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This
little guy fledged on the second of May 2002, from a clutch of two eggs
and he was the only one that hatched, he's quite small but now on the
fifth day out the nest he's flying very well and perches like a pro. (He
poses like a show bird too, he may well achieve the prerequisite standard
too, but I don't show birds).
He's already it seems; twice the size he was when he popped out the nest
on Thursday morning, they grow so fast at this age (his tail is definitely
twice the size it was on Thursday (Monday evening here 6th May)
He doesn't beg much; he just doesn't need to, his parents (the 'Beastie' pair) are such good parents he just looks at them and they feed him, they've always adored their chicks and this is no exception. This is also their first experience at cage breeding, they have bred in flights so far, but I didn't expect there to be any problem and they've done superbly well as usual.
Latest updates:
17th
May 2002
Well this little guy is doing fine, he's now pretty much independent (last
saw him fed by father yesterday, he wasn't really interested) and growing
rapidly, he's a lot bigger now than this first photo (more coming soon!).
So he's reached independence in just over two weeks (about average).
His parents have started another clutch and he has been banished to sleeping
on top of the nest (his mother chases him out if he tries to sneak into
the nest at night, poor wee bairn!).
He's fine though, spending his first night sleeping out the nest (previously
he's managed to sneak in) but today they are incubating in earnest and
she doesn't want the distraction of him being in the nest (and it's probably
a good thing, youngsters are very playful and may break eggs through clumsiness).
His father was calling to him and tried to get him back in but the hen
doesn't want him there so he's all alone on top of the nest (it's a shame
he hasn't got any brothers and sisters to keep him company, but if his
parents have their way he soon will do so!)
He
appears to be starting his moult into adult plumage now and his beak is
just starting to 'silver' at the root, Bichenos moult pretty quickly and
effortlessly, rarely takes more than a few weeks, but they do become somewhat
'scruffy looking' but soon flourish into a handsome bird. It will be a
fair while before he reaches his full size (5 months or more to fill out
completely but by that time he will be pretty large) he's quite a size
now already but has a lot of 'filling out' to do yet and will grow in
length for a good time still.
His head shape seems to indicate to me that he is indeed a cock, but it
will be some weeks before he indicates this, by starting to sign. To throw
a bit of confusion into the mix, one of the younger hens has just recently
started to display like a cock and mount her mother in a 'dominance' trial
(which she has lost). She's even trying to sing a little but does (and
I caught her the other morning), lay eggs.
It's hard enough sexing them without this kind of confusion being added.
30th
May 2002
Well this little one is now moulting up a storm, his beak is almost
completely blue now and his face looks like he's been dragged through
a hedge backwards. This is however, normal, their old baby feathers start
to wear or drop out and new feather quills ('pin feathers') appear making
them look very scruffy and somewhat 'hedgehog like'.
He has patches of yellow feathers appearing on his belly and white areas
on chest and face and now has a nice long (dark black) tail and a white
rump (though this part seems to be taking it's time to develop).
He'll be eight weeks old this Saturday (June 1st) and has grown considerably since this photo was taken, he's also eatingh like a horse, no signs of any singing yet but it is still early so there's a while yet to go to see whether he is in fact male or not (suspect he is though!)
2nd June 2002
First
of two new babies hatch: Yes a second clutch of chicks!
These guys do not hang around. These two developed very quickly indeed.
This
is the older baby (now just past 10 weeks old 27 June) with his younger
sibling, the oldest of the latest two
This
guy is the younger of the latest two.
20th
June 2002
First
of the two new babies fledged, small but fully developed (longer tail
and white rump feathers than his older sibling).
27th
June 2002
Both babies developing very well indeed, they're all fantastic but these
two guys are doing very well indeed.
Well marked when they fledged and they look like they're going to be superstars
(which Bichenos always are of course!)
Some photos of them moulting through the end of July on this page
More updates soon