He’s the king!
Purely speculation, but we’re wondering if maybe Geri his mate is also his daughter. And we’re also wondering if The Bully might be their son, which would make him and his mate Ladyboy siblings but maybe from different batches. The Bully HATES both Henry and Geri, and we’ve noticed there’s often such animosity between parents and offspring when they grow up.
And Ladyboy and The Bully are having sex again.
Thursday morning and little Rose is 10 days old. Growing bigger and has now entered that stage where she’ll rear up and snap at us when she sees us. That will last a few days, maybe a week. It’s evident she’s not going to be another whitey. Dark feathers are coming out, a few lighter ones. I think she’ll look more like Oscar. I hope this one doesn’t die. 
No sign of the workers out there yet. The rains may have delayed them, as they were still on the other side of the building around the corner as of Tuesday. They may have moved to our balcony side but starting on the other end, which is blocked from view by a stairwell.
The parents are having furious sex now. We’ll probably transfer Rose to the flower box this weekend. We really need to find some new pots to replace these too.
Sunday afternoon and 13-day-old Rose has been transferred to the flower box. And just in time too, because we think there will be a new clutch of eggs in the coming days. The parents are screwing like there’s no tomorrow. There’s even been a couple of flat-out rape scenes, where Ladyboy was clearly more interested in eating and The Bully insisted on having his way with her. :eek:
And as usual, the couple were interested in the flower box for the new nest. They’d even started forming a bowl in the dirt on one end and put down a couple of twigs. But Rose needs the room. We’re still looking for a suitable replacement for the treepot. Maybe we can find another flower box. Ladyboy’s back and seems very disappointed that we transferred her baby yet again.
New photos soon. Rose is going to be a dark one for sure, with a pattern. Same as Pete and Oscar.
And right on time, we have a new egg, in the tree pot. Laid on Monday. We expect a second egg on Wednesday. Hope they both turn out okay this time. Funny but The Bully was chasing after Ladyboy for sex almost right up to the time she laid the egg.
We’re going to try harder to find another flower box for the parents. They really want to use the one we have but don’t want to share it with the previous squabs. But we need to move the squabs there because they need the room after a point.
And we have the second egg! Right on schedule, Wednesday, two days after the first one. Hatchings should start about July 10.
Friday night and today we found 18-day-old Rose outside the box. We assume she fell out while flapping for a feeding. She’s at that age. Picked her up and put her back in the flower box. It’ll be a few more days before she’s really able to hop in and out on her own.
And she’s going to be beautiful. Dark, very dark, with an intricate pattern. I wonder what her brother Wally would have looked like if he had lived.
We still have the others. Four-month-old Emmy and her sister Jamie (turns three months next Tuesday) seem to have a love-hate relationship – they sleep fairly close together, but we have to break up their fights sometimes. The mysterious Mr X always returns here at night too. About one more month and Emmy will beat Charlie’s record of living here for five months.
And Rose, 19 days now that it’s Saturday morning, has fallen out of the flower box again. I’ll let her run around a bit before putting her back. She keeps toddling after Dad. But I’m honestly worried the workers out on the side of the building taking her, maybe for a snack. They’re not finished and won’t be until next Wednesday. I want to try to keep her low profile.
Photos soon. I promise.
This is all so incredible. You may as well build a pigeon coop on your balcony!
Thanks. We just hope Rose lives. We’re monitoring her closely for any signs of illness. She seems like a healthy, happy little squab right now, but then so did Billy. No idea what happened to him, not to mention Rose’s brother Wally.
Makes me think of regular pigeon nests. When most squabs die, there’s no one around to remove the body. It just sort of gets mulched into the nest. Yuck! We wonder if this has happened to Henry, wherever he lives. He had a chance to live here, stayed here for a night or two early on, but I guess our staying up late was too much for him. He clearly voted no.
The couple have been living on our balcony for a year now. It really is home to them. We think The Bully does like us. If I want to look at the eggs, he’s easy to move along, and nowadays I can often touch his tail. Often he’ll run but not always. Sometimes he’ll tense up and wait to see what else I’ll do, and if I try anything else, then he’ll flee the scene. Ladyboy’s attitude though is a no-quarter-given one. If I get near her, she’ll peck and/or wing-slap me. She clearly is telling us to go screw ourselves. I’ve read it’s the male who determines where a pigeon couple lives. I’m not sure Ladyboy would have chosen us if it were up to her, but she does like our food well enough, jumping up in the window like her father Henry to order up a meal.
Your balcony provides a safe place with regular feedings. I’d venture to say that the survival rate of the couples you have hosted is much higher than pigeons nesting “in the wild”
And here are the promised photos! All from this month.
