How old is Merlin?

[muz]

When we brought Merlin home just over 2 weeks ago, the breeder told us he was 5 weeks old. That makes him just over 7 weeks old now. On the same day we got Merlin, we bought a 'tiel (Bingo) from a pet shop, which was only a week older than Merlin, but fully feathered and weaned.

Yesterday, we went to the Sunshine Coast Pet Expo (should've been dog + cat Expo) While we were browsing around, we met another Ringneck breeder and when she looked at Merlin, she said "If he's any older than 4 weeks right now, I'll eat your hat".

So, here's Merlin on the day we brought him home...


And here he is 2 weeks later, with his 'big brother', Bingo...


and a photo of his wing development (2 days ago)


How old do you think Merlin was when we brought him home? (No silly guesses please.)

[julie]

here is a thread I posted of spike. http://indianringneck.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=4964
The first pics are spike at 2 weeks and the ones down further are at around 4 weeks.

[muz]

Wow! Thanks Julie. Spike at 4 weeks (ish) looks exactly like Merlin does now (even the colour). The lady at the pet Expo was right.

I wonder why the breeder misled us about his age???

[julie]

do you know what color Merlins parents are?
Here is another thread that has ages of babies.http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... f=5&t=4079

[muz]

I have no idea about the parents, Julie. But your Spike is the spitting image of Merlin.

I did the sums and the in last 2 photos, he must be 5 weeks old? And he looks much greener in the last 2 photos.

That last thread you directed me too has me confused further. The 'runt' in the day 24 photos (3.5 weeks?) has a fractionally fuzzier head than Merlin did when we got him.

So it looks like Merlin was about 2 to 3 weeks old. I doubt that he was any older than that. I'll go out on a limb (a good place to be in a bird forum) and say DEFINITELY not 5 weeks old.

[julie]

It a bit too early to tell if Merlin is a turquise like spike but this is how spike looked when young and the bottom pic is at around 1 !/2 years

[muz]

Which one's Spike?
Is that an accurate colour reproduction?

[julie]

spike is the smaller one, the bigger green bird with red patches is an Alexandrian.
Some of the turquise birds look a lot different to spike, the green is sometimes in patches.

[TravisBob]

i was looking at the other post about how old you are when you got your e46, but i thought id take it one step further. yea thats right. sure theres alot young guns with bimmers, but lets see how young all the M owners are.
Sooo....
How old were you when you got your M3 1st?