Good idea! The next one after.
Bonnie and Clyde.
Charlie and Pete, particularly Pete, put in daytime appearances, so they’re okay.
We can see more differences now between Pumpkin and Popcorn. They’re not completely twins. Besides the different head markings, Pumpkin is a creamier white, while Popcorn is white white.
And Big Red has returned after his longest absence ever. Must be at least a year. But it’s him, no doubt about it. We really wonder what he gets up to.
And right on schedule, we have the second egg, Monday afternoon. Laid sometime between about 11:30am when the wife and I left home and 2:15pm, when I returned home. 
The squabs are three weeks old now too. Should be hopping out of the flower box in a few more days.
And at age 22 days, little Pumpkin left the flower box briefly today (Tuesday). The wife didn’t see him leave, but she suspects he fell out while squealing for a feeding. (That’s how it often goes the first time.) Said Pumpkin walked around the box a couple of times looking for a way back in. She thought she’d have to give him a boost, but suddenly Pumpkin flapped his wings just enough to lift him up to where he could grasp the edge of the box. Good show, Pumpkin!
Y’all are going to be quite the pidgee experts after all these years of watching the family come and go. That’s really very cool. 
I’m a little worried about one of the eggs. There may be some yellowish-greenish fluid seeping from it. Or it could just be some shit stuck to it. I didn’t want to mess with the egg too much and end up breaking it for real. Still at least a week and a half from any hatchings, so we won’t know for sure if anything’s up until then. 
Fingers crossed for shit! But seriously, you’ve had a good run with no major issues with your pidgees. Hope it stays that way.
Inspecting it further, it looks like it may have just been shit … I hope. We’ll find out.
I’m sure it’s sad to see the little ones grow up and fly away but I’m glad it’s working out that you aren’t getting overcrowded out there. And at least some come back for a visit now and then.
And you do realize you can never move.
You could just be right. 
Friday night, the squabs are 25 days old, and they’re both now jumping in and out of the box and running around. Just started that today. Poor Dad now gets swamped for a feeding no matter where he goes on the balcony.
A bad situation is developing. Ladyboy seems to have taken ill. It came on suddenly. Thinking back, she may have shown signs late Thursday night. But yesterday (Friday) she lost all interest in her eggs and decided just to hang out over on the rails on the right side of the balcony, close to the wall. All fluffed up and very sleepy. Would not eat at all.
She seems a little better today. She even started eating again, a lot too. But still rather listless and won’t go sit on her eggs, although she did go close and look at them once. It’s almost like she had a little pidgee stroke. She’s almost four years old, been coming here her whole life, and I understand that’s a fair age for a wild pigeon, although her father Henry is almost five and still healthy.
The Bully has been covering for her. He’s been staying on the eggs the whole time himself, and he’s doing all the feedings for Pumpkin and Popcorn now. That last part is not unusual, as this is about the time Ladyboy hands over all attention to the squabs to hubby anyway while she spends her time with the new eggs. But now The Bully is having to do everything, new eggs included. Again, she did eat a lot today, but tonight she’s back to not eating.
We have a box ready to transport her to the vet. I went out there a couple of times and tried to catch her, but she perked right up and flew away. I reckon we’ll have to wait for her to either get better or get so sick that I can catch her. When I was on the pigeon boards and reported a sick pidgee showing up, they kept giving advice as to how to make a trap to catch it, but I’m just not that handy.
Pumpkin and Popcorn, meanwhile, are 26 days old and exploring the balcony. They can even get up onto the concrete verge now. They completely ignore Mom now anyway, as they know Dad’s the one who’ll feed them.
Will keep you apprised of the situation. The Bully and the squabs are all healthy.
Do pidgees mate for life? I wouldn’t think so, not many birds do.
If Ladyboy passed the current crop of eggs may not make it, but if the Bully could get another mate you may see more eggs yet.
Do you think the Bully is related?
I’ve always heard that pidgees do mate for life, and it appears to be true. Geri may be Henry’s fourth mate, but the first three we think died. One we saw start to get sick before she disappeared, while the other twp disappeared suddenly and are also presumed dead. Maybe Henry killed them for the insurance money? But Geri, his present mate, has proved hardier, as they’ve been together now for a couple of years at least.
Back in the days of Big Pidgee and Little Pidgee, at the start of this thread, Little Pidgee went into visible mourning when Big Pidgee eventually disappeared suddenly. They had a fresh squab too, little Bob, and her new mate didn’t want anything to do with Bob, so Little Pidgee, the mother, rejected Bob too. That’s when we tried to rais Bob ourselves but ended up killing the little guy by overfeeding him, as you may recall. Then Little Pidgee seemed to turn into a big slut, doing it with any male pidgee – I think even Henry had a go at her – before disappearing herself, presumably dead.
If we ever get a squab or squabs on our hands again, we’ll not take anymore chances. We’ll just take them to a vet and say: “Here’s some money. Please raise these guys for the next month or so.”
