Runts...sometimes moving works

[John Miller]

Last week on a bad day I declared I was done with the practice of occasionally moving runts. I had moved one into a nest of two, the foster nest having suffered some deaths due to rain. The runt proceeded to crawl out, fall to the ground and expire. It might have been pushed out, but I suspect some runts just won't sit still.

Can't help myself. Last week, I moved two more. One from a clutch of six and one from a clutch of five. I define a runt as a baby about half the size of its siblings, at about 8 to 10 days -- not yet feathers.

So I moved one into a gourd that had a single chick, and the other into a house unit that had two. One of these moves involved me driving from Forest Park to the Missouri Botanical Garden, about five miles -- the runt sitting in an old flower pot lined with pine needles.

Happy to report that all is well...I'd find it impossible to identify which now was the runt.

If folks choose to move a runt, do so carefully, but it can work out sometimes.

John

[daveh]

John, I haven't moved any runts this year but have done several over the years. Like you say, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. When the runt is half the size of it's siblings, It's not going to make it. So at least by moving, it has a chance to survive.

That seems to be a lot of work moving the runt 5 miles away to similar size birds. I seem to always have similar size birds somewhere in my colony to place runt in. Maybe I've been lucky.

dave

[John Miller]

Dave..yes...was a fair drive, but Sunday morning and not much traffic. The colonies I manage are scattered in small groups and never seem to have good foster nest match where I'm standing at the moment. If you are ever over here, contact me and I'll give you a tour. John

[ToyinPA]

Anytime I need to move a smaller chick into a different nest I paint a toenail on each foot with nail polish. A nice bright green or yellow or orange works best. That way I can tell if the moved chick is fairing well.

Toy in PA

[John Miller]

Toy

Great idea. I figure in these times I'm always on a security camera in the park; I'll paint a runt's toe and maybe wake up whomever is monitoring.

John

[Gary Berger]

John, I've always believed the age of the nestlings involved is a predicter of moving success..the younger the better. I think chances of survival/acceptance by foster parents decreases after about 12 days old. Just my experience.