Soltia Aviary

I figured that it was time to share with you some information about the breeder I emailed back and forth a little while ago regarding a possible Red-bellied baby.

She now has her aviary website up and running and you can visit it here:

Soltia Aviary

She currently has four Brown Head babies ready for good homes, I recently got a picture of the cuties.



I actually saw those babies back in May and if I wasn't entirely set on getting a female Red-bellied at the time, I would have put a deposit on the following little guy. I mean, come on, how can you resist this face?



This little one spent a lot of my time there on me.

Now why go with a bird from her over another breeder?

Well, first off Barb was always willing to answer any questions I had. I got frequent updates and as we conversed more and more, I even got to see pictures of her other babies (which I always enjoy), including some of her baby Bronze wing Pionus (such gorgeous birds, this would be the Pionus for me if I ever went down that road) which one of whom is going to friends of mine. My visit over to her house in May wasn't exactly planned and gosh was her house clean when we got there! Her breeder pairs have quite spacious cages and are provided with good food and toys. All of the above were things I was looking for in finding a breeder and I wouldn't ever hesitate to bring a baby of hers home with me (fate decided otherwise with the RB by putting Pixel on my road..)

So yeah, if you are in Canada and are considering a Red-bellied or Brown head parrot, a Dusky or Bronze-wing Pionus, please consider going to Soltia Aviary.

And another baby update

I haven't posted pictures in a while since I was battling having them on here if it turns out to be a male and I wait for another clutch.

But it is really neat to see the progress, that I figured I would share it.
Here are a few pictures I've received in the past few days. It's incredible how much it changes each day!


March 19, 2010


March 25, 2010


March 25, 2010


March 25, 2010


March 25, 2010


March 25, 2010


March 25, 2010


March 27, 2010


March 31, 2010

I've added the date the pictures were taken underneath the pictures and have done so for my previous baby posts.

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed this one is a female and should know for sure soon!

And the eggs have become squeaks!

I got an email yesterday from the Red-bellied breeder.

She heard tiny squeaks coming from the breeding box, meaning that one or more of the eggs have hatched! She isn't sure of the numbers since she hasn't had a chance to peak in the box; mom is still in there most of the time and she does not want to bother her. Quite frankly, I do prefer that the parents are left alone to do their things, as they have proven in the past that they are very capable of taking care of the babies.

I can't wait for them to be old enough that the parents will be ok with leaving them for longer periods of time and that the breeder will be able to start taking pictures :)

They are so very cute in their fuzzy stage.

Update on the eggs

Some "fresh" news on the possible Red-belly baby front.

The breeder told me this week that the pair is sitting on three eggs and should hatch anytime around February 10th so I might have a new baby in the Spring!
They will be sexed.

Crossing my fingers there is a female in the clutch!

Eggs!

It's no real secret that I would love to add a female Red-bellied parrot and a female Cape parrot to my flock. I've come to terms with the fact that I will have to wait for the female Cape parrot since the price tag is quite high ($2800 CAD) and I just can't justify that type of spending on a bird alone (plus the added cost of a cage, some more toys, vet check-up, extra food, etc, etc) while we are saving to buy a house in the next few years. Also, although we just moved to a bigger space, the bird room has the space for an extra cage like the ones I have my other Pois in (in fact, there is an empty cage like that sitting in there now), but that size is too small for a Cape and I don't have the space for the proper size cage. So yes, the Cape parrot will remain a "dream bird" for now.

But this is not the case for the female Red-bellied. I already have a cage for it. I have a lot of toys suited for that size bird so I wouldn't have to buy as many to begin with. The food would be the same as what I'm already buying. The initial cost of just the bird is considerably less than the Cape parrot ($500-$600 CAD from a breeder) and I can justify spending that much even though we are saving for a house. The only issue I had was finding a breeder. There use to be one in the area, in fact Joey originally came from that person, but for health reason, she stopped breeding. So I had to look elsewhere. Luckily, a friend of mine in Guelph told me about a women from her parrot club who does have a breeder pair. I contacted her this past summer and I have met her at the last Canadian Parrot Conference and have kept contact with her. Well, yesterday I got news that the pair is sitting on eggs! She doesn't know how many since she hasn't been able to take a peak yet, but I'm hoping for fertile eggs and crossing my fingers that if they are fertile, there is at least a female in the clutch.

This is all rather exciting :)