Unsuccessful breeding

Siden and Juno has been breeding successfully for three years in a row, raising between 3-5 chicks. However, this year something went wrong and in the middle of last week we understood that the chicks were dead. I had heard at least two chicks for a few days and the parents behaved normally, so we anticipate that there was something wrong with them. Siden and Juno immediately started to work with the nest interior, so maybe they will try a second time. But I can imagine it will take some time to produce new eggs and then it might be too late.

As the empty nest turned off all parental aggression  I decided to take advantage of the tranquility to do some weeding. Weeding might seem like an unnecessary thing to do in an outdoor aviary, but if not done - the weed totally takes over and reduces the ground area for the ravens who really like to spend much time digging and caching.

 Of course I got a lot of help, and Siden and Juno spent most of the time sitting on my back as I struggled with the long roots. 

None and Rickard are a bit more relaxed when I come in their aviary, despite a full nest, as long as I keep to the far end of the aviary. So I keep my part of the bargain which makes it possible for me to clean their tub without quarrel. Especially if I bring some goodies for their babies. So today I even dared some weeding around their bath tub.

Rickard's and None's chicks are now around 3 weeks old and there are five of them. Not three that I first thought. At some point there were even six live chicks, but we actually witnessed None carrying a dead chick from the nest and then fed the others with it.  But I guess five chicks are a handful, and in the wild the number of chicks that makes it to fledging probably are less than in captivity.

//Helena