But I hope it won’t come to that. Little Pidgee rejected Bob due to her new mate. But if Ladyboy dies, The Bully is the male, and we hope he’ll see the new squabs through. He’s still doing all the caregiver roles and sitting on the eggs. We’re going to make sure to feed him lots so he’ll stay.
Ladyboy is gone just now, almost 5:30pm. She was here earlier. Eating again. But she’s slow, like she has a head injury. Very sleepy too. I seriously wonder whether she’s had a stroke. I haven’t checked to see of pigeons can get strokes, but I would imagine anything with a brain can. She doesn’t seem to be getting worse or better, she’s just staying the same. Still no further interest in her eggs. We expect her back before dark, which is in another hour or so. I tested catching her again today, so did the wife, and again she just perked up and flew away. All we can do for now is keep her safe and fed.
Oh, and you asked if The Bully is related. We think all the white ones are related to Henry in one way or another. Ladyboy is his daughter for sure, from his first clutch of eggs. We remember her following Dad here and bugging him for a feeding. The Bully we suspect of being his son. We’ve noticed special animosity between parents and grown children – Henry hates Ladyboy – and The Bully seems really to hate Henry, always attacking him in particular if we’re not here to stop him.
Last night (Sunday night), no one sat on the eggs. Ladyboy slept near the eggs, perched on the edge of the Living Room all night, so The Bully kept to the rails. This morning she’s flown off somewhere and he’s back on the eggs. Hope they hatch okay. They have no idea of the drama occurring right outside their shells.
Since Pumpkin and Popcorn can hop in and out of the flower box at will, I pushed it back over to the edge. It’s the dry season now, so there isn’t much worry about rain now anyway. But maybe they felt too exposed, dunno, because they wouldn’t sleep in it until I pulled it back to the middle of the balcony. Picky little bastards! Pumpkin will let you pet him most of the time, Popcorn will run away if she’s not in the mood for it.
Tuesday morning and the squabs are 29 days old. Again, this is about my favorite age for squabs, in the 25-30-day range, as they’re running around the balcony checking out the world in wide-eyed wonder but still can’t fly just yet.
Ladyboy is still sick but does not appear to be getting worse. We can’t catch her, she perks up right away and flees when we try. Otherwise she hangs out on the rails and sleeps while fluffed up. Or down on the floor so the concrete can block the wind, as it’s been a little windy. We don’t know what happened to her, but thankfully she’s not got the “butt droop” that we’ve learned indicates intestinal pain. She’s just listless and has seemingly lost all maternal instincts. But she knows this is home. She flew off yesterday when I tried again to catch her and was gone all afternoon until just before dark. Knows this is home and where she needs to be at night. This morning she asked for food. When I opened the curtains to change their water, she moved from the rails to the Living Room – where the eggs are, but she still ignored them – and stared at me. I put some food down, and she ate with her family. she eats varying quantities – sometimes a lot, sometimes a little – but she is still eating, another good sign.
We want to give The Bully a Father of the Year award for the way he’s assuming all duties. New hatchings are expected about next Monday.
Will post new photos soon.
Friday morning and Ladyboy has been sick for a week now. But stable, not worsening. Can’t catch her, she flies away whenever we try, indeed is gone half the day to who knows where. But she’s lethargic and sleepy when she’s here. Shakes her head a little from time to time, and I really think it’s a head injury. Still eats but not as much as before. Absolutely no more interest in her eggs or squabs, The Bully is still doing all the parenting.
But here’s the weird thing: We saw them have sex this morning! WTF??!? 
This would seem to confirm that she’s not deathly ill. But we don’t want her laying anymore eggs if she’s not going to snap out of this. I assume it’s the biological instinct that drove her today. She was on top too. I’ve wondered if she might have had an electric shock, but I don’t see any burns on her body like I did on one pidgee who seemed to have taken a jolt. No bite marks like from a cat. Could be just your old-fashioned stroke.
Pumpkin and Popcorn are 32 days old and have started flying up to the top rail. They’ll be flying like pros soon. Hatchings coming as soon as Monday. Pete is the only previous squab who makes regular visits, comes by every day and will be four months old next Wednesday.
The wife said Popcorn vanished suddenly this afternoon. When I got home tonight, I poked my head out a bedroom window, and sure enough, there was Popcorn down on the balcony below. This makes the third pidgee to have slipped off the edge of our balcony and land down there. And she’s not alone! There’s a dark gray. So at least she’ll have company until she (hopefully) flies back up here tomorrow.
We returned home tonight (Sunday night) to find a small hole had appeared in one egg. So little Oscar may be trying to come out. I had estimated tomorrow, but it may take him that long to break out, dunno.
One worrying development though is father The Bully early yesterday suddenly stopped sitting on the eggs. He’s not sick like Ladyboy, still seems perfectly well and is still parenting the squabs. But he’s stayed off the eggs for a good 36 hours now, and we’re not sure what’s up. I hope this does not mean the new squabs will be ignored once they hatch.
It’s been a long thread, have any squabs been “abandoned” before. It must happen out where there are no people to observe though. Seems like the pidgees from your balcony have a pretty good track record overall.