Oh no, they're eating my house!!!

Matilda wrote:

Yes, do start her on the supplement again.

Right, I'll do that today!

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It isn't enough that they have sun...it needs to be direct sun as in outside with the sun shinning on the feathers so the bird can soak it up.

Yes, the sun shines directly on their feathers, through the cage bars (1" spacing). I open the veranda windows for Manx to go out as soon as the sun is up, and from then Sammy and Pippin get at least 3 hours of direct sunlight (Abby and George are higher up, so they get less than 2 hours).

A picture of my veranda in the morning, with two of the windows open. Through the open east-facing window, you can see the sun shining directly on George's cage (white) and Sammy and Pippin's (turquoise). The window by the lavender pot faces south.

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When you treated for coccidiosis, did you repeat the treatment in 5- 10 days? I would treat again.
Who does do fecals there?

I repeated it 10 days later. But until recently, pigeon flies have been very active, and I read somewhere that they are cocci transmitters -- is that right? I'll do it again to be on the safe side. Best to treat all the pigeons at once, isn't it?

About the fecals, there is a parasitology lab in Coimbra. My vet said they were extortionate, and she didn't know if they catered for pigeons. But it won't hurt to give them a call.
I've actually bought a second-hand microscope, but it needs a new mirror -- and many hours to lear what to do...

I've never heard that pigeon flies are transmitters of coccidia, but that doesn't mean ti isn't so.

Really cool that you have a microscope and I do know that identification of parasites is not that easy to master, but it sure would be fun to learn how.

Matilda wrote:

I've never heard that pigeon flies are transmitters of coccidia, but that doesn't mean ti isn't so.

I'll try to remember where I saw that.

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Really cool that you have a microscope and I do know that identification of parasites is not that easy to master, but it sure would be fun to learn how.

I found it at the bottom of a box full of junky stuff at €5 a piece, at the local collector's fair! It was filthy and battered, but the objectives go up to 400x and they're fine! It only needs a light source. If I can't find a mirror for it, I'll try to get round it somehow.

Teresa I would treat all the pigeons, if they have contact to one another.

Lucky you I've always wanted a microscope to do fecals.

Teresa - a great light source would be a LED pocket lamp because it creates a very bright light on the spot and does not need much energy. I bought mine at Ebay for just a few bucks. It contains 21 LEDs. You could attach this with duck tape to the microscope because it is small but effective.

pigeonwriter wrote:

Teresa - a great light source would be a LED pocket lamp because it creates a very bright light on the spot and does not need much energy. I bought mine at Ebay for just a few bucks. It contains 21 LEDs. You could attach this with duck tape to the microscope because it is small but effective.

Great idea! Thank you so much, Petra!

... And a seagull is eating my roof!!!

No, I'm not joking! I wish I was... This afternoon I clearly saw a very young seagull ripping pieces of leading off the annexe roof and trying to eat them!
I threw some water at him to shoo him off, and I just hope he didn't swallow any of the stuff!

I've since come to understand that when my pigeons were pecking at walls etc, they were signaling to me that they needed more minerals than there were in their grit. But this...? Could it be that the inexperienced seagull thought something silvery and shiny must be a fish?

I don't know. ...that's really strange, Teresa. I hope he didn't actually eat any of it either.

Matilda wrote:

I don't know. ...that's really strange, Teresa. I hope he didn't actually eat any of it either.

So do I...

For whatever reason he was eating that, I sure hope he realized it wasn't what he should have been eating.

Please keep us posted, Teresa.

Here's his handiwork:



Having taken a good look at the roof today, I saw that most of the leading was bent back, rather than missing, and with the few scattered bits it seems he may not actually have eaten any of it.

I sure appreciate your update, Teresa.
I hope you were right in that the little one probably didn't eat any of the leading.