We Have Pigeon Eggs

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Wednesday afternoon, and below are a few new photos:

This one is from April 20. I had moved the flower box and tree pots over to clean the other side of the balcony. That’s Jimmy and Jamie in the flower box, ages 20 and 19 days, respectively. I think that’s Jimmy in front, but they look so much alike at that angle I can’t be sure now. That’s Billy and Rose in the eggs, and we expect hatchings will start maybe early next week. And that’s Ladyboy. As usual now, she rode on the nest as I moved it over but then got nervous and moved away while I was cleaning.

A couple of night shots from last Thursday. This one is a family photo, sort of a bird’s-eye view, heh. That’s 24-day-old Jimmy outside the flower box. You can just see him. That’s 23-day-old Jamie inside – she had just left the box for the first time earlier that day. Mama Ladyboy is on the eggs in the Living Room, and The Bully is about at his usual nighttime spot. And this one is little Emmy, 60 days old or two months and a day. This is just about 24 hours after her brother Oscar died. That’s her usual nighttime spot now, the opposite side of the balcony from Mom and Dad, who will now attack her whenever they get a mind to. She’s gone all day but still comes back to that spot at night. A little sad, with her brother gone and now her parents trying to drive her away. She’s taken to hopping up in the window at night to peer inside, not hungry since there’ll be food on the floor for her, just curious.

And some from this afternoon, just about three hours ago. Another family shot. That’s Ladyboy the mother on the left on the rail, father The Bully on the right on the nest, Jamie, age 29 days, perched on the edge of the other tree pot and Jimmy, 30 days, on the floor looking up at his sibling. Notice the big black feather on The Bully’s left wing. That’s sort of his trademark. The squabs are looking like real little pigeons now. At about a month old, they’re much bigger than little Emmy, who turned two months a week ago, so maybe these are both males, dunno. We’re still referring to Jamie as a girl for now though. Then here’s Henry and Geri, who stopped by for a snack. Again, Ladyboy is Henry’s daughter (and we keep wondering if The Bully might be his son too), so the squabs are all his grandchildren. But today Jimmy attacked Geri and started to fight with Henry, and I had to stop him. Damned younger generation! And finally here is Jimmy (front, 30 days old) and Jamie (29 days). They look a lot alike. Jamie has more white in her tail, while Jimmy has more black speckles on his head.

And that’s it for now. We’re flying down to Singapore for a few days on Friday. One new egg will almost certainly have hatched when we return, very possibly both.

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And after I loaded those photos and made that post, I saw another photo opportunity and took it. So here’s one more photo, taken just minutes ago: From left, Jimmy (30 days), Jamie (29 days) and The Bully (on the new eggs). The squabs are becoming fond of the other tree pot.

And you can see all the photos on one page here.

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Wednesday night, just got back in from Singapore, and … we have a new squab! :smiley: Along with Jimmy, Jamie and Emmy, who are all still here.

But little Billy is out there, with the other egg still unhatched as of yet. We figure Billy hatched today or yesterday. He is still all pink and fresh-looking but seems a little big. The eggshell was all the way across the balcony, no doubt disposed of by The Bully, as usual. But he often drops it off the balcony completely, so maybe he’s not had time to do that yet, meaning Billy just hatched today. And while Ladyboy always lays her eggs two days apart, they’ve always hatched one day apart so far.

I’m sure little Rose will pop out soon. But we’re taking off again on Friday, heading upcountry this time. Just for a couple of days. Hop we see Rose before we leave.

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:frowning: Some sad news. We may have lost the other egg. What looked like a clump of shit stuck to the egg in the dark last night now looks in the light of day like the little squab itself, poking out a little. But something must have gone horribly wrong, because it seems to have stopped and is not moving at all. Must have died while breaking out of the shell. Poor little thing. Billy is alive and well. I’m guessing he hatched Tuesday and is two days old now.

We’ll leave the egg there until we return from upcountry, just in case. But I really think this one’s a goner now and that little Billy is going to be another only child like Pete was. We’ll have to reserve the name Rose for the next batch.

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Back in Bangkok again, and the other egg is indeed dead. I disposed of it after we arrived. There was a large hole in it, and part of the squab could be seen including part of the beak the beak. It looked fully developed for a hatchable squab. Definitely deceased. It looked like it died trying to hatch out. I guess we’ll never know what happened.

So Billy’s on his own. About five days old now (Sunday afternoon) – we’re assuming he hatched last Tuesday, because he seemed a little big when we first saw him Wednesday night and his pinkness started disappearing before we took off again. Eyes are open. Seems healthy and strong.

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Too bad about the one egg but that’s nature for you.

Do singletons like Billy grow any faster, since they don’t compete for food?

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The last only squab was Pete, and we didn’t notice he grew any bigger than some others. Biggest of all may be Jimmy, six weeks old tomorrow and already very large. Definitely a male. But he still runs and squeals like a little schoolgirl when frightened, and he seems to frighten easily.

So now we have six pigeons out there at night: Emmy, sister of the deceased Oscar, and she really is female, very sleek and feminine looking; Jimmy and Jamie from the last batch; parents Ladyboy and The Bully; and little five-day-old (or so) Billy.

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Wednesday morning and lonely Billy is probably eight days old. We’re counting the 6th as his hatching date. Due to our comings and goings, I just took the first photos of him yesterday at a week old. Feather shafts are coming out, and it looks like he’ll be another white one. It’s an all-white family out there at night now, all five staying here are white. (Maybe that’s why poor Oscar had to die. He wasn’t white. :()

Jimmy and Jamie turned six weeks old this week. Jimmy we’ve started calling Big Gay Jimmy, because he reminds us of Big Gay Al on South Park. He’s BIG but runs around squealing like a little schoolgirl at the slightest provocation. At rest he looks like he’s posing like a model, with his breast shoved out and standing straight up, usually on one leg.

