Smudge and Onyx

Well, phooey. Smudge and Onyx stopped feeding the babies, and when I found them, all but one had passed away. :-( This is fairly common for first-time parents, so it's not unexpected, but usually by the second time they've got things figured out. I was able to hand-feed the surviving baby once, but then it started refusing food from me. Once they've got their eyes open, they realize it's not another bird who's feeding them, and sometimes they won't accept food from a "stranger".

I've moved the surviving baby to Whisper's nest. Whisper has two babies of her own. They're a little younger/smaller, but it's the only other nest that's available with similar-sized babies. She had two dud eggs in the nest, so I removed one of them. She most likely thinks it hatched. She practically had a smile on her face when she saw "her" new child! :-) Although this is Whisper's first time being a foster parent, she took the baby right in and filled its little crop full. Yay! :-) The only small concern I still have is that the baby is a different color at this point than Whisper's biological children. It's still possible that she might reject it because it's different ... which is sad on several levels ... but so far, so good. :-) Edited 11/6/11 to add: It passed away. Apparently she stopped feeding it, or perhaps it began refusing food from her as well. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. :-(

The yellow canaries are still on eggs. I haven't candled them, but if they're viable, they should start hatching very soon.

Frostie and Streak's 5 babies are all doing well. So far they've done a great job in making sure even the littlest ones get fed. I wish I could've put Smudge and Onxy's abandoned baby in with them since Frostie is a wonderful foster mom, but I was afraid 6 babies would be too many, especially since the little survivor is smaller than the other nestlings.

I candled Shelly and Sunset's eggs yesterday. One is a definite dud, and the others either haven't been incubated long enough, or are infertile. Most likely they haven't been incubated long enough, based on the small size of the eggs' air pockets. (The older an egg is, the larger the air pocket gets as the egg gradually dries up.)

Never a dull moment, huh? :-)