Gino has overcome his Trauma and Sandy tries to overtake the Balcony

I am far behind my posts again because many things happened in the meanwhile. But I am continuing in chronological order although it is very hard for me at the moment to write about Jimi after we have lost him. But these stories must be told because I love the birdies all so much and in some way remembering the stories of the lost ones is comforting …

From the

Diary as of 11/29 – 12/15/2013

11/29   Gino is his old self again and literally shovelling the food into his mouth. What a little bugger but apparently he still has a trauma from his babyhood where he was left by his parents – I assume that his mother died and his father – QuakQuak – could not support him alone. So it was the time when the snow came and the big cold when he nearly died if he had not come to us for help. Last year it was just the same – when the snow came Gino became sick with canker. So this means for me that he has a trauma connected with snow. None of the other pijjies became sick. Poor little baby…

11/30   Betty is sitting on the same plaster eggs now the 42nd day! Apparently she is not willing to start a new breeding cycle at the moment. What a clever bird. She probably thinks why should I leave my comfortable and warm house when it is cold outside and Lucky apparently thinks and feels the same as he takes his turn on the eggs as usual.

12/1   I forgot to tell about Jimi: since the temperatures dropped he leaves earlier – early in the afternoon instead of in the evening and he then takes his turn on the eggs again to give Fifi the opportunity to fly a few rounds. But he does this only if the weather is okay. If it is too ugly he stays inside until the evening. Fifi does not seem to have a problem with this. She often comes inside for a quick snack and goes straight away back to her plaster eggs. Isn’t this cute?

12/4   Today Jimi went out early: at 11°clock already. Apparently he wanted to give his wife some more freedom to fly around etc.

12/5   Jimi is regularly now taking his turn to sit on the eggs. And Fifi is happy of course. Instead of having a quick snack now and then she finally can rumage the buffet again. Btw – she has become quite self confident and defends “her” place on my knees against anyone who has the privilege of eating there instead of with the rest of the “mob”.

12/9   Nothing really new besides the fact that the weather is quite nice.

12/11   Rudi has started to work like a berserk again: collecting nest material = cardboard stripes. I hardly could keep up with him cutting new ones.

12/12   Pina is on her nest in the evening. Wonder whether she will lay during the night but I don’t believe so. Will check in the morning. If she has not laid I’ll give her a plaster egg immediately to keep her stress level down.

12/13   As assumed Pina has not laid – so I put a plaster egg under her little belly. Now she is content again.

12/14   Fifi is off her plaster eggs and heavily cuddling with Jimi again. So their love life functions as usual and I love to watch them sitting either on the roof of their house, grooming each other or both together inside.

12/15   Sandy and Adele are still nerving. Since weeks they try to overtake the balcony and build their nest there. And although I like Sandy and Adele for their self confidence I cannot allow them to stay here. I have to chase them off but they come back again and again instead of investing their energy in looking for a new place – sigh. They are a beautiful couple and their babies were gorgeous but they cannot stay. Sandy’s red daughter Amanda tries to nest on the balcony as well – so you see they want to start a new dynasty. But only over my dead body!!! So I probably still need a lot of perseverance to “convince”  them to look for their own home. But it is truly hard work and I am not very successful. These little buggers know quite well that I would never hurt them so I  believe they are laughing about me behind my back…

Loki and Lotti are trying the same again. For a while they were gone and only came for feeding but now they are back – apparently they have lost their nesting place again – and try to nest on our balcony again. Oh my – why the heck do they all want to stay here???? We are full already!!!!

