Stonechats ’21: another absorbing softbill season

AS DISCUSSED in my redstart article (Cage & Aviary Birds, March 9), I use an Orlux Universal softbill food. This is mixed with Deli Nature 50 per cent insects and regular mealworms, frozen pinkies and buffalo worms, both defrosted. I feed this to the birds every morning, with fresh water daily.

When I return from work, I top up with livefood, pinkies and buffalo worms. If it has been a really hot day, I will give the birds fresh cold water twice a day. I use apple cider vinegar with garlic in the water as a supplement and multivitamins once a week.

For the 2021 season, I had a pair of unrelated stonechats, which I had acquired in the autumn of 2020. They were a nice pair (stonechats are easy to sex) and were put in a flight, which they shared through the winter