Baby Close to Normal!

This morning, the baby was hopping from perch to perch without any problem, using both feet. When he was startled by me, he did stand on the right foot only, so he still favors it. However, the left is fully functional in a normal way. He was also flying around with apparent joy. He and Sutcliffe were generally having fun this morning flying, eating, and generally squawking to their neighbors. The baby is a little "wild one" again! Its good to see he's got his groove back (note, we realize, this baby could be female).
Lessons learned:
1. wing clipping IMHO is not cruel. it could be life saving as
2. there are many risks to a flying household budgie, and they get into those risks FAST!
3. Dilute vinegar solution is safe for budgies in small doses and effective at removing "goo".
4. Being young is good for your health. And I retract my remarks from yesterday: flying around as a baby budgie is not really foolish. He was just acting like a budgie when he got trapped in goo.

Doing Better

The baby seems a lot more perky. He still favors the left leg, and lists to the right, especially in the evening. Examination of his leg shows no obvious injury or deformity. He seems to have a normal range of motion, normal configuration of toes, feet, knees, legs. Its hard to see up into his feathers to see if his thigh might have an injury. Hopefully he will mend himself. However, he enjoys sitting in the food bowl, which must be a good way to rest his little drumsticks. He can fly. He and Sutcliffe have been moved to a "hospital flight cage" which is a long cage, where we have placed the perches extremely close to the floor so that if he falls off, he won't be hurt badly. The nest box is also in there, but chiefly, the baby and Sutcliffe use it as a lookout point (they stand on it) rather than go inside it.

Baby Getting Better

The baby is getting better. His chest almost has a full set of feathers again; only his mutton chop feathers (The fluffy feathers budgies have on the side of the cheeks) and a few patches under his chin remain a bit bald. His beak is working fine; he bit K last night with respectable malevolent intent it seemed. We were thrilled of course.

He does seem to be favoring the left leg: he doesn't stand on it as much as the right leg, and while budgie legs are always blue-ish, the left leg seems more blue-ish than the other. This seems to be new since yesterday. Nonetheless, all parts of that leg are moving normally in in a healthy configuration, it seems, even his toenails. He is eating, and Sutcliffe continues to feed him. He also took a crap on K, another glorious event.

As noted by yesterday's commentator (but also, a very special tator), C, the young have a tremendous capacity for recovery. Its a good thing, as they also tend to be somewhat foolish. (Wow, does that last remark mean that we human guardians are becoming old grouches?)

Poll Results Update

What Should We Name the New Baby?
Snickles 10% (2)
Magoo 19% (4)
Nick 5% (1)
Sydney0% (0)
Biddle 5% (1)
Strorks 10% (2)
Dino 10% (2)
Peet 5% (1)
Beady 0% (0)

(will not add to 100%)

It looks like "Magoo" is the winner--especially since Goo seems to be a part of the baby's early life experience!

Baby Injured: but Recovering (Warning-Sad, Upsetting)

I am sure many of you wondered this week what happened to Boos-day posting? What happened to regular blog updates at this important time in baby development?
The reason we have been a bit silent, is that on Tuesday, the baby had an accident and we've been focused on tending him, and neglecting blogging. He flew out of the box without our knowlege, and got stuck in a spider trap (which is essentially, a tray of goo that traps spiders). He was really glued to the trap! Fortunately, the trap is merely goo, no chemicals. His entire under-belly, chest, neck, beak, and feet, as well as parts of wings, were stuck and covered with goo. We had to cup our hands under him and physically pry him free. We could not easily remove the goo from him, so used a dilute vinegar solution and paper towel/Q-tips. Fortunately, all of his parts are intact, although he has some minor injuries and has lost feathers especially on the neck and tummy. His beak was really gooey, because he groomed himself and got more and more goo on him, but a dilute vinegar solution is very helpful for beak cleaning as well. Now, he is feeding himself, and Sutcliffe also feeds him. He spends a fair amount of time in the nest box, but does normal budgie behaviors which is a good sign. Mary ann was pecking him, so Mia has a new roomate.
Please send positive vibes, good karma, and prayers his way for a speedy recovery!

The Baby Can Now Stand on Perch

Yesterday, when we handled the baby, he was able to hold onto a finger with one foot, or another, but not with both, and could not stand. We placed him in the bottom of the cage, and Stucliffe, herded him and showed him the way back up towards the nest box, but we gave him his final shove back into it. When we go to get him out, he scurries out the front of the box! Today, he was much more skillful, and stood well on a finger. He also has become a good flyer, literally, overnight. This baby is really a prodigy! He is not too tame, though, at least not yet. Today, we put all three cages (1. the nuclear family of Sutcliffe, Mary Ann, baby, 2. Boo 3. Mia) in the same room. There was much flock-related excitement from all. Our ultimate goal: one communal cage (For heaven's sake, this multi-cage cleaning and feeding is making us bonkers). The baby, who was OUTSIDE the box on his own volition this morning, spent the rest of the day in the box after the arrival of Boo and Mia in their respective cages. Mary ann is being quite snarky to Sutcliffe. Its not clear if she is just reverting back to her old self, now that the baby is older, or if having the flock around stressed her out. As experience with Lola showed, Sutcliffe does have a wandering eye (hence, his nickname, "Slutcliffe").

Thanks to all who have voted, DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!!! It seems that the problem with voting twice has been solved, and votes will only be noted once. Or, at least once per computer.

Note: If you check results, it looks like "Lovey" is winning, but, that is only because I don't know how to resolve the minor glitch that, every time you click "check results", a vote goes to Lovey, even though, Lovey no longer appears as a choice. Free widget poll, what can I say?

We were pleased to see Legal Aid's comment, re: letting the Baby Bird pick its own name. However, it isn't clear to us how to organize that. thoughts?

