:: Additions to the Family
Yesterday evening held a surprise for me. Whilst doing my nightly food and water check on the canaries, Lily aka Knothead left her nest. Since I was on the step ladder I took a quick look. I then dashed down stairs to tell my sweetie - to the enjoyment of the hounds! We have baby chicks! It appears there are four little ones, covered with downy fuzz. This is the earliest I have discovered hatchlings. The females sit tightly on the nest, not giving anyone a peak. You sort of go by the approximately two weeks timetable and try to catch an open nest to sneak a look. The last thing you want to do is spook the hen into abandoning her nest. This happened with Fern and Troubadour's first clutch; Chewie bumped the next box.
From this point on the youngsters will grow fast. The amount of egg food and soaked seed they will consume will keep me busy boiling eggs and soaking seed. Both adults feed the chicks in the nest, literally stuffing regurgitated food into their beaks. Minstrel is a good mate. He kept his hen fed on the nest and took over looking after the first chick while she set on the second clutch. I can safely label this pair as terrific parents.
newly hatched chicks covered in down
Since egg food recipes are as varied as the canaries raised around the world, I thought it would be fun to post my variation.
This years egg food
- one hard boiled egg, peeled
- 3cm length carrot, grated
- 1/4 peeled apple, finely chopped
- 30mL pelleted food, high quality
- 250mL couscous, cooked
- 30mL apple juice
Run in food processor until mostly blended.
I used 1/2 an egg in the month leading up to breeding season to help bring the birds into condition.
Lily on her nest
Remember my not so humble brag about a cleaned out neatly arranged room? 2025:02 :: Sorted? Whelp, it is nearly as chaotic as its former state. In the effort to find places for things in the office... yup, you guessed it, Stuff ended up in my Sanctuary. 'Sorted the Second Event' will be occuring the near future. Please, I really need it to be the nearest future possible. With the new cage tier taking up the north wall, more stuff means less room available! Add in my Sweetie measuring and testing 3D printed parts on the new cage tier... The only one happily manoeuvring around is Chirpa. There are some benefits in being a mini-dachshund. Some good came out of the great stuff shift. I found my felts and collection of rainbow ball point pens. Colour me happy!
With love,
Zuzia,
Wishing you a breaking in the weather and dreams of spring!
Stay Calm, Be Brave, Be Caring! With love,
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jgs / |`= the Little Brown Bird