PINK-EYED ROSY BOURKES from Rosie & Pretty Boy

The baby at the far left has pink eyes.

Notice the baby by my thumb has dark eyes. A pink-eyed
sibling has a head over his neck and the other on the left also
has pink eyes. Albino? They probably won't be white,
but I'm excited to see what they will look like.

When our tame, handfed Rosy Bourke hen, Rosie, left her nest box this morning, she came to the cage door to let me know she wanted out. That’s the first time she’s been interested in flying free since she laid her first egg, and now her three babies are over a week old.

I opened the cage door and out she came. Later, Pretty Boy followed, and as usual he did some circles around the room and flew right back into his cage. He’s such a homebody. You never have to worry about coaxing him to return to his cage. He’s an easy keeper, smile.

 

 

Since one of Rosie’s babies was nearly ready to band, I lifted them all out of the nest box to check them. I thought she’d be concerned and would fly to them immediately. I wanted a photo of her with the babies, but she visited me only briefly to give me a quick kiss before flying to say hello to all the other birds.

I banded her largest dark-eyed baby while she flitted around unconcerned about her youngsters. In spite of being hand fed herself, she's proving to be an excellent mother.


Happily, her two babies with pink eyes are doing very well. Their feet should be big enough to band in another day or two.

Laying like this, his pink eye is very visible. Eager to see
what he's going to look like as an adult bird.

Rosie’s grandmother never successfully raised her pink-eyed babies, and Rosie’s mother never produced babies with pink eyes. But, since Pretty Boy is a cousin of Rosie’s, they probably both carry that gene.

Aren’t they sweet?  I think so.

Have a wonderful day!