Thanks, Barbara.

Once the whiteface looks less like a worm and more like a bird, I'll make sure to get plenty of pics just for you, Haimovfids.

#5 is working on getting out now. #6 doesn't look far behind.

I've been wanting to do this for a while, but I think I'm going to make a little "remembrance tree" for my pets. I've had a lot of pets in my life (the perils of having parents who run pet stores!), and I've wanted to make a memorial to them for some time. My cat died in March, and I had the idea to make a wire tree like this, and hang little tags with all the names of my passed pets. I was far too depressed when she died to do anything (she'd been my constant companion for 18 years), but I think I want to do it now.

#5 arrived this morning. Literally popped out of the shell as I was feeding everybody and checking on the nest. It's a tiny little thing, just a scant 2 grams. Only slightly bigger than the tiny chick from the first clutch that died in shell. But it's also vocal and active.

5 chicks? That's a lot! They will be very busy parents. What color is the baby's feather down?

This one is yellow too. And there's one egg to go--Pippin double-clutched, but as the nestbox wasn't attached to the cage because I was hoping they'd just give up, both clutches were incubated together. Pippin was laying eggs in the nestbox while the nestbox was on the shelf for storage. I was hoping she'd lay them and stop, but once she started the second clutch I just gave them the box. I think she laid four, paused for 6 days, and then laid another three. I might have the three and four switched though. 7 eggs total, the first chick to hatch was killed in an apparent nestbox panic.

Pippin and JJ have been remarkably calm this week. Possibly they're just exhausted.

I bought fake eggs which should be arriving any day now. The whole "wait for the whole clutch to be laid and then destroy them" tactic was not working as I'd get curious and candle the eggs, and then I'd see little hearts beating and give in. Next time I can destroy them as they are laid. Although I must say, despite everything that has gone wrong, I've really enjoyed raising cockatiels thus far.

It's so hard to kill the embryo once you see the heart beat. That's why I just threw away Georgie and Marshmallow's eggs. I knew if I kept them I would raise babies that would be very unhealthy because Georgie is Marshmallow's mother.



I think the look more like aliens. But the way the wiggle does look wormy.

I've always called new hatchlings "tiny drunken space aliens". They're very wobbly and they don't look like an earthly life form.

Candled last egg. It looked dead, and when I floated it there was no movement. Opened it, and the chick was dead. I'm not sure if this is just because it was still in the egg or what, but its head was misshapen and very flat. Wings were also minuscule, whether because it hadn't finished developing or had a defect I can't say. Either way, I don't think it was ever meant to hatch. Nutrient deficiency on Pippin's part might have been the culprit, as she did lay a lot of eggs. As the middle couple had slight shell swirling and the last ones didn't I thought I'd fixed her nutritional problems, but maybe not.

The five in the nest are growing ridiculously fast. Oldest's eyes are cracking open. #5, the little runt, is thus far having no troubles and is growing quick.

I did swap out the bedding in the box. It was growing mold. Five chicks seem to be producing sufficient quantities of poo that it never dries sufficiently and becomes an incubator for nasties. Pip and JJ also squashed the chicks into the one corner of the box, so their 'bathroom' was a very small area that was overflowing.

Some embryos are just defective from the start. Random mutations happen all the time and most of them aren't beneficial, so it could have been that.

Good job cleaning out the nest. In general it's not required but when there's mold you need to get it out of there.

The oldest. He's getting his wing pinfeathers in.


The whiteface, for Baruch. He was set on being un-photogenic, this is the best I could get. Keeping an eye on his crop as it's a bit big.


And the little runt:

Look at all those smiling faces! They look so much like little dinosaurs at this age.