Friday night. Kevin and Sophie are 35 and 34 days old, a full five weeks today and tomorrow. I returned from Pattaya this afternoon, and they’re alive and well. Sophie went missing Monday night. I could still give Kevin his medicine that night, but he started flying and eluded me on Tuesday before I left. So Kevin had a full seven days of treatment, Sophie 6-1/2. Seems to have taken. The pustules are not gone yet but seem to be diminishing in size. They seem healthy and active. Sophie was gone just the one night, and the wife told me Kevin was gone the next, but they’ve both been here each night since and are out there now. Cute but Mama will now jump in the window to ask for her own pile of food, then I’ll give her her own pile, but then a kid will wander over and she’ll jump up again. Nah, Mama, just deal with it.
Tuesday morning, and we don’t quite have another squab yet, bur he’s a-comin’. Little Matthew started chipping his way out of the egg yesterday. We could see a tiny hole and some movement through it. Then a bigger hole last night. And a still bigger hole this morning, with movement continuing. He should be out today. We await him anxiously. 
Meanwhile, Kevin and Sophie, ages 39 and 38 days now, respectively, are doing fine. Looking like real little pidgees. Still here at night, missed just the one each. Pustules are diminishing in size, so the virus has been beat. And we have enough medicine to treat the new batch should it be necessary.
Patrick, 7-1/2 months old, and Lydia, 6-1/2 months, still stop by for a while during the day, but Mom and Dad have really put their foot down and chase them away if they try to stay here at night.
Just a note before signing off. Fortunately Dad is on the nest, and unlike Mama, who wing-slaps any hand that draws near, I can raise him up and look under. That hole is getting bigger and movement more obvious.
Hopefully by now he’s out of the egg! That must be so cool to see something like that, the progress.
Yes it is. And … little Matthew is out of the egg. He popped out a short while after my last post, maybe 30 minutes. Lifting up The Bully, I saw his bottom half free but his top half still stuck inside the egg. Then a little later he was out completely, and The Bully was taking the two shell halves and dropping them over the side of the balcony, giving me a clear view of a damp little squab just minutes old.
No word on Mochi yet. Not sure there’s any activity there yet.
Matthew is two days old and healthy. Sadly, I don’t think we’re going to have a Mochi this round. The egg’s not hatched. Even more sadly, it looks like there’s a tiny chink in the shell, so she may have started breaking out before suddenly dying. But Matthew will make it.
Only 5-1/2 weeks old and both Kevin and Sophie have had to have their little butts squirted for chasing Mama away from the food. Hasn’t been two weeks since they were getting fed by dear, beloved old Mama. They’re still here at night.
More news, a bit sad, but I need to mention it. The wife and I are firming up our plans to move back to the US. It could come as late as 2017, but more likely is the middle of next year. I would go first to set things up, so the wife would still be here for a couple of months. We are worried about the pidgees, but they are, after all, wild and did lose one other home somewhere else already. They’ll survive. But we could rent our place out to some other bird lovers. We hadn’t thought seriously about selling it, but one of the wife’s cousins has expressed interest in buying it, and she knows about the pidgees. That may be a solution. But it’s still early. I’ll let you know of developments as they happen.
Dad’s on the nest now, so I was able to inspect the other egg more closely. It seems what I thought was a little chink in the shell was actually a small piece of shit stuck to it. I’m afraid we have a dud egg, but I’ll leave it there for a few days. I’m wondering now if the dud is actually the first egg, because the other egg seemed to hatch just a tad late. Could Matthew actually be Mochi? But no, we’ve decreed the first one out is a male, and he shall be named Matthew. Maybe Mochi will come next time.
Awww, too bad for Mochi.
Yeah. Thursday night and still no go. I’ll give it a couple more days, but I’m afraid it’s a dud. Mochi will be in the next batch.
