2013
-
This year Myles and Mayzie laid the second clutch of eggs (3) of which two were fertile. As in 2012, one egg did not hatch and we think it was the first one laid. We removed it after the others hatched.
Mayzie did a great job of caring for the eggs although she and Myles fought over the first egg laid. We refer to this as "egg soccer" and the problem ends when the second egg shows up. They did this with the first clutch as well. These eggs were laid around early May and hatched the normal 28 or so days later.
Myles took over the care and feeding immediately after hatching. We kept the nest box warm with heaters and made sure Myles had plenty of food available ranging from standard pellets to doughnuts. We co-parented the chicks which is easy to do with Myles because he is extremely tolerant of our handling of both the chicks and him. Therefore we could bring them out together and Myles would feed the chicks even while we were holding them. We did not handle the chicks much until they opened their eyes, but then spent time daily with them.
The chicks gained weight rapidly and seemed to mature quicker than we expected. By August they were beginning to eat on their own and they went to their new owners a short time later. They turned out to be friendly well adjusted birds and we are thrilled with the outcome. This was our first successful clutch.
