Six weaned babies went into the walk-in flight yesterday and four weanlings went into a weaning cage this morning. Five more chicks  will go into the weaning cage in the next couple of days- I prefer to leave them as long as possible with the parents. As there have been no problems with the parents  plucking the feathers of their chicks, the chicks will likely stay with Mom and Dad until they are 25 days old.

In the weaning cage, chicks are offered dry commercial nestling food with bee pollen sprinkled on top, canary pellets, dry oatmeal. and eggfood mixed with finely chopped broccoli and carrot. They also receive cooked couscous.

After 4-5 days in the weaning cage, the chicks go into the walk-in flight where they will remain until they are caged up in show cages in September. All young birds will be fed soft foods for some time after they go into the flight cage. They are caged with older birds, so they also have access to the basic canary seed mix I provide the older birds. They are not able to crack seed well enough to provide enough nutrition for themselves until they are more than 6 weeks old or so. Young birds can crack the seeds on millet spray sooner, so a few sprays are included every few days in the flight cage.

The young birds in the flight are enjoying their new space and quickly getting the hang of flying in such a large space (my walk-in flight is 7 ft wide and 10 ft long). The older hens in the flight seem to be tolerating them well.

Four pairs of birds are sitting on their second clutches while four pairs that got a later start are still feeding chicks in the nest.Two pairs have chicks on the perch and one hen is sitting on her first nest. Two new hens were placed in breeding cages yesterday and introduced to their mates today.