STEVE JUNIORS!?

[Colt]

Is that your sock Dylan?

[MiaCarter]

Adorable!
And you can see a bit of his giant giraffe neck!

He looks so new and cute and cozy in his sock bed!

[MiaCarter]

Addendum: I'm all for creative sock uses, by the way, so I can appreciate this guy's sock bed!

You can fill a sock with rice and pop it in the microwave to make a sock buddy for a creature who's sick or little and orphaned.

You can cut large mens knee socks open and they make cozy rat bedding.

You can cut little holes in baby socks and kids socks to make outfits for tiny baby creatures who need to be kept warm (I've used this for everything from raccoons and squirrels, to puppies and kittens).

Socks are great! (Except for wearing. I hate socks. I haven't worn a pair since I moved here to Florida, land of the flip flops!)

[Sheather]

Colt MiaCarter Yes, yes it is a sock of mine. Steve originally built and laid in her own very well-crafted wicker basket of twigs, feathers, yarn, and dryer lint, but once the mites invaded it was sadly discarded and replaced with a sanitary if less homey metal food bowl and... sock. I ran out of felt and needed a soft white surface, both for his comfort and warmth and to make any pests easy to see against. Steve seems to look a bit embarassed now, returning to sit on her sock-filled food bowl nest, but she knows her baby needs care no matter how much their new less-than-classy home is going to kill her social life.

[Colt]

Haha Well that's a good reason for the sock. I assumed you were changing the nest out each day with the mite issue so that's a great idea. I really am impressed with how tolerant she is of you "helping" her out. ;)

[Sheather]

Colt The amount of time I spend with these birds, and the fact that they've been able to get used to people on their terms thanks to being kept free-flighted, means all of the birds are pretty tolerant of nest checks. I thought my societies were good about it, but if I need to mess with the nest and Steve is on it, I just gently move her aside and she'll literally just sit on the perch adjacent to the nest and wait, preening herself or maybe going to nibble some lettuce while I clean the nest and handle the chick, and then return as soon as I return him. She's completely trusting, and I'm very happy that she is so comfortable because if she was flighty she probably would have abandoned the baby after all of this commotion and handling.

[Sheather]

I snapped a random picture of Steve taking a brief time to check out her frenemy and mate-stealer, Kari, who actually I do think is going to have eggs of her own soon again, I think she's got a nest going in one of the hanging planters, I need to check it tomorrow for eggs! Walter mounted her too a few times so they may very well be fertile, though she's snippity and won't even let him by the nest site.



Walter visited Steve on the nest and fed Weaver this evening for the first time in about six days, having succeeded in mounting Kari after a few days of courting and apparently having nothing else to do after that goal was achieved. He's certainly not single parent material, but he's helping a tiny bit, which is better than nothing. At least he recognizes his child!

[Sheather]

Weaver is 13 days old today.



Walter has started to really help feed him, giving Steve a break.

[lovezebs]

Sheather

Weaver, looks like a very serious and wise little fellow. I love the fuzzy fluff on his head. I'm glad that father Walter is taking interest in his baby now, better late than never, right?

I hope Kari, will have some cutie babies as well.
Boy that Walter has been a very busy boy, hasn't he? LOL. ..

Good luck with the baby (?)

~Elana~

[MiaCarter]

OH MY GOODNESS!

CUTE ISN'T THE WORD!

He's just so precious! Look at those sleepy eyes, like he's had a long day for such a little bird!

Elana's right; he does look to be a very serious little guy. The baby fluff is so adorable.

He's a big boy for just shy of 2 weeks!
And I'm glad to hear that dad is getting more involved.
I'm curious to hear about whether you'll get some little ones from Kari!

[KarenB]

Little Weaver is looking mighty fine! Good that Walter decided to take an interest. It'll be good practice for all the future clutches of Weaverlets to come; sounds like he's staying pretty busy here lately. Looking forward to seeing what Kari does now. Keep us updated on Weaver's progress!

[Sheather]

Oh, Kari had a bad week.

So I put up this new hanging basket of ivy in the bird room, very big and nice, I just got it from the greenhouse. She immediately was smitten with it, and within a few days, she laid an egg in it. No nest, just in the soil. She incubated it, but by evening I saw it had cracked and threw it out.

The next day I found an egg broken under the basket.

Day three, I caught her eating the remains of another broken egg.

Day four, I removed the basket! She kept trying to use it as a nest but the eggs kept rolling out of it and getting damaged. A whole clutch was lost, though knowing her she will try again before very long, hopefully in a real nest this time.

[KarenB]

Oh, no. Poor Kari. Maybe you can get her another basket like that which is not as shallow for the eggs, and maybe without the plant or with a plastic plant instead so you don't need as much dirt, or use something besides dirt?

[MiaCarter]

OOOH!
You know what would work nicely for Kari?
There's that spanish moss-type of stuff that you put around the base of faux plants.
I'm not sure if it's real spanish moss, but it looks like it.
You use it to hide that green foam cube that you stick the fake plants into.

That would be perfect, I think!
It's very "bouncy" and cushioney. If you dropped an egg on it, it would sort of bounce. And it's sort of hay-like too, so it should appeal to a bird.
So if she doesn't want to make a nest, putting an inch or two of that stuff would be perfect!
And once she picks a spot, I'd get a shallow tupperware and put the moss and eggs in there so it all stays put.

[MiaCarter]

Here it is:


http://www.save-on-crafts.com/spanishmoss.html