Beobachtungen auf Orangebäckchen

Observations on Orange cheeks

Orange cheeks seem to be the only African Estrildid species out of at least 10 African species that I have that SEEM to eat a dead hatchling that has been thrown out of the nest. At least they bite the dead hatchling’s rump a lot. My orange cheeks also devour hard boiled egg all day long which I replace every 4 hours so I know it is not due to lack of animal protein.
It makes no difference whether the dead hatchling is an orange cheek hatchling or not.

Does anyone know of any other Estrildid species that likes eating dead hatchlings ?

The strange thing is that IF the hatchling that has been thrown out of the nest is still ALIVE, the orange cheeks will not even approach it....!!! It has to be dead for them to want to eat it.

I do not see the dead hatchling again the next day. The orange cheeks seem to take it somewhere. Does anyone know where ?
I have never seen a dead hatchling in an orange cheeks’ upper nest.
If they take the dead hatchling back to their lower nest, won’t this lead to disease inside their nest ?

If you have made different observations on your orange cheeks, can you please tell me ?

Thank you all.

William

P.S. Für eine Übersetzung, die nicht zu gut ist, Versuch:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr

Gutes englisches deutsches Wörterbuch:
http://dict.leo.org/

Hello William,

Crimson-rumped Waxbills (Estrilda rhodopyga) do the same in my aviaries.
It's quite disgusting.
Nothing seems so remain from the dead hatchling after their "attack".
I suppose it dries quickly somewhere in the aviary.
Neither my Crimson-rumps nor my Orange-cheeks have ever put a dead hatchling into their nest (upper or lower).
My main fear was that the hatcling died because of some germ and the adults that peck from it could catch this germ.
I hope this helps !

Hi Alice,

My orange cheeks have thrown so many of their hatchlings out in an already dead state over the past year that I am convinced that the hatchlings have been starved to death by their parents. In other words, it is not disease that is killing them. I am trying hard to condition them to parent rear on hard boiled egg. And I am a bit optimistic because they almost always are first to eat the hard boiled egg when I serve it every 4 hours. They love their animal protein. They are fantastic birds.
Thank you for your comments.

William

Ändern Sie in der Schnabelfarbe

Change in beak colour

The beaks of some of my Orange-cheeked Waxbills [ Orangebäckchen Estrilda melpoda ] are changing from red to orange to almost yellow. They eat hard boiled egg and greenfood. They are very active.
What is causing this ?

William

??

i don´t know.


i knew that is gave orange checks with yellow (mir fällt nu nicht das englsiche wort für schnabel ein). this is an mutation.

Thank you René.
My orange cheeks have had many clutches of eggs.
So is the change in beak colour a sign of exhaustion ?
Do your orange cheeks lose the red colour of their beak after they have had 6 clutches ?

Übersetzung Versuch Translation Attempt

Danke, René.
Meine Orangebäckchen haben vielen Gelegen der Eier gehabt. Ist so die Änderung in der Schnabelfarbe ein Zeichen der Erschöpfung ? Verlieren Ihre Orangebäckchen die rote Farbe ihres Schnabels nachdem sie, gehabte 6 Gelegen zu haben?
MfG

William

Ich glaube das 6 Gelegen diese winzigen Voegel ungeheuerlich erschoepfen koennen, ich denke das es die hoechste Zeit ist das du dieses Paar eine Ruhepause goennst.
Warscheinlich wenn du das nicht machst werden sie das selber tun (ein ewigdauernde Ruhepause)

I think that 6 clutches will exhaust these tiny birds tremendously, I think that you have to allow this pair a breedingbreak.
When you don't do that yourself they will probably give themselves a break (an everlasting one)

Gerhard told me that more often than not his orange cheek pairs will stop breeding by themselves after the third clutch. During the non breeding period he keeps the pairs together with several juveniles as a flock.
So I doubt very much whether my orange cheeks have laid more than 3 clutches.

I can think of 2 possible answers.

1. I made a mistake and the beak colour did not change at all. Instead the birds with orange beaks and orange cheeks are mostly females whereas the birds with REDDER beaks and reddish orange cheeks are males. Russell Kingston in his book says this is usually but not always the case.

2. I may have two subspecies of orange cheeks.
Clement et al. say that the red - orange colour of the cheeks and beaks varies with geograhical location. What I would like to know is :

Does the tschadenesis subspecies have an orange beak and orange cheeks?
Does the fucata subspecies have a red beak and orange cheeks ?
How many subspecies of orange cheeks are there ?
Thank you.

MfG

William

6 bruetn sind wirklich zuviel...ich lasse im höchstfall zwei, ganz seten drei zu ....

nein ich konnte bisher keine veränderung der schnbaelfarbe feststellen, könnte aber ich denke mal daran liegen, wegen sonne, luft

A way to sex orange cheeks at a glance

I am not sure whether any of you know this but I think I may have found how to sex orange cheeks at a glance. Just by looking at them.
Cocks have a PURE WHITE THROAT and upper breast WHEREAS hens have a GREYISH THROAT and upper breast. I have found that the colours of the vent, rump, beak, cheeks are not consistent enough in both sexes.

Rene could you check this out with the orange cheeks that you certainly know to be male and female please ?
Can anyone else who is certain of the sex of their orange cheeks check this out as well please ?

Thank you.

William

william,

your sex linking is corectly BUT the subspecies tschadensis and fucata are in this colors, so that this is not for me...... for the subspecies melpoda i think the only different is (in deutsch) wange....

bei männchen ist die wange gut ausgebildet, aber bei den weibchen verläuft sie

Hallo William,
changing of the colour from the beak is a over-exertion.
I have observed the same with Stagonopleura guttata
after the third brood from dark red to bright red.
regards
Siggi