chick update 2

Wed, Aug 3, 2011

The wee fellas are doing well with a lot of wing activity going on. Also, once they’re fed they quieten down completely and head off for a nap where they “coorie doon” under the folds of toilet paper. They need regular feeding and mucking out so I had to take them to work the last couple of days in a larger plant pot. Luckily I have my own office but it was interesting having a video conference from my desk with the noisy little beggars screeching like banshees in the background!

It’s strangely therapeutic, stopping programming and turning round, methodically cutting up their food into manageable chunks and seeing their excitement when I loom over them with a pair of tweezers bearing nutritious gifts. They stand on their tip toes now and flap their wings to get their share. Also, you can see they try to poo outside the nest as now and then there’s a major flapping of wings and one of them will back round the sides of the pot with its bum in the air until there’s a squidgy noise and then it’s back to screeching for food. Feeding time is unexpectedly refreshing. I feel quite relaxed now that they stop screeching after being fed and they look far too cute with their heads buried in the folds of paper.

Every few hours we muck them out which can be fun if it’s just the one of us. I plan it meticulously if Dawn isn’t around to help. Tear off three long strips of toilet paper and fold them enough to fit in the pot and lay them out in a line next to the pot. Clear an area that will be in line of poo shot, then fish them out one by one and put them into my hand. They’re quite grippy now with their wee wiry feet like velcro. There’s a lot of screeching until they’re both in my hand and then they settle down next to each other. They’re very warm and their wee bodies pulsate with their regular breathing. Then with my free hand I pull out of the old paper straight into the bin and put the new paper in and scrunch it up to give them folds to sleep in. Then I put them back one at at time and they scurry into the folds for a nap.

You know how they say animals have a sixth sense? I can believe that now. The other evening we were sparked out in front of the box, the cheeky chappies silent and no doubt resting after their feeding session. They were in their big pot on top of the table. Quiet as mice. Then all of a sudden bedlam broke loose. They were flapping their wings and screeching like banshees and we looked round to see Mr. Vic (the cat) sitting underneath them looking up. There was no way they could have seen him. Perhaps they heard him padding towards the table. But they don’t go mental when they hear us walking around.

Another interesting thing happened when we’d had them for just over a week. Up until then Mr. Vic hadn’t taken the slightest notice of them but one morning as he was munching his breakfast, one of them cheeped and he immediately turned round and became very interested. I reckon their voices had changed and were now broadcasting a frequency that attracted felines. There must have been a minute change in their sound output that triggered something inside him. Fascinating.

I expect they’ll fledge soon and have to go out into the world and fend for themselves. They look like real birds now. Their yellow beaks are turning browner on top and from above they do look like normal birds. As a precaution, we have netting over the top of the pot now in case they fledge when we’re not ready and crap all over the place.