buddy! well earned result it seems!

Look forward to reading the article you'll be writing.

Maybe an idea of a 2 a year feathered-friends journal should be in order written articles and pieces by its members????

Thanks
Dave
p.s - maybe even though you wasnt 100% successful with red crested it was a result and would make a good read.

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the comments regarding the Scaly Crowned Weavers.;)

Having said that, maybe it's just me mate, but when certain articles are written it usually ends with a possitive ending?

I agree that bird breeding articles tend to contain the best results and not the bad, but there aren't many of us who are willing to publish details of our failures.

On a personal note I don't look forward to publishing my failure in breeding the Red Crested Finch.

Paul.

[PAUL HEARN]

Hello all,

I have some more good news regarding the Scaly Crowned Weavers, they are currently incubating another clutch of eggs, I just hope I can gain some more chicks from this round.:grin:

I will update you all with any progress from this clutch.

Paul.:wink:

[laurab]

:-D yahoo :-D
:-D

[Waxbillman]

fingers crossed for you Paul

its sounds very promising.

Matthew

[kenny]

hi paul
nice one mate.good luck with them mate

ken

[PAUL HEARN]

Thanks Laura, Matthew and Ken,

I too hope this following round will be a success, but after speaking to Steve Hood he has yet to replicate his earlier successful rearing of these birds, and he has three true pairs compared to my one.:(
So sadly it seems that rearing this species is in fact a rather hit and miss affair, all I can do is wait and see if my own rearing method works out a second time.:???:

What I will say though is I'm certain that from the batches of imports that Dorset Birds and other UK bird dealers provided there are certainly more birds of this species out there that are needed in hopefully establishing these birds in UK Aviculture.

I just hope the people who have these birds will contact either Steve or myself?

Paul.:wink:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hello all,

Some bad news regarding the Scaly Crowned Weavers, unfortunately I'm having to chop up mini Mealworms again.:(

The good news though this has to be done in order to feed the newly hatched chicks they have.:D

But it is far from plain sailing regarding rearing the chicks this time around, I believe another factor in Steve and I managing to rear chicks to independence before included the good spell of hot and dry weather at the time.
I will have to wait and see if I'm right on this thought, especially because as well as the temperatures being far lower recently we have experienced quite a bit of rain recently.:roll:

Also I'm not sure whether I should remove the two chicks from the previous round, I don't know if they will help towards feeding the new round of chicks, or whether they will hinder the rearing of the chicks by eating the chopped mini Mealworms instead of the whole ones??

Paul.

[Waxbillman]

fingers crossed Paul

i expect you will have, but have you tried feeding buffalo worms

Matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Matthew,

Yes in the past I have tried Buffalo Worms in attempting to rear Scaly Crowned Weavers, but my best results remain to be from an adjusted tip from Steve Hood in how he managed to rear two youngsters.

Paul.:D

[chris]

Hi Paul,

if they're weaned then i'd take them out to be o the safe side regarding your livefoods

Chris

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Chris,

The two previous chicks are independent of the parents, but I'm still curious if they will play any part in helping in the rearing of the next round?

The amount of chopped mini Mealworms provided has proven to be more than enough so far, when providing the next batch I have loads left over, but the secretive nature recently of all of the birds prevents me observing feeding of chicks by the parents and whether the previous round of chicks are involved.:-|

I'm grateful for your suggestion mate,;) but because all is looking good so far I would rather wait to see if previous rounds of Scaly Crowned Weavers do in fact assist in feeding following rounds of chicks?

If this round goes Tit's up though, I expect you to tell me I told you so.:lol:

Paul.:wink:

[kenny]

hi paul
if they dont like being disturbed why dont you get a small pair of binoculars (seriously )so you can keep an eye on them without getting to close it works for me


ken

[chris]

Hi Paul,

the expensive option would be a hidden camera in your aviary to keep tabs on the weaver's behaviour. a webcam would probably do the job also and would be far cheaper. my guess as to whether the chicks will help out or not would be as to whether the birds are sociable by nature when breeding or solitary. it'll be interesting to see what happens

Chris;)

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Ken and Chris,

Ken,

Although your suggestion is a great one mate,:wink: the problem is that the main view of the Scaly Crowns aviary is screened with woven plastic mesh used in the building trade, particularly when scaffolding is in use, so viewing their aviary is very difficult from many angles.:roll:

Chris,

The fact is that literature on this species, and many others too is very scarce regarding breeding behaviour under controlled conditions, and in the wild too.:neutral:
The behaviour between the adults and their previous youngsters is still very close and protective although the previous round are now independent.
They seem to be acting as a unit regarding the threat of anything approaching their space in making very loud warning calls and retreating to the cover at the back of the aviary in a split second.
This behaviour is what has led me to believe that previous rounds of chicks may be helpful in rearing following rounds of chicks?

Your suggestion of the use of cameras will be the way of confirming this, rather than a guess on my part.:grin:

Thanks mate, Paul.

[kenny]

hi paul
i see now that it would be impossible chris`s idea of the cameras is a good one and they have gotten cheaper down the years my 2 for the garden have sound and vision and only cost me £50 about 5 years ago plus you wont miss anything if you can connect up to a vcr


ken

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Ken,

The camera idea is a good one, but thankfully today the Weavers gave me fairly good view of whats going in there, it seems that the adults are still very much tollerent of the previous round of chicks.
The adults go straight to the dish containing the food for the current round and feed the chicks, but the fledged chicks wait until this is done, I've yet to see them assist in feeding the new round of youngsters.

Paul.;-)

[kenny]

hi paul
you will have to buy a camouflage suit like david bellamy

ken

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Ken,

Will I have to grow the grey beard too?:shock:

Paul.:lol:

[kenny]

yep
and you will have to say gwapple me gwape nuts also

ken:lol: :lol:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Ken,

Whatever happened to the UK's national treasure David 'the bearded weirdo' Bellamy?
He only came out of the woodwork recently due to the loss of Australias, and the rest of the Worlds greatest Nature spokesman and hero Steve Irwin.

David Bellamy is possibly the UK's most forgotten vehicle towards educating the population on the wonders of nature down to the basics?

His love of life on this planet starts on the level of soil and what grows from it, Moss, Ferns and upwards.

Bring back the Bellamy, that's what I say!

Paul.

[Waxbillman]

hello Paul

i heard some years ago that the old duffer is working in some rainforest or other trying to save it from destruction, i reckon he'll be busy for another 100 years, and then there will be nowt left of it

Matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Matthew,

At least 'the old duffer' is standing by his beliefs and trying his best mate, he has, and still is doing far more than any of us in protecting what he hopes will continue to be in existence after he leaves this world.

No matter who takes action, the old duffers are the ones who may make enough of a difference in order to leave behind something for us youngsters to enjoy.

Paul.

[Waxbillman]

of course Paul, without a doubt

however call me cynical, but i believe it is too late, and in the end, the loggers, and heavy industry will win, who are we to stop deveopment meant, we have destryed our country and used every source to death, to stop deforestation, we need to stop development, and that will not happen

Matthew

[kenny]

hi matt
a lot of trith in what you speak there mate....even the farmers who are growing the willow are burning it as an alternative fuel!


ken