You should create a family tree and put each pidgee’s picture on it! Congrats on the newborns grampa Sam!
Until DNA testing is court ordered, I’ll admit to no personal familial claims!
But we have the second egg, right on schedule. Laid yesterday (Wednesday). So Mickey and Ladda are incubating now. Hatchings from about November 27, Thanksgiving Day.
Timmy and Gwen are 20 days old and have started doing helicopters. Should leave the box maybe sometime this weekend. Bo and Lynn are just over eight weeks – they’ll be a full two months come Sunday – and Lynn spent her first night away last night. Returned this morning, so she’s okay.
Gave Henry and Geri a little light breakfast this morning, until others started showing up.
Friday night and Gwen was out of the flower box today, aged three weeks. But I think it must have been an accident. I think she probably fell out while flapping for a feeding. That was this morning. I put her back in, and both are still in the box. I expect them to be out and running around for real in another couple of days though.
Timmy hates me. He will peck and wing slap my hand if it comes near. I’ve never seen a squab wing slap me at only three weeks before.
LOL. You need to get a video of this.
The last time before this weekend that I went to buy bird food, they were out of the usual stuff I get, a locally made brand they like. So I got another local brand that appears to be cheaper at first glance but comes in smaller sizes – 1.5 pounds compared with one kilogram (2.2 pounds) for the food I usually buy – so it’s actually more expensive per unit. But I also saw they had some new stuff imported from Germany, so I picked up some of that to try. So now the pidgees will be eating imported German food.
Dang, your pidgees are living high. Too bad I can’t send you some of the seed I get at the Wild Bird House here in town. They have quite a number of seed mixes.
What seed is included in the mixes you have?
Looking at the packaging of one, I see it contains “yellow millet, red millet, black millet, vitamins and minerals.”
On another it lists those but continues with a long, long list – “rape seed, finch millet, canary grass seed, linseed, honey, fluid extract of orange, fluid extract of herb, bird crushed biscuit (soybean meal, meat and bone meal, corn gluten meal, dried tomato pumace, vegetable oil, vegetable gum, wheat flour, ground limestone, ground peanuts), dehydrated tropical fruits, dehydrated vegetable, dehydrated alfalfa, granulated bird feed (egg powder, dried skimmed milk, essential vitamins and minerals).”
Damn. I hadn’t thought of it before, but these guys may be eating better than me!
These mixes are not labeled pigeon food but rather dove, canary and/or finch food, but the guys go for it. Tried mynah food too early on, but the pigeons wouldn’t touch it. Unfortunately, ants loved it, so even though we do get the occasional mynah stopping by, they won’t be getting fed.
Tuesday morning and the little guys are 25 days old. Timmy and Gwen. They left the flower box yesterday and can now hop in and out like pros.
Most of the family will eat the German seed, but Ladyboy has roundly rejected it. If that’s all that’s out there, she’ll turn her nose up at it and jump up into the window to ask for the old, locally made stuff. We still have some around, and when I put it out in its own little pile, she’ll start chowing down on that, no problem. Hope the store really does get some more of that in like they said they would.
While petting the squabs the other day, close to the tree pot and the nest, I managed to stroke The Bully’s breast just a little. Had to do it very slowly and carefully, with no sudden movements at all, and he still looked excruciatingly uncomfortable. But he put up with it. Can pet his tail a little too if he’s turned the other way. But he’s still quick to flee suddenly. Still, it’s progress. I’ve always felt he likes me more than Ladyboy does. She won’t tolerate even the hint of touching. She get’s all Warrior Mama more, pecking and wing slapping. But she still won’t hesitate to jump up in the window and order food from me.
This thread was the reason I am a doper. My invisi friends.
Thanks. I’m always flattered by how many people seem to enjoy this thread.
Ladyboy has taken to eating the German seed, but they all clearly like the local stuff best, so I’ll try to stick with that after the German stuff I have runs out. But the German stuff looks basically black and brown, and they will pick through and eat the brown first before eating the black. Similarly, the local stuff comes in three colors, and they always leave the green ones, won’t touch them until the very end and only if they’re still hungry. Maybe it’s alfalfa? Not unusual just to have a small pile of green seeds left.
