Well it was hard work and I did lose a few to disease but overall it was a good experience if not completely exhausting. So here are some pictures of how the little blighters looked before they went into the big aviary.
So It’s all over for another year! Thanks for the interest…
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.
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).
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!!
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
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.
Today is Monday the 16th of May. On Wednesday I will be going out to some of my nestbox sites to collect some 9 day old blue tit chicks. I will be looking after them until they fledge which is usually at around 16-18 days old. They will then be transferred to a purpose built aviary where they will be the subjects in various experiments. This will involve training the birds to forage in the aviary, then investigating various aspects of their feeding behaviour. Once they have fulfilled their roles (3-4 weeks) they will be released into the wild to go about the complex business of survival.
At the moment I am preparing the food that I will have to feed to them at hourly intervals from 05:00 until 22:00 every day until they can feed themselves which should be after 4 or 5 days of me feeding them. I will be keeping them in a room which will be kept at 24°C. They will be kept in an artificial nest consisting of a small cardboard box lined with moss and tissue paper. I will have to clean this nest daily just like the parents would by removing the faecal sacs that the young birds will produce in copious amounts.
So as I will be housebound until the day they are ready to leave I thought it would be appropriate to keep a record of the ordeal via this blog.
Enjoy
Keith
Birding, Ringing and Behavioural Ecology 