BR: v2

RAISING COCKATIELS:   Christina would hand feed the cockatiel chicks so they would grow up to be tame.  This made it so people could hold them and play with them.  How birds are raised is important.

RAISING COCKATIELS:   Christina would have to feed the chicks every 8 hours.  “It was a lot of work…”

RAISING COCKATIELS:   Christina would mix the cockatiel baby mix with water and put it in a syringe. “The babies knew whenever they were going to be fed so they began making lots of noise.  They’d open their mouth and I’d squirt it in.”

RAISING COCKATIELS:   As the chicks would grow bigger, Christina would add more water so the mix would be thinner so she could pour more down their mouths.  It paid off because the chicks would sell for $60-70.

GENETIC FEEDING PLANS:  The great horned owl is DNA-coded to have its chicks in the middle of summer when the weather is warmer and it is easier for the chicks to survive. 

GENETIC FEEDING PLANS: The timing of the great horned owl chicks hatching aids the parent birds in providing for the voracious appetites of their young.  How?  The trees have lost their leaves  providing the parents access to lots of furry rodents.

GENETIC FEEDING PLANS: Bird chicks’ feeding schedules are largely genetically determined. Newborn owls need to feed every 15 minutes during hunting hours.  

GENETIC FEEDING PLANS: Four owl chicks can easily down 200 mice a day! 

GENETIC FEEDING PLANS: Hummingbird chicks weigh in at one-third the weight of a dime. Due to their small size, the chicks are fed one to three times an hour with Mom inserting her long beak down their throats and regurgitating semi-digested bugs and nectar.  Yummy!

GENETIC FEEDING PLANS: Every bird-parent knows exactly what to do with their young at each stage of their development–all according to the DNA-coded instructions wired into their brains!