Flamingos grow-up quickly… sort of… they will need us to help feed them for at least the next 90 days – so they will still be babies in that sense. However, in just a span of 3 months they will grow from being about 10 inches high to being over 3 feet tall. Growing this quickly means that we have to keep a close eye on the development of the flamingo’s legs. Flong-legged birds, it is very important that the chicks do not outgrow their leg strength.
Flamingos hatch out with very dense white/gray down. This down helps them keep warm and dry. It also makes them very buoyant. When chicks are just 2 – 3 days old, the parents will often taken them for their first swim. Swimming is great exercise for baby flamingos, as it helps their legs develop properly. To mimic this, we start swimming the flamingo chicks when they are just a couple of days old.
The Fuzzy Bunch takes their first swim!
Swimming is just one form of exercise that the flamingo chicks receive. Several times a day they are placed in “play-pens” with all the other chicks. This allows them to start interacting with others and also show off their ability to bathe themselves (a behavior that they start almost from the time they hatch).
Each flamingo chick has its own distinct personality. Some are very sweet, others like to bite. This distinction can be seen when they interact with each other. Watch this:
One of the other ways we definitely notice the chick’s personality is when we’re feeding them. Some of the chicks will sit quietly and eat, others like to run around the table. Some don’t mind if the formula is warm, others want the formula to be exactly 104.6º or they throw food every where. When you’re feeding a formula made of pureed fish and shrimp, having the formula spit back out on you it is not necessarily a pleasant experience.
A wee bite of the hand that feeds.
This little one needs a napkin.
Now here's how you eat politely!
We’ll share this delictable recipe in the next post, for those among you who are conniseurs… and show a delightful demonstration of just how it’s made, so please stop back!