After Fifi has finally left her plaster eggs as well Jimi is staying together with her again outside. So regular family life is taking place again and it is a joy to watch them cuddling together on the roof of their house. They stay there more or less for the whole day as Jimi does not want to fly out for whatever reasons. He also does not want to come inside in order to spend his time in our bedroom – he rather stays together with his wife. So their relationship has NOT cooled down as I feared.

~~~

Betty is sitting on the same Plaster Eggs since 38 Days and Gino has Canker

From the

Diary as of 11/23 – 11/28/2013

11/23   Feeding time – this morning the usual chaos in my livingroom again but I truly don’t mind. I love watching them how they line up neatly and tug their little heads next to one another into the wooden food boxes. And then  you hear only “tuck tuck tuck tuck” besides some chitter chatter when the beaks touch the wood of the food boxes. I REALLY HAVE TO MAKE A VIDEO ABOUT THIS. Looks sooo funny but I need more light not the terrible darkness we have at the moment…

11/24   Jimi is still always the first I let inside because he hates all the chaos and wants his peace. He then waddles into our bedroom where he has his own place and his food bowels. He is always the one who needs time for everything and he hates to be in a hurry. After eating he flies to his place on the bookshelf and stays there until late in the afternoon. Poor Fifi is alone for the whole day but apparently she can cope with this because she can come inside to eat something any time and does not need to leave the (plaster-)eggs for a longer time. Strange behaviour of Jimi – isn’t it?

He does not want to fly outside – maybe it’s his tumor, that is still in his chest, that disturbs him but on the other hand he is eating with very good appetite and his poops are perfect. He loves to listen to classical music that runs for the whole day and loves to be in our presence. So he seems to be absolutely content and happy.

Already as a child Jimi was different – he preferred to be alone rather than together with the others. In the late afternoon he indicates that he wants to leave, takes a long drink from the warm water bowl which I always prepare extra for him (he loves warm vinegar soup – lol) and then flies to his house, greets his wife and settles down for the night. And Fifi seems to accept his behaviour. Well – this is obviously the agreement between them: she has a house, regular meals and drinks. And love from time to time… Just like a marriage contract. Funny – isn’t it?

11/26   Betty is sitting on the same plaster eggs since 38 days now!!!

11/27   Gino came in this morning with that typical sad look where I know immediately that something is wrong. He did not start eating instantly as he usually does, was quiet instead of doing his usual chit-chat but sat on the edge of the cardboard wall and started vomiting heavily. So I grabbed him and after a thorough check and a look into his mouth I knew it was canker. There were no yellow nodules to be seen but his mouth was bright red on one side instead of his usual pink. So I gave him a Spartrix pill and prepared quickly Pina’s box to put him inside. I also gave him a warm water bottle and soon he settled down and looked quite content, knowing that Mommy would help him. He did not vomit again but his poop looked like that typical canker poop, dark green, mushy-slimy – yuck!

11/28   After apparently a good night sleep Gino looked much better in the morning. I gave him another Spartrix pill and he then indicated that he wanted to go out again. I let him and he flew immediately to his house where he and his wife Micky greeted each other with so much joy, dancing around each other and being happy that their world was okay again. It was so sweet. The day before Micky had come in for a quick snack several times – apparently she knew exactly where Gino was and did not seem to feel nervous about his where-abouts at all and that he did not take his turn on the eggs. Now everything was okay again, Gino went straight into his house to sit on the eggs and Micky could fly out again. What a happy couple!

And here is one of the rare photos I have of Lucky and Betty:

~~~

Bad News but Life goes on and Freddy finds a new Mate

From the

Diary as of 8/7 – 8/24/2013

8/7   MRT scan today. Very bad news.

8/8   I am still quite shocked about the news from the MRT scan – need some time to clear up my thoughts…

8/9   Betty has left her plaster eggs. Wonder what she will be doing next regarding her behaviour towards Lucky.

8/10   Feeling depressed and as if someone has taken everything away. Hard to continue as usual – everything seems to be so meaningless now… I try to concentrate on our birds.

8/12   Maggie and Fifi have left their plaster eggs.

Did I tell you? Freddy who first tried to be Lucky’s new spouse has finally found a mate as well: it’s Quakquak, Gino’s father. Apparently Quakquak has lost his wife and now found Freddy as a new love. I find this quite sweet and another happy ending for our community and pigeonlove.com!!!

