Gilbert Greeny & Big's First Babies

Gilbert Greeny and Big Banana got together earlier in the year and their first clutch of eggs was laid in the summer.  Big sat on them and sat on them and sat on them some more but they wouldn't hatch.  I took them out when she was out eating and having a spruce up and changed the shavings in the nest box.  A few weeks later she started laying again and again and again... and sat on them again.

Big sitting on her second clutch of eggs

This one hatched second (at 6 days old)

On the 30th September I found a dead chick in their nest box... which apart from looking a bit bruised seemed to have nothing wrong.  It was a bit sad but these things happen and at least I knew they could do it.   

This one hatched third (at 3 days old)

On 2nd October another hatched and two more on the 5th and 6th.

I noticed when taking these photos  that the eldest chick had a lump of food stuck on the side of its beak and quickly tried to wash it off but it didn't want to budge.                             

This one hatched fourth (at 2 days old )

I didn't want to keep it out of the nest box too long and wrongly decided that Big would probably clean it up.  A few days later I peeped in the nest box again while Big was out stretching her legs n wings and the food blob was still there so  decided I'd have to get it out and soak the food off.  I soaked it very carefully with cotton wool and warm water and it just came away on the cotton wool.  When I looked at the beak that whole side of the lower mandible was gone and it wasn't in the food blob.  I had noticed that Big seemed to be quite rough while feeding although I was trying not to disturb her too much I had peeped in a couple of times while she was feeding after Id found the dead chick.  I sadly put the chick back in the nest box and searched the Internet for info on beak damage in chicks.  The outlook was bad.  It wouldn't grow back and the bird would probably not survive and would have to be hand fed for the rest of its life.... not much fun for bird or owner!

Later that day the chick was put down.  I still am not sure if the beak was damaged and the food blob formed because of a hole, or weather the food was stuck on the outside and got infected from bacteria... although I'm not sure that the later could happen in just a week.

The other Two chicks continued to do fine and still are!  

The Big one #12 (at 17 days old)

The Little one #13 (at 16 days old)

As you can see over the next 2 weeks they grew loads and got fluffier and fluffier and a lot more gray, but still had white patches of fluff too.  I ringed them at about a week old, I find that's about the right time but its better to check to early than for them to be too big as then you cant ring them with a closed ring.  After my success with Oscar I decided to bring them in the house at 3 weeks and start hand feeding and taming them.   


I made a brooder from a heat pad used for reptiles and a 

Home made brooder (from above)

plastic pet carry box on its side, with some fleece and kitchen roll for bedding and a thermometer.  I put a couple of balls of fleece in for them to lean on....so they don't squash  each other too much and added the babies when it had heated up. 

Brooder and Chicks 3 weeks old

 They were a bit scared to start off but after a couple of days were getting used to being handled and taking the formula from a syringe really well.  I start with a 5ml syringe and move up to a 20 ml one when they get the hang of it to deliver the goods a bit quicker.

Chicks in their new warm home

You can just see the tips of the yellow wing feathers in the smallest chick and the green feathers on the huge one.  I'm getting quite impatient waiting to see how they are going to look when they are bigger.