Eric! Best. Post. Ever.
This might just be the most exciting piece of news I have ever shared! What with the turmoil over the last few weeks I had completely forgotten all about until I wandered past the Chilean chicks on Saturday...
*Drum roll* ... The chicks voices have broken!
Their gorgeous little high pitched trill has been swapped almost overnight for a crackly grunt; a mere shadow of their former harmony. This was first reported by Phil about 3 weeks ago to our great entertainment.
We have never formally had the birds sexed, and despite ratios of 2.1 being bandied around, we could only ever decide on 1.1.1.
Chick 1 (red) had been petite from the start in not only weight and girth but in leg, head and beak measurements also. There had never been much doubt of her feminine credentials... Her weights topped out at 1.26kg, a nice weight for a little female.
Chick 2 (blue) on the other hand had been an absolute chunk from the very word go, and it was no surprise to us when his weights took over and soared up to 1.35kg. The size of his beak and feet, and sheer height and bolshiness categorised him for me as a male.
Chick 3 (no tie) on the other hand was always a conundrum. Beak and leg size and weight was always in the middle, so one was never to know by comparison whether red was just a small female, or blue was an absolute giant of a male! Even now, the "eric'ing" is still mid-pitch. 3 really won't give anything away...
Keep an ear out as you pass the Lesser flock (adjacent Wellyboot Land) to hear for yourself!
