Don't sell them short

This is funny, and I just had to share it with everyone. A few days ago, I was in the loft, and I noticed Virgil and Cricket outside in the aviary mating. When all of a sudden, Aries, who had also been watching them flew down and knocked poor little Virgil right off of Cricket, and tried to mate her himself. I was not happy to say the least, and I locked him up for a while to give poor Virgil and Cricket some peace. I called Charis later on and told her about it. I told her I was mad at Aries for picking on Virgil, as he is handicapped, where he only has one wing, and can't fly. Normally Virgil runs the show and the others don't normally pick on him. If anything, he picks on them. However, when I saw this happen, I didn't really think about that. I just saw Virgil as being handicapped, and Aries picking on him. Charis said that I shouldn't be upset with Aries, and that she felt that Virgil being Virgil, could probably take care of himself. Well, when we hung up, I just felt that she didn't understand. I mean really, my little bird with one wing was being singled out by Aries because of his handicap. How is he an equal to Aries arrogant nature, when he can't even chase after him to defend his mate? Well, the very next day, while I was changing their water, I notice that Aries and rags were now out in the aviary, on the very same box where he had dethroned Virgil the previous day. Virgil was in his box, but as if he had radar or something, suddenly he came out of his box, and looked around the corner to where Aries was mating rags. All of a sudden, and with a speed and strength that superman would envy, Virgil ran toward them. As he got nearer to them, he lowered his little head, and plowed right into them with all the speed and strength that his little body could muster. WHAM! He knocked them right off the box, to the aviary floor, a foot below. He had bowled a perfect strike! They didn't know what had hit them. He looked down at them from what he believes to be HIS box, and I could swear that he was smiling. Really! And with that accomplished, he went back into his nest box to his mate. NUFF SAID!

Virgil I guess Virgil has decided that he does not get mad....he gets even.


They never cease to amaze us.


Louise

...

Its very funny... oh my these smart creatures

I can see it play out in my mind. Still, I would love to have a video of the event.

Matilda wrote:

I can see it play out in my mind. Still, I would love to have a video of the event.

I wish I had a video of it too. It was just too funny. Of course Rags didn't deserve to be bounced off the box, but Aries sure did. Even if I'd had my camera wish me, I wouldn't have been able to get the picture, as I just stood there shocked. I can still see it happening. Sometimes, when we look at a handicapped bird, I think we see the handicap first, then the bird. Many of them aren't really handicapped at all. Just a bit challenged. Some can do some things way better than the others can. And with a few little changes to help, many can do most things the others do. I sure have learned a lot about just how much they can do, even with a physical challenge. I have 3 birds that some might see as handicapped, and each one has amazed me at just what they can do. And they are still surprising me with their accomplishments. I'm so proud of them.

Extraordinary! And very funny...
I see what you mean about looking at the handicap first -- until the 'handicapped' show us just how very capable they are! It's been a long time since I saw Hercules or Sammy as being handicapped!

I expect Virgil will be posting about this...

Teresa wrote:

Extraordinary! And very funny...


I expect Virgil will be posting about this...

Oh we must hear Virgil's take on the event.


Louise

Jackie's Mom wrote:

Teresa wrote:

Extraordinary! And very funny...


I expect Virgil will be posting about this...

Oh we must hear Virgil's take on the event.

Louise

That should be entertaining.

You are so right about our handicapped birds, Jay.
Most people can learn a lot from them.

could not stop laughing!

