Gourd 2 Five eggs laid; five eggs hatched. One nestling killed by HOSP.

The four chicks here are maybe a day younger than the ones in Gourd 5. Chick 4 is blurred out in the lower right corner of the photo.

Gourd 4 Four eggs laid; three eggs hatched. Three sleeping babes. One seems terribly small, but his crop was full.

These are my little "First Graders." I didn't think these eggs would ever hatch.

The one egg that didn't hatch did not have a yolk in it. It was also very round; it didn't have a tapered end like most eggs do.

Gourd 5 Five eggs laid; five eggs hatched; five chicks almost ready to fledge. I've been blessed.

These are my "high school kids." They hatched June 25, so they should be fledging soon.

I know that's a big ole boy in the lower part of the photo. He glows "Purple" already, although they don't get their adult plumage until after their second return trip from Brazil.

Gourd 6 Five eggs laid; five eggs hatched; five fuzz balls growing well.

These are my "middle school kids." LOL They have an ASY father and a very confused SY mom. She was so flabbergasted with all the wiggly "things" in her gourd. It was funny watching her for the first few days as she tried to figure out that not only did she have to catch insects, she had to feed them to the chicks.

She'd sit on the gourd's porch with a mouthful of bugs and wait until Papa returned with his bugs and went in the gourd. Then she'd follow him in.

I would have loved to have had a camera in the gourd to see if she actually fed them, or if she let the male take over.

Still, they're growing and have a good heft to them; I know they're being fed enough.