7/25/03  -  Now 12 days old, this baby Blue Head was brought in from the nest a few days ago.  He was not doing well at all, he laid on his back all the time and kept his legs stretched out and kept his neck and head bent  tightly against his shoulder.  He looked very uncomfortable.  There has been other birds in the past years that have had this problem and it is corrected with the use of antibiotics.  It is probably due to an infection.

I kept him confined in empty toilet paper roll tube, cutting the one end and making a flange like base to keep it standing up right, closing off the bottom and then a little bit of bedding that could be changed frequently. Then it was placed in a container on a heating pad.  He is now keeping his head straight and can sit up better. The antibiotics is what is making him better and the tube it is to help make him more comfortable.  His eyes are still closed.

He is now out of the tube as he is getting slightly too big for it.  He is now kept in a container see in the above photo, with a cloth wrapped around him to help keep him from laying back.  He has made a huge improvement.   Check back in a few days for another update.
 

8/2/03  -  Around three weeks old.
What a huge improvement on how this little Blue Head is now doing.  Sits in upright and leaning forward positions now and does not want to rear backwards.  Eyes have now been opened for a couple of days.  Eats four times a day at about 5 cc per feeding, he does not digest as quickly as some babies and this is not a problem.  He is starting to really pick up with the intake of food.  Although he should be a bit further along for his age, but due to the difficulty he had with his start in life, it has slowed him down in the beginning.  Now on the road to good health, this baby will make a great pet companion.

Starting to see grey in under the skin for feather development.  Check back here soon for more  updates.   

8/8/03  -  Baby Blue Head mingles with Baby Maximilian's . . .
              
             Now SOLD . . .  and has a name.  Call him 'Flynn'.  Posed by the diet Coke can.

                                           
             He gets in on the action with the three Maximilian's, they started pushing and
             shoving one another, then they all wanted to beak each other because they were
             hungry and it was feeding time and they wanted me to stop messing around
             with the camera and feed them!

               
           'Flynn' wants to know if you can see him among the other babies!  It's not easy to
           try to get photos of hungry babies. 
           Flynn is doing very well.  He weighs around 75 grams now and his pin feathers are
           more than 1/4 inch out of the wings, although he seems quite naked yet but it won't
           be long and he will start filling in with feathers.  The Maximilian babies that he is
           with are just slightly one month old.  Flynn is 26 days old today.  Because of his
           sickness in the beginning of his life he is smaller than he should be but he will still
           turn out to be normal size.          
          Here is an example↓of size & age comparisons, in this photo the center baby of the three Maximilian chicks that you see; that chick is only one day older than Flynn, plus these three babies were feed by the foster parent much longer than Flynn was fed by his parents.  Mainly due to his illness in the beginning is what mostly gave him the set back.   He is now a thriving little youngster and has an hearty appetite and I feel greatly happy that I have helped him out so he has a life with someone who will love and cherish him.

I will have some better photos here with in another day or two. 

8/10/03

Here are three more photos of Flynn, you can see he is starting to get a little more pin feathers and slightly filling in on the crop area with some down feathers. 

I have put him in the tub with the three  Maximilian babies and he seems to like that, now he says " look ma now I'm not alone!"

Eating about 8 cc of formula per feeding and is eager to eat.

        Now Go To Baby Blue Heads Page 2  To See more on Flynn's growth.