January 1st

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hello fellow Java Sparrow lovers around the world!!! Here we go again, the start of another Java diary!

If you are a regular visitor to my website you will have noticed that my diary entries have been few and far between over the last couple of years. I've stated many times that I haven't had the time I would like to spend with my birds over the last year or so, that said, I still managed to breed 48 Java's last year.

Let's see if this year is a better year!!

February 11th

My new JSSUK rings have arrived today.

I have ordered 50 to start with....I made the mistake of purchasing 100 last year but, as I said in my last update, I only bred 48 Java's.

The colour for 2010 is orange!

February 12th

These four chicks are a week old.

They are the first Java's of 2010 and are "Whites".

I bred 9 White Java's last year from 2 pairs who are now both on round 2. These birds were given to me by my good friend and fellow JSSUK colleague, Dave Pover.

I have high expectations in the quality of these Whites as both clutches are related to the infamous "Big White" that belonged to the late Billy Hughes (JSSUK committee member).

Does anyone out there breed exhibition Whites? Please get in touch if you have any birds that you wish to sell or swap as I would like to add more diversity to my White gene pool.

February 21st

Well....2 years in the making, I've finally uploaded the new version of SJD Javas.

I hope you enjoy the new look website and I'll be adding new pages very shortly.

Please let me know if there are any links that don't work or if you find any faults please let me know.

February 23rd

12 days on from the last photo (Feb 11th), these four young chicks a feathering up well.

These are from a pair of stunning whites given to me by my good friend Dave Pover.

Several weeks ago I was contacted by Louise Matthews, a stage manager who was working on a production of "Darker Shores" at Hampstead Theatre in London.

Part of the story involved two caged birds, Louise informed me she selected two Java's from a local pet store who were then subsequently used in the production.

After the production came to a close Louise took the two Java's home and looked after them for the last couple of months. Her busy work schedule meant she could no longer look after the birds and contacted me to see if I could take them in.

I have no problem in accommodating "Bubble and Squeak" so Louise came to my house on Sunday (Feb 21st) to drop them off. It was clear she became attached to the two young Java's....as most Java folk do too!

The photo on the right shows the young starlets in action (courtesy of a great photo by Robert Day).

February 28th

Yesterday morning I travelled up to Grantham to see me good Java pal, Steve Nesbitt.

I took the trip to give Steve a pair of 09 fawns that will hopefully be used by Steve to increase his fawn gene pool and give him more options when creating new bloodlines.

Pictured right>> Steve and me in the "Just Javas" birdroom.

I always enjoy my trips to the Nesbitt birdroom as, on most occasions, there is always nest boxes full of young Java's....and yesterday was no exception.


See the two photos below.

March 21st

As I mentioned on February 12th, I bred 9 white Java's at the end of last year. Here are the said youngsters that are still "feathering up" in to their adult plumage. White's are a new mutation for me and I first tried to breed them at the tail end of November 2008 with no success. It just goes to show that perseverance can bring it's just rewards!

Also today.....the four young whites (from the second round) mentioned on February 23rd have been seperated from their parents. These four young whites take me tally up to thirteen birds sucessfully on the perch

Now that I have seperated the four youngsters mentioned above, the parent birds can now focus on the third round of eggs, pictured right (rather messy I know).

I don't always let Java's sit a third round, particularly if they have had large clutches in rounds one and two. The parent birds have raised nine in total so I'm goin to let the sit this third round and will split them up if all goes will with this clutch.

March 25th

4 days on and the 2 white Java chicks now have visible signs of their feathers starting to grow in their wings.

In 2 days from now the chick on the right will have its closed ring fitted, the quills will be approximately 3mm (1/8") long....this is usually the ideal time to ring your Java's. .

10 days have passed since the last update, the two White Java chicks mentioned in the last updated have both been close rung and are doing ok.

I would expect to see more feather development at this stage. These young Java's are almost 3 weeks old. I believe the reason for this is that there are only two chicks in the nest. The parent birds don't seem to be as busy as when they are rearing a full nest (5,6,7+). When there is a full nest the parent birds will react better to a nest of hungry chicks calling for more food and will work continuosly to feed there clutch.

I'm not concerned over the progress of these two Java's...they're not that far behind where they should be and they have full crops.

I've paired up two pairs of Java's today that I hope will breed.

The first pair, pictured right are a pair of Whites. The cock bird is an 08 bred by my good friend Dave Pover. The hen is a very nice 09 bird that I picked up from a pet shop last year.

I don't usually buy birds from pet shops as they generally aren't of the quaility I keep and breed. I purchased 3 young whites last year that had not moulted through to their adult plumage so I was taking a big gamble. I kept back one hen and I'm glad that I did the hen (on the left of the photo) has turned out very nice.....I really need new blood in my White stud!

I have tried the cock with another hen but he did not fill any eggs in two rounds.....hopefully this pairing may yield some results.

The second pairing is an 07 Fawn cock bird to an 07 Normal hen....both birds bred by me.

The cock is a dark fawn (aka Moccabruin on the continent) and was very successful in 2009 fathering 15 young fawns.

I have paired him to a spare Normal hen that I have never used. Again, I'm doing this to hopefully breed some splits that will introduce some new blood to my Fawn stud.

My only concern is that, as the hen is almost three years old, she has never reared any young...she hasn't even laid an egg. Will she of lost a natural urge to breed?.. I have no idea...fingers crossed and let's see what happens!

By the way, if anyone has any spare Fawns (dark type) please drop me a line and let me know.

The final entry in today's update is let you know about the pair of White's that laid a third round, as mentioned in my update on March 21st.

They had five eggs with one proving to be fertile, two addled and two being clear.

As there was only one fertile egg I decided to take the eggs away, give them some fresh nesting material and let them try again.....There are seven eggs in the nest and two are showing early signs of fertility.

This is the fourth round laid by this pairing and will definitely be the last for them this year. I would have split them up had their first two clutches been large ones, however they have only produced six young from two rounds. I will split this pair up if they successfully hatch and rear this clutch.

April 12th

The clutch mentioned above (with 7 eggs) now has 10 eggs in the nest and I can confirm that 9 are fertile.

The largest clutch I have previously experienced is 8 chicks in the nest from a pair of Normals.

Java's are well known for their prolific breeding and clutches this size are not unusal.

The biggest clutch I ever got from Java's was from a pair of Agates that laid 13 eggs that turned out to be all fertile. Sadly as the clucth was so large, the hen could not sit the eggs properly and several ended up "dead in shell" or addled.

I truly hope that I get a high percentage of these hatch as the offspring from this pair so far are stunning and, as I've mentioned before, they are from the Billy Hughes' "Big White" bloodline.

Also to mention...

The Fawn cock to Normal hen that I put down to breed on April 4th have laid their 1st egg today.

The cock bird is in great condition and was obviously keen to breed as he completely built the nest within 3 days of being introduced to the breeding cage with the hen.

An update on the nest mentioned on April 12th!

I mentioned that 10 eggs had been laid in this nest with 9 being fertile.

A week later I discovered that one of the eggs was addled, this egg has been removed along with the infertile egg leaving eight fertle eggs from the White pairing.

Good news today is that the first two White chicks have hatched.....hopefully by Wednesday/Thursday of this week the rest will hatch too.