And Freddy is certainly quite a catch:

8/13   Was in the hospital today. It would have been my Mom’s 85th birthday today. Where are you Mom, I need you so much!!!

8/16   Pina left her plaster egg. I wonder what will happen this time. If she is not laying I will give her a plaster egg again – just like the last time. It is much better for her stress level and Rudi will be content as well.

8/18   The pijjies had a good day today again. It was warm and they had their bath on the balcony. Pina and Rudi flew out several times.

I think Betty will stay in the nest tonight as well as Fifi. I can hear Amanda again begging for food. She is now too old to play the baby still – but one can try – not?

8/19   Oh my – today we had egg day:  Fifi laid her first egg #5, Maggie laid hers #27 and Betty also laid her first egg again #3. I have to be very careful that I don’t lose control otherwise we will have an oops baby.

8/20   It’s Micky‘s turn – she also laid her first egg #29.

8/21   Two days later: Fifi has laid her second egg # 6, Maggie has laid her second one # 28 and Betty also laid her second egg # 4.

8/22   Who would have guessed? Micky laid her second egg #30. Little crazy Micky creates perfect eggs despite her PMV and continuous stargazing.

8/23   As assumed Pina has not laid but I gave her a plaster egg nevertheless in order to reduce her stress level. My poor baby shall feel well and not under pressure.

8/24   The pijjies’ love gives me a lot of comfort and they make me smile and even forget for a short while each day no matter what has happened. Lucky has become very trusting – more than ever. He even fights a little bit with Jimi in the meanwhile who may sit on Mommy’s knee first for feeding. Isn’t this cute? Even Fifi jumps on my knee alone when Jimi is sitting on the eggs looking at me all the time with her intense beautiful dark orange eyes and is making those smacking sounds with her beak so that I have to laugh all the time.