And the little guys, Timmy and Gwen, took their first solid food yesterday (Wednesday) at age 26 days. Pecked at it with Dad. It’s not as dramatic as when they first discover water, there’s real surprise then, but you could see them thinking: “Mmm. This stuff isn’t bad!” They still prefer Dad’s vomit at this point though.
Sunday morning and squabs Timmy and Gwen are 30 days old. Looking like real pigeons now. I saw Timmy fly up to the top rail yesterday at age 29 days. Haven’t seen Gwen fly yet. Dad has been cooing from over on the window frames to try to entice them over there.
And I’m making progress with The Bully. He’s now more readily allowing me to stroke his breast while he’s on the eggs, but I still have to be very, * slow and careful. And he’ll still freak if I try to pet his head. This is only while he’s on the eggs – if he’s just hanging out on the balcony, he’ll flee at the first sign I’m coming for him, no matter how careful I am.
Emmy keeps stopping by in the daytime, so we’re sure she’s okay. Must have found a mate. Jamie is long gone, and we hope she’s okay. Rose is the oldest now, 5-1.2 months. She’s taken to jumping up and peering inside in wonder even if there’s food out there, so we know she’s not just begging.
More photos soon. New hatchings coming about Thursday too.
Friday morning and we have a new squab! 
Little Mickey is a wriggly little fellow. May have just hatched in the past hour or two, as I’m sure both eggs were intact when I looked earlier. The Bully has already tossed the eggshell out of the tree pot. Still waiting for his sister Ladda to make an appearance.
I’m not sure if this thread will be closed. I hope not, as I’ve kept it going because quite a few people seem to like it. But I’m detecting rumblings in an ATMB thread. Some posters are not happy with it. If it gets closed, I hope you’ve enjoyed it, and I’ll keep posting photos and videos in the afore-linked-to sites. Let’s hope it stays open though.
And little Ladda hatched the same day. So we have two, healthy, wiggly new squabs.
It’s Saturday morning, and Henry is out there having some breakfast right this moment. I tried to tell him he has two new grandchildren, but he seemed uninterested. Henry is eating the German stuff. We’ll soon be rid of that and back to the local seed.
The squabs come out of the egg ready to eat. How do they gain nutrients while forming inside the shell?
That’s what yolks are for. They’re basically sacks full of fat, plenty of calories to power development.
Sunday night. Mickey and Ladda are two days old. But Mickey had two days more to develop, so he’s the bigger one, we reckon.
I thought I would load photos tonight, but it’s been a busy day, and I’m knackered. Coming soon. But I’ve made progress with The Bully. Now I can stroke his breast more firmly and even touch his beak. Or bill or whatever that is. But the top of his head? No, he drew the line there. If I went for the top of his head, no matter how slowly or carefully, he’d freak and flee. Until today, that is. Today not only did I manage to stroke him on top of his head – not once but several times – but I gave him a little massage on the back of his neck. I’ve found birds really like that. But no way this would work with Ladyboy – she’s one bad-ass Mama. And again, this works only when The Bully is on the nest – if he’s just on the floor, he’ll still flee quickly if he sees my hand coming in.
Lynn, 2-1/2 months old now, seems to have something caught in her throat now. For a couple or three days, she’s having to shake her head hard with each swallow. And it seems to be disorienting her flight too, as now she flies like Woodstock in the old Peanuts strip. But she can eat, she’s out there right now eating, so we’ll monitor it. I think something happened to Emmy before, and it worked out for her.
Thursday morning and Mickey and Ladda are six days old. Their eyes have been open for a day or two now. Looking healthy. May still be too early to tell for sure, but the feather shafts are sprouting, and it looks like we may have yet two more white ones. Now that they’re getting bigger, The Bully seems less pleased about breast massages from me. If I can do it where he doesn’t flee, he still seems to get into it, but he seems more ready to run now.
Two-and-a-half-month-old Lynn is still hurt. Not sick though. I swear it seems to be a head injury. She flies disorientatedly and has hard landings but can fly. Still shakes her head violently to swallow food but can get it down. But still alert and will even attack other pigeons she doesn’t like, necessitating a small squirt of water from us on her butt to make her stop. Hope she’ll be okay. And I hope she is able to hunt for food, because the wife and I will be upcountry for New Year’s. She is gone for part of the day, so maybe she’s finding food. If so, I’m sure neighborhood folks are wondering at her shaking her head like that.
