New Squeakers and Rudi is making Love with Micky

From the

Diary as of  7/16 – 7/31/2011

7/16   Woody introduced one of his new children to us: We called him Sunny – he is clearly a he – I think but who could know for sure. I already missed my guess for a couple of times. It is such a beautiful little guy, totally colourful with a large white cap and very cheeky and  still a squeaker with an adorable voice. The second baby is all grey but with an interesting pattern and so we called her Tiger later (and you will see why). But this one did not dare to appear on the balcony alone yet.

Sunny together with his father Woody

7/17   Sunny already appears alone – he has learned extremely quick that he gets something to eat here when he comes inside. What an amzing little chap!!!

7/18   Loki and Lotti are coming twice each day now. They are quite timid and never press to be let in. They eat their meal and then they are off again. What a sweet couple.

7/19  Sunny is regularly coming now. He totally got used to get his meals here. What a cheeky and very intelligent little chap. And so sweet!!!!

7/20  Pina is off her plaster eggs and I started treatment with Conium mac – 1 globuli 3 x per day until she is laying her first egg again. She also got Calcivet.

7/21  Charly has become a bit calmer and a bit less bossy. Apparently he is getting used to Robby and does not press her any more so fiercely as before. Maybe he starts to understand that otherwise she will leave him also. Just as Winnie did.

7/22  It is Pina’s birthday today!!!! Our little princess has turned 2 years old.

7/23  I think the Conium mac is doing its job. I have the feeling that Pina is stargazing much less and I have not seen a single seizure. I also gave her Calcivet today again.

7/24  The weather is awful: we should have summer but it is hardly 13 °C! Incredible. The pigeons are in very bad mood and hungry all the time.

Today we had 3 kids from Woody’s last 2 batches of kids eating their breakfast: Sunny, the new one, Micky from the last one and Robby who is mate already to our Charly. What a picture!

Micky (back), Sunny, Woody

Pina already laid her new egg #41 – she is 2 days early.

7/25  Pina received another Calcivet portion today. I stopped the Conium mac.

Rudi mated 3 times with Micky this morning – apparently the girl (about 5 months old)  is in love with Rudi and he would not refuse an offer of course – naughty naughty!!!!

I have quite often observed that this seems to be normal in the pigeon world: elder pigeon guys introduce young pigeon ladies into the secrets of making love

7/26  Nothing really special. All come for breakfast as usual. I have to make sure though that they do not think they don’t need to look for food for themselves from time to time. They are all soooo spoiled!!!!

Pina laid her second egg# 42 and Emma laid her first egg #73

7/27  Nothing special – weather is still awful – much too cold for July.

7/28  Emma laid her second egg #74.

