What a Difference a Week Makes!!

This is not the best picture! I really apologize #1 for cutting your cute little beak out of the picture... What can I say, they move....slow shutter speed? Actually what happened was that as I took the picture #3 and #2 pushed #1 really hard and he slipped out of my carefully framed picture! I put up the picture anyway, because I think it is so amazing to see how much they change and grow in a week! They are in order of hatch dates and you can just see the transformation that is taking place in these babies!

I love how I look!

Of all the babies, #2 just loves to work his way over to the toaster oven and gaze at his reflection in the glass! Is he vain or is he trying to figure out what kind of creature he is?

I sent a friend of mine some pictures of the babies today. She was appalled at how "ugly" they were and told me to wait to send her more pictures until they had feathers! Well, I know they are not in their full stage of beauty yet, but I think they are kind of adorable. Maybe it is just because I am their mother at this point.

Seriously, I have always been fascinated by seeing the perfection of the development that occurs in such a short time in these little birds. Their feet must be nearly full size at this age! At this point, they have the biggest rear! One can hardly imagine how in a few short weeks these little guys will be able to take to flight! But right now, all of their weight is in their bottoms. What a perfect plan!! It keeps them from moving around very much, and it certainly makes them so bottom heavy that they are unlikely to take a tumble out of their nest up in the canopy of the rain forest. But their leg muscles are really developing as they seek to stand up and lift that big bottom off the floor! They remind me of those "weebles" they used to advertise back in the 70's... "Weebles wobble but they don't tip over."

Contrasts in Development

What an incredible difference a week makes in the lives of these baby birds! Baby #3 is even showing more gray on his wings than he did last night when taken from the nest box!

Determined to snuggle

I took this video the morning after we pulled the babies from the nest. This is baby #2 and he was determined to stick as close as he could to my hands!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i10o0Ou0fQg

The youngest baby #3

The youngest baby in every batch I have raised has always been the most remarkable! The are hatched at less than half the size of their oldest sibling, but it seems as if God gives them a special courage and tenacity to hold their own! The youngest baby always seems to be the strongest and can stand up taller on his little legs than the two older ones! When it comes to competing for food the youngest shows that he is not going to be pushed aside! This #3 is so strong and so alert! He is definitely a little "bird person" in his own right! Look how small he is in comparison to his oldest sibling! But amazingly, in a few weeks they will be almost virtually the same size!

Coco's Sorrow

Coco did not see us take the babies out of the nest box. It broke my heart when we got upstairs and she discovered her loss. We heard the most mournful cry of anguish. It haunts me! Coco cried and cried. She said "I miss...and then cried" just as Peggy taught her to say when Peggy left for Alaska. This has got to be the worst part of raising parrots! I would love to leave them with the parents, but the only life they can have is as pets, and it is so much harder to handfeed and tame them if they are left with the parents until they are weaned. I left Sunny with Coco and Charlie longer, and Coco attacked Sunny and began pecking her head, so I did not want that to happen again. Plus Sunny was far more afraid for the first few days when I started handfeeding than the ones who were taken earlier. I am so sorry, Coco, but I will do my best to take good care of your babies and make sure they go to good homes!!

The babies are my responsibility now

I snuck the babies out of the nest box tonight with Alissa's help. She distracted Coco and Charlie with treats while I moved the babies into a little basket I had prepared. They did not make a peep when I picked them up which relieved me. Coco and Charlie did not notice until we left the room and Coco went back up to the nest box to check her babies. Oh, I felt so bad to take the babies from Coco as she has been doing such an awesome job of taking care of them. They are so nice and fat, though this picture does not do justice to see their fat little behinds, since they are pretty deep in paper towels.

The babies are very calm and responded positively to our stroking their heads and beaks. Alissa cuddled them while I moved the incubator. She wants to call them Larry, Moe and Curlie.

They ate really well for a first feeding, and showed good strength to stand up and even the youngest baby held his head up nice and tall!

I had the incubator set at 90 which proved to be too warm so I dropped the temp to 88.5 and that seems to be comfortable for them.