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24 Apr 23 — Day 13

Quite different to yesterday. Colder and wetter so Azina has brooded the chicks for most of the day and when she wasn’t then Tom did it. Though he’s struggling a fair bit to fit them all, and so is Azina to be fair 😉

Azina brooding the chicks
Azina brooding the chicks


Which means that pretty much the only times they could flap their wings were during feeds and they did that a lot.

Tom feeding the chicks - Feeds often time to do some flapping
Tom feeding the chicks – Feeds often time to do some flapping


There were 6 feeds today, one by Tom. Mostly pigeon on the menu with a bit of Starling.


One thing I noticed today and that’s thanks to the 4 day gap between the chicks. When they hatch their feet are pink. When they fledge they’re pale yellow. On the shots where you can see that the feet of the older ones have started to turn yellow when they’re next those of the younger one. Because it’s a very subtle change I’d never noticed that before, and also because we’ve not had such big gaps before (especially with single chicks! 😉 )

Tom feeding the chicks
Tom feeding the chicks

Shots for today:

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  • 11 May 2023 – Bad news

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  • 8 Mar 23 — The two eggs in colour

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  • 11 Apr 23 — Day I-33 — First chick!

    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:

  • 21 Mar 23 — Pigeon entertainment

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