Gretchen's Babies
Thank you so much Gretchen for sharing this beautiful experience with us.
By Eleanor McCaffrey Copyright Notice: No portion of this text or photos
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"This is Mamma Wizza, an 18 month old gray pearl, feeding her chicks. Papa Babe,the daddy is a 12 month old lutino peeking through out on the left side. Their first set of triplets hatched on July 28th, 29th, 30th. They are named Huey ,a normal grey, Lucy, a lutino and Dewy, a lutino. They were hatched in a tent on the coffee table! I added a blanket cover to provide extra warmth.The parents did super! We could see everything and it became so much a part of our life!

Here are the triplets at about 2 weeks old.I was thrilled to find out they were on the way and equally thrilled to see what great parents Wizza and Babe were for their age. I started assisting the parents in feeding the clutch at three weeks. The little ones are very tame and love attention.

Huey was the first born and the biggest of the babies,both size wise and attitude wise. Here he is at 14 days old. He still cried and hissed every time he saw his Mother long after the others were weaned. Naturally the only grey and looking like his Mother she spoiled him and fed him even athough he was mostly being hand fed. He is very tame but still is a Mother's boy and follows her everywhere around the house.

Lucy is by far the most tame and affectionate to humans. She can't stay off my husbands shoulder and lands on his cereal bowl for just a taste of shredded wheat. She has gone in the car with him to take our 10 year old to school daily. All the clutch have had their wings clipped for safety. Even though the parents have free flight! (Louise) is a good girl and I had to take her out of the brooder tent as she was sitting on the new clutch of eggs!

Dewy, the baby and the smallest one, is still a little behind the others. He had a bit of a rough start in the world and spent time in and out of a make-shift incubator. We try to give him just a little extra love. All of the babies love the fresh romaine lettuce I grew just for them in my garden, as well as apples, a little pasta, scrambled eggs and  millet!"

Here are the proud parents snuggling together on top of their clutch of eggs. Grandma Gretchen has done a wonderful job raising and handfeeding her first clutch of chicks.Thank you so very much Gretchen, for sharing these beautiful photographs with us and for telling us all about your first experience with breeding!

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