Three little birds, sat by my doorstep
Discussion
Well....there's good news and bad news! Good news is that the chicks are doing fantastic and are growing by the day. The bad news is that they now have another brother/sister!
Third little bird found yesterday in roughly same place. Have put it back in nearest nest 3 times but each time it's ended up being thrown out.
The other two look so healthy compared to this one.
Back to PAH for some more wax worms then!!
Third little bird found yesterday in roughly same place. Have put it back in nearest nest 3 times but each time it's ended up being thrown out.
The other two look so healthy compared to this one.
Back to PAH for some more wax worms then!!
No idea what's happening! It seems to be mass Exodus (another Bob Marley tribute) of chicks. I can only find one best up there which still has chicks, and that one is full to bursting. So either these 3 were too much for that nest, or one of the other nest's parents have just given up and chucked out all 3?
How many would normally be in a nest, any ideas?
How many would normally be in a nest, any ideas?
Sid's Dad said:
Last year, a neighbour brought round a tiny blackbird chick, days old at most. And i put it in the border, assuming it would be dead by morning. It hopped out of the border that evening, tweeting furiously and demanding to be fed. So I raised it by hand, using worms from the compost bin and then bought mealworms, until she fledged safely. She came back this year (or at least an incredibly tame blackbird who would feed from my hand came to the garden this year....) to raise her first brood.
So hang in there OP - you might just succeed!
Some years ago my dad found a rook running around a wood where there was a rookery. He (could have been a she but he acted male, IYKWIM), was covered from head to foot in rook sSo hang in there OP - you might just succeed!
te, and was in a really bad way. Dad brought him home, washed most of the muck off him, then fed him steadily increasing amounts of food. He built his strength up , and lived in the garage. Following the first moult, he started to learn to fly (he couldn't use the first feathers as they were in such bad shape), but stayed around until the snow ended. He kept coming back to the garden, but his visits became less and less, then he never came back. We thought he'd been shot, but then the year after he left, there was a commotion in the garden, and there he was, large as life in the middle of the garden, walking round just like he used to, with a smaller rook in tow, and a larger one on the roof of the bungalow at the back.
He'd come back, and brought the family with him, we thought as a thank you, and to show his family where he'd grown up. He spent around 15-20 minutes walking round crowing loudly, the small rook following him around, the bigger one finally flew down, but was very nervous. After a minute or two the timid one flew back to the roof, and the young one followed. Inky (as we'd called him) had a last look round, called, then flew up to the other two.
They then took off, Inky flew around the garden, then they flew off. I never saw him again, but the following year, a smaller rook did come back to the garden (we very rarely got a rook in the garden), I thought it was the one from the previous year, then flew off.
It must have been a good four or five years before I next saw a rook in the garden.
Mk3Spitfire said:
No idea what's happening! It seems to be mass Exodus (another Bob Marley tribute) of chicks. I can only find one best up there which still has chicks, and that one is full to bursting. So either these 3 were too much for that nest, or one of the other nest's parents have just given up and chucked out all 3?
How many would normally be in a nest, any ideas?
Cuckoo in the nest(s)?How many would normally be in a nest, any ideas?
Kudos for looking after the evictees.
mrmaggit said:
Some years ago my dad found a rook running around a wood where there was a rookery. He (could have been a she but he acted male, IYKWIM), was covered from head to foot in rook ste, and was in a really bad way. Dad brought him home, washed most of the muck off him, then fed him steadily increasing amounts of food. He built his strength up , and lived in the garage. Following the first moult, he started to learn to fly (he couldn't use the first feathers as they were in such bad shape), but stayed around until the snow ended. He kept coming back to the garden, but his visits became less and less, then he never came back.
We thought he'd been shot, but then the year after he left, there was a commotion in the garden, and there he was, large as life in the middle of the garden, walking round just like he used to, with a smaller rook in tow, and a larger one on the roof of the bungalow at the back.
