Time to relax and Angelo had a Fight

From the

Diary as of  9/7 – 9/11/09

9/7 Emma and Winnie are still sitting on their plaster eggs. I have the feeling that they love the time to relax and not running around. Willy has become much calmer and has entirely stopped to chase the babies from their cardboard box on the closet. He seems to be happy when he sees his kiddos enjoying the outdoor life.

9/8 Angelo appeared to have had a bad fight. As he is moulting as well he has not so many feathers around his beak and neck any more and showed some minor bloody injuries. Hopefully this will heal soon again. It is quite clear that the missing feathers make it more likely to get hurt by other pigeons. Their beaks are quite sharp as we have seen with the attack on our little ones.

But his appetite was excellent so I assume that everything is okay with him. When creatures do not have any appetite any more then something is deeply wrong. This applies even to humans!!!!

Angelo’s injuries were better the next day.

9/9 – 9/11 Nothing special. As usual the babies want to get out at 6:30 in the morning although it is not even really light out there. But they announce their wishes by fluttering around in the livingroom.  When I hear this I know they want to get out. I wonder how long they will be sleeping on their board in the bookshelf??

During the day Pina is often coming in to take a little rest on the board or in the cardbox. How I know that she wants to get in? Well – either she hangs like a swift on the hey bag which is mounted on a hook outside near to the balcony door. Or she jumps on the little board where my orchids are standing and picks at the window, looking at me, giving me the reproachful look or she simply lingers in front of the door. She then normally flies to the table first to indicate that she is thirsty. So she will get some fresh water then something to eat. Peppi apparently does not need this time out besides a few exceptions. But then he is a boy and not a wimp. He also comes in much later in the evening than Pina – as it is common for little boys too.

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That’s how they are sleeping during the night (photographed with flash in total darkness)

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Pete is limping and Peppi is naughty (6 weeks)

From the

Diary as of  9/1 – 9/3/09

9/1 Pete is still limping a bit but it is definitely better than yesterday. So I don’t think I need to be worried.

I cannot believe my eyes: Peppi mounted Pina and this at a tender age of 6 weeks!!!! I have the proof on photo!! What the hell  did they put into those pills they had to eat these days??? I really want to know.

The Ritual

…continues

…mounting…

The climax

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9/2 The vitamins finally arrived. All pijjies seem to love that stuff. I put it into the drinking water. We’ll see whether it does them good. I really hope so.

For the first time I offered them peanuts today. I crushed them of course because in total they would be much too big of course. But it’s not a problem and easily done in my mortar. This I have also learned from the Pij’n Angels Forum. So I gave it a try. I would never have had this idea. The result:

Pete and Emma love the crushed peanuts – Willy and Winnie are reluctant, so are the babies. But who knows… Pijjies are always very conservative – they are very careful when it comes to try new things. But I find this excellent. Better to be careful than regret it later.

9/3 Day begins as usual: up 6:30 and letting the pijjies out on the balcony. It is quite dark and it is raining – so they are not very eager to go. But half an hour later it brightens up and both, Pina and Peppi, are flying around, coming back, having their breakfast and are out again.

They love the little foodie pots in the hanging flower pots where it is easier for them to defend their food – LOL.

Peppi is already courting his mom – besides Pina – and receives a slap with the wing for his cockiness!

I did not check the babies again. Their behaviour tells me that they are doing very well. They eat like a horse, they drink with deep gulps and they fly around like stunt pilots. You can really see how much joy that is for them. I do not want to distress them if there is no signal for a problem.

Whenever I have the opportunity – while I give Pina her little strokes or when I “fight” with Peppi – who has become quite snappy – I touch their bellies to feel whether there might be a problem.  And there isn’t. They have conquered the canker and they are healthy happy little pijjies who enjoy their young life! Oh how happy I am to see them doing so well. I love them so much…

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The Canker Medication is finished and Pete bumped his Foot

From the

Diary as of  8/29 – 8/31/09

8/29 Today it’s not very warm and it started to rain a bit even – only 19°C and apparently the babies feel it’s too cold to go outside. When Pina was on the balcony balustrade for a couple of minutes she realized that she was getting cold feet and jumped on my arm. She HAD cold feet. Even Peppi was not eager to stay outside – although he loves being outside with all the other pigeons.

Oh my – what kind of pigeons have I grown? They are lying in a cardbox right on the top of the closet in my livingroom and cannot be convinced that they have a life outside. They should fly around and have their fun – instead they are sprawling  and sleeping!!!! But maybe they need that for their final recovery 

Jimi appeared this morning. He was in a hurry as usual, quickly ate some seeds from the foodie pots and disappeared again. Have not seen Joey so far.