Finally Tiger dared to come inside – look at her amazing feather pattern – ain’t she beautiful????

~~~

Another sad Story: Winnie has disappeared

From the

Diary as of  5/5 – 5/25/2011

5/5   Pina laid egg#35 – no more stargazing today. I am so glad. This was hopefully an exception. The reason – egg laying and a little infection because of the weather I think. We will see what happens in the future.

5/6   Pina laid egg#36. Her stargazing seems to be over. Thank heaven it had no impact on her flying abilities – she flew as usual. I also watched her outside – no sign of stargazing.

5/9   Winnie is missing since several days – exactly since Friday, the 6th of May. I am a bit worried. Charly is coming often for a snack and never stays long. But he does not behave differently than before and he still flies away into the same direction as always. Strange. I have no explanation.

5/10   There is still no Winnie!!!! What happened to her?  I am so unhappy and worried. My little baby – if I only knew what was going on.

5/14   Winnie is still missing but Charly comes every day. What is happening here? My suspicion is that Charly has driven her off i.e. Winnie did not want to accept his rude behaviour any longer as she is a very self confident and proud pigeon and went away. I am so sad and Charly has turned into a little monster. If his dad Pete knew in his grave he would jump out..

5/17   Pina should be off her eggs by now but is still stitting. Good for her! The longer the pause the better for her.

5/20   I think I have to face the fact that Winnie is not coming back. Apparently she has left Charly – probably because of his rude behaviour. I do not want to think and imagine her being dead. This is impossible for me. Not my sweet baby. So I assume that she left for good – or maybe the egg fertilizing did not work or whatever. But I think it is Charly and his behaviour. He is very macho!!!

I am so sad. I am crying. I miss her terribly. This is because she was so sick and I had her for so many months to cure her from her PMV.

5/25   Where are you Winnie, my baby?

Winnie is on the right – 5 days old

Winnie 8 days old

Winnie on the right- 15 days old

Winnie on the right – 19 days old

Winnie on the left – our Jimi on the right

Jimi and Winnie on my back

beautiful grown-up Winnie

The whole family from left to right: Winnie, Jimi, Pete, Emma

Btw – Winnie is Pina’s mom. I will never forget her. May she have a long long happy life!!!

~

 

mmm

Babies and Youngsters and a Broken Tail

From the

Diary as of  3/17 – 3/31/2011

3/17   One of our black pigeons has  completely torn tail feathers since quite some time. I am sure also he was caught by an animal or human ass and luckily escaped. But you can see that he has a trauma – he is very shy and very frightful. Poor pigeon. It takes time to get over this experience. But at least he has survived without being really injured. But I can see that he really has difficulties to navigate with this torn tail. We called him Broken Tail.

3/18   A young black pigeon has appeared on the balcony a couple of days ago. I am not sure who her parents are – we called her Ruby. Such a sweet bird with a lovely face. Her black feathers are all lined with a golden colour. Very nice graphic pattern. And she is tiny – half the size of our Jimi, weighing probably no more than 200 gr. But she is no squeaker any more and has no baby feathers. So I think she is about 2 and 1/2 months old.

3/20   Ruby is now appearing every day to get her share of seeds – which is really good so she can grow  bit more and get some good basis for her future life. She is the first youngster we have seen in months!!!! Where are all those youngsters we used to see regularly?

3/22   Jimi’s hole from the tumor is slowly closing – not quite yet but is healing and he eats with great appetite. So I am not going to bother him again. He seems to be perfectly okay.

3/23   Since several days a new couple with extraordinarily beautiful colours have appeared on the opposite building – grey,with reddish hues and white. Very beautiful and completely different to those which are around here. They haven’t come nearer though so that I could have photographed them but I hope they will do eventually.

3/25   Jimi is currently eating like a pig – HE MUST HAVE KIDDOS – because the amount he is eating cannot be for himself alone. But he never appears with a partner which I find really strange.  All others eventually do. Apparently he wants to keep his home and whereabouts a secret! But he still needs his little ritual where I have to lie on my belly on the floor and feed him his beloved sunflower hearts per hand directly in front of my face. He does not leave as long as he had not had his goodies. What a bird!

3/26   Winnie and Charly still haven’t brought their children. But as they are still feeding a lot here I think they must be okay otherwise they would not need so much food.

3/27   Another young pigeon has appeared since a couple of days and I believe it’s potentially Ruby’s little sister or brother. A grey one, also very tiny and about the same age as Ruby. Very shy still but learning but still a squeaker. Of course she is mobbed by all the others and still has that baby voice when squeaking and when she is being pecked at.

3/28   Snowy and Sooty haven’t appeared now for a couple of days and I think they are gone to build their own little family somewhere else. Patchy and her partner are gone since several weeks. I am a bit sad because they were both so sweet, the children of Flecky, who has disappeared a long time ago.

But this is necessary for the gene pool – otherwise they are weakening the flock if they don’t allow new blood to come in and exchange their own genes with others. Still it is always sad if the loved ones are gone.