Okay, new photos.
First, one more of Bo and Lynn, bath time at 37 days.
Then Timmy and Gwen hatched on October 24, and here they are the following day, with a proud Papa. And alone.
Then a week later with their eyes open at eight days old.
At nine days with Mama (getting big!). And then I put them on the floor. This was the day I transferred them to the flower box the first time but had to switch them back to the nest in the tree pot when it looked like the parents might ignore them there.
Then I moved them for real six days later at age 15 days, and the parents were okay with it. Lesson learned: Wait until at least two weeks to move squabs.
At 20 days old. (Can you see a resemblance?) And looking good at 26 days. And hangin’ with Mama while she’s on the new eggs, 28 days old.
And those eggs eventually hatched, on November 28, so now we have Mickey and Ladda, the latter a Thai girl’s name. Here’s Mickey and Ladda at one day of age with Dad. And at six days, with their eyes open.
Now here’s a neat shot from this past Monday: Rose (one day short of six months), broken-leg Spooky and Rose’s grandfather Henry. For anyone new to this thread, don’t worry. Spooky broke her leg at about two months of age. How, we don’t know, but that was 2-1/2 years ago, and she gets along nicely with just the one good leg. She can manipulate the useless leg a very little bit, we’ve seen her sort of scratching her head with it, and she seems to be in no pain. Henry’s been coming around for more than five years now, and Rose is his granddaughter. (Ladyboy is definitely his daughter, and we suspect The Bully is his son.) But Rose’s transformation has been dramatic. This is she five months ago at age 25 days. Now look at Monday’s photo again, and she looks more like Henry! Just a little smaller. But it’s the same bird, we watched her change.
And one more of Ladda and Mickey, from yesterday (Tuesday) at age 11 days. As you can see, they’re scooting all around the tree pot now.
And all the photos can be seen on one page here.
Mickey and Ladda are fast approaching the time I would normally transfer them to the flower box, particularly since Mom and Dad are starting to get frisky again and hanging out in the flower box, clearly wanting to use it. Instead of foiling their plans yet again, they clearly really, really want to use the flower box, so I think this weekend I’ll take the little round tray the tree pot sits in, put some dirt in it and put the squabs in that. Should be okay.
Rose has stopped staying here at night but continues to visit during the daytime (such as in that Monday photo), so we know she’s okay. But Zoe and Lynn disappeared suddenly days ago. Lynn seemed a little head injured, if you’ll recall, and we hope she’s okay. But it’s always disconcerting when they just vanish suddenly like that. And now tonight (Wednesday night) Gwen (age 47 days) is gone after acting slightly ill last night. Hope she’s okay too.
So now we have five – Mom, Dad, Woody, Bo and Timmy – plus the two squabs.
Well, I put dirt in that round pottery dish the tree pot sits in and tried putting Mickey and Ladda there, but it wasn’t a good idea. Dad did feed them once or twice but seemed very confused. Like he couldn’t quite figure out if these were really his kids. Mama seemed confused too. I wasn’t sure if they were getting fed much, so I ended up transferring them to the flower box like I usually do with each batch. Guess Ladyboy will just have to keep using the tree pot to lay her eggs. They really want to use the flower box, but the squabs need it more. Sixteen days old today (Sunday) and looking good.
Since we can’t find an adequate new tree pot to switch out, we’re going to try to buy a saw this week and cut down that dead tree in the middle of the present pot. That should give the squabs plenty of room, then the parents can use the flower box like they want.
That’s absurd! Why can’t the people who don’t like it just ignore it? This thread is one of the only reasons I come around to MPSIMS anymore. FFS, what’s the matter with people who want to spoil everyone else’s fun?
That said …
I’ve always been gobsmacked by how fast they develop once they’ve hatched. Well now I’m even more blown away by how fast they develop inside the egg! This is a chicken, not a pigeon, but pretty close to the same difference. Watch and be amazed …
Oh, don’t let this thread be closed, please! It’s practically a board institution, and I enjoy it (even if I don’t post feedback much.)