Feed me mummy ....

This little chap hatched this afternoon and hopefully is siblings aren't far behind.  He is a baby Border Canary and here are some that are now 4 days old ...

The large finger belongs to my OH who has kept birds since he was a boy with his father and he currently has canaries and budgerigars.  This is a very precarious time for these little scraps of life who rely on the food lovingly prepared by OH and given to the mother to feed her brood.  They have a mix of egg food and bulgar wheat which is the yellow mass in the crop.  She will stuff them with this until their transparent skin looks as though it will burst and it is amazing the amount of energy they muster at feeding time straining their necks to get to mum's beak first.  Their diet also includes fresh greens including chickweed & dandelion leaves

This time next week they will all be feathered up and I will update with some more photos so that you can see what colour they will become.

The budgerigars are more private and lay their eggs in enclosed boxes but so far all of their eggs have been clear ..... here is a daddy budgie ... you can tell the males from the females by the little crusty bit above their beak .... the males is blue and the females is a boring old brown colour.