Even Chica (Woodie’s last kid before he and Maggie decided to live on our balcony as well and to sit on plaster eggs rather in the meanwhile) and Johnny (Chica’s mate – looks like Jimi) love to sit on my knee for feeding. What do these pijjies all think???? Well – they know that Mommy has all the goodies for them – ha!

~~~

Emily

From the

Diary as of 6/18 – 6/27/2013

6/18   Emily has not come in today for eating. I am worried and I don’t know whether this is due to the incredibly hot weather or whether she has now severe problems with egg laying. Yesterday everything was okay still – cuddling with Lucky, eating well and pooping well and she even took a long bath with Lucky.

6/19   Emily is definitely sick. How can this happen so quickly? She still did not come in for eating and she was sitting in the the hot sun outside the balcony where I could not reach her. I don’t know how to get hold of her. She is going to dehydrate completely if she is not even drinking.

6/20   Emily made terrible poops – only some cream coloured mushy stuff – no green at all. She again was sitting for a long time in the hot sun and only went into the shade from time to time. This is really a strange behaviour. She must have come back when it was dark. I still hope she will come inside so that I can grab her. No way to grab her outside. I am so worried…

All others are doing very well despite the very hot temperatures. They get the bathtub every day. Thank heaven my plants form a real wall now which functions very well as shade and natural air conditioning and the birds know how to use it.

6/21   Very early in the morning I was finally able to grab Emily while she was sitting on the basket  still where she usually sleeps with Lucky. Apparently she was already so weak that she could not react quick enough any more. Or she did not want to flee any more. I put her immediately in a hospital box.

As she did not eat since Tuesday I knew I had to feed her something fluid to keep her hydrated at least. But when I fed her a very fluid cereal with applesauce she vomited everything again. Out came lots of seeds although her crop felt only a bit blown up as if some fluid was in there. Apparently she had hardly digested anything since 4 days! I waited an hour and tried to feed her some fluid again  but she vomitted again. So it goes since then. She cannot keep anything down and is very weak in the meanwhile. At least she vomitted no more seeds so the crop seemed to be empty.

I have started to give her applesauce thinned with water only and with 2 drops of Propolis and Bach Flower Rescue drops every 2-3 hours. I also gave her Bene Bac and Calcivet once a day. I hoped I could keep her hydrated to some extent if only a little bit of the stuff stayed inside. There was a tiny improvement as she started to pass some stuff that was light olive green.

Despite the warm weather I also put a warm water bottle beneath her box to make sure that she was not getting cold due to not eating. I really hoped that the Propolis would do its job as antifungal.

I don’t think any more that this all is related to her egg laying problems as I thought in the beginning and if yes then only indirectly. It IS her time for laying eggs normally but her abdomen is neither swollen nor feeling strange in any way. I assume it was the heat that caused this and the usual weakness before egg laying. I think it is a severe candida infection and I am not very optimistic whether she will survive this….

6/22   Emily is still hanging on but since this early morning she has started to breathe heavily with noises and slightly open beak. I let Lucky visit her and he looked into her box but she was already too weak to even wiggle. I am very very worried…

In the evening Emily started to vomit foam. Her breathing became more and more difficult. I held her and tried to wash the foamy vomit away but apparently her airsacks and trachaea were already full of the stuff that I could not do anything any more besides holding her and covering her with my love. I knew that she was dying. Emily fought terribly and I felt so incredibly helpless. Late in the evening her little heart gave up. Then she was gone…

Emily, my brave and beautiful little Emily was now flying high, together with her first love Pete, free of all the pain and suffering. A chapter of the Pigeon Tales was closed… and I am crying…

My beautiful Emily:

Emily with her first 2 babies on our balcony: Willy and Joey

Beautiful Emily with her almond eyes and her characteristic “breeding spot” (area incubationis)

Lady Emily overlooking her kingdom

Emily with her first big love Pete

Emily (left) in her happy days: bathing with her family

Emily and Pete

Emily and her second big love Lucky

Lucky and Emily kissing

Emily and Lucky in their love nest

Emily sunbathing

Emily proud of her new moss house

Emily sitting on her roof garden

Sunbathing together

perching on the “veranda”

Last photo of Lucky and Emily when the world was still okay

Lucky and Emily on their sleeping basket – last photo

6/23   I still cannot believe that Emily is not here any more and that she will never come back. There are so many incredible memories about her antics and the only consolation I feel at the moment is that the others are still here – Pina and Rudi, Woody and Maggie, Jimi and his Fifi and Lucky of course.

We buried Emily today in our favourite forest beside Flea. So Flea is not alone any more and Emily can take care of Flea. She loved babies so much. The place where we buried her is full of old trees and the ground is covered with many ferns and moss. The next time when we are there I will take my camera with me and make a photo. It probably sounds crazy what I am doing but it is a way of coping with this big sadness I am feeling.

It is very hard to see Lucky searching constantly for Emily but I think he will cope with it as he is not alone on the balcony and he still so young. Jimi even came inside, jumped on the empty box where his mother was in and tried to comfort me by talking to me with his eyes.
Isn’t is strange that he is now back, living on our balcony with his wife? As if this all was meant to be just the same way when Emily and Lucky became a couple a few days after Pete’s death!

Even Gino looked at me and I knew immediately that he knew exactly what was going on. Pina of course the same way. The birds all knew. It was like a wave of comfort they were spreading. Tomorrow is another day…

As an aside – Fifi laid her first egg #1! in one of the hanging pots where she is living together with Jimi. This is how life is going on…

6/24   Maggie laid her first egg #23 and as usual a perfect one.

6/25   Apparently everything was meant to go the normal way – so Fifi laid her second egg #2. It was so sweet to see both of them, Jimi and Fifi, sitting together in the hanging pot, one on the eggs, the other one grooming the partner. I am sure now that this was Jimi’s new family life. What a relief and comfort after Emily’s death.

6/26   Maggie laid her second egg #24 and again a perfect one.

6/27   Missing Emily…

