Sunday morning and we have another egg! Laid in the new flower box yesterday evening. We expect another egg tomorrow and hatchings to be begin April 21. The next pair will be Teddy and Lydia.
Meanwhile, upon inspecting the squabs closing the other evening, I saw previously unaffected Penny was starting to form those pustules after all. We still took only Patrick in to see the vet yesterday morning though. We thought it might freak the parents out too much if both disappeared, plus we figured we already knew the diagnosis and that the vet was not going to give any shots, and we were correct on both counts.
Smuggled Patrick out like last time. Even though the bird specialist is there on Sundays, there sure were an awful lot of birds there waiting for treatment including a beautiful great hornbill. A really pretty parrot had its right wing in a cast, poor thing.
We saw the vet, a different one this time, and she took a throat culture from Patrick. He did not enjoy that at all. Lab test confirmed the virus. He and Penny make four squabs in a row, so the vet figures at least one parent must be a carrier, maybe both. Gave us more medicine and said we could also try dosing the parents’ water, but she was not optimistic that would work. Said they probably would not like the taste. So we may have to end up just dosing each squab as they show signs. Since Penny and Patrick are still small, half the age Liz was when we did her, she lowered the dosage a bit. She said despite the warning I read about the drug, it was still the only one for them.
Odd too, but I’m sure I remember 35-day-old Liz weighing 230 grams. But the vet weighed 17-day-old Patrick on the same scale, and he showed 251 grams! She said maybe he was older than 17 days, but I said no, he hatched on March 18, making him 17 days exactly. He is bigger than Penny even accounting for the day older in hatching and two days’ extra development in the shell. Male for sure, I think.
Since Patrick isn’t flying yet, we didn’t have to worry about him escaping like we did with Liz. So while waiting, I kept petting him with the box open. Gave him little head and neck massages. And in the taxi. That really seemed to soothe him. A lot. You could tell he liked it. Apart from the throat culture, I’d say he had a pretty good day out. (We were gone only a couple of hours.) And we noticed that while lively, he’s not squeaking now even as we take him and administer the medicine here at home. Penny on the other hand, she who stayed behind, squeals like a stuck pig when we grab her for her dosing.
So we’ll be giving the squabs medicine for the next week. This will be much easier since they’re not flying again. And no pustules near their eyes threatening vision, so no need for eye ointment this time.
She seemed okay this morning when the wife and I left home, but when we returned in the afternoon she seemed to be finding it difficult to breathe. A short time later, she went into convulsions and died. Age 24 days. I guess I was right not to be satisfied with her progress. Something just seemed off. The parents watched her die, and The Bully even came over and poked her with his bill. Sad. We reckon a pustule may have formed internally and blocker her breathing. Just a guess.