Kevin and Sophie’s pustule condition continues to improve. They turn six weeks tomorrow and Saturday. Kevin’s taken to jumping in the window and peering in, especially at night. We think he’s confused about why the sun is shining in here while it’s dark outside. Both of them line up for snackies too. May be difficult to get them to leave, but Mom and Dad will lend a hand, I’m sure.
Saturday afternoon, and I have removed the dud egg. Little Matthew is doing fine. Four days old and eyes open. Look at any of the photos of four-day-old squabs and that’s about what he looks like now. It will be a few days before he starts developing distinguishing features.
Matthew is nine days old and healthy. The parents are now preparing for the next clutch, using the flower box this time. Kevin and Sophie will be seven weeks old this weekend, and now we think both are males. Sophie has turned aggressive and will attack Mama. 
The wife had to spray her with the water bottle last night to get “her” (him?) to stop, and she flew off into the night.
As I sit here typing this, I can hear The Bully cooing for his sweetie while standing in the flower box.
Get a room you two!
Sunday night and we have another egg! In the flower box. This marks the official end of Ladyboy’s care of 12-day-old Matthew. The Bully is taking over that job now. Hatchings should begin December 2 or 3. This batch will be Marcus and Mochi. (We’re trying for a Mochi again.)
And we watched Mama lay the egg today too. Didn’t actually see it slip out this time, but we saw the moment, because she raised up her tail rather high, which we know from experience means she’s just dropped an egg. Sure enough, a close inspection revealed an egg underneath her. She’d been acting sluggish all day, and The Bully was doing the standing-guard bit, so we figured it was coming.
If there are Christmas eggs, how about Rudolph and Clarice?
I’m sure there’ll be some Christmas eggs. These are a couple of little baby-making machines.
And we have the second egg. Laid yesterday evening (Tuesday evening). Always in the evening, always two days apart. So that’s Marcus and Mochi. The following batch, if any (yeah, as if we could stop them), will be Rudolph and Clarice. But let’s get through this batch first.
At 7-1/2 weeks old, Kevin and Sophie are getting chased away now by Mom and Dad. Kevin didn’t even bother showing back up last night, but Sophie sneaked in and slept in her usual spot.
Matthew is 15 days old now. Will be a beautiful white. I’ll post some pictures soon.
I remember a scene in Jaws, where Hooper said sharks did just three things. They swim, they eat, and they make little sharks. Sounds as if Ladyboy and the Bully are the pidgee equivalent. They fly, they eat, and the make little pidgees.
And I’ll say it again Funny how people keep birds in cages to prevent them flying away. These guys have firmly established their residence out there.
And now we bring you some BREAKING NEWS: Pigeons spot cancer as well as human experts
New photos.
First, just because it’s included, here’s me floating in the Gulf of Thailand off Pattaya late last month.
Now for Matthew: Here he is just a little over an hour old on November 3. Dad’s disposed of the shells already. And here’s Dad wondering what I’m doing. Sadly, the other egg did not hatch.
Matthew age one week, with eyes wide open.
The 10 days old. And in profile. The parents are preparing the flower box for the next clutch of eggs. I got the foreground on that last one out of focus, but that’s The Bully in the flower box and Ladyboy on the rail. She started laying the new eggs two days later.
And 18 days old last Saturday. again slightly out of focus. Sorry about that.
Age 19 days this past Sunday. I put him on the floor. It always seems to astonish the new ones. And again.
Ans all the photos can be seen on a single page here.
Today is Saturday, and Matthew is 25 days old. He hasn’t jumped out of the tree pot yet, presumably because it’s so tall and he’s not cramped for space by a sibling. I think he’d have hopped out by now if he’d been in the lower flower box. He’s been doing helicopters too. So today I’ve set him on the ground and let him run around a little. He seems shocked. Hasn’t tried to get back into the tree pot. Still healthy and showing no signs of virus.
Although we see his mate Geri almost every day, Henry stopped by on Thursday for the first time in weeks that we’ve seen. He must be off the nest again. Gave him and Geri a little Thanksgiving feast.
Mom and Dad are on the new eggs, and hatchings should start next Wednesday or Thursday.