First, a last one of Billy. That’s Dad on the new eggs, and 29-day-old Billy is up on the concrete verge underneath what we call the Big Pidgee Rail. He liked that spot. So have a lot of our pidgees. They must feel safe there, up against the wall. A week later, poor little Billy dies at age 36 days.
Rose, one day old, June 10. Her brother Wally died the day before, just a few hours after hatching and before she hatched. This is the new tree pot.
This one is of Spooky and the string I mentioned that was tangled around her bad leg. Dunno if someone tried to capture her or if she managed to do that herself somehow.
Rose, age nine days. It looks here like the beginnings of some white feathers are forming, but as you’ll see, that’s not the case at all. And Mama Ladyboy giving me the stink-eye.
Rose, 13 days old last Sunday. And a close-up. I’d put her on the freshly washed floor before … sticking her in the flower-box for the first time after laying down fresh dirt. And that’s fresh dirt in the tree pot too, and just in time, because Ladyboy laid the first egg of the new clutch the next day.
Rose, age 16 days, June 25, with Mama Ladyboy on the nest (she laid the second egg later in the day. And another close-up. And another close-up. I had moved the flower box over to give Rose a little shade, as the sun is rather strong in the morning this time of year, although not as bad as March and April.
And as an added bonus, here’s me last night (Saturday night) at Tawandang German Brewery, the original branch on Rama III Road. That’s a half-liter (about a pint) of wheat beer, the first of several during the night.
Ladyboy is one gorgeous bird!
That final pic, of Tawandang German Brewery, said “URL not found”
It’s so cool to see the pics of the squab as it grows, and yes, Ladyboy is gorgeous.
Huh. The URL is the correct one for English and was working okay before but not now. The main page is here, and it works. It asks you to click on your preferred language, Thai or English, but now if you click on English, it’s not working. Must be having some technical problems at the moment. The Thai-language option is still working.
EDIT: And of course, all the photos can be seen on one page here.
Wednesday morning and Rose is 23 days old. If she can make it just two more weeks, then she’ll have lived longer than poor little Billy. Now she’s hopping into and out of the flower box like a pro. She runs squealing if she sees me reaching for her. Cute as the dickens. But her darkness makes us wonder if Ladyboy has been seeing one of the neighborhood crows on the sly.
EDIT: Huh. That English-language page for Tawandang is still down. Been all week now. But the working Thai-language page still has a lot of English.
Monday morning and Rose is four weeks old. Seems healthy. She’s in that stage where she can run around and even fly-hop up onto the green verge but no actual flight yet. Does “helicopters.” Should be flying this week. Beautiful little bird with a nice pattern and little white “paint spots” on her face.
Four-and-a-half-month-old Emmy spent her first night away last night, which was surprising, because we saw her around about 5pm. Three-month-old Jamie may be having a problem with her right eye; we think Dad hurt it trying to make her go away, but she doesn’t want to leave. Doesn’t look to serious, at least not yet. Doesn’t look infected.
ETA for new egg hatchings is Wednesday, two days away. The workmen on the building have finished, and no eggs or squabs were stolen.
Wednesday morning and no hatchings yet. But I miswrote in my last post when I said hatchings maybe today. Thursday is 17 days after the first one was laid, so we expect new squabs maybe tomorrow.
Rose is a healthy little bird, running around and curious. Will start flying soon.
Emmy stayed away two nights but came back in the day. finally she stayed here again last night. Jamie’s eye is improved. I think we need some of these guys to hurry up and leave.
Thursday morning and we have one egg starting to hatch. 
I am heading out soon but but will report back later.
Friday morning and we have a squab! Wiggly little Woody hatched sometime in the wee hours. Or maybe after sunrise, as we saw him about 8am. Mama’s on the nest, and she never budges, so we can’t get a look yet at the other egg. But no eggshells – Papa is always meticulous in taking those and dropping them over the side of the balcony.
Friday afternoon and not only is little Woody still alive and wiggly but the second egg is hatching. Cracks forming, two small holes have appeared, and when I picked up the egg, I could see movement inside and feel movement too. Zoe will be out soon, maybe tonight. (I mentioned to the wife that maybe I should just crack the egg and let her out, and she seemed horrified.)
Ominously, 32-day old Rose has disappeared! She’s been flying lately, although still a little hard on her landings. She disappeared this morning, and now it’s almost 5pm and still no show.
Henry and Geri came by for lunch. Henry first appeared in August 2009 and so must have been a squab himself about five years ago right now. (Geri’s about three we think, maybe even Henry’s daughter.)