Just wanted to post this picture of the same partridge chick I photographed a week ago, when it was a day-old. I’d like to photograph the same chick every week until it gets its adult plumage, mainly because I don’t know much about grey partridges and it would be interesting to document it. He started to grow wing feathers on Thursday last week, and now has quite a respectable spread of down-tipped pins along the length of each wing.
In the meantime, this chick’s partner has contracted some kind of bacterial infection over the past 24 hours. I noticed that he was hanging his head a bit last night and wouldn’t stand up straight. This morning, the only thing he can do is tuck his head under his bum and scrabble backwards. I’ve seen something similar before, where illness seems to bring about total malcoordination and apparent madness, and I only hope that the antibiotics I put in the water system will bring him round and stop everything else going the same way.
Fingers crossed, although I must admit that I don’t have high hopes for the other partridge.
Bog Myrtle & Peat 
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