He'd come back, and brought the family with him, we thought as a thank you, and to show his family where he'd grown up. He spent around 15-20 minutes walking round crowing loudly, the small rook following him around, the bigger one finally flew down, but was very nervous. After a minute or two the timid one flew back to the roof, and the young one followed. Inky (as we'd called him) had a last look round, called, then flew up to the other two.
They then took off, Inky flew around the garden, then they flew off. I never saw him again, but the following year, a smaller rook did come back to the garden (we very rarely got a rook in the garden), I thought it was the one from the previous year, then flew off.
It must have been a good four or five years before I next saw a rook in the garden.
What a lovely story te, and was in a really bad way. Dad brought him home, washed most of the muck off him, then fed him steadily increasing amounts of food. He built his strength up , and lived in the garage. Following the first moult, he started to learn to fly (he couldn't use the first feathers as they were in such bad shape), but stayed around until the snow ended. He kept coming back to the garden, but his visits became less and less, then he never came back. We thought he'd been shot, but then the year after he left, there was a commotion in the garden, and there he was, large as life in the middle of the garden, walking round just like he used to, with a smaller rook in tow, and a larger one on the roof of the bungalow at the back.
He'd come back, and brought the family with him, we thought as a thank you, and to show his family where he'd grown up. He spent around 15-20 minutes walking round crowing loudly, the small rook following him around, the bigger one finally flew down, but was very nervous. After a minute or two the timid one flew back to the roof, and the young one followed. Inky (as we'd called him) had a last look round, called, then flew up to the other two.
They then took off, Inky flew around the garden, then they flew off. I never saw him again, but the following year, a smaller rook did come back to the garden (we very rarely got a rook in the garden), I thought it was the one from the previous year, then flew off.
It must have been a good four or five years before I next saw a rook in the garden.
lamboman100 said:
Mk3Spitfire said:
No idea what's happening! It seems to be mass Exodus (another Bob Marley tribute) of chicks. I can only find one best up there which still has chicks, and that one is full to bursting. So either these 3 were too much for that nest, or one of the other nest's parents have just given up and chucked out all 3?
How many would normally be in a nest, any ideas?
Cuckoo in the nest(s)?How many would normally be in a nest, any ideas?
Kudos for looking after the evictees.
Definitely not Cuckoo....
I think it might have been overcrowding to be honest.
Bit of sad news... the third little one didn't make it. It was looking ropey from the start, and didn't manage to pull through.
On a brighter note though, the other two chicks are doing really well. I m fairly confident now that that they are going to make it! Certainly as far as surviving to adulthood anyway.
Mk3Spitfire said:
Thank you!
Definitely not Cuckoo....
I think it might have been overcrowding to be honest.
Bit of sad news... the third little one didn't make it. It was looking ropey from the start, and didn't manage to pull through.
On a brighter note though, the other two chicks are doing really well. I m fairly confident now that that they are going to make it! Certainly as far as surviving to adulthood anyway.
The parent birds will eject unhealthy chicks so maybe chick three was such a chick.Definitely not Cuckoo....
I think it might have been overcrowding to be honest.
Bit of sad news... the third little one didn't make it. It was looking ropey from the start, and didn't manage to pull through.
On a brighter note though, the other two chicks are doing really well. I m fairly confident now that that they are going to make it! Certainly as far as surviving to adulthood anyway.
Two falling out at once is more likely either the nest construction failing or overcrowding as you so.
It sounds like you're doing really well!
Matt.
Thanks Matt. I think you might be right about the third one. Didn't look good right from the start.
The other two are so bright and cheeky now. They're losing the fluffy feathers and seem to be growing by the hour! I have an old parrot cage which I aim to dig out so they can go in there and start flying lessons soon!
The other two are so bright and cheeky now. They're losing the fluffy feathers and seem to be growing by the hour! I have an old parrot cage which I aim to dig out so they can go in there and start flying lessons soon!
muppets_mate said:
Any further updates OP?
Both birds are doing fantastic. They look massive now compared to what they were first like. They've lost all their fluffy feathers now, and have a full coat of adult feathers. They are now flapping their wings when being fed, and climbing and moving about a lot more! 
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