You can start to see the banding on his pin feathers--it's sunny out, so I'll see if I can get a good picture of them

That's what I love about baby birds. You can take as many pictures as you want outside without the risk of them flying away. This is Rio:

I hope the enzymes will be helpful. Parent-fed babies get digestive enzymes from their parents but it isn't something that can be provided in handfeeding formula. Most enzymes are very heat-sensitive and will perish at something like 110 degrees, so you have to be careful about overheating them.

It must have been interesting watching a vet listen to the heart of a bird that tiny!

She had to go find her tiny stethoscope

Well, I can't say for certain if the enzyme is helping, but he did gain 3 grams today, so he's up to 20 now. So that's good!

He does not like the scale (and he's not this red either, stupid phone).


Look at that unibrow


Oh, and guess what surprise I got?




Pippin, you hussy! I put the nestbox up on the top of a bookshelf. They ignored it for two weeks. This evening they were super interested in it, and lo and behold...

What a pretty chick. Are you going to let the egg hatch? I bet they won't be so scared of the chick if they see it hatch.

He's so cute! You'll be able to keep him on the scale better if you put a bowl of wood shavings on the scale and then add the baby to the bowl after you've tared the weight.

Love the pictures of the little one!

I...I do not think I will be letting them hatch this one. Maybe I'll let them try again when the current one is fledged and independent, but I don't need the extra stress right now. I do think it'd be fun to raise birds, and I've certainly enjoyed raising the little one so far, but it's also way more work than I really want to take on right now (especially as I may be job searching soon ).

He's up to 26 grams (good idea on the wood chips, tielfan) and is starting to spend more time awake. He's starting to flap his wings and attempt to preen his not-quite-feathers-yet. Got his band on, so now he's official. He's got pearl markings, but I haven't seen signs of a pied feather yet. His feet are mottled, so he at least carries pied (well, he has to given parents), but mottling can be a sign of just a split. It's suppose it's possible he's a pied like Denali, with next-to-no pied markings, but JJ is pretty heavily marked and marking coverage is at least somewhat inheritable, right?