12th day out of the egg! Little Birds Learning to Fly,
The gang raced out from under the brooder heater to greet the morning and nom, nom, nom, nom.
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| That is Nugget top right, smiling, sitting on thermometer face. Lemmon up on center of feeder. |
Wing growth continues at an outrageous rate, all the little birds are now making short flights.
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| Morning nom-fest continues at a frantic rate |
The brooder-heater is like a little heated pavilion roof. Today the birds are more accustomed to their home, instead of hanging around in the sun (from their heat lamp) many of them are relaxing under the warmth of the brooder-heater (aka Mama Hen). This is the first time we've seen the babies choose to be under the heater, usually they can't wait to run out and zoom around their box. The cool morning air is causing them to choose the pavilion as a place to relax and watch the day unfold.
It is very cute when a little chicken head peaks out from under the brooder heater. Lemmon has such light colored fluff and a bright yellow beak, he glows when he peaks out. Blackie and Rake'n are practically invisible when they peak out, their black heads disappear in the shadows of the brooder box.
RUNNING WITH WORMS
These videos were shot yesterday when they were only 11-days out of the egg
Mary has dried mealworms for animal treats (we buy them dried, we don't actually catch or dry them ourselves). During yesterday afternoons playtime we discovered just how much the birds love these little worms. Not only that, we also found out how much they love to flaunt in front of their mates. When one of the birds gets a worm in its mouth he runs through the middle of the group and begins to do victory laps around their brooder box.
They appear to not be so concerned about eating the worm as much as they want to display to their siblings "I've got one!".
BROKEN BIRDS NO MORE!
Blackie and Nugget are doing great since each received their "procedure". These two little birds came to us with their vents clogged. If Mary had not noticed the problem and taken swift corrective action these two little characters would have just become more lethargic and eventually succumbed to not being able to go to the toilet.
They both put up a fight and peeped loudly while receiving treatment but now they're happy and healthy and racing around the brooder. One of the biggest obstacles to treating the problem has been an unusual cool snap we've had here in Central Florida. This made it too chilly for wet little birds, with no real feathers yet they're susceptible to cold, this is why we used a hair dryer to dry them thoroughly before putting them back into brooder-world.
SKUNK MAY BE SMALL
In the group, Skunk may be one of the smallest (and most brilliantly designed), his wings don't stick out and due to his coloring it's difficult to visually chart their growth. But when he spreads those tiny wings he flys beautifully. So far it's just short little 18" flights in distance but the precision and beauty are all evident.
FLYING
We're now keeping a screen over the brooder to prevent a test-flight from accidentally resulting in a hard landing outside the box. A little 12-day old bird could not find its way back home which could spell tragedy. An old window screen over the heat lamp prevents them from making an escape.
BIRD TOYS
We are beginning to experiment with toys in bird world. Mary made them a gym from popsicle sticks. I have a piece of tree branch waiting for the sun to warm it up, then I'll grab the recip-saw and cut it to fit into the brooder box. I'm going to lay it in birdie world so they will have a big hunk of natural wood to jump up on.
ENRICHMENT
I put in a piece of tree limb and the tiny birds were terrified of it, they all hid and cowered at the opposite end as far away as they could get. An hour later when I looked in they were perching on the new brooder decoration. I added a second piece of tree limb and again they were afraid but soon they were perching on that one and flying between the two. Here are todays enrichment photos.
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| Baby birds love sitting on "Tree" |
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| Lemmon glows in any light, what a pretty little bird |
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| Mary's popsicle stick "Bridge" failed to attract sitters :-( |
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| Baby birds perching on tree limb fragment |
GOING TO BED
We had so much fun today playing with the little birds. They are responding to our voices and our hands in a much more positive and less frightened way. It must be a very scary world when you're only three-inches in diameter and 12-days old. It is amazing to see them grow bigger, stronger, faster and fly more in so little time.
By far one of the cutest parts of the day is hustling the little characters to bed under Mama Hen. The first night was easy but each night it becomes a little bit more of a battle to get them under her warmth. I move very slowly with the bedtime procedure. With my hand cupped I carefully push two or three birds together towards Mama Hen, gently I push them under the heated pavilion roof. Of course someone always runs out but hopefully the next group is coming and they push the others back under. It takes about 5-10 minutes to get them all under the heater but eventually it's just faces peaking out at me. As soon as they're all in under the heater we turn out the light and quickly set the lid on the brooder box which blocks out all light.
Like magic the lid shuts them down, they almost instantly stop protesting and peeping the moment the lid takes away their light. The symphony of little peeps and chirps becomes silent and the only sign of our precious cargo is the thermal sensor that tells us outside that the heater is working inside.
The softness of the little bantam chickens can not be overstated. If you've every felt a soft puff ball of fluff these little guys are like that only softer, warmer and fully animated.
