Hoot & Annie's New Babes :)

[KarenB]

Curiosity got the better of me on Sunday. Hoot and Annie had been sitting for a couple of weeks, and I thought I observed some feeding behavior, so I had to peek in with my phone camera. 7 eggs, nothing hatched. Hmmm, I thought. Well, might as well let them sit on these dud eggs for a while before I decide to remove them. Then curiosity struck again today, and I couldn't help myself. I gathered my egg candler and my cell phone and a plastic spoon. I filled a shallow dish with seeds as a cushion for the eggs for transferring them from the flight to candle. As my OCD set in, I laid everything out very nicely and neatly, easy to grab to then quickly candle, then put the eggs back. So I opened the top door to the flight and reached in with my plastic spoon, then retracted it. Better check inside with the camera first. Turned on the camera and held it up to the nest, click click click. Lo and behold, folks, we have TWO babies and only 5 eggs left. Needless to say, I did not disturb the nest after that. Curiosity satisfied......at least for the moment. Hoot and Annie were such good parents the first time around, so I have no reason to believe they won't be this time. They are now back in the nest, sharing sitting duties.

[Sam007]

Congrats!

[Colt]

Congratulations on the little ones. I wish mine would start laying again... My normal hen just wants to sit in her food dish all day.

[Rox]

Congrats!

[monotwine]

babies are always fun! I'm also waiting for our new breeding season to really get kicked off. My birds have not decided to do any laying yet.

[KarenB]

This pair had a clutch of eggs they were sitting on when Annie, the hen, broke her leg. This was, gosh, beginning of summer. Anyway, it took a couple of months for all that drama to subside, and I really didn't expect another clutch until next year. Apparently they had other ideas and are trying to make up for lost time.

[Jen]

Wow!!! I'm jealous!!! Mine only want to make nests! I saw them mate once but nothing happened! Keeping my fingers crossed. Keep the photos coming. Congrats!!!!

[MiaCarter]

Oh how lovely!
I know this must be extra special for you considering all the leg drama with little Annie. So happy!

It looks like at least a couple of those remaining eggs may have someone inside! I guess we'll find out!

I bet you got quite the surprise to see them!
I peered in my Gouldian nest yesterday at a rare moment when both were outside the nest and much to my surprise, there were three little faces staring back at me!
It was a "Woah!" moment! Three very aware little birds; one even started preening himself! I have no idea where these birds came from! LOL

(Curiously, the parents are still sitting on them! There are 3 almost adult sized babies and 2 parents, all in one small nest. They're feathered to the point where most parents would stop sitting, but not these two! They all pile in there. It reminded me of your society family!)

I can't wait to see how Hoot and Annie's babies grow! That's so special!
I wish you were closer; I'd try to talk you into trading a pair of goulds for a pair of owls! LOL

[KarenB]

I can't wait to see your baby Gouldians MiaCarter !
I'm surprised they are both still sitting. What good parents! I'm almost jealous that your pair hooked up so fast! I guess the timing just hasn't been right for mine yet. Now they are molting, so I'm not expecting anything from them for a long while.

But I do have baby owls, so yes, that is making me happy....not so much that they are having a clutch, but that they CAN have one.

[KarenB]

We're now at Day 9 for the oldest two. The third one was hatched two days later, so he will be a week old tomorrow. I don't think any of the others will hatch. As near as I can tell, there were 7 or 8 eggs total. The babies are starting to make some noise. Hoot and Annie are being model parents.

[MiaCarter]

Hooray for Hoot and Annie!
Three is the perfect number for babies, I think.
I love this couple. And this is such a special clutch for them. It's like Annie's reclaiming her life and picking up where she left off after that leg issue.
So happy for them (and you!)

They look wonderful!
Is this their first clutch resulting in chicks?? (I know they had a clutch when she broke her leg, but not babies).
Or have they had babies before?

So happy! I can't wait to see these little ones grow up!

My gould babies should be fledging any day now! I can't wait to get a good look at them! I'm so baby crazy at the moment! LOL

[KarenB]

I can't wait to see your Gouldian babies fledge! Are they likely to be red heads? You must be so so eggcited My Gouldian male is blowing out I think every feather on his body. Poor guy is full of pins.

This is Hoot and Annie's third clutch which resulted in live hatches. They have raised two other babies to weaning, and I sold those. The clutch before this one they had two babies but the societies failed to feed them. At that point the societies had not had a clutch of their own yet, which is why I let them have one, Beans x2....to gain parenting skills (which they have now mastered thankyouverymuch). Annie also went crazy before the second clutch and breaking her leg and laid a crazy number of clear eggs. I think Hoot went on vacation then.

I wonder if she is trying to get this clutch in for the year to make up for the lost one, because as soon as her leg healed...I mean like the very moment...she laid this clutch. I hope they continue to do well for her.

[KarenB]

MiaCarter These are their first babies.

[MiaCarter]

KarenB -- Ah, so they're practically old pros now!
Are you keeping any of these little ones? Or selling them?

LOVE, love, love that pic of the three babies in their first clutch! So lovely! Oh, those faces! I need owl finches. NEED, Karen, NEED! LOL

Indeed, we'll almost definitely have red heads!
Avery is RH/GB/PB and Clara is BH/GB/WB.

I don't know if Avery is split to black or had both red-headed parents.

So if he had two red-headed parents, the babies will all have green backs, purple chests split to white and red split to black heads for males, and RH females.

But if Avery happens to be split to black, we'll get red split to black AND black heads!

Same for chest. If he's split to white, we could get white chested kiddos. If not, we'll get all purple chests, split to white.

[Jen]

Oh so cute!!! I've never seen baby owls before. This is such a cute photo. I know you must be thrilled! Enjoy!