Yay for George! And c’mon Gracie! You can do it!
Thursday morning, and Little Pidgee did not lay the second egg yesterday, so we expect it today. I don’t think she’s ever laid eggs more than two days apart. She’s out there now, rearranging some of the twigs in the nest.
And there was a flurry of nest-building activity yesterday, a little late, I think. It’s like they suddenly realized they should build up the nest, but Big Pidgee kept flying in new twigs for a while.
And we have the second pigeon egg! 
Little Pidgee laid it about the noon hour yesterday (Thursday). I looked out again around 1:30pm and suddenly noticed it there. Wasn’t there in the morning.
So, Baker, George and Gracie are out there incubating away now. All we have to do is sit back and wait. Although George could very well hatch before we return, the earliest Gracie could hatch, by our calculations, is May 10, and we’ll be back by then.
More furious nest-building yesterday, and it’s looking good agin. Funny that they waited so long this time.
Not much to report. Big and Little Pidgee are taking their usual shifts every day now, settling back into the old rhythm. It’s the hot season, but while it was sweltering last week, the week before was extremely rainy. This week’s been a bit wet too, and the heavens opened up wide and long on Monday night. The flower box is somewhat protected from the elements, but this sort of heavy downpour can’t be guarded against completely, and poor Little Pidgee got a bit damp. But not too bad. The eggs came out of it okay.
In a couple of days, the wife and I are heading down South for a week’s beach holiday. We’ll be on Railay Beach in Krabi province. It’s on the mainland but accessible only by boat, because steep limestone cliffs cut it off from the rest of the peninsula. It’s been called the most stunning beach location in all of Thailand, with emerald silk water punctured by surreal limestone formations. The cliffs make it one the world’s top rock-climbing spots, but you’d be more likely to see an elephant rock climbing than you would me. In fact, if I did rock climb, you might indeed think that was an elephant scaling the cliff. No, we may do a little sea kayaking and snorkelling, but mostly we’ll just hang out at the pool or on the beach, and I’ll be knocking back some brewskis. We’ve never been to Krabi before and are looking forward to it.
The wife’s sister will stop by once or twice to water the plants on the balcony and add water for the pidgees. (We’ve assured her they won’t attack her.) Little George is due to hatch anytime from May 8-10, and we’ll be back about halfway during that time frame. The pidgees will have a good rest with no one bothering them for a change.
Envy! I live in Kansas and so seldom see a beach. Have a good time! I’ll keep my fingers crossed you get back to see George hatch.
We’re back, and … we have a squab!
We returned about 6pm last night (Saturday night) to find Little Pidgee but no signs of any squabs. She was hiding the eggs pretty well, but we could see the outline of at least one. We figured neither had hatched. This morning (Sunday morning), I got up to find two pieces of an open egg scattered about inside the box. Later, I detected the butt end of a squab poking out from underneath Little Pidgee. So little George has just hatched :)
. We went to bed close to midnight, so we’re sure his hatching was today, May 10. Gracie has yet to emerge but could anytime between now and Tuesday.
We had one hellacious storm last night. Poor Little Pidgee got a little wet. George may have finally come out to see what that was all about.
And we’ve had a clear view of little George now. We watched Mamma give him a feeding. Cute little guy!
Big Pidgee was on the nearby window frames earlier this morning, then left. He’s not met his new son yet.
Come on Gracie! Don’t be shy!
You know, I think I’m going to try and find out what gender distribution is among pigeons. I mean, are the eggs the always same gender, or one of each?
Did you have a good vacation Sam?
Yes, we did, thanks. It was very nice. While down there, we visited the Phi Phi Islands, including Maya Bay, where the beach scenes for The Beach (1999) were filmed.
Monday morning, and still no Gracie. The Switch just occurred, so we had a clear view of the egg and day-old George. George is doing well.
We had a bit of drama late yesterday afternoon (Sunday afternoon). The balcony was not too dirty, but we felt it needed a little cleaning. We could see another storm moving in, so we decided to do it quickly. I moved the flower box, with Big Pidgee in it, over to the other side and started cleaning the area where it usually sits. Big Pidgee rode over with the box okay, but as has happened before with Little Pidgee, he became extremely concerned with what exactly we were doing with their living area and hopped out of the box to come see. This happened once before with Little Pidgee; they sometimes seem more concerned with what we’re doing to their prized living area than they are with the kids.
So Big Pidgee hopped out to go look. He made his way along the concrete verge. Since he was right there, I thought I might try to touch him, but he wasn’t going to stand for that and flew away. So I finished cleaning just as the storm hit. But Big Pidgee was still gone, and it seems pigeons don’t like to fly in the rain. I quickly moved the box back, but no parent was here to protect George and the egg.
It was not raining too hard, certainly not like Saturday night, but a little rain was coming in. The area where the box stays is the best-protected spot on the balcony, being up against a wall that blocks a lot of the weather, but it’s not 100%. So I fended off the rain and wind with my hands. Then the wife handed me out an umbrella, and I used that. It worked well. They stayed dry, and the wind was kept off of them. George kept scuttling around looking for a parent – his eyes are not yet open – but I kept stroking him with a finger to let him know he was not alone. I don’t know what he thought about that, if he’s old enough to think me a possible predator, but he seemed okay.
