It would depend on what you're mixing the formula with and how much formula you're adding. If it's something pretty wet you might not need to add water. If it's fairly dry you'd need some water to help maintain a good consistency. The parents will drink some water to get it just right, but you may as well make it attractive and easy for them to eat.

Baby names... the first two that popped into my head were Goober and Toto based on your description of the babies.

As I mentioned in another thread, I've been looking for a new job and stuff so I have been rather negligent in my picture duties.


Yellowtop has passed Blacktop as the biggest chick. Turning into quite a nice little pearl. Reminds me a lot of a (much bigger) Basil :

Blacktop seems to be a normal pied, although maybe he's an incomplete pearl? He's got a few questionable feathers. He's more adventurous and more aggressive than Yellowtop. Makes getting a photo hard.

Whitey's turning into a pretty pearl. He's still sleepy--the rest of them are pretty wary of me still, but if I sit and rock with him for a few minutes he'll half-fall asleep under my chin. In temperament very similar to Basil.

Middle Child is a pretty nervous baby. Also appears to be a grey pied, so I guess JJ isn't a visual pearl after all, even though he still has mottled tail feathers.



Tiny is still Tiny. He probably could use a little assist feeding but I'm a little reluctant to do that...his crop usually feels pretty good though, only dehydrated right early in the morning. He also looks like he's shaping up to be a grey.


A bucket of angry bebbies:

Oh, my goodness! such cute little birdies.

They are all super cute. OMG I can't imagine having 5 little ones, especially when they start to fly.

I need to write an update

All are flying except for Tiny. Blacktop, the oldest, has been out of the box for four days now, but no one else had followed him. Pippin flew into a tizzy yesterday and chased everyone out of the box--Tiny still seems lost, but the rest are enjoying flying and climbing a lot. Pippin pretty clearly wants to start yet another clutch, which is...not happening.

All told though, they've been excellent parents to this lot. It took them quite a while, but they got it eventually,

Tiny will figure it out in a couple of days. When babies fledge at an early age they tend to spend a couple of days as "floor chicks". Make sure the parents are feeding him, mine never seem to know quite what to do with a floor chick.

I find that taking the nest away sometimes puts such a damper on the father's hormones that he stops feeding the chicks. So keep an eye out to make sure all the others are being fed too.

But overall, congratulations on a great breeding experience! You definitely needed one after all the problems with the previous clutch.