~~~

Fifi is improving, Jimi has fallen in Love and another String Injury

From the

Diary as of 5/23 – 5/31/2013

5/23   This morning I changed Fifi’s bandage again (every 2 days) and expected that the wound had closed more or less but it had not. It was a bit wet and seemed to be lightly inflammated although it was not swollen. So I washed it again with hydrogen peroxide and added another big portion of Neosporin ointment. Fifi is such a brave patient – she did not wince once while I was working on her little chicken leg. I continued to give her antibiotics.

5/24   Emily laid her first egg #110. It came out as a whole but looked terrible as usual.

5/25   Today was the last day, day 8 with Baytril for Fifi. After I renewed her bandage I saw that the wound looked much better. Not infected at all – so it was healing well. She still curls her toes but in between she is able to put her toes the normal outstretched way. I always forget that she is here for just a week and the wound looked very bad. So it takes some time until the feeling comes back in her feet.

5/26   Jimi has fallen in love with Fifi. For the whole day he sat in front of her box and sang together with her – how sweet is that?  I wonder how this will continue….

Emily did not lay another egg. I am glad about this as it gives her body some peace.

Weather is absolutely awful: 7 °C and raining, raining, raining – snow in the mountains. When will the sun come back???

5/27   Pina has a new tick: she is knocking on all kinds of objects with her beak. And in the morning she knocks on her box walls when she wants to be led out. I think our pijjies are nuts…

Maggie laid her first egg #21.

5/28   A REMINDER: Be careful what you do with hair in your house, on your carpets when you are cleaning. Human hair that is just released into the open may become the killer of the next bird’s feet.

Today a foreign pigeon landed on our balcony, seeking help: he had only 2 toes left on BOTH feet. The reason: human hair. I just could remove the rest of it, because one foot’s toes were curled under because some hair was still binding his remaining toes. There was no infection any more – the damage was already done and the necrotic toes had already fallen off. I cleaned the remaining toes. That was all I could do for this poor bird. Still he flew off happily… but left me very sad for his situation. I don’t want to think about which pain he must have been through!

Jimi went out for about 7 hours. He left quite early in the morning at 8.30 and came home around 4 pm. The weather was very nice and warm and so this clever bird just took advantage of it. Poor Fifi had to stay in her box of course. But you should have seen the greeting when Jimi came home again but only after he had had his meal and some minutes of relaxing. He was very tired. But then he spend the rest of the afternoon and the evening sitting besides Fifi’s box and singing with her.

5/29   Maggie laid her second egg today, #22 .  Pina still does not show any intent of laying soon and Emily is definitely only on one egg.  I am glad that they give a pause to their bodies. I think it must be the awful weather we have currently.

5/30   Raining today as if the heaven was crying. Awful weather – everything is so wet and cold.

5/31   Still raining like crazy and there are some heavy floods in the region. I am so glad that Jimi is staying at home. He does not like rain. On the contrary Pina and Rudi love to fly in the rain. They are doing so several times during the day. I am really amazed about this.

****

Pina is flying again, Jimi is out of his Box and All have their big Bathing Day

From the

Diary as of 2/2 – 2/22/2013

2/2   Pina is her old self again btw and flying out again and Micky is doing better as well. She is still stargazing but not flying like a kamikaze any more. So there is light at the end of the tunnel as well.

Only Emma still gives me heartaches still. Her first egg 2 days ago was awful again, but it came out as a whole at least, the second egg was a bit better and had a stronger shell. If she only would stop laying eggs! But as long as high doses of Calcivet help her it is okay for me and apparently for her as well. I do not consider an implant for her nor any hormones as these have side effects and are not really recommendable if the egg laying problems can be kept under control. Other than laying thin-shelled eggs Emmily is very lively and healthy and gives Gino a lot of slaps when he is behaving  too naughty.