Then the wife thought maybe the egg would get too cold, so we thought of putting them in the empty water dish that I was going to scrub out and taking them inside. I put little George in the dish, and the wife and I were petting him. At this point, I’m still standing outside, because I’ve not put the egg in it yet, the wife is just inside holding the dish, and we’re stroking little George, age about 12 hours, give or take a couple of hours. The rain starts letting up while we’re doing this, and then I suddenly hear a cooing sound. It’s Big Pidgee! He’d flown to a nearby window frame in the lighter rain and was giving me the evil eye. I took the cooing to be asking: “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!?”
So I quickly replaced George in the flower box. Even before I stepped all the way back inside, Big Pidgee landed in the middle of the balcony and then ran, not walked but RAN straight to the box and hopped in, glaring at us the whole time.
It was still raining slightly when Little Pidgee showed up for the Switch a little while later. I had not replaced the water dish yet at that point, waiting for the rain to stop completely instead. You can always see their surprise if the water dish is missing. she must have been thirsty, because she strated trying to drink raindrops off the floor. I quickly filled the dish with water and stuck it outside, and sure enough she came for a drink.
So, to date, George is the only pigeon who has actually made it inside our place.
Big Pidgee is out there on the egg and George now, staring at me as I type this.
Aw! You were so good to protect the George and the egg, and all you get is Pigeon glares!
No good deed goes unpunished.
Tuesday morning and still no Gracie. 
The Switch just occurred, and I had a clear view of 2-day-old George and the egg. But we’re still within the time window. The egg is 19 days old now, and Holly was an afternoon hatcher, too.
And today marks one full year since we returned from the North and discovered the pigeons had moved in and laid a clutch of eggs in that old empty flowerpot we’d left out there.
Have you ever had any eggs that failed to hatch? I don’t remember for sure, but I think that if there had been an infertile egg I’d have remembered that.
George can’t be without his Gracie!
Wednesday morning and still no Gracie. No, all of the eggs have hatched so far. We’re entering uncharted territory, as the egg has been there for 20 days now. The info I’ve read says it should hatch at 17-19 days, and I think they’ve all hatched at 17 or 18 days before. George is already 3 days old.
That was written one year ago today. How true it turned out to be!
Will try to post new photos by the weekend.
Have you considered netting the little bastards just before they fly away, and having them for lunch?
I’m kidding! I love this thread and hope it continues.
BTW, I have a question about pigeons and their ecosystems.
I grew up on a farm in central Illinois. At the time, we had pigs and cattle, then only pigs, but we always had a buttload of pigeons in the barn. The livestock are long gone, and pigeons are now rare, if present at all.
Any theories about this? I realize that Sam, as an urban dweller, may have no idea, but others following this thread might be able to shed some light.
For example, I doubt that pigeons’ diets consist mainly of poo. So what could be the difference?
Maybe they were pecking the undigested grains in the poo? And with no more poo, no more grains? Maybe they were also helping themselves to spilled animal feed.
Thursday morning, and it’s not looking good for Gracie, I’m afraid. George is four days old now, but the other egg is still there. It’s three weeks now. If the egg is not going to hatch, I hope it’s a case of an unfertilized egg and not that Gracie died during incubation for some reason.
Now, here’s a thought: IS that George out there? Or could it be Gracie who hatched? The squab hatched on Sunday. On that day, the first egg was 19 days old, the second one 17 days old. I suppose it could have been either egg that hatched, and I just assumed it was George. If the other egg does not hatch, I suppose we’ll never know for sure.
If the egg is unfertilized, is that a sign of old or middle age in a pigeon? Big Pidgee sure gave it the old college try; they were screwing ALL the time there for a while. We were assuming the parents were a young couple, but we don’t really know that.
And I wonder how long we should wait before removing the egg. Poor parents keep sitting on it.
Well, by suggesting the names I hope I didn’t put a hex on the eggs or something. Dang.
Friday morning, and George is 5 days old. The other egg is 22 days old … or 24 days if it’s the first one after all. But we’re going to assume the squab came from the first egg.
Nah, I don’t think hexes travel that far. It’s just one of those things. I am curious if this is a sign that Little Pidgee is getting on in years.
We’d not had too good a look at George before today. The parents have been keeping him covered better in the process of still sitting on the other egg. Before, two growing, wiggly squabs were difficult to keep concealed after a few days, but George alone is not. This morning, however, Little Pidgee has gone off for breakfast, and Big Pidgee’s not arrived yet, so little Goerge is out there all by himself. He uses the egg for a pillow. Sad :(. He’ll not have a sibling to keep him company or play with.
We’re wondering if and how not having a sibling to interact with will affect his development. I’ll try to take up the slack some, hehehe. This morning, for instance, I picked him up. He did not seem at all afraid. Kept looking around. BIG eyes now; they opened a couple of days ago. To make it official that George is the first pigeon to make it inside our home, I carried him all the way inside. The wife took pictures. Again, he didn’t seem the least bit afraid. No trembling. Seemed to hope I was there to feed him if anything; kept testing out my finger to see if he could hook into it like a paent’s beak.
Will post photos this weekend.
It’s sad there’ll be no Gracie. It should be two of them. Maybe, since he’s already George, you could say instead he’s named for that line in several Warner Brother’s cartoons “And I will love him and pet him and hold him and squeeze him and I will name him George.”
I’ve explained to the wife about Goerge Gobel and how he was called Lonesome George, and that may get used a lot.
Yeah, sad about Gracie. I really wonder what went wrong. Looking at the egg, it seems intact; no cracks that may have led to a halt in development that I can see. I’m reluctant to remove the egg yet, JUST in case, but at this point I think it’s past hope. Will leave it a few days more. Need to research what happened. Even if it’s an unfertilized egg, why did it go unfertilized?