Baby Handling

We are handling the baby daily. Hopefully, s/he will become tame, but currently, not so much. The baby appears a bit more pale yellow than Boo. S/he is healthy in appearance. Mary ann is spending more and more time outside the nest box. She no longer takes giant "mother poos" as she did when the baby and eggs were being incubated and prior to her fledging. fThe baby pokes her head out quite a bit but has not yet emerged. S/he cannot yet stand on a finger perch; perch standing will be key to emerging from the nest box and subsequently, feeding.

Voting Re-set

We have reset the voting and hope that it works: the widget was downloaded from easy-poll.com. It only allows ten choices. If your favorite choice(s) was/were eliminated, email one of us directly, or send a remark to sutcliffe.boo@gmail.com!

Baby Is Boo-ish, Happy Boo's day and New Year

After a week away from the baby, we are amazed at how much he has grown! His coloring is clearly the same as Boo's (wild type). I suppose this shows that if you breed a yellow (Luteno, Mary ann) with a blue (Sutcliffe, white but in the blue family) you get green (Boo and baby).
We have several new suggestions for baby names, from B (Thanks!).
Rhino
Peet
Beady
Lovey (Mrs Thurston Howell III)
Antoinette (could be shortened to Antoine should the baby turn out to be a man)

C further suggests suggests
Biddle-Barrows (after the Mayflower Madame)
Strorks, after his 1st dog and the rhino in the just so stories
These will be added to the POLL and the poll will be posted de novo: so don't forget to vote!

Some Pictures of Growing Baby! What a Fledgling!

Parents Love Their Growing Baby Bird

Sutcliffe and Mary ann remain attentive, loving parents. While its hard to see everything in focus on this video, clearly, the baby has grown a lot. Earlier, I thought his eyes are opened, but now I am not so sure. Its not clear what color he is going to be yet, but I am glad he looks less like a tiny frozen Thanksgiving turkey. Even if, now, he looks a bit like a cross between a hedgehog, and of course, Mr. Magoo.

Baby Budgie Spreads Her Wings

I hope you can see this video: it was taken before we removed the three unhatched eggs. The large bumps under the baby's neck are her crop: very full! I hope you can also appreciate the buddha stomach she has. She is trying to spread her wings, although her eyes are not yet open!

The Eggs Have been Removed

Yesterday we removed three eggs, cleaned the box, and held the baby (pics to follow). She's a giant baby! (note: will use he/she interchangeably). Her eyes remain closed. She has quite a few feathers and a large, full, buddha tummy. She flapped her wings. Mary ann and Sutcliffe were understandably concerned, but after replacing the box, they both went in and fed the baby, and today, all is well. The three eggs were as follows: two empty (unfertilized?). one: fertilized, but no viable offspring. However, this giant baby is going to take all of her parents attention, I am sure! Here you can see Mary ann is getting suspicious. She's a smart bird.

Happy Boos-day, Dec 11th

Well, another week has rolled by, and once again, its BOOS-DAY! In order to celebrate, I thought we all might like to look at some pictures of Boo from his childhood (March 2007, when he was one month old). I believe the more mature (in box) picture is about age 3-4 weeks, and the younger one, about 2-3 weeks. However, the new baby(s) will help us better gauge that as we have a much better idea of the actual incubation period on this brood. Budgies grow fast (thank goodness, since the current baby doesn't look too strong yet). We thought Boo was just adorable, of course. But, when I proudly showed his picture to someone at work, she replied "he's got looks that only a mother could love". And let me tell you, SHE was no bargain herself. How dare she make any negative remarks about the brilliant Boo? And aren't these pictures CUTE? One, two, three---Awwwwwwww.
General Blogging Reminder: Please post comments, one and all, stranger, family, and Friends! We really enjoy them. We'll even read them outloud to the budgies. (well, maybe).

Baby Urges Siblings to Hatch!

PS: The bright spot slightly marring the view might be light coming in via the hole into the nest box.

All well in Baby Budgie Land

We finally saw the third egg (fourth, really since one has hatched), which is reassuring. No more seem to have hatched. Sutcliffe is going full force now on feeding: he goes through about one to two teaspoons of cooked oatmeal a day, and about as much seed. He's an eating and feeding machine! Sutcliffe's beak is now a brilliant blue, both cere and lower beak. I wish I could post video for you all to see, but, I am glad to report, the baby is moving well. His rump seems to have a few pin feathers on it, or, that may simply be shadow. Its hard to get good focus. Most of the time, the baby and eggs are being sat upon by MA. However, from time to time he seems to squirm out and CHIRP! How could something or someone so tiny be so loud? He is no bigger than the tip of my thumb, probably more like the size of the tip of my pinkie.

Births and Hatchings

This morning, we heard a LOUD chirping, and we suspected that something had changed. We looked in the cage, and a broken egg shell had been discarded out of the nest box and onto the floor of the cage. On turning on the webcam, we could, at first, see only both parents. However, one, and then the other, left the nest box to investigate our activities, and we saw: the first hatchling! Magically, today is also J.s birthday. So, J and the first budgie have the same Birthday.
Sutcliffe seemed to be more annoying than helpful. He was feeding, but, not filling his crop, it seemed. We placed cooked oatmeal into the cage, which was very much eaten by Sutcliffe when he was feeding Boo and Mary ann.
The only minor concern is that we see only two remaining eggs. We don't, however, see any additional eggshells. Has the fourth egg been a casualty of nature? Time will tell.
Meanwhile: it is amazing that this embryonic, almost microscopic creature can make any noise at all, much less, loud cheeping noises. Also, it is quite amazing that this tiny creature could survive. It is not surprising that there is more than a 50% mortality rate for budgie hatchlings. I don't think I have ever seem a more vulnerable appearing creature.