Pete betrays Emma and Peppi pecks his Grandpa

From the

Diary as of  9/12 – 9/16/09

9/12 Peppi came home very late today. I was already worrying about him whether he was going to sleep somewhere else. But then – it was nearly dark – I heard him bump against the balcony door. Gladly he did not injure himself. Silly little bugger – he should have known that there is a glass door espcially as I have 2 flowerpots hanging on the door. I was so happy to see him home – I cannot express how happy I was.

And then – you should have seen how Pina and Peppi greeted one another – it was so extremely sweet. He put his head and neck around her as if he wanted to embrace her. What a view – my heart was melting away…

9/13 Pete betrays Emma with a black pigeon lady?  He had sex with her again right in the middle of the balcony balustrade. I call her Miss Mimi. I am shocked! I wonder how this continues…

Here they look as if they don’t know each other – hm – just as in real life – eh?????

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Pina and Peppi had a bath again today. First Pina had her own this afternoon. Then when both came in quite early today – 6:30 pm – Peppi had his one  too and Pina joined him a bit again. There was a new young pijjie coming in also – was drinking eagerly from the bathtub but Pina did not like it and Willy was chasing the youngster away quite brutally. Poor thing.

9/14 Today both babies came quite early. They have started to moult as well but not so strong yet. Each day I find quite a few feathers beneath their roosting place on the bookshelf and I have to vacuum clean nearly every day.

9/16 Winnie has become quite intolerant especially against her daughter.Whenever she is near her Winnie starts to heavily peck Pina. What a rude mother! Pina apparently is only competitor for her now.

Behaviour between grandpa Pete and Peppi is completely different. Pete never pecks Peppi but Peppi is ruthless: can you imagine that he, the little bugger pecks his grandpa when both want to have sunflower hearts at the same time – !! Peppi is a little ungrateful monster!

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Peppi does not like to be stroked any more…

From the

Diary as of  9/4 – 9/6/09

Sorry that it has taken quite some time to write the next post but I am currently very busy with my new painting project. Can you guess what it’s all about? PIGEONS of course

Here are the first 2 paintings:

“Contemplation on a feather”

“Contemplation on a Predator”

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You can check the details of these paintings here . and I am currently working on the third one. In all cases Pete, the patriarch has been my first model here.

9/4 Peppi has started to peck at me when I want to give him some little strokes. But he still likes to “fight” with me. It is so funny that he needs to prove his “manhood”. So it seems…

Winnie love the peanuts too. Apparently she has changed her mind! But I have to be careful – I should not give them too many because of the high fat content – although for feral pigeons there is truly no danger of getting fat because of not getting “enough exercise.

9/5 Pina does not like to be stroked either any more i.e. at least when Peppi is present. When I have her alone she loves to be stroked. She wiggles with her wing and makes grunting noises. So sweet! Apparently the little pijjies decide by themselves when they don’t want to be “human” any more. It is somehow a sad moment but on the other hand I want them to be free, independent and careful towards other 2-leggers.

They both still jump deliberately on my hand when they want to be fed or on my shoulder or my back as if this were the most common thing to do.

Also they have made friends apparently. They always hang out with a bunch of other young and older pigeons, with whom they apparently do their grazing in the morning and evening. Sometimes Pete or Willy or even both of them accompany the whole group. It is true social living and I am so glad that our little youngsters are fully integrated. So they will learn everything that is needed out there in this big world in order to suvive. I dearly hope so. But when I see how well our other youngster are doing then I should be proud and happy.

9/6 Every 2 days our youngsters get their bath still here in the livingroom. I put a large towel on the floor and then fill one of those big green bowls I am always using outside. But by leaving this inside it does not get contaminated by the poop and dirt of all the others. You never know what they add to the water. And while the youngsters drink from it it is better anyway. Btw – I always use apple vinegar in the bath tub as well – that’s not only good for drinking but good for their plumage also.

I could watch them for hours while they are having their fun and are exploring everything…

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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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Grandpa feeds Grandchildren and the Bastard Pij appears again!! (3 weeks)

From the

Diary as of  8/7 – 8/9/09

8/7 Today was a very exciting day:

Peppi and Pina left the nest (while it was standing on the floor!!) all of their own – they used the  stones which I had placed on the newspaper in order to keep it in place as stairs. They even managed to climb back into the nest via their “stairs”. How clever is that? Peppi was even outside the nest while we went  shopping!

And another highlight: I gave them their first bath. They absolutely loved it and got soaking wet.  So I had to pack them in towels in order to avoid them getting cold and put them afterwards back into the hey – that kept them really warm.

The bathing scene of Peppi was really funny because the silly little bugger thought he could do it outside the bathtub. I had to put him into the water to make him aware that bathing means being IN the water and not outside, even if he moved and behaved like an adult. I documented this whole scene in a little video again:
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Both babies continue their learning process by trying to pick up all kinds of seeds. There seems to be a kind of competition between them because I see them picking at one and the same seed and they look at each other when one manages to actually eat the seed. This way they learn from each other and become mature and self-confident much quicker. That’s another reason why these babies should not grow up alone, as single babies. Peppi even started to drink from the water bowl all of his own. And he is only 18 days old!

Today they begged Emma for food again but she refused.

And another incident: the bastard pij appeared again – Peppi and Pina apparently recognized him from inside the window and started to scream really!!!! I only saw him taking off… what a jerk!

8/8 Today something very strange and very sweet happened: Pete started to feed Peppi – this is amazing. Grandpa feeding grandson!!! And poor little Pina is left behind again as usual in the real world of man! Or she is too proud tobeg for food this way – one way or the other. It is quite obvious – Peppi is the one who screams the loudest so he will get first and more.

Emma has left her plaster egg in the meanwhile and is cuddling with Pete again.
Winnie still sits on her plaster eggs. She hardly feeds the babies – I wonder why. Is she already so fixed on the new generation???? Hm – nischt git…

8/9 Pete is feeding his grandchildren (really both) several times a day now. I hardly can believe this and have never heard of such a behaviour among ferals. But then – who has the opportunity to watch ferals like I do? It is such a gift and such a pleasure. I can only repeat it…

Pete comes into the livingroom just as naturally as Willy, goes straight away to the food house, fills his crop and then starts feeding Peppi and Pina. As long as Willy is not around things are going smooth. When Willy appears Pete turns tail and runs as quickly as he can – remember Willy is also called wild Willy – not without a reason – and Willy gets nuts when he sees Pete feeding his kids as if he was thinking that they were going to be too fat…??? Insteaf he should be grateful that grandpa takes some burden from him. But as I already said – wild Willy is nuts and very jealous.

Peppi in the foreground

Peppi and Pina (background)

a cheeky look from Pina – you can still see where her injuries were

Peppi sitting in front of my tool boxes

Peppi and Pina resting on the floor…

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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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