Alwyn Wils got into the egg-hatching business on a whim, after hearing that it’s close to impossible for supermarket eggs to hatch because they haven’t been fertilized.
So just to satisfy his curiosity, he went out and bought a dozen quail eggs and put them in an incubator, just to see what happened. Less than a month later, out popped an adorable little quail, who he named Albert.
Albert’s unexpected arrival prompted Alwyn, a resident of the Netherlands, to launch a YouTube channel, “A Chick Called Albert,”a wildly popular channel that documents the ins and outs of his feathered friend’s daily life.
“I know it is a bit soft, but in the end, it is just nice to get stories out there that create some beauty and bring a little smile to people’s faces,”Alwyn explained.
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He’s brought smiles to literally millions of faces with his latest video, “The Smallest Bird You Have Ever Seen,”which has racked up over 5 million views in less than a week. But Albert’s not the star of this segment.
In the video, Alwyn explains that he got a call about a bird’s nest that had fallen in a neighbor’s backyard.
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At first glance, the nest appeared empty. But after digging around, he discovered two eggs nestled inside and brought them home to see what he could do.
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He placed them in an incubator — presumably, the same one he used to care for Albert — and turned the eggs several times each day to ensure the embryos developed on schedule.
Four days later, he carefully picked up the eggs and held them up to a light. Any signs of life? Not in the first one. But there was definitely some movement in the second.
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Alwyn was going to become a “father”again!
One day, he pulled the plastic container out of the incubator to check on how things were progressing, and he was surprised to find the tiniest little baby bird he’d ever seen, and it was hungry!
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So he rushed out into the garden and found some lice crawling around on his roses. He gingerly fed them to the wren, who gobbled them up hungrily and could never seem to get enough. So Alwyn kept going out to the garden and getting more, for a total of 80 feedings each day.
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It’s hard to see in the pictures, but this baby was no larger than a thumbnail. But under Alwyn’s love and care — and near-constant diet of lice, mosquitos, and other bugs — it grew and started to fill out. Within just a couple days, this baby wren was fully feathered, could stand on its own — and was ready to head out into the world.
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Check out the video below to see this baby go from embryo to a fully-fledged wren — honestly, it’s remarkable.
Share if you agree the cycle of life is wondrous and amazing!
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