Gino is the typical papagallo – he is after ANY girl but somehow Pina and Emily are very special magnets for him and I don’t know really why. Each time Gino tries to get close to one of the both ladies he receives only heavy wing slaps. Maybe he is addicted to S&M???

2/3   It was weighing day day for Jimi today again. Need a lead to be able to check his weight – he had 443 gr – so he did not really loose weight.

2/4   Jimi is doing quite okay. His poops are still looking bad but this will certainly change with time to the better.

2/5   Today I mounted the mosquito net in the bedroom and put Jimi’s box behind it. So he had more freedom to move when he wanted to stretch himself. He was very pleased about it. The net also served as a protection against wild Gino and Micky. This way they could roam the bedroom but Jimi had his peace and was not bothered.

2/6   I think Jimi is looking forward to leave his box each morning in the meanwhile. He does not look so depressed any more and even likes the company of Micky and Gino. When Micky comes alone he even tolerates her presence:

2/7   Jimi is making progress each day – just a tiny step forward each time. In the meanwhile he loves to sit on the box near the large Buddha figure – and Lord Buddha smiles. He is totally satisfied when he has his peace and can listen to the music we leave on for him for the whole day. This way he does not feel so alone when we are not here.

2/8   Jimi is doing quite okay now. He loves to be out of his box and sit where he can watch everything that is going on. It is much better for his mood not to be “hospitalized” any more.

2/9   Gino and Micky are doing a lot of nonsense while they are in coupling mode: using my fruit baskets as nest:

2/10   Today was bathing day. Oh HOW they needed it all. First Rudi and Pina got their bath in the living room. It is always so funny when they hardly can wait to jump into the water. I just had the empty green bath tub on the floor when Pina already jumped into it, looking totally disappointed because there was no water yet. Finally the warm water came and splish splash, half of the living room was already underwater.

Was weighing day for Jimi again: he has 438 gr – not too bad for a sick pijjie!

While Rudi and Pina were taking their bath in the living room I prepared another one for Micky and Gino in the bedroom. When Jimi saw this he was so eager to take a bath as well that he desperately tried to escape through the mosquito net – so I opened it. As a true gentleman he waited until Micky and Gino had finished their bath and then he jumped in and got really soaked:

And after the big bath they had their chilling time – first Rudi and Pina on the old sofa in the living room – how sweet are they?

And then Gino and Micky chilled in our bedroom:

2/12   Micky laid her first egg #15 today and as usual it was perfect.

2/13   Pina laid her first egg #74 today also. So these both girl seem to have an appointment. And of course hers was perfect as well.

2/14   Micky laid her second egg #16. Now she can relax again in her house. No more nervousness and running around like a nut and being chased by Gino. Good for her and good for us.

Gave Jimi Calcivet today to help him with his PMV relapse.

2/15   Pina laid her second egg #75. So she can relax now also. Peace for everyone!

Weighing day for Jimi again: he has lost some weightand is now on 415 gr. I am not too worried about this but have to go back to feeding more again. You see it is very important to constantly check weight on sick pijjies even if you have the feeling everything is okay. It might not be.

2/16   We have two new squeakers: Ronny and Sunny – the kiddos of Sandy and Adele:

2/20   Emily is off her plaster eggs and I have to get her back on intense Calcivet. Oh my – hopefully this time it will be better with the eggs but I fear not.

2/21   It is weighing day for Jimi again and to my joy he has increased his weight again a bit: 423 gr. That’s the right direction.