It's as if they have a feud going on between them these last few days. Aries has been upset about the fact that his nest box was emptied and cleaned out. He was outside at the time, in the aviary, but even though I tried to put the eggs back just as they were, you can never make the nest the same as it was, and he knew. So now he has been dragging poor Rags all over the loft, trying to find some hidden place to make a nest and set up housekeeping. I have chased them out of a few places, and blocked them off, and he's mad. When ever she would go into their box, he would chase her out, and run around the loft looking for another spot, and trying to drive her in there, but she kept going back to their box, and this was frustrating him I think. He would chase her and push her out. Then he would try to drive her in somewhere else. It was awful for a couple of days. I felt bad for her. Then someone layed an egg on the floor, which of course broke. I think it may have been Rags, as she had no where to go. Then another egg, same place. Aries is a bit high strung. He seemed to settle down for a while, but now he's acting up again. And when he isn't driving Rags crazy, he's either chasing the other hens, or aggravating Virgil. Yesterday, however, They were back in their box. He's a character. Still, Virgil isn't going to put up with it, so they chase each other. Virgil is a little spitfire himself. Hard worker though. If I put out straw or Timothy hay, he's the first to start collecting, and will bring Cricket as much of it as he can. But the last couple of days, when I put out the straw, Aries hasn't even bothered to collect it for Rags, he's too busy chasing the other hens. I felt bad for her and brought some to her. Yes, I can imagine what Virgils take on all this would be. Sometimes I wish I could reed their minds, or that they could talk. Wouldn't that be great?

It would indeed, but it seems to me as though you understand them very well already!

The Pigeons of Our Lives.

Teresa wrote:

It would indeed, but it seems to me as though you understand them very well already!

Thanks Teresa. I spend lots of time with them, and I like to just watch them interact with each other when they don't even know I'm there. You learn a lot about each one that way. They are never boring, that's for sure.

You know, Jay, after going through your account again, I think I've just figured out what got Hercules into an aggressive streak -- it started the day I replaced the eggs. It must have been annoyance at having his nest disturbed.

This will sound crazy to many but pigeons really do have very complex, emotional lives.

I just hate it when Caleb comes homes and messes up all my stuff...never puts things back the way I had them. It's very anoying and so I know how they feel when the nest gets all changed.

First of all, I have to explain that in the post about the bird getting upset about the nest box cleaning, I put that Virgil was upset. I meant to say Aries was upset and that is who has been acting up.
Ya know Teresa, I have some that it doesn't seem to bother, or at least they don't show that it does. Then I have some that are very tempermental. I have told Charis about times when Kane so over-reacts to things like that. So I have to handle him a bit different. I realize that people with lofts usually just clean the loft or boxes, and don't give it a thought as to how the different birds are going to react to it. I'll bet most don't even notice. But these are my pets. And when you interact with each one on a daily basis, like you would a pet dog, you get to know each one. When I first built the loft for my 6 baby rescues, I had them in the house in cages. Kane acted fine, and didn't show any aggression toward us or the other birds. We had them out on a daily basis of course. Then we moved them into the loft and Kane became very aggressive toward the other birds. He had paired up with one of my females while inside. But once outside, he became a different bird. He threw her out. She tried to go back, but he kept throwing her out, and she finally gave up. He then paired up with April, but kept chasing the other hens, and fighting with the other males continually. He acted terrible. I had told Charis that I was going to release him to my backyard flock. I even had him outside on the landing board that I had built, just in case anyone accidentally ever got out, and needed a way back in. I even have pics of it. I will have to post them. Here they are. He is on the outside, and Pinz and Luigi are on the inside watching him, and probably glad that he had been banished.




