Today was the day to separate babies from parents. First the second clutch of Strawberries, and now these seven Owls. I had moved all the Berries into one big flight cage, so that freed up the HQ single flight cage for these Owls. They are so much more flighty than the Strawberries. After I had them all caught up and transferred, I wanted to check on the parents, as there were two eggs on the floor of the cage. Both had huge holes in them, with DIS inside. I'm sure it is because there were so many Owls (9) piling back in that nest at night. I knew I had to get the babies out because Mom was sitting again, but I had no idea how long she had been incubating. As long as I had the divider in, decided to peek in the nest--a live baby!! And more eggs, too. I can't believe she's been sitting long enough to hatch out already!
Of course, I just had a lot on my plate this last week, so wasn't on top of things.
Anyway, here is a photo of 5 of the 7--couldn't get them all to sit still for a photo. So that's 11 juveniles I separated from parents today, and I still have 2 Stars and 2 Red-cheeks (males) to move--just haven't decided where I'm going to put them yet. And the Star Mom is sitting again too--so that's 20 juveniles, Star and Strawberry sitting again, Owl pair starting to hatch out their next clutch, and another Owl pair has babies begging loud enough for me to hear them for the last couple of days--it's a finch nursery in my spare bedroom!!
Now if I could just get my Fires, Goldbreasts, and CBs to kick in--not complaining, though.
