Kenny’s an active little bugger, scooting all around. And Laurie’s trying to come out. There’s a little hole in the other egg, and we can detect movement inside.
VunderBob, what’s up with that mourning dove egg now?
Yay! How’s the family handling the newcomers?
And we have the second squab! Little Laurie has followed her brother into this world. It’s about 5:30am now, and she must have hatched very recently, as she still looks a little damp. We went to bed about 10:30 last night, and she was still in her egg, but the hole, while still small, had grown a bit larger, and we could see movement inside more easily. Laurie now shares a birthday with my wife as well as with President Obama (except it’s still the 3rd in the US).
So far, no reaction from Charlie and Mandie. They’re off exploring most of the day, so they’ve not had much opportunity to see their new siblings yet. But from past experience, we know they’ll just ignore them.
We’ve bitten the bullet and stopped the night feedings. If they start giving us the sad looks, we close the curtains. We have to try to encourage the old squabs to leave the nest.
Funny, but The Bully always gets rid of the eggshells. He tossed out Charlie’s yesterday. Laurie’s is still in the pot, but that’s just because Mama sits on the nest at night.
I’ll try to get those new videos up soon.
What’s it going to be about?
Oh, about 30 seconds to a minute each.
So The Bully is a pidgee Felix Unger? Fussy about clutter?
I know about those begging looks, although I don’t have pidgees. I do, however, have a dachshund with big, brown eyes.
Too bad the pidgee board you used to go to is down. It sounded like a fun resource.
The Bully doesn’t even like the eggshells in the other tree pot. I put a big one from the last batch in there for decoration, and he took it and dropped it off the edge of the balcony. This time he just tossed it onto the floor.
Congratulations for the new babies! And happy birthday to Mrs. Sam!
Kenny and Laurie are 2 days and 1 day, respectively. Funny but Kenny has a dark face and beak, while Laurie’s is pinkish, almost flesh-colored. Who knows if they’ll grow out of that.
For some reason I could not upload photos or video to the wife’s laptop last night. But we have the PC back from the repair shop, and I’ll try to again on that soon.
It appears that the mourning doves have abandoned the nest they built on my porch. There is still one egg, and it’s been too long for hatching, so I assume it failed. I’ll wait until tomorrow to evict the nest.
Yes, it’s a failed egg. We had one with the previous pigeons, Big Pidgee and Little Pidgee. Sorry it didn’t work out.
Yesterday (Monday), Charlie and Mandie turned seven weeks old, so today they’re a full 50 days. Strong, healthy little guys. The new squabs are now three and two days old. I think the parents are ready for the old squabs to go. We’ve noticed since the new hatchings that Lady boy will start twitching one wing if they get too close to the nest while she’s on it. The right or left wing, depending on which side is closest to them. And yesterday she flat-out pecked Mandie away when she came too close. The kids spend almost all day gone now but still come back to sleep. But Mandie did return early enough to attack one “intruder.” Tough girl.
New photos!
Three from July 29: Ladyboy the mother and her two new eggs. A family portrait, with (from the top) Charlie, Mandie (both 6 weeks old here), Ladyboy and The Bully along with Squeak, who seems to belong to Henry and Geri. And Mandie, age 6 weeks (or 42 days).
Then last Friday, August 2, Kenny is starting to break out of his egg. Note the “chip” in the upper right of the lower egg. That was made from the inside.
And on Saturday, August 3, Kenny has fully emerged. I love freshly hatched pidgees, as they’re so fresh and pink. Note Kenny’s pink face and beak. Those turned black in just about a day.
And the next day, Sunday, August 4, Kenny is joined by little Laurie, here and here. In the first picture, note her little feet (she’s on her back here too).
And then yesterday (Monday), August 5, we see the first set of squabs at 7 weeks, with Mama on her new squabs. You’ll notice Ladyboy’s feathers seem a little pushed out down below, the result of a squab. And Charlie is doing a one-legged stand.
The eggshells have all been disposed of. I cleaned out there yesterday and put the one shell that was still down on the floor in the other tree pot as a decoration, but it’s disappeared. We expect The Bully must have taken it and dropped it over the side like he’s done before. He really doesn’t want those cluttering up the home. Maybe they confuse him. I recall Big Pidgee and Little Pidgee just let them be squashed into the nest, and Ladyboy doesn’t seem to mind them.
Working on the videos now.
And in addition to the still photos of my previous post, I’ve uploaded four short videos to YouTube. 
First we have Ladyboy coming back to sit on the eggs while it’s raining out. She’d fled when I opened the door but didn’t fly out into the rain. Monday, July 29.
This one is really neat even though the lighting is not good. It’s 4am last Saturday, August 3. I give you little Kenny trying to break out. Watch carefully. But it seemed like this would take awhile, so I said screw it and went to bed.
But then Kenny is out later that morning. And wiggling like a pro. The pigeon cooing you hear may be from Henry. I think he was mad at another pidgee.
And finally, Kenny is joined by his sister Laurie the next day, Sunday, August 4. More pigeon sounds too including their toenails on the top rail. This might be the one with the sound of Henry. Or both of them. Dunno now.
Late Wednesday morning, the squabs are 3 and 4 days old, and their eyes are open now. Three days is pretty fast. Seems like five days is the norm for eye openings. They’re both growing big, and the pinkness of Laurie’s face and beak have about all turned to dark almost overnight. It looks like it may be hard to tell which is which soon. And their rapid bigness makes me think maybe we have two males on our hands. If so, tough luck for Laurie. 
Hey, one of the Little Women married a Laurie.
And of course, there’s always Hugh Laurie. 
Those videos are great! I love little Kenny breaking out. 
If Laurie’s a boy, maybe you could call him Hugh Laurie.
Ha! Ninja’d you!
The squabs are enjoying little breast massages from me. They’re not old enough yet to think to be afraid.
Great minds think alike.
Thursday night and The Bully got into a fight with Charlie. Or so the wife tells me. I was away at the time. They’re all out there now, but I think the parents want them to leave. We’re not giving night feedings now. The squabs – teenagers now – are off in the daytime, so maybe they’ll find a new home soon.
The new squabs are just starting to enter the awkward phase. The feet especially are lengthening and looking rather ugly. I’m starting to see maybe the very beginnings of feather shafts.