Here is a short clip of two hand-reared chough chicks being fed. The chicks continued to feed like this for almost two minutes, and will do so every two hours for the next four weeks, when they will fledge.

The two chicks were taken from nest 2, after it became apparent they were falling behind their older siblings. The smaller birds were simply being swamped by their older brothers or sisters, and were not putting on any weight.

If we had left these two, they would almost certainly have perished. It’s a small but tough world in a chough nest box.

We had a couple of worrying days, but then the chicks began to recover and put on weight. They have now grown from 22 and 15 grams, to 187 and 181 grams, and will soon be annoying us with incessant calls for food.

Here is a short video showing how Mrs Chough keeps the nest tidy.

It’s one of those questions people always like to ask, like “How do astronauts go to the toilet?” or “Why aren’t bird’s nests full of poo?”

In the case of a chough chick, it’s simply a matter of hanging your behind over the edge of the nest and letting go! Mum (or dad) then come along and take the poop away.

Quite often the adult female will stimulate the chick, by gently prodding the chicks rear end. The chick then produces a faecal sac, which the adult bird then disposes of away from the nest.

This serves two useful purposes – firstly it keeps the nest clean and free from a build-up of toxic waste, and secondly it keeps the location of the nest a secret. Some predators will home in on the build up of waste around a nest.

Our breeding choughs have now produced ten tiny (and not-so-tiny) chicks, with possibly more to come!

Four week-old chough chicks in the nest

All of the eggs in nests 1- 3 have now hatched (no eggs in nest 4). There were two infertile eggs in nest 1, which is unusual for this pair, as they have been very productive in the past.

Nests 2 and 3 have four chicks each. The chicks in nest 3 are now seven and eight days old. The nest 2 chicks are between two and four days.

Nest 5 still has five eggs, which are due to hatch this weekend.

The picture above is taken from the access door, which is used to monitor the young birds. At the top of the image is Alison Hales who goes in to the aviary to distract the adult birds, and to add to the large quantities of live food in the aviary.

The birds have learned that Ali brings lots of bugs (mini-mealworms, crickets and ant eggs), so it is a positive experience for them.

How do you use a smartphone to help feed a chough chick?

Simple. We record the sound an adult bird makes when they call to the chicks. The chicks use this signal before their eyes are open. When the parent calls, the chicks beg for food – if hungry.

When we need to do any supplementary feeding (in this case, a smaller chick), we simply play back the call, and the chick begs for food.

We are giving the smaller two chicks in nest 3 some supplementary feeds for the next few days, just to help get their weights up to a similar level to the older chicks. As you can see, the older chicks are not particularly hungry.

The rattling and clanking, and whistles in the background come from Ali. She is in the front of the aviary keeping the adult birds distracted.