A. C. Furnen—A Sad Story of Cockatiels



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rain, the wooden feeding-slide warped and fell out and, of course, the

birds eloped and bang went the hopes of young Cockatiels for the

second time.


I advertised their loss and the same evening recovered the cock

bird, which had fallen down a chimney about half a mile away. The

following day a ring on the ’phone told me that my hen had been seen

in some allotment gardens about 3 miles away from my aviaries. The

cock bird was duly taken out as a decoy and with the aid of the old

schoolboy method of riddle stick and string the hen was soon back

with her mate in the cage.


I then put them in another aviary and they went to nest again; more

eggs. When they had been sitting about eight days I was alarmed to

hear the hen bird kicking up a fearful commotion. Investigation

found the cock dead on the floor apparently as a result of his sojourn

in the chimney. Bang went the hopes of young Cockatiels for the

third time.


I replaced the cock bird and last season we had eggs again, and this

time I found the hen dead one morning and the cock bird sitting on

the eggs.


In a vain hope to save the situation I rang up a supplier and had

a new hen put on passenger train, and introduced her the same day to

the aviary. From that moment the eggs were never thought of, and

bang went hopes of young Cockatiels for the fourth time.


This year, as a crown to my misfortunes, this is what happens :

they mate, the hen lays, and for a day or two I see the hen bird out in

the daytime and the cock bird in the evening, all according to book.

About four days after, both birds are out, and on looking inside I find

the eggs broken and apparently half eaten away.


I believe my aviary to be free from rats or mice and have seen no

signs of either, so I must conclude that either Mother or Father has

a nasty habit, and I think it is Father. This has happened three

times since March of this year.