Winnie has laid her egg #9 – I have to produce new plaster eggs!!!

8/30 Winnie has been treated this morning – she will receive another pill tomorrow. Thank heaven – no visible canker. And their behaviour tells me that they are all perfectly okay.

So in total: Peppi got 5 pills, Pina 3, Willy 3, Pete 3, Emma 2 and Winnie 2.

I forgot to tell – 3 days ago we were at the lady doc again. Today we went to the lady doctor again. Well – I told her what I did etc. etc. – she was not very much amused (telling from her face) that *I* did change her prescription but in fact she did not say anything. I explained to her that it was not simply my idea but that I was in contact with a whole group of very experienced people who deal with these deseases on a daily basis. Sadly enough she did not jump on what I was saying so I left the subject. I really don’t understand why a doctor would not be willing to learn from other people who may have much more experience. It was disappointing.

Still I am grateful for her help (she made Emma healthy again) and I cannot thank enough the people from the Pij’n Angels Forum

The results at the vet:

Peppi and Pina both still had a tiny bit of those deposits in their throats but it looked much better than before. Peppi has got 5 pills, Pina 3. According to the lady doctor those few tiny nodules would clear by themselves so her recommendation was to give the little ones some vitamins to help their immune system.

I ordered some vitamin compound today (Vitacombex) which the vet recommended.

Peppi and Pina are greatly enjoying little outings on the balcony now, to the neighbour balcony etc. They eat and they drink and seem to be very happy but I still have a close eye on them.

Oh my, this morning I got up again at 6:15 – both babies requesting to be let out. So they went off. After an hour Peppi was back – hungry – what’s probably driven him back but Pina did not come back. After 2 hours I was getting nervous, especially as Willy, the father, seemed to look for her also. 3 hours went by, then another one. You can imgine that I was nearly in panic but what could I have done? I did not even see in which direction she flew off and with whom. I already saw Pina, my sweet little pigeon girl, hanging somewhere, entangled in one of those nets  – another half an hour went by and then, some flapping wings at the balcony door – and there she was, heading directly to the foodhouse and the water bowl.

Everybody on this planet must have heard that avalanche coming from my heart….

Winnie laid her second egg, which is  #10

Winnie got her second pill today. Also she had no visible canker. I will leave it with the second pill. It is actually great distress for her to pick her from the nest and make her swallow the pill. She is very strong and it was difficult to hold her.

Pete must have bumped his foot heavily  while fighting with an intruder. He is limping. I cannot see any injury though. I will watch this but I think there is no real bad injury. I think he is getting old and just cannot act as a young one any more. Sometimes he forgets about his age and he does things he should better not have done. Does this sound human???It is impossible to tell how old he already is. But I think he is not the youngest any more. You can see this from his ragged beak, his movements which are not as quick as those of a young pigeon. I really hope that he will have a couple of good years still though. I love him very much. He is such a good father and grandfather. And very sensitive too…

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.Pina and Peppi checking my book shelves

Willy (in front – father) checking on his kids and their readings – hm…

Peppi and Pina happily snoring in the box

Peppi and Pina on discovery

Willy (father) – the control freak… Peppi is not amused…

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Peppi is really sick…

From the

Diary as of  8/22/ – 8/28/09

8/22 Peppi is not feeling very well – he cannot swallow food. I am soooo worried. This is a true shock. The other day both babies seemed to be perfectly okay and now this. How quickly everything can change. But this is also the great danger wih birds. Due to their metabolism things can change very quickly to the worst without any chance to help them. But I must hope that Peppi is getting better again…

8/23 Peppi seems to be on the way to recovery after the 3rd. pill. He began to eat again – at least small seeds. I decided to go with the advice from the experienced people from the Pij’n Angels forum and give him a Spartrix pill every day instead of only 2 pieces with a day in between as the recommendation from the manufacturer said (and the vet). Actually it was a very difficult decision for me because under no circumstances I wanted Peppi to deprive of his onyl resistance and natural immune system by overdosing the medication. But in this case I followed the advice of people who have years and years of experience with pigeons and doves.

Pina received 3 pills altogether.

8/24 Peppi received another pill because there was a small yellow nodule left in his mouth and I wanted to make sure that this canker shit really disappears completely from his body. I got the advice to give him Spartrix as long as something was to be seen in his mouth.

8/25 Peppi received his 5th pill today. I really wanted to make sure that this canker has disappeared.

