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11 Apr 23 — Day I-33 — First chick!

Byadmin

What a day!

I wasn’t really expecting the first chick to hatch today. I was expecting it to happen more like tomorrow or Thursday.

The day started a lot like yesterday with Tom doing a shift between 6.03 and 6.43. Then Azina took over. Tom brought her some food at 9.48 and she declined. She left for an unknown reason at 12.18 and an egg was pipped!

Pip visible on one of the eggs
Pip visible on one of the eggs

Tom took over incubation for 10 minutes. Azina returned and didn’t leave for the rest of the day. And it wasn’t for lack of trying on Tom’s part but she refused to budge every time he visited (usually with food).

When I looked back through the recordings, it’s possible that the egg was already pipped at 6.43 am but as it was on the side it’s hard to tell for sure. Likewise, when Azina took over from Tom, the pip was barely visible. It goes to show that luck has a big part in whether we get to see if an egg is pipped or not.

I was on a work call at 2.27 pm while keeping an eye on the camera and to my surprise Azina got up and revealed a wet chick!!! It must have just hatched around then.

First glimpse of a wet chick at 2.27 pm
First glimpse of a wet chick at 2.27 pm

An hour later another glimpse showed us a slightly fluffier chick and its head for the first time.

First glimpse of the chick's head at 3.25 pm
First glimpse of the chick’s head at 3.25 pm

At 5.02 pm, Tom desperately wanted to incubate and see his first chick but Azina didn’t agree to let him…

At 6.47 this evening when Tom brought yet more food that Azina refused but that gave us our first glimpse of the fluffy chick.

Fluffy chick under Mum
Fluffy chick under Mum

Azina has been so tight on the eggs and chick that it’s impossible to say if there are any more pips.

Shots for today:

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  • 21 Mar 23 — Pigeon entertainment

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    Light entertainment with an image in image clip. A couple of pigeons spent a few minutes on the ledge in front of the nest box and I thought it would be nice to add Azina in the nest box and her reaction to it. What do you think? 😉

  • 18 Apr 23 — Day 7

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    Happy 7 day birthday to the oldest chick!

    Main thing today was that the fourth egg broke over night. Even though I couldn’t see what happened as it did under Azina and she had her back to the camera I can say that this egg was not viable. The chicks were covered in some residue that made them look like they’d been dipped in oil. Not their fluffy selves 🙁 Not that it seemed to bother them.

    Huddle
    Huddle

    The rest of the day was the usual mix of sleep and feeds. There were 6 feeds today, at 7.23am, 9.12am, 11.19am, 2.35pm, 4.46pm, 6.33pm. Actually close to every two hours except for three hours once in the middle. Pigeon and Starling on the menu again.

    Tom and the chicks
    Tom and the chicks

    Starling heads are starting to accumulate on the gravel again…

    Lastly, something happened I’d seen or heard of at other sites but had never seen here: Tom feeding Azina 🙂

    Tom feeds Azina
    Tom feeds Azina

    Shots for today:

  • 7 Mar 23 — Azina lays the second egg

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    The second egg laying video. Azina got up from the egg at 4.35, got into position at 4.38, pushes at 4.40/4.41 and at 4.42 she lifts up to let the egg to dry off. At 4.46 she turns a bit and starts settling down.

    This makes it 60 hours and 10 minutes between the first two eggs.

  • 9 Mar 23

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    A day of exchanges, food offerings, egg keeping. I saw them mate this morning and witnessed a food pass late afternoon. Azina refused the pigeon offered when on the ledge but accepted it in the air and went to eat it on the roof of Muscal House (that block of flats she’s taken a shine to).
    I am expecting the third egg sometime in the night: around 4:30 if she keeps to the same schedule as the second egg (60 hours) or before (last year it took 57 hours so it could be as early at 1:30). Time will tell. She is currently in the box, on the eggs, after her dinner, which took about an hour.

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