2/22   Nothing special.

~~~

Emma laid awful Eggs and Jimi has a PMV Relapse

From the

Diary as of 1/28 – 2/1/2013

1/28   Emma laid her first egg#104 and Maggie as well. Hers is #13. While Maggie’s egg was perfect Emma laid quite a bad one again.  There was a bit blood INSIDE the egg. But at least it did not break. The shell was a bit thin but it came out in one piece.

1/29   Jimi came late in the afternoon  – which he sometimes does – and I thought he wanted to eat as usual (which he did the day before) and then would leave again. He did not want to eat though  but only sat in the sandbox and gave no sign that he wanted to leave again. So I knew something was wrong. I put him in one of the boxes I am always using for sick pigeons and where Rudi and Pina are also sleeping in. I intended to keep him inside to see how his poops would look like in the morning and check whether he would eat and drink something. He drank some water but did not touch the seeds at all. His poops looked terrible, all mushy, dark brown-greenish with urinates around and a larger water part (see photos).

poops after first night

poops after second night

As he did not want to eat this morning either I gave him millet cereal with joghurt and applesauce for lunch and another portion this evening. His digestion was low, he was very calm, a bit puffed up and perched most of the time on his little saucer. His feet were warm so I refrained from giving him extra heat for the moment which might have been too much for him. His poops were still looking the same – shitty!

I wondered whether this was a sort of PMV relapse because the poops looked exactly like those of Pina and Willy when they were in the middle of a full PMV infection – not the spaghetti poops – but the mushy stuff they made from time to time.

I did not want to give him antibiotics unnecessarily when this could be resolved with propolis and probiotics. When I gave him the cereal for lunch the tube went easily into his crop. So there was no obstruction from the tumor which I feared first.

1/30   This morning I gave Jimi Propolis (on a homemade pellet and Bene Bac (probiotic).

Emma laid her second egg#105 and this time it was better. The shell was strong but very rough and there was no blood inside the egg. Maggie laid her second egg #14. A perfect one as usual.

1/31   Jimi is still sick but doing a bit better. His poops were still looking like those typical PMV poops – spaghetti-like and a large puddle of water additionally but at least the colour was better. Today he started to preen himself and he showed more interest in his seeds but did not eat any. I was still tube feeding him though to give him extra fluid and easy digestion: millet baby cereal with applesauce, polenta (corn semolina), joghurt and 2 drops of organic rapeseed oil, for breakfast, lunch and supper.

Look at this sweet chap:

Pina is such a treasure and angel. For quite a while she sat in front of Jimi’s box again, apparently to comfort him as she does with any sick creature, bird or human. I love her so much for her kind heart!!! Btw – Jimi is Pina’s uncle.

In the morning, while Gino was still on his hanging pot outside, I played with him again. So funny, as he learned the fencing game from me and Pina, he loves to play with me exactly the same way  and is really disappointed when I have to go. What a sweet little chap.

2/1   I think I have good news and am quite sure now that Jimi has the same PMV relapse in a mild form as our Pina and Micky. Other than the ladies with stargazing etc. he has it via his digestion. The poops from the night looked completely different and rather like the typical PMV – spaghetti poops. Also the colour has changed from that very dark olive green to rather light olive green. The quantity told me that he digested everything I gave him yesterday evening. So no slow crop any more. During this morning he made even better poops, more formed, not so much water again.

The poops he made before did smell only a tiny bit and only after smearing them a bit on the paper – now they are not smelling at all or are smelling normal.

Jimi also looked different today – not so tired any more and he had interest in his seeds again. I cannot say how much he ate after his cereal this morning but a few definitely went into his crop. I think in a few days he wants to leave again. Yesterday he just wanted his peace and nothing else. I know him. He was like this already as a baby.

So I am quite optimistic that Jimi will be his old self  again soon. What a clever boy that he came immediately back to his mommy when he felt bad. But then I had asked for his promise to do so the last time when he was sick!!

It is strange that our pigeons here (the ones from the balcony) do not seem to suffer from the ailments other people are so often describing. Worm infestation apparently is not a problem here and coccidia neither, at least not in a pathogenic form. I am relieved about this. I don’t want to have more patients. It’s been enough. Maybe it’s the regular good food and clean ACV water that helps them to develop an intact immune system. My greatest wish is that this will stay as it is. There is nothing more sad than a sick creature…

~~~