blue-capped courdon nestling

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:00 pm

I have had a blue-capped sitting in a nest for a while now. And believe it or not, I haven't peeked....... until today. They were out eating their mealworms so I took a small flashlgiht and had a peek. There is one little baby in there.

No eggs..... just one baby. I know that I have read many times that sometimes having just one doesn't stimulate them enough to feed them. But I only just got my mealworms in today since there has been such a shortage. I thought they had not fed it, but it has full crops. So I guess we will wait and see what happens here. But this is my first time with courdon blue babies so I am a little excited about it.

the.puppeteer · Post by **the.puppeteer** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:15 pm

Ooh congrats!! How old do you figure it is?

-Julie

B CAMP · Post by **B CAMP** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:38 pm

Congratulations on CB I am glad you were finally able to get mealworms hopefully that will keep them feeding the chick

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:57 pm

the.puppeteer wrote:Ooh congrats!! How old do you figure it is?

-Julie

It appears to be several days old. Just guessing.....

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:06 pm

hope all goes well for you Donna

Post by **Sally** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:14 am

Congrats! Let's hope you can get a parent-raised baby out of your CB pair. Once it fledges, lots of pics, please--I just love seeing these little babies.

williep · Post by **williep** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:16 am

Congrats on the new baby Donna, if it is several days old the odds are good that the parents will continue to feed it. I just had a single shaftail baby fledge, although the species are very different the parents are also doing a great job raising it. I mention this because they are feeding it termites almost exclusively. Good luck and remember to post a pic, just wait for it to fledge!

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:20 am

Congratulations on the baby AND on not having peeked until now. I don't know how you resisted!!!

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:56 pm

For me to resist is very hard.

But.... today when I came home from work I noticed no one was in the nest. So I looked at the baby and its food sac was pretty empty and it was begging food. So, I have put it with my society finches. They are feeding it. I hated to do that, but didn't want it to die.

B CAMP · Post by **B CAMP** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:30 pm

Well looking today was A very good thing. I have been there but I thought I will wait to make sure if there going to feed and sure enough I found them dead with empty crops. I just didn't make the right choice. good luck

Post by **Sally** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 10:26 pm

It is such a tough call when you have parents that may not feed. If you peek, they may abandon. If you don't peek, you have no idea they aren't feeding till you find a dead baby. If in doubt, I feel it is always better to foster--I have found too many tossed dead babies with empty crops. If you have good fosters, use them--parent-raised may come with the next generation.

jamezyboo21 · Post by **jamezyboo21** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 10:51 pm

Congrats on the baby cordon bleu!!

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 7:55 pm

The society finches are feeding the courdon baby and it appears to be fine. Of course there are three of them taking care of this one baby so I am sure that it won't go hungry.

My concern is if it get enough protein since the society finches don't eat so many of the mealworms. Hopefully it will.

Post by **Sally** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 8:30 pm

If the Societies are eating eggfood, that will provide lots of protein. The other thing you could offer them would be a dry insectile mix, again high in protein.

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 6:03 am

Sally wrote:If the Societies are eating eggfood, that will provide lots of protein. The other thing you could offer them would be a dry insectile mix, again high in protein.

Thanks Sally. They have both of those so hopefully that will be enough