No rest for the wicked

Cute.

I think Clair intended to be ...a red headed, small winged butterfly. It works!

Great picture, Teresa.
Your daughter is darling.

Teresa - you just made me

Those photos with Pippin on you head are priceless!!!!!

I'm so proud of my babies!

I'm still handfeeding Sammy twice a day, George once a day (otherwise he doesn't eat enough), and although Pippin can now feed herself she hops onto my knee and searches my hands for food -- so I end up cupping my hand and letting her eat out of it!
But they're all doing really well:

Sammy can fly quite a bit now -- though his movements are erratic and circular, his landings are getting better and better. He's getting big-headed: imitates Hercules's 'King of the Roost' kind of call and lords it over Pippin and George (who's twice the size of him!). He is molting heavily and has become almost completely black, with a bit of dark grey on his head and light grey on the small of his back and base of the tail feathers. Green iridescence is showing through, but he still sounds like a baby crocodile!

Pippin is a darling, and she and Sammy have become inseparable. She follows him everywhere like a little lamb during exercise time (2x an hour a day, more on Saturdays) and Sammy loves her to bits. Today there was the first hint that her voice is starting to change. She's going to be a blue-bar, probably mixed with some check as she's quite dark.
She had her first bath today and knew exactly what to do! Clever girl! (Sammy followed her into the tub but needed constant attention.)

George had another dose of Ivermectin 13 days after the first, just to make sure. His poops have improved dramatically since the first dose, and he is in beautiful condition. He can fully raise his injured wing now, but he still can't fly much -- no more than 3 ft above the ground.
He scatters more food than he eats, whatever mix I try to tempt him with. And when the poop count confirmed what I suspected, that he wasn't eating enough, I started handfeeding him peas and corn once a day, and topping up his seeds as required. That seems to work. I wish I knew why he can't feed himself properly -- his mouth and throat look fine, and I can't feel any lumps in his neck or crop.

Hercules is still a giant pain in the neck... I can only change his water using a book to shield my hand :eek: It's got pigeons on the cover, so he attacks them instead of me! He's molting heavily at the moment, but thankfully he loves his peas and greens.
He hates physio, and he hates me. He likes Piper, but he's so rough with her I end up separating them every time. He enjoys his daily flights, though -- so much so I only manage to catch him by plunging the room into total darkness.

Piper is just not cut out to be a mum. Last month was the third time she laid, and the third time she totally ignored the eggs. She's been rearranging her nest, especially after I offered her a big handful of pine needles today.

P.S. Lawrence cat decided he likes drinking pigeon bath water!

Thanks for the great update, Teresa.
What a wonderful little flock of pijjies you have.

Hercules really is a handful, isn't he? Definitely has the feral qualities.

Teresa - what an update

oh boy - how I can relate to what you are saying about Piper not being "cut out to be a mum" - i have the same problem with Pina. She has laid the 3rd batch of eggs this week and started to breed - for 2 days - then it was over again. Apparently she thinks that this is soooooo boring to sit on eggs. She rather runs after Willy the whole day to cuddle with him instead of doing her duty. I don't know what to do any more because she seems to lay eggs now every 2 weeks :eek:

Sammy is all grown up!



He complains and peckswhen I put my hand inside his cage, EXCEPT when it's time for exercise, morning or evening: as soon as I open his cage door, he leaps into my hands!
Here is a little video of him, showing him still tilting his head, but staying upright.
He still has seizures when he's nervous, but they're less frequent, and he's been eating by himself for over a week!

Teresa...he looks wonderful.
What will you do with all the extra time now that Sammy feeds himself?

You are one good lookin' pij, Sammy.
And eating all by yourself. Big guy!!

Thanks for sharing Sammy's new picture, video (what a sweetie) and update with us, Teresa.

Matilda wrote:

Teresa...he looks wonderful.
What will you do with all the extra time now that Sammy feeds himself?

I'll spend that time plus a lot more on two wriggly kittens!

Here's a pic of Sammy (right) and Pippin sharing breakfast. Okay, Sammy's standing in the water bowl, but who am I to be picky?

AH...sweet.

Sammy and Pipin are adorable having breakfast together.
Love Sammy standing in the water dish. :That\\\'s so f

Thanks for sharing the picture.