Emily is cuddling with Lucky again – I think she will soon leave her plaster eggs to start a new breeding cycle. And Lucky – he is taking care of Pete’s kingdom. A big responsibility and he is still sooooooo young – not even one year old!!! (pics next time)

3/29    I am pretty sure now that our newest addition – a youngster we called Weasly – is Winnie’s and Charly’s child. Weasly’s colour is that of young Winnie without any white spots though – so the proof is missing. But his behaviour and that of Charly tells me that Weasly is Charly’s little boy or daughter.

Weasly is so sweet and appears from now on daily. I can slightly remember that Winnie and Charly had appeared with him/her about 2 weeks ago as if to introduce him to his new home but I only saw a little grey shadow without being able to identify him clearly – I only saw a little grey pigeon for a second and then he was gone again. But now I am sure it was Weasly.

3/31   Here are finally some pics of Weasly:

~

Pina is in a bad Mood and Mr. Neighbour lost his Tail

From the

Diary as of  12/1  – 12/14/2010

12/1  It is heavily snowing and while Rudi stayed outside for quite some time Pina did not like this weather at all and was quickly in again – in a very bad mood. Started to throw all her seeds out of the pots and then started to mess up the freshly made sand box also….

Treated Rudi’s feet with DMSO again.

12/2   Today Rudi went out again – came back after nearly 2 hours – not bad for this cold weather.

12/3   I think Rudi’s feet have improved again a little bit. The middle toe on his bad left foot seems to be not as stiff as before any more.

12/5   Nothing special – everybody comes in for breakfast. Emily came for feeding at least 5 times. She is always playing the kolibri or scratches at the door. Very sweet. And lazy! But why should she not grab what’s offered to her???? Clever girl!

12/7   Rudi was out for 2 hours today. The weather was mild and quite sunny – he apparently enjoyed being outside very much. Later on Pina enjoyed being outside also.

12/8   Weather is still quite mild. The pijjies do not eat so much as during the last days.

I am so happy because Winnie and Charly really seem to be a couple now and it seems as if Winnie is really in love with Charly because she always tries to kiss him and is near him. What a cute pair. Today they sat together in the food box, Winnie groomed Charly’s head and he growled all the time in contentment.

Today I saw Mr. Neighbour – he has lost all his tail feathers. This looked quite strange because he is quite a large bird but now he seemed to be very short because of his missing tail. How on earth can he properly navigate now?

You see – his tail feathers were entirely gone! Must have been an attack by a dog or cat? Thank heaven he did not show any injuries. The poor little chap!!!

12/11   Today Emma left her plaster eggs and spend the night with Pete on the cardboard box on the left side of our balcony, huddled closely together. Although Pete is betraying her all the time he would never leave Emma. Today I saw him kissing with Snowy – tztztztz

12/12    Today Pina left  her plaster eggs and tonight she is sleeping in her box again side by side with Rudi on the sofa.

12/14   Nothing special to report…

Rudi’s new Treatment and Charly has become Winnie’s Mate after all

From the

Diary as of  10/28  – 11/7/10

10/28   Started to treat Rudi’s feet with DMSO (Di-methylsulfoxid) which is supposed to help his stiff toes. It’s a chemical that is used with horses after suffering from injuries of their joints. I don’t know whether this will help Rudi’s feet which are continuing to heal but one toe of his good left foot is stiff and three toes of his bad right foot are stiff at the moment. This will cause him severe problems balancing on narrow borders.

10/29   Treated Rudi’s feet. Despite he does not really like to be handled Rudi is behaving really like a very good patient. He is very calm and patient. He knows quite well what I am doing and I adore his trust in me. What a sweet pigeon boy!

10/30   Treated Rudi’s feet again. I have noticed that after the treatment the blood circulation seems to improve radically which is good.

10/31   Gave a pause to treatment

11/1    Winnie definitely has become Charlie’s mate after all. I cannot tell you how happy I am about this. Winnie has been alone for so long after Willy had disappeared. And Charly is so beautiful, strong and bossy – LOL. They have been mating in front of my eyes and each day they appear together and are kissing and cuddling all the time.

…and Rudi cannot stand this at all!!!!

Rudi had another treatment – day4

11/2   Treatment pause for Rudi.

11/3   Because the weather was quite nice I gave them all a bath outside on the balcony. Especially Pete was so pleased that he did not want ot leave the water – lying in the bath for at least half an hour. Also Rudi enjoyed it tremendously!

Treated Rudi’s feet again. A huge chunk of dry pus came off from one of his toes and even left a little hole which will be closed soon. I could see the new tissue though – which is very good.

11/7   Nothing special these days besides that all of our pijjies enjoyed the rather mild and sunny November weather which is quite unusual.

Rudi has Diarrhea and Winnie a new Lover: Charly

From the

Diary as of  10/1  – 10/15/10

10/1 While we were away for a couple of hours Rudi was outside and waiting for us when we came home. Apparently he was feeling quite cold because he was awfully trembling. But when he was inside and ate something he quickly recovered and was happy and content afterwards.

10/2 Pina had quite some fun today and Rudi was out the whole morning. Nothing special happening…

Every day the typical feeding ritual:

