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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mannix" data-source="post: 1523404" data-attributes="member: 39854">Wow this is a friendly place, I'm going to like it here.The story starts two summers ago when I was walking down my drive just about to go to the shops. I noticed that there were builders working on the house next door, but not what they were doing. Then I noticed that there were two Swifts trying to get in under the eaves. That's when I saw what was going on. The builders had put new wood accross the eaves and the Swifts could not get in to feed the chicks.I went and told the builder of his mistake and he was oblivious to what he had done. However he did let me use one of his ladders to lift the roof tiles to see if there was a nest. It took a couple of tries but eventually I found a nest with two chicks in.My first idea wa to lift the tile and support it with a piece of wood so the Swifts could get in and feed the chicks. Unfortunately after 6 hours the parents were still trying to get in under the eaves and could not find the new entrance.As night drew in I decided to get the chicks. I took the whole nest and when I touched the chicks they were stone cold. I put a towel on a hot water bottle and laid them on it.Then we took our son's fishing net and began swiping the bushes and hedges in our garden to try to catch some food for them. At first the chicks would not open their beaks so we had to prise them carefully open and shove a few insects in. They ate them, this was a good sign. The following day they were still alive so I took my car out and found a road kill rabbit. We placed the rabbit on our compost heap and sat for hours catching the flies which landed on it. Soon the chicks were feeding each time we put food to their beaks. Then the rains came. Rain meant no flies. We went to the angling shop and bought some maggots but found out they were not good for the chicks. So we went to the pet shop and bought live meal worms. They seemed to go down well but we later found out that you should not feed swifts meal worms either, so then it was crickets. Well every hour (sometimes less) for 31 days we fed the chicks a mixture of flies, crickets, lace wings, moths, and sometimes maggot casters. The transformation was amazing, the chicks went from lifeless bald lumps of skin to beautiful streamlined masters of the air. Then one Sunday after a few days of refusing food and plenty of wing flapping I sensed that they were ready to go. My wife vivienne who had really put her all into raising the chicks with me was at work that day. It was a bright sunny day and there were many swifts flying around the houses. I opened my bedroom window and sat the swifts on a towel so that they could see out. They were both silent, looking intently at the other swifts as they swooped past the house. Occasionally they would jerk, as if to fly off as one of them swooped by. It was about 1pm when suddenly one of the chicks seemed to have a very excited look to it. It spread it's wings on the towel, totally covering the other one who was just sitting quietly. Then as quick as a flash he set off. He flew right down the middle of our street before turning, coming half way back up the street and disappearing over the rooftops. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, my eyes filled with tears, it just overwhelmed me. We had done it. I phoned my wife at work and when she heard the news she too was in tears. The other chick sat there for the rest of the afternoon. I stroked his head and quietly told him that he had better go and join his family. At 7.15 pm without warning he just set off. He lost a bit of height initially and almost flew into the wall of the house across the street, but he found the strength to pull out of it and I watched him fly all the way down the street and up out of sight. What a feeling and what a month. We had had to take the chicks with us when ever we went out longer than an hour and on one occasion had to ask someone to baby sit them for us.  We had a very steep learning curve with this task and could so easily have got it wrong. Luckily we got it right.  The reward at the end of it seeing them soaring in the sky where they should be is more than ample payment. Hard work?..Definitely. Would we do it again.....Tomorrow.Here are some pics, I will put more in a seperate reply.</blockquote>

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