Meanwhile, while Spock's one surviving chick struggled on, Blork hatched seven new babies. The weather was good at first, and we thought this lot would do better than all the others who'd had to contend with the wettest, coldest Spring we'd had in years. But it was not to be. The rain came back, and one morning I came home to find five weak and freezing babies, desperately trying to catch up to their mother, who had come over for seeds and mealworms. The sixth was dead, and the seventh had disappeared. Three fell over, and couldn't get up - one was barely able to move. I hastily gathered up Blork and two wet chicks and put them into our small cage, where she settled down to eat. I went back for the other three - and one was dead. I took the last two up to the house - one was in a very bad way and I doubted he would survive. I gave them to the kids to hold by the heater, and rushed back down to the garden to check on the others with their mum. Alas, in the time I'd taken to get to the house, one was dead. It was so quick - but it seems that once they get cold, they weaken incredibly fast. The one was huddled underneath their mother. Incredibly, both the chicks we warmed in the house recovered, and were put into the small cage. They all made it through the night, and are now about 3 weeks old.
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| Blork's brood - before the bad weather hit... |
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| Happy mum providing a bit of cover |
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