Anyway, he refused to leave, and after a couple of hours, I relented and let him back in. Kinda felt sorry for him.
Anyway, things didn't get better with him, and Charis suggested pulling him from the group and bring him inside for a week. So I pulled him from the loft, and brought him in for a week. When let back out with the others, nothing had changed, except that now he threw April out, as if it were her fault. So I brought him in for 2 weeks. In the meantime, the heirarchy in the flock had changed. When let back out, he was no longer at the top of the pecking order. Luigi had moved up, and when he came back into the group, and started his foolishness, Luigi went after him. In seeing this, everyone else started standing up to him, and he stopped the aggression. But he did go back to his nest box and tossed April out. Well she was not about to be ousted by Kane, and separated from her eggs, so she kept coming back. Long story shortened, she finally won. She is a very stubborn little hen, which is exactly what he needs. Perfect match.
I know this is a long post, but what I am trying to say, is that Kane started acting up when we changed them to the loft, which most of the others just loved. FREEDOM! No more cages, freedom to fly and wander around, with an aviary to get outside in the sunshine. But not to Kane. To him, it was change. He absolutely HATES change.
I didn't understand his actions at the time, but in the two years + that I have had the birds, I've watched him, and gotten to know him. He now, by the way, is a model citizen. Couldn't be a nicer bird. But one day, when I cleaned out the boxes, I got most of the birds outside in the aviary first. I couldn't get Kane to go outside, so let him remain in the loft as I cleaned. I forgot about him and the fact that he was watching me. Well, he flew up into his box, which was empty and cleaned. And no eggs. He went balistic. He started fllying around the loft, in and out of his box, and all the time cooing that loud loo coo they do when upset. He actually sounded as though he were mourning a lost mate. It was awful. So I quickly put his box back together and made a little nest, and added two fake eggs. After that I let all the others back in. Most just went into their box and got on their eggs. Some now discarded the eggs, as if they knew something was up. But Kane was the worst. He wouldn't stop flying in and out of the box, and then he threw April out. She kept trying to get back in, but he wouldn't allow her entrance. I remember again calling Charis, as I was very upset about his behavior. This went on for a few hours. Thank God April is stubborn. After about three hours or so, she finally gained entrance. Kane is odd. Very tempermental. I have to be so careful when I do anything like that to his area. It works best if I remove them, do his box quickly, and put April back in first, so that she is sitting on the nest when he comes in. He doesn't seem to notice it as much that way.Even when I give them treats, I have to make sure to offer them to him first, then his mate. If I do it the other way around, he gets very miffed. I have forgotten his importance.
And when I switch out eggs, I try not o let them see that I am switching. Pigeons are smart, you have to be smarter. Charis laughs at me, as I even warm them first in a rice bag thing I made, so that they won't notice the difference in temp. I know, I'm crazy, but in getting to know them, I have found out how sensitive they actually are to different things. What doesn't seem to bother one, will drive another one over the edge. They're a lot like us.
And I'm beginning to think that Aries is a lot like Kane in the way of being sensitive to things like that. He has been pretty good in the group until the nest box cleaning, now he's acting up again, chasing the others, and searching for a new place to nest. I think I made him feel that his box is not a safe place to raise babies. And I think you may be right about Hercules. When there is a sudden change in their personality, then you need to look for the cause. The high strung more dominant birds seem to be more sensitive to things like this. At least in my group.
I'm sorry this was such a long post. Didn't mean to drag it out so. Hope I didn't put ya'll to sleep.

Love the photos Nite Owl.

...I remember that well... That Kane was a naughty bird.

Matilda wrote:

...I remember that well... That Kane was a naughty bird.

Yes Charis. I remember how you thought he could be rehabilitated without releasing him. I felt bad for him that day, sitting outside on the ledge for 2 hrs. Then you gave me the idea of separating him from the rest of the flock. One week didn't work. Then I did it again for 2 weeks. That worked! I'm so glad he wouldn't leave, as I am rather attached to him now. Just goes to show that you sometimes need to try different things with different birds. He just gets upset with any major change, and goes through this horrible mood of his, and I think that Aries is the same. A few years ago, I would never have believed that pigeons can be so complex. They're really very interesting.

Your photos are wonderful, Jay.

Just curious, in the second photo it looks like there is a lightweight screen attached, along with the hardware cloth. Is that to help keep the mosquitoes out?

Fancyfeathers wrote:

Your photos are wonderful, Jay.

Just curious, in the second photo it looks like there is a lightweight screen attached, along with the hardware cloth. Is that to help keep the mosquitoes out?

Yes Cindy, that's to keep the mosquitoes out. On one side of the shutters there is screening for the bugs, and on the inside, we have hardware cloth. I like to keep the windows open at night during the warm weather, so it keeps out the bugs.

NiteOwl wrote:

Fancyfeathers wrote:

Your photos are wonderful, Jay.

Just curious, in the second photo it looks like there is a lightweight screen attached, along with the hardware cloth. Is that to help keep the mosquitoes out?

Yes Cindy, that's to keep the mosquitoes out. On one side of the shutters there is screening for the bugs, and on the inside, we have hardware cloth. I like to keep the windows open at night during the warm weather, so it keeps out the bugs.

Great idea!!