Sunday Baby Bird Blogging

The oldest of the three surviving baby parakeets started getting up on a little perch within the nestbox and gazing intently at the world outside this week:

In the shot below you can see the difference in development among the chicks and with their albino mama:

(Click photos for larger images.)

We are a little worried about the smallest chick on the left. As you can see, its feathers are still not in and it seems to be growing slower than the older two did. However, when we take the chick out, it's very strong and energetic, pushing against us and crawling about. We checked with some experts this week and they suggested we add a supplement to the parakeet seeds that Whitey eats and then feeds to the chicks. We hope it does the trick!

For the past couple of days the oldest chick, who at least for the moment is known as Ham Bone, was climbing up into the nestbox entry hole and stretching out to taste the cage and box. Yesterday we decided to take him away from mama and try him in his own cage since he was eating seeds on his own. Big step! We're happy to report It's been a huge success and Ham Bone even got up on his perch by himself this morning and started cleaning his feathers and singing with the grown-up parakeets. It's just amazing to compare what he looked like just 4 weeks ago with how beautiful he looks today.

I'll try to get a photo up of Ham Bone in his new cage later today. In the meantime, you can see some earlier photos of the baby parakeets here.