March 07, 2013

Vinny shows his true colors


I can remember it clearly, just about 15 months ago, we got in touch with Jessika, a fantastic Eclectus breeder, about 1.5 hours drive from where we live. We made a reservation for the first available hatch, and we were very happy to wait it out. We had no clue how long it was going to take. Could be a week, could be 5 months. It's nature, so who knows, right?

Then, just before the year 2012 came upon us, we still hadn't heard anything, so we gave her a call. And as it turned out, we had a bit of a problem with emails from her, early December 2011, and we totally missed the message that there were eggs! In fact, as she explained, they were about to hatch already!

Of course we were very excited. Getting close to getting your first big parrot, is a moment to remember. And every step in the whole process has been memorable .. at least to us. Like that phone call, just before Vinny using his fragile baby beak to break through the shell and see daylight for the first time in his life.

Vinny hatched on January 1st, 2012. That's a bit over a year ago now, so time to take a moment and look at Vinny's life so far, but we'll take the beak-approach. From a fluffy baby-bird with dirty-black beak to his adult candy-corn colors! A year in pictures ....

at the respectable age of 2 weeks, still in the nest, no clue what gender
4 weeks, first pin feathers so we knew he's a 'he', almost black beak.
6 weeks, who cares about the beak, look at my feathers!
9 weeks, feathers mostly green, now let's focus on the beak
12 weeks, that's a bit better already, starting to see color
15 weeks, yeah baby
17 weeks, nice clear picture, color change really going fast now
22 weeks, starting to see some peeling of layers
31 weeks, the peeling at its worst, so we thought
34 weeks, even more peeling, we were starting to think about a visit to the vet
43 weeks, luckily, the peeling cleared up by itself, apparently a natural thing
(ps. not a beak defect, that's corn he's munchin' on)
53 weeks old and colors are getting deeper and more intense
Vinny today, 1 year and just over 2 months old, look at those strong and gorgeous colors.
Isn't he a handsome beast?