So Olive's 8 babies are getting big - only 10-11 days old and their feathers are growing well, and each are starting to develop their own characters.
I just wanted to share with you how I've watched 'Orrible Olive' who was the noisiest, greediest bird of the coop, change into such an unselfish bird.
The other day I threw a few grapes into the run at one end so that all the big girls raced up there. Then I dropped a couple by Olive. To my surprise she gave a couple of loud clucks, gathered the little chicks around her, then kept picking up a grape, dropping it by them and tapping it with her beak, constantly raising her head to look for them to the grapes until they got the idea. A few weeks ago I would have been lucky to escape with my hand intact when she saw them
Today we've been watching her guide the little chicks up to the main water feeder and demonstrate how to use it which was very successful - no need to put out their little water tubs any more. She saved the best until last - moving into the feeding area where the layers pellets are suspended from the floor and making sure the little ones had gathered around her. I was then amazed to see her taking out pellets and dropping them on the floor for her babies and only occasionally having some herself. The chicks ate these very quickly, so I don't think there will be too much of a problem weaning them off the chick crumb, which I hasten to add forms the biggest part of their diet at the moment - apart from the odd moth!
Anyway, I wanted to share this with you to show just how much motherhood will change even the greediest of birds
