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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Begging Grandma for Food and eating on their own (16-17 days)

From the

Diary as of  8/5/ – 8/6/09

8/5 The parents Willy and Winnie are  feeding like crazy now. One could get the impression that they do it every half hour or so which is nonsense of course.  But each time I look towards the babies I see Willy – mostly Willy – feeding them.

Winnie laid  egg #8! in the second small nest beneath the bicycle. Apparently she is competing with Emma. Oh my, we have two egg laying machines now…

8/6 The babies are now 16/17 days old and Winnie tries to lure them already out of the nest! Isn’t this a bit early? My goodness – their childhood is short enough anyway and they had to suffer enough already.

Both babies have started their wing muscle training. They are able to flap their wings each day a bit longer and quicker. It makes a lot of sound – like a group of bats flying somewhere  - and they have started to eat seeds of their own. Doesn’t work yet with everything – they are choosing the small ones but I have seen that they actually managed to swallow them. What progress!!

Today – when Emma came in to go to the foodhouse – she was literally mugged. Both babies begged her for food and Emma was quite irritated about that. It was very funny. And while Emma ate her seeds in the foodhouse the babies watched her closely. The she changed to eat from one of those foodiepots and also was closely observed by the little ones. When Emma flew off again both babies started to pick their own seeds from the foodiepots. How sweet.  I have documented this in this little video:
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But they did not even start to eat on their own but I saw Peppi drink from the water on his own for the first time. What an achievement!!

In the meanwhile Peppi weighs 290 gr and Pina 275 gr. Not bad – isn’t it although they are fed merely by Willy only. Winnie did not feed them once today. She is so busy with her new eggs. Strange behaviour. Poor Willy – all responsibility is on him now. But he loves his little ones – you can see that.

The funny thing is that Willy must accompany everything with pijjie comments, not only when he is feeding. All the time when he is here to feed the babies he grunts and growls as if he were a mad dog. Even when one of the babies sticks his beak into Willy’s beak he does not stop to grunt and growl as if he were a bit nuts. But he IS nuts! I have never heard a pigeon before making these sounds – not pigeon-like at all – he has a very croaky voice although he can coo with wonderful sounds as well…

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Babies are so small – are they behind? (day2 to 7)

From the

Diary as of  7/22 – 7/28/09

7/22 The babies are sooo small still. So tiny and so vulnerable. But look how adorable they are still with lots and lots of yellow “fur”.

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Jimi and Joey are now coming in the morning for food and later on during the day or late afternoon again. They are both eating like crazy, they are even smacking and are in such a hurry that they eat the corn crossways, no matter how big it is. I would never have thought that they can eat such big pieces!!! I suspect that both have babies because they only eat as much as they can and then are off again in a hurry. Normally they would stay for a while and listen to me chatting with them. Now they have no time for me! Both are in the moult – especially Joey – he looks really awful, totally ragged and Jimi is missing a lot of feathers around his mouth.

7/23 Emma has laid her second egg – it is #27. How many still?

7/24 – 7/25 The babies are still very small – I am a bit worried because they are much smaller than their parents have been and the others. I compared the photos.

7/26 Today I weighted  Peppi – he has 100 gr – Pina has 90 gr after 6/5 days – is this good or bad? I have no idea how much a feral pigeon should weigh after that time.So many things to learn still. I decided to do a regular check on their weight until I am sure that everything is okay.

7/27 Unbelievable but both made a giant step. Peppi has 110 gr now and Pina 105 gr. So it seemed. I have yet to keep in mind that I do not know any more whether I weighed them yesterday before or after feeding.

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7/28 Peppi and Pina are both growing better now. It’s day 6 and 7 now. Quills are coming out and their poop – a lot – looks very fine – as it should: round, brown green little heaps with a white top. Perfect!
Willy and Winnie are wonderful parents although they are still so young and although it is only their 2nd clutch. The behave as if they had done nothing else. Remember – their first child was incredible Angelo! They do care a lot:  f.e. when it was windy and a bit cool today Winnie came more often and warmed the babies.

Both parents are feeding them simultaneously now quite often. One can see that the babies need much more food now. Winnie and Willy are often coming into my studio to “ask” for sunflower seeds. As if they exactly know how they could boost up the growth of their little ones. These little buggers know so well how they can make me weak!!

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Emma is okay again and Willy’s new Babies have hatched!

From the

Diary as of  7/15/ – 7/21/09

7/15  – 7/18 Emma’s poop is  still a bit thin but she seems to be okay again. I am so happy. She recovered very quickly.

7/18 Big highlight of today was: Angelo jumped on my hand in order to eat his beloved seeds directly there !! I tried this a couple of times, laying my hand with the seeds on the balustrade as usual and then moving it slowly further away until he could not reach it any more, making his neck as long as possible without falling fromthe balustrade. So he had to make a decision – either no seeds any more or jumping on my hand to reach them again. I know – I was mean but it worked:  today he was couragious and jumped on my hand. What a feeling this is.

Joey not coming for breakfast….

7/20 Yippee – Willy’s first baby of the second clutch has hatched during the night. Sooooo tiny but so full of golden hair….. thank heaven it is warm again!

7/21 Second baby hatched too – how wonderful. Willy is behaving like a berserk – protecting his precious nest and fighting everything and everyone who dares to come near.

Joey appeared this morning again to get food!

Emma laid an egg: it is #26! She will be ruining her little body if she continues like this…

And now I want to introduce Peppi and Pina to you:

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Now look at these lots and lots of golden “fur” –

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