Now it was the turn to treat the parents and the grandparents.I decided to start with Willy. It was stressful because of course partially lacking expereince how to catch a fully grown “wild” bird. He was so alert but it had to be done. I was so worried to hurt him but finally everything went well. And the most important – he did not even sulk. He flew off but came back again shortly and I could fed him later a few sunflower hearts as consolation.

Emma laid an egg  – #29 - so it will be easier to catch Pete for his treatment now while he is sitting on the egg.

It was Pete’s turn today for the pill. I cornered him in the living room and threw a big blanket over him. Astonishingly it was quite easy but then I am getting used to catching pigeons – I get quicker too!!!!

8/27 Pete’s received his 3rd pill (Spartrix). Emma has laid egg #30. Removed both now and replaced them with the plaster eggs.

8/28 I gave Emma a pill this evening – tomorrow she will have a second one. It went very well after she was sitting on her eggs again. So I just took the blanket and caught her right in the nest. She did not even defend herself much – she was astonishingly calm – much calmer than at the vet. It was quite easy. Maybe she could remember the last time when we had to take her to the vet. She apparently knew that I only wanted to help her.

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Peppi with his grandma Emma

Peppi and Pina

Peppi relaxing on the closet

Pina relaxing on the closet

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The Babies have Canker (Trichomoniasis)

From the

Diary as of  8/21/ 09

Horror:  Discovered canker in the babies!

None of the following symptoms was to be seen that Charis from the Pij’n Angels Forum described so detailed in the thread of the “balcony pigeons”

Matilda wrote:

Here are some other symptoms of canker as explained in an article by Colin Walker… 1. ‘Penguin’ posture – Associated with proventricular (glandular stomach) and crop pain. Birds will lean back on their tails and gulp. Noticed particularly after eating and drinking. 2. ‘Dry feather’ – Due to lack of down feather drop and bloom production. 3. ‘Leady’ feel – Affected birds will not come into condition and feel heavy in the hand. 4. Wet dropping – Inflammation in the digestive tract creates a thirst, leading to elevated water intake and urine production. This produces a clear watery rim around the dropping. 5. Green droppings – Due to digestive tract irritation and in some birds decreased food intake. 6. Inflammation in the throat – Tonsillitis and increased clear to grey bubbly mucus. 7. Interference with crop function – Delayed crop emptying and sometimes vomiting. 8. Increased food consumption by team as a whole 9. Dry yellow canker – In birds of any age, this tells you that many other birds have elevated trichomonad levels, which have not yet passed the threshold for yellow material to form. 10. Indirect signs – Poor loft flying, poor tossing, respiratory problems that respond poorly to medication or quickly relapse, a dramatic improvement in the birds’ general vigour in response to anticanker medication are all suggestive.

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Our sweet little ones, Peppi and Pina, were looking fine and full of action, eating and drinking well. They are now 30/31 days old. Being fed not only by their parents but both grandparents as well seemed to give them the best possible start into their life.
Only because I realized this morning that Peppi apparently had some slight difficulties to swallow his food, Pina showed no problems at all, I decided to check Peppis mouth and found to my horror those yellow deposits. Then I checked Pina and could not see anything so far. BIG ERROR.

I packed both babies into the cardbox and drove to the vet.
She immediately recognized a severe infestation of canker. She showed me that Pina had her throat full of those deposits (I did not overstretch her neck enough to look far into her throat – so I missed the signs!) and also Peppi had a lot in his throat. Both were given Spartrix.

In 2 days I was told to give them another pill.

I am totally shocked. How can this be possible? I mean I have no idea how long they already were suffering from this. There were no, absolutely no signs of canker until today and only because I watched closely and decided to check them both I detected the danger both were in.

Please keep fingers crossed that it was not too late! I am really worried.

What else could I do to help my little ones to recover from this completely? Besides all the hygienic aspects such as no bath tub, thorough cleaning and drying of drinking pots? Additionally I always put organic vinegar into the drinking pot. What else can I do?

The parents and grandparents have to be treated as well. I have to give them Spartrix also. My vet said it is not enough to medicate the water or food. I had hoped this would work but she vehemently said it is not enough. So I have to catch them and treat them as well.

The vet told me to give one more pill to each baby on Sunday. I asked twice to make sure. It’s Spartrix, 10 mg and she gave me the pills.

But I have to bring them next week again for a check-up. I really really hope it is going okay. This evening Peppi seems to have a bit of a problem with breathing – at least I see him with his beak a tiny bit opened but no noises so far. Now the little angels are sleeping. They’ve had enough!!!

Oh my – what is hapening here!!! I am in panic and am very worried. This is the time to consult more people with more experience – so off to the Pij’n Angels Forum…

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