Two pictures of the nursery cage - everyone is now eating for themselves.

The mother of the three chicks is now sitting on an egg and the mother of the singleton on 4 eggs. There's no stopping them!

The nursery cage - this morning the four were all looking a bit neglected and one of the nest of three was being attacked by his father so I took that as the cue to try them on their own. I had read that if you basically sit them in the food, i.e. scatter it on the floor and have no preches, they will pick up food and so it seems to be happening. Scott, the singleton, named after my only child husband, is doing really well and following the lead of his yellow cousin. Fingers crossed that they all wean.

Well the singleton and his father are ok again. After a night and morning, I put the father back in the cage and the boot changed feet! The baby mobbed the father to get fed. I am not sure if he is eating by himself yet and will leave them together a while longer but since the hen is now sitting on 2 new eggs, he will have to move soon.

And all the cousins have left their nest too.

This clear yellow bird is very pretty - pale lemon - she may darken at the moult in autumn. She is quite a bold wee thing and grwoing so quickly I can sometimes mistake her for her mother.

This is one of the clear yellow's green siblings. The trick is to make them go to the floor for food. It's not working yet!

Except when they get there by accident! This week I hope they will be eating more by themselves leaving their mothers' to get on with the next round of eggs. I've built some new cages for the 4 of them to meet - it can still all go wrong yet. This is a tricky point but hopefully they will show one another how to eat.


Singleton with Mum.

Well just in the early evening the singleton and his yellow cousin left their respective nests.

Unfortunately, the singleton's father started attacking him again so I moved the father to another cage. I hope the mother will feed him for a few days before he heads, with his cousin, to the nursery cage.

They are each sleeping quietly in the corners of the cages. Fingers crossed they start to learn to eat!

Bit of a worrying day - the singleton has been looking rather puffed up and sleepy - this is a dangerous stage. They can just wither away at this point. His father attacked him yesterday and I think he may be in shock or may have picked up an infection so I cleaned the cage thoroughly and added some vitamins to the softfood. If he leaves the nest again, I will hope that one of the other chicks from the nest of three is ready to join him in the nursery. Better for them to have company while they learn to eat for themselves.

I did get this lovely picture of the hen feeding one of her three.

Now for the nervous part of the story - at 18 days old, the singleton chick is trying to leave the nest - his father is attacking him when he is in the open cage so I have put him back in the nest but mother wants him gone so she can start laying again. Not all babies pick up the art of feeding themselves so we just have to hope that this chap who has confounded me to date, does so again.

This picture was of him this morning before he took his first flight.

Meanwhile his cousins are not for shifting just yet. I would prefer that they all leave at the same time, given they are the same age, as a nursery group would stand a better chance of weaning as they teach one another about food!

Not my best picture but this yellow clear chick is lovely.

This little chap has done really well - he left the nest this morning and is trying out his wings quite vigorously this evening. I was told a single chick had no chance but it seems he is proving us all wrong. I, of course, am delighted to be proved wrong.

And in the nest of three - bear in mind these chicks are only 17 days old - you can at least see the yellow. They are too big for their mother to cover at night so they sleep alone now keeping one another warm.

My photography skills are not improving but the babies are growing.

The single baby is growing too and showing signs of what is called "blue" - it's a white variation of the colour. What is dark green on the green birds, is brown on the blue.

You can see his leg ring - he likes to hide his head on the basis that if he can't see me, I can't see him.

Friday 13 April 2012

Some pictures showing the growth rate and how the chicks are now feathering up. They are so big that the hen can't cover them all when she is on the nest.

My friend Jackie took this one - my favourite a clear yellow baby - the colour canaries should be!

I ringed the last of the four Scotch this lunchtime - it was less fraught for me this time. I'm getting quicker and better at it. I mentioned the quills beginning to show - they are even more evident today and the chicks eyes have opened.

The speed of growth of the babies is amazing. A week ago, as they hatched, these babies were hidden away under the hen. Now you can see how fast they have developed. Today feather quills are emerging.

If I had not ringed them last night, by tonight they would have been too big to get the leg rings in place - as you can see the hen is not able to cover everyone now.

