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Parenting After Hatching

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Liz:
No coming back asking for help with rent and grocery money!

Eye-spy:
Ahhhh.  If only we could send our kids off so easy.  No tuition bills,  no all night parties.....

The Peregrine Chick:
The parents will look after their chicks for a few weeks after they fledge (take their first flights) but not so intensively as time goes by.  In the beginning their will pretty much be a parent on them constantly and the chicks will get fed many times a day. 

After 10 days the chicks won't need the parents to protect them from anything but really bad weather (driving rain for example) and the chicks will sleep in a big pile to keep each other warm and for comfort.  The parents will continue to feed them many times a day. 

At the time we band them (21-25 days of age) the chicks will be sitting up and taking starting to take care of themselves (preening, grooming) but still the parents will be bringing them food. 

By about 35 days of age the chicks will be feeding themselves from the food dropped off by the parents and they will be taking care of themselves in the nestbox. 

By 55 days most, if not all, the chicks will have flown and the parents will still be providing them with food but they will also be making the "kids" work for it, all in preparation for hunting.   Up until this point the parents have also been protecting the chicks from predators but once the chicks start flying, the parents mostly don't intervene because the chick is mobile now.

By about day 70, most the chicks are hunting on their own and improving on their own and the parents have mostly finished with the parenting activities. 

After about day 70, the chicks may or may not still hang out around the Hotel or with one of the parents.  The chicks frequently hang out together for quite awhile - days, weeks, even months.  When migration begins, they, parents and chicks, all take off separately and they may or may not be seen with each other again.

Mrs. Martin Grade 6:
How long do the parents keep looking after the chicks after they hatch? Do the chicks stay with their parents a bit even after the chicks leave the nest?

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