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Damn near ran over a pigeon at a railway crossing today. It was pecking between a rail and the concrete. I hit the brakes and honked, and it actually looked up before it flew away.

Maybe it was blind in one eye or extremely near-sighted.

Or stoned.

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Or just cocky.

Poor little Billy is frying out there in the mornings. It’s very, very hot these days. The parents keep shielding him from the heat, but it’s just so hot this time of year. Maybe the other egg ended up broiling. At least the sun’s off this side of the building after the morning. Otherwise Billy is progressing well. About nine days old now.

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And the parents are starting to get romantic again. Starting to get crowded out there. Counting Billy, three generations of offspring stay here at night now. All white.

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Billy is 12 days old now (Sunday) and was left completely alone for the first time this morning, at least the first time that we can tell. The parents are off hunting. He’s going to be another pretty white one. His feathers are coming in well now.

So now it’s all whites out there at night. Emmy, Jimmy, Jamie, The Bully and Ladyboy, and now Billy. But … we have a new addition that is not white. A scraggly, grayish-patterned young pidgee that looks like a wrinkled old man but is still very young (still squeals a bit). It’s kept trying to stay here at night, but The Bully and Ladyboy clearly didn’t like that and would try to chase it away. So we would help them chase it too come nightfall, but it seemed to be desperate in its desire to stay here. Wasn’t easy to chase it, kept flying to another part of the balcony before finally giving up and leaving. Made us feel really mean though, and we didn’t like doing it. Finally The Bully and Ladyboy accepted it and stopped chasing it. So the wife and I finally said screw it and started letting it stay. We think it’s a girl, and since we used to call her “the extra one,” we’ve named her Miss X or just X. Must just be lonely.

We’re limiting food at night now to try to persuade some of these guys to start thinking of leaving. Instead of feeding everyone in separate piles, now we put one small pile for the parents, who chase away anyone coming near it. The others can eat whatever’s left over.

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The pidgees seem to be largely ignoring the martial law introduced today (Thursday) by the Thai army. They’re always unfazed by this sort of thing.

Moved two-week-old Billy to the flower box today. It’s time, he’s getting big. But as usual, the parents were using the box as a courting grounds, and they never seem happy when I do this.

Ladyboy actually wandered in a few days ago when I left the screen door open while getting water. She knows the food is in here somewhere, and I guess she decided to take a chance. I shooed her back out, and she keeps looking like she wants to try again. She and even The Bully are jumping up in the window. Unless Henry is here (like right now), we try to feed them only at night to keep from attracting others.

I have some more photos but am having problems again getting them uploaded. Will try to take care of that.

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Jimmy, who turned seven weeks old yesterday, did not come home tonight. Maybe he’s found a new home?

X, the extra one, doesn’t seem all that interested in food. Will eat a little but mostly just stays in the exact same spot all the time – top rail, by the wall. Mostly seems to want to be part of a family and not much more.

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Thursday night, the army has launched a full-scale coup today, we’re under curfew from 10pm-5am, and … we have another egg! :smiley:

Good thing I moved little Billy the other day. Have to remember to get them out now at age two weeks, otherwise Mama might start laying eggs in the flower box.

ETA on new hatchings is June 8.

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Those are some racy pidgees you have. Maybe they’ve been following you when you make sure the bargirls aren’t nervous with all the political unrest around.

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They do tend to act like rabbits at times.

Next Friday, the 30th, will mark one year since we found the mysterious egg out there and wondered who could have laid it. The The Bully and Ladyboy showed up to claim it the next day. Over the course of the past year, they’ve laid 19 eggs, with one more expected tomorrow for a total of 20. Of those, four have been dud eggs (won’t know about the new ones yet, and we’ve had one confirmed death (Oscar).

Meanwhile, lonely little 17-day-old Billy is doing well. A real cutie.

Another issue coming up is that they’re checking our building for cracks. It’s only 11 years old, but some rooms keep complaining of water leaking in during the rainy season. We’ve not ever had that problem ourselves, so maybe they’ll stay away from our unit. But they’re scheduled to be climbing around outside our balcony side of the building the week after next. Hopefully Billy will be up and flying by that time and so can escape if anyone tries to catch him. But we also hope no one sees the new eggs and decides to abscond with them.

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And we have the second egg. Laid today (Saturday), two days apart, like always.

Just after 10pm, and tonight’s curfew under martial law just kicked in. The pidgees are all in for the night, but we really have lost Jimmy. He’s not been around for days.

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Jamie, who turns two months old next Sunday, has suddenly changed her little “squeek” to something that’s more of a “quork.” Must have hit puberty. We’re still considering her a female. She and sister Emmy have started fighting at night. They’re from different batches, and we wonder if they know they’re siblings. We’re still trying to encourage them to move on.

Twenty-to-day old Billy keeps looking outside the flower box with interest. We expect he’ll hop/fall out around the weekend.

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Thursday morning, Billy’s 23 days old, and he left the flower box on his own for the first time. But I’m not sure it counts. I’ve been scooting the flower box up against the vacant tree pot to give him some shade, as the morning sun this time of year is brutal out there. He managed to get up into that. Hopped/flew, I guess. I suspect he may have been chasing after Dad for a feeding. Put him back in while cleaning and will see if he manages to hop out onto the floor. Snoozing now after his big adventure.