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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Angelo brought another Homer – Hubert

From the

Diary as of  8/16 – 8/17/09

8/16 Joey appeared today again – he was soooo hungry and really smacked his beak – yes – that’s possible – while he was eating like a pig. He was in a hurry and flew off as soon as his little belly (crop of course) was full.

We have another homer! We called him Hubert. He was not as desperate for food and water as Emil – remember the wedding pigeon? – But he was darn well grateful to find food and water on our balcony. And you know what? It was Angelo again, who brought him. Slowly I get the feeling that Angelo really is some kind of angel – he brings the lost and starving to our balcony. How about that? This is becoming quite mysterious…

8/17 Zoltan (my dear partner) was communicating with Pina today: he laid on his belly on the floor in front of Pina and whistled between his teeth very shortly and softly and Pina answered exactly the same way with her sweet voice. He wistled once – Pina squeaked once, he whistled twice – Pina squeaked twice. How amazing is this? This IS communication! Pijjin English!!

Jimi appeared today again – he also was very hungry and I have heard him for the first time smacking just as Joey did. He was in such a hurry – probably his kiddos waiting and he did not have any time for a little small talk. Off he was in a blink….

Unfortunately FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE MARCH WE HAVE NOT SEEN OUR SWEET ANGELO today! I hope he is doing okay. But maybe he was here and we did not see him. We had food and water ready to take on his own. Water is always on our balcony – normally I don’t let the food outside because it attracts too many other VISITORS and then “our” pijjies are getting the fits chasing them all off – I don’t want to get them a heart attack….

Hubert, the homer, even slept tonight near the water pot – that is on the lowest board of pigeon city and Willy did not chase him away. Miracle! What does that mean? We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.

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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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Angelo is eating from my Hand for the first time!

From the

Diary as of 6/21 – 6/22/09

6/21 Nearly all of “our” piggies are in moult – I am brooming tons of feathers each day….

6/22 And YES - Angelo ate from my hand for the first time!!! Our sweet little icebear – as we call him in the meanwhile. Oh my – he is soooo sweet  – he is a consolation for both babies that died 2 weeks ago. He did not miss a single day so far to visit us and get his seeds of course – LOL. You get nothing for nothing – do you?

This morning Joey was so greedy for food that he nearly jumped on me when I called him – i.e. he flew immediately to the little bowl I had in my hands for him with the result that half of the seeds were spilled on the balcony floor. He could not wait any longer. Was so funny! He apparently lost all his timidity from me. But only me! That’s good.

All the piggies were awfully hungry today – the weather is still awful – rainy and hardly 14° C. The poor animals – not only the birds  – that is not fair – we had such a long winter and now this. I really have big sympathy and I think that many young babies, birds, mammals will die with this weather. I am very sad about this because this means another year with no cuckoo, only very few swifts i.e. 3 or 4 pairs only circling above  our home. In the past years it were groups of 15 to 20 birds, chirping loudly while flying around and showing their awesome tricks. Such fun to watch them.

We have hardly seen any rabbits and nearly no hares. I think all the babies died in that bad weather. What a loss. They are always so funny to watch.

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Oh – btw – this is the new way how I am feeding “our” pigeons now: instead of having them spilling all the corn all over the balcony floor – I have little plastic bowls covered by an old sock (washed!) with a hole in it. The little buggers get used to this quite quickly and stick their little heads deep into this bowl. Now they can be messy without the known consequences and no food is contaminated or spoiled!!! Also their feathers are not damaged because the sock is soft of course while they are digging like crazy…
I have the feeling that they love it being fed like this!

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Pete has Diarrhea and Angelo discovered the Basket!

From the

Diary as of  6/10/ – 6/16/09

6/10 Emma has laid egg #24 and Pete has diarrhea. I am a bit worried that he might be sick. After we had two babies who died, my innocence is gone i.e. each time when something looks strange I am worried now. All the time in the past everything was okay and we had not to worry about a thing and now – it’s different. Pete has had diarrhea before – some time ago last year -  it took about a week and then was gone. I think it’s the second or 3rd day now – I did not realize when it actually started.

6/11 Pete still has diarrhea but I think it is nothing really to worry about. His behaviour is as usual, fighting with the foreigners, defending his territory and nest and sitting on the egg when Emma is gone.

6/12 Diarrhea is much better. I think Pete is not really sick – probably it’s a regular infection all pigeons have from time to time. I cannot do anything but cleaning up thoroughly and I am spraying everything with vinegar which is great for disinfection and much healthier than all those chemicals.  Nature cures a lot herself – one should only let her instead of intervening with all that hard chemical stuff. These are feral pigeons – I could not do anything else anyway.

6/13 Emma has a little diarrhea as well – not as bad as Pete – but just a little bit. So I think she’s got the same infection. Btw – she also laid her second egg which is #25! I replaced both eggs by one plaster egg. Winnie is sitting on the other one. Think I have to make some new ones…

6/14 – 6/15 Jimi is missing again – while Joey appears each morning and mostly once more during the day to request his food. I am so glad that he appears now regularlyagain.

Always the same ritual: I call him, put the little saucer in front of him and hold my hands on each side on the balustrade – that hinders Pete and Willy to disturb him and chase him away – so that he can eat quite in peace.

6/16 It is  warm and Angelo finally discovered the basket. I actually do not know why this stupid old basket is such a desired object for all the pigeons so that they really fight for it who’s gona sit in it – LOL. Today it is Angelo’s…

Look at this feisty little cheeky guy sitting on his grandpa’s sleeping place – if he (Pete) only doesn’t realize this – oh my…

and here is the famous basket….

And this is mother Winnie and son Angelo:

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