A BIRD centre owner's son is celebrating the arrival of three bald eagle chicks after the hatching process led him to sleep deprivation.
Griff Griffiths jnr, 26, played mother hen to the eggs for more than a week before the bird of prey chicks - believed to be the first in Wales - hatched at Barry's Welsh Hawking Centre.
Proprietor 70-year-old Griff, real name Ceri, Griffiths snr said the first of the three chicks hatched on May 6, the second on May 10 and the third on May 17 as the female takes between four and seven days between each egg to lay another.
Griff said the chicks' un-named parents, who he invited Barry & District News readers to name so a plaque could be put on the front of their aviary, were a 17-year-old female and 16-year-old male at the centre on breeding terms from another collection.
He said: "The gentleman that had them before us had had them for ten years.
"Every year the parents laid three or four fertile eggs, but unfortunately he was never able to hatch them out either naturally under the parents or artificially in incubators."
Luckily the centre's sophisticated incubators allowed the eggs to be carefully monitored
He added: "Thankfully the chicks hatched after 39 days.
"There was an immense feeling of relief and pride and my son said: "Thankfully I can get some sleep now" as he spent all his time with eggs whilst they where hatching."
He said the chicks were developing incredibly well, but starting to eat them "out of house and home."
"The chicks require up to a quarter of their body weight in fresh minced meat a day, he said. "The eldest chick is now weighing nearly 2lbs in weight."
The chicks have not been named as it is hoped the new owners will decide.
Zoos in Holland have expressed an interest in buying them.
For details about the 300-bird centre, visit www.welsh-hawking.co.uk.
Send in your naming suggestions to Sharon Harris at the Barry & District News, 156 Holton Road, Barry