Days 5-8

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Days 5-8

Things have been hectic, some of the guys are fully fledged now which means moving them to a new home, with more space for them to flap their wings and build up the chest muscles for flying. One of them already made a short flight from my desk to the couch. It was a proud moment.

Had a little scare on day 5 one of the guys was looking very weak and underdeveloped compared to the others, I didn’t think he/she was going to make it. I had to keep in my my hand and more or less force feed him food and water, which was not easy. Basically I had to pry open its mouth and shove the food and water down his throat, here he is at this weakest

Weak and not eating

Glad to report he has made a full recovery and is now eating and developing well, though he is still very much smaller than the rest.

AS for the others they are much bigger and much noisier than before, honestly they never shut up. The only time they are quiet is after 22.00 hrs and immediately after eating, but that only lasts five minutes. It’s just background noise at this stage and I hardly notice it any more but can’t say the same for my poor house mates though.

Maci doesn't know what to make of his noisy house mates

So all is going well at the moment 100% survival rate which to be honest is an absolute miracle considering I’ve never done anything like this before. The next challenge is to try and teach them to eat and drink for themselves, I think it’s going to be a nightmare.

Day 4

Things have settled into somewhat of a routine now. Feeding times can vary from 15 minutes to a whole hour. Some of the older chicks refuse to eat sometimes so I have to take them into my hand and “persuade” them to eat, in the Italian/American sense of the word 🙂 .

No not really, it involves putting a droplet of water on their bill and then wait for them to open their mouth and shove some food in. some of the younger one too require some persuasion but I’m proud to say that all is going well and everyone is fit and healthy with the possible exception of me.

Everywhere I go in the house I hear the sound of birds chirping, then I get paranoid that one might have escaped. So I rush back and do a quick headcount, honestly I’m going stir crazy.

So for the latest pictures head here, I didn’t post any yesterday as it was a busy day and I didn’t get time.

Day 3 & 4

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Day 3

Things just got a whole lot more interesting, my work load has quadrupled! 20 chicks now, all with little hungry mouths to feed and arses to wipe. I’ll post some pics when i get a minute, feeds are now taking half an hour, which means only a half hour of down time, and i need a power nap after the next feed. Don’t know how does little blue tit mothers do it, a miracle that any make it fledge, I have all the food ready made, and it still takes up my whole day! Respect blue tits, respect! (and all other parents out there, human or animal).

Day 2

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Live video Feeds

I will update when I am streaming, I don’t think I will do any today as I’m Knackered

But there are videos on here from yesterday if anybody is interested.

http://www.livestream.com/keithscam

Day 2

Glad to report that everybody made it through the night. I was a bit worried and didn’t get much sleep. I was dreading waking up to a nightmarish scene inside my artificial nest. Thankfully that didn’t happen. It’s not even that bad getting up at 5. Just feed them and go and have a snooze, though by 6 your pretty much awake. Time to prepare for my first full day of feeding. 2 feeds down 13 to go!!

Arrival Day

5 beautiful blue tit nestlings are currently residing in my wardrobe, (fully fitted with heating). They are being fed every hour with food and water. I will post a video later when I have a second pair of hands to help me, so for now here are some pictures

So once my house mates arrived home I was able to make a quick video, in this clip I’m just giving them some water. Watch it here

The Food and the “nests”

hmmm finger licking good

Home for the next 10 days

So Tomorrow is the big day, and preparations are complete. The food is made as well as the artificial nests.

Making the food took longer than I expected, it’s a secret recipe of egg, dog food and some specialist bird food. Its designed to provide everything a growing bird needs.