10/8 Rudi is going to bed all on his own: each day at around the same time depending on the light he jumps down from his favourite perch on the board at the window and walks straight into his box, looks at me as if he wants to ask me when I am going to close the cover and then usually takes a little snack and a drink and goes to sleep. Isn’t this cute? All our pijjies behave like trained poudles – that’s why we call them “poudles” – not pijjies. So it is Pina poudle, Rudi poudle and so on… LOL. We really have a crazy bunch of birds and I would not know what to do without them. They bring so much sunshine into our hearts….

10/10 Today is Sunday and normally Pina’s round of egg sitting would be finished but she is still sitting on her eggs on the closet. I am glad about this because it gives her body some rest.

10/11 Rudi has diarrhea. His poops have become quite wet during the night and he started to drink quite much. But I am waiting whether this is going away by itself – no medication yet. He is a strong pigeon despite his feet otherwise he would not have survived for so long.

10/12 Emma and Pete are courting again and fully in love. It is so sweet to watch them how they exchange kisses and groom each other with great care. And although Pete is not very faithful towards Emma and betrays her where and whenever he can, he always returns to her and never really leaves her. What a couple!

10/13 Rudi’s poops are really wet now i.e. his box really became quite drenched during the night. But as long as he still eats well I am not giving him any medicine.

10/14 Rudi’s poops look a tiny bit better. I think that the cause for his diarrhea is the weather. Pigeons are really very dependant on weather conditions, some more some less. Pete f.e. develops really bad poop as soon as the weather is getting cold and wet.

10/15 Rudi’s poops have improved and the colour has changed back to rather normal. Also the “whites” are back so he definitely does not have any kidney problems. I am confident that this is  further improving without my intervention.

Yippee!!!!! Winnie has found a partner after 11 months!! since Willy had become sick: Charly. He is still very young – just 4 1/2 months but he is definitely precocious and in hormonal stress already since a few weeks. Now this seems to be resolved. I saw them both grooming each other lovingly and kissing. I am so glad for Winnie and she seems to be happy now. Charly is a beautifuly strong and tall bird – a bit young though but will be a nice partner for Winnie and so similar to Willy regarding behaviour. I really hope that they stay together. I want so very much that Winnie becomes a happy little pijjie again.

Oh – did I tell you that Charly is Pete’s last son? Yes – he is and a very unusual bird! Here are some photos:

~

Rudi can walk again

From the

Diary as of  8/12 – 8/31/10

8/12 I am still bathing Rudi’s feet every morning because they are caked in poop. This does not help the healing. So I have to do the extra work for him. But he seems to be in a good mood, is preening regularly and tries to stand on his feet.

8/13 Emma lays egg #53

Rudi is more often standing on his feet now. His former good one which was newly inflammated looks a bit better now – still quite swollen though and I still do not know whether he will lose some of his toes. It takes time.

Winnie looks a bit sad today – she is often on the balcony – I don’t know whether she is still together with Paulchen – I haven’t seen him.

Pina is still sitting on her plaster eggs the whole day with some small pauses in between where she runs from her nest to get something to eat and to drink. Then she quickly runs back to her nest. Soooooooooooooooo sweet.  And in her usual hasty modes. I love her so much. She is doing very well I think.

Sneeky is becoming a real pain in the a.. – she is always hungry and a nerve – not really but I had to say this.

My mom’s birthday: she would have been 83 today! What a sad day. How she would have loved to hear all these pijjie stories…

8/21 As usual – Jimi and Winnie are coming often to get their snacks and meet their friends on the balcony.

8/22 Rudi is on the balcony (in his hospital box of course) for the whole day and he enjoys the sun and fresh air very much.

Pina often jumps from her nest and visits Rudi outside. Her interest for him is growing. Her egg duty should be over in a couple of days. When Rudi’s box is inside she would often sit aside his box and talk to him in a very low voice. Very sweet.

8/23 After Rudi was on the balcony for the whole morning again I decided that Rudi should be allowed to leave his box for the first time in the afternoon – i.e. I opened the cover and Pina jumped so quickly into Rudi’s box that I could not react any more. You would not believe how they greeted each other. Pina immediately started to groom him heavily and he could hardly believe his luck. Both were so incredibly happy.

Since a few days Rudi is walking on his feet – not hopping – walking – and the swelling has come down considerably so I thought I can let him out of the box so that he could train his wing muscles better and he has a better possibility to walk.

And here is a little video I made a little while ago to show how good he could walk again although in between I had to remove his ring again because his “good” foot was inflammated again and swollen and the ring became a bit narrow so I took it off until the foot looked okay again.

8/24 Pina has further increased her weight:  she is now on 355 gr which is really good for her immune system – there’s some substance on her body now.

8/28 On the balcony nothing special – all are getting their breakfast, flying around being happy. Jimmy and Winnie continue to appear regularly several times a day.

8/31 Weighing day for Pina:  375 gr now which seems to be quite high – but apparently she has not pooped yet…need to know how much those abominable stinky heaps can weigh….