Mystic Aquarium

I started my day early again. I helped tube feed formula to the weakie chicks in pen 1C and then headed up to the 8am meeting. During the meeting I found out that I would supervise pen 8 and had the pen by myself. It wouldn't be too bad; there were 19 in A, 4 in B, and 19 chicks in C.

Nola had me combine the four chicks into the two adjacent pens to make two pens of 21 birds. On Fridays we weigh birds, evaluate and upgrade based on the weights. Well, I started with 42 birds and within ten minutes went up to nearly 80. I had already fed the early formulas but now had 80 birds to feed darrows. I guess I needed a little help. I did receive help throughout the day and finished my day at 4:30pm.

One thing I realized is that the chicks in pen 10 were doing fantastic and #600 was back in my pen!!!!!!! He is a monster. When I tried to feed fish he was stealing fish out of my bucket, biting my hands, not just nipping but skin snapping biting, jumping into the bucket. UGGGGGHHHHH, he is such a fun chick and healthy. I love it! We got the best small fish in yesterday and the chicks are just gobbling it up. I have now named this pen the velociraptor pen. It’s a very good thing to see the chicks hungry, healthy and eating. My day was really busy, I now have four pens: 18, 20, 20, and 18. Only pen A is twice a day formula.

At 5:15 today, we had a Skype date with the folks from IMATA who were visiting Mystic Aquarium. Nola and I went on line and sat in front of the pool where all of pen three had free access to the pool and were swimming quite vigorously. We talked about the factors affecting the survival of the African penguin and how individuals and organizations can help. The Skype event ended with an auction of three of our paintings from one of our penguin artists.  I'm not sure how much we were able to make on those for SANCCOB, I will find out when I return.

Tonight was braii night at the lodge where I am staying. I had purchased some ostrich sausage to cook on the braii. It was delicious!!!!!  We had some great food, good company and some essence of South Africa.