Well - I understand - Sammy didn't want to have breakfast with dirty feet - I fully understand this little guy. Would you want a little pigeon lady have cheese-smelly feet in her face?????? :eek:


Marvellous photo, Teresa, and I am so happy about this development!!!!

Right, it's past 3 am, I'm going to put Pippin to bed (she's still running around, won't settle down while I'm here), give kitties their late-night feed, take the dog out for her late-night walk... and get up four hours after that to give my mum her meds.
Definitely no rest for the wicked!

Bless you Teresa for all that you do.

Please take care of yourself!!!



Louise

Teresa wrote:

Right, it's past 3 am, I'm going to put Pippin to bed (she's still running around, won't settle down while I'm here), give kitties their late-night feed, take the dog out for her late-night walk... and get up four hours after that to give my mum her meds.
Definitely no rest for the wicked!

...How do you manage?

Teresa, you are one incredible woman.
The energizer bunny has nothing on you. :That\\\'s so f

The weekend is here. I hope you are able to take it a little easy.

[quote="Matilda"]

Teresa wrote:

Right, it's past 3 am, I'm going to put Pippin to bed (she's still running around, won't settle down while I'm here), give kitties their late-night feed, take the dog out for her late-night walk... and get up four hours after that to give my mum her meds.
Definitely no rest for the wicked!

...How do you manage?[/quote]

Not very well! My kitchen looks like a bomb's hit it (but at least my mother's doesn't!) and I've got eyebags I could keep my purse in! Which means that any of my students who think that behaving and working is too much bother get the verbal equivalent to a sharp wingslap!
Taking Bollo to the vets takes me almost 4 hours each time :eek: and that doesn't help, but he's getting much better, poor sneezy kitty! And my mum's already been to the travel agent's to book her summer holiday, so she's in great spirits!
With a bit of luck, things should start easing up by the end of this week.

I'm glad to hear Bollo is doing better, Teresa.
I do hope things start to slow down for you. You definitely deserve some R'n'R.

Here we go again!

I've got a new squeaker, Charlie. When I took the dog out, just before sunset, I saw a pigeon crossing the street, away from the park. So the dog and I walked towards her from the opposite direction, to make her get out of the street -- and of course to see why she was there when the others had left to roost.
She moved back to safety, walking, hopping and 'flying' -- I say 'flying' because she couldn't manage more than a foot off the ground... Too young to be out on her own!
Then she darted into the dense vegetation at the edge of the park and disappeared before I could catch her. I tried to get my dog to sniff her out, but Ashe was feeling very lazy today. :Rolling eyes: So I had to crawl into the plants!

Time was ticking on, and no sight of the squeaker, so I said out loud, 'Come out of hiding, you little devil, cause if you don't go home with me, tonight you're cat food!' Just then I saw her tail feathers -- and caught her!
Back home, I introduced her to my daughter. 'Meet Charlie, a.k.a. 'Catfood'! My daughter was horrified with my joke -- but you know what I mean...

Charlie is probably 3 or 4 weeks old. She looks healthy, not a mark on her, not too thin, eyes, mouth etc fine. She was VERY thirsty, though. She had a big gulp of warm water and 42 peas+corn. Then she settled down in a very cosy nest for the night.
Tomorrow I'll see what her poops look like, but one way or another I'm thinking of medicating her for canker, as the feathers on the front of her neck look a bit sparse. Photos tomorrow, hopefully.

String injuries -- two limping birds have joined my 'backyard' flock today. When I saw them I raced up to the roof with some seed to have a better look and see whether I could catch them that way. They're both string injuries: a dark one with one black, lifeless toe, but walking almost normally, and a red male with a swollen foot, limping a lot, but still trying to court a hen. They both came to eat but didn't get too close. I'm taking the trap out onto the roof tomorrow.

Bless you Teresa for taking in the new little squeaker Charlie, and noticing the two birds with the string injuries.

I'm sure Charlie will flourish with your care. Good idea to treat him for canker. He needs a few more weeks of TLC and he'll be ready for release.

Good luck with the trap. I hope you can catch and treat the birds with the string injuries.

Louise

The trap sure beats climbing on the roof after dark. I hope you catch the poor things.

I hope it proves that Charlie is just young and has no other issues going on.
Will keep my fingers crossed that you have luck catching the two limping pijjies.

Please keep us posted.

Charlie was very perky first thing this morning, though a bit freaked out by the strange surroundings!
She'd eaten most of the seeds I'd left her and... look what good poops!