Check out my Roller blog for an exciting update and a super photo of the Roller nest.

Phew! Now that was traumatic.  The singleton is doing fine and he along with the two older chicks in the nest of three now have leg rings on, giving them numbers 1, 2 and 3 of 2012. It's a bit nerve wracking putting the rings on such tiny creatures and their parents are non too pleased at my being near the nest. The rings are necessary to ensure proof of age and in a stock which is all prety closely related and hence very similar in appearance, you need to keep a track of who is whose chick. Done for the moment - 1 Scotch to be done later this week if it gets to a week old - 13 April for the third of the nest fo three.

Monday 9 April 2012 - here are the pictures of the nests today - you can see feathering starting to emerge. I am pretty sure that the three chicks in Nest 1 are fine but the singlton is not looking so good today.

The singleton seems a bit less well fed - to be honest he hardly looks fed at all.

It's not exactly David Attenborough but if you watch closely at the top left of the cage, you can see the hen feeding the babies - you can see some heads waggling about looking for food.

I have to admit these are pretty rubbishy movies but you get the idea! The cock feeds the hen, she has a little digestion and then off she goes!

Three chicks still thriving.

There seem to be two green or variegated and one clear yellow in this nest. You can see the parents here too.

The single chick is still with us. He looks a little less chirpy but nature has to take its course.

Unfortunately I did not have my camera to hand this afternoon to capture the hen feeding her chicks. At 5 days old, their heads are clearly visible above the nest pan with necks outstretched to be fed. An amazing sight. They are also now calling much more learly than the peeping you hear at first hatching. I was worried that the youngest in the nest who had fully hatched this morning, would be ignored but the hen is reaching down to feed that one too.

This is a hobby filled with excitement for me and great advice and contacts from the breeders from whom I acquired my stock. I had been advised and had read that a single chick would not be reared but the other pair seem to be doing a good job and the breeder has advised me to leave well alone so we'll just trust nature to see to it.

You do have to be quiet in the birdroom but you can still take your chances when the hens come off the nest to take a little exercise to take a little peak!

Here are the two Roller clutches - the set of four are due to hatch on Monday and the set of two are just the start of the laying of the clutch.

Many fanciers take away the eggs as they are laid and replace them with dummy plastic eggs until the hen has finished laying her clutch then place the eggs back under the hen so that the clutch all hatch on the one day. It is a method which is meant to increase the survival rate of the brood - if they all hatch at the same time they all stand the same chance of survival. I don't have the courage to try that so let the hens be and sit as their evolution intended.

The Roller hens are mother and daughter but their mates are not related to them. I have no idea why the "mother" wants to use paper to line her nest when she has perfectly decent hair and fluff to use but here you go - even canaries can exercise personal choice!

This is the single chick in Nest 2 - the other two eggs there appear to be dead in shell. He will struggle to survive as a single chick.

A less good picture of the "birth" of number 3 in nest 1.

This is a picture of Nest 1 which shows, if you look carefully, something I have never witnessed in my life - a hatching chick. His siblings are showing full stomachs - the green areas you can see in their necks. It is an amazing sight to see the little chick twisting its way out of the shell. Fascinating.

Just around 7pm we had a first hatching in nest 2. Looks like a litle dark green. No pictures yet as the hen is sitting tight.

A second egg hatched today and Mum left the nest long enough for me to take this picture. Looks like a yellow and a variegated. Fingers crossed for their survival.

If you look to the bottom right of the picture, you can see the hen watching me.
No signs of hatching from hen number two yet.
But I am delighted with this even if they do not survive.
One can't count one's chickens!

Great excitement today - we have the first egg hatching - soft peeping coming from the nest and the briefest of glimpses allowed by the hen. Here is the egg left after the hatching.

This is the first egg of one of the two clutches of three so I am hopeful that the other two maybe fertile and may hatch. Have my doubts about the fertility of the other three under the other hen. Time will tell and the Rollers have 4 eggs due to hatch next week. Exciting times!

Just to give you a contrast, these are my Rollers singing

And now for some more singing - yes the canaries you first see in this are my Rollers.

These little ladies are due to

hatch their clutches of 3 eggs each this week. Fingers crossed.