No rest for the wicked

Teresa wrote:

I've offended Sammy this morning...
I saw a tissue beside her nest and thought, 'What's this doing here? This tissue was under the microfiber blanket in Pippin's nest!' So I picked it up -- and Sammy went nuts pecking at my hand! :eek: I put it back quickly, and she started rearranging it, giving me dirty looks and grumbling all the while.
My daughter couldn't stop laughing. 'Mother, you vandal! She had it all sorted, all Feng-Shuied, and now she's got to do it all over again!'

PS. Would you believe it, she just threw the tissue out of the nest!

Tech wrote:

Teresa wrote:

I've offended Sammy this morning...
I saw a tissue beside her nest and thought, 'What's this doing here? This tissue was under the microfiber blanket in Pippin's nest!' So I picked it up -- and Sammy went nuts pecking at my hand! :eek: I put it back quickly, and she started rearranging it, giving me dirty looks and grumbling all the while.
My daughter couldn't stop laughing. 'Mother, you vandal! She had it all sorted, all Feng-Shuied, and now she's got to do it all over again!'

PS. Would you believe it, she just threw the tissue out of the nest!

You just have to love them Their little antics and personalities are such a joy and source of happiness.


Louise

Tech Sammy sounds like a Diva to me!

Pigeons sure have a way of keeping us on our toes... and giggling at the same time!

That's just too funny. At the rate they are going, they'll have your whole house done over in no time! The video was great.

NiteOwl wrote:

That's just too funny.

At the rate they are going, they'll have your whole house done over in no time!

The video was great.

Especially with four of the working on it.

I gave Sammy some new strips of tissue paper, and videoed her carrying then away while looking at me sideways...
Unfortunately my monitor has blown up and it will be a few days before I can use my computer, so please bear with me.

I'm off to take Abby to the vet's to change her wing bandage.

I've had some computer issues the last couple of days myself and it's so frustrating.
It makes me crazy.

Teresa wrote:

* I gave Sammy some new strips of tissue paper, and videoed her carrying then away while looking at me sideways...

** Unfortunately my monitor has blown up and it will be a few days before I can use my computer, so please bear with me.

*** I'm off to take Abby to the vet's to change her wing bandage.

* That must have been an absolute riot watching her.

** Oh no!!
Will be looking forward to your return as soon as possible.

*** I hope all goes well.

Matilda wrote:

I've had some computer issues the last couple of days myself and it's so frustrating.
It makes me crazy.

Good grief!!

I hope that doesn't mean mine is next.

Computers, eh... Can't live without them, but there's so much that can go wrong! Hope yours will be sorted soon, Charis!
I'm still using my daughter's computer, and I'm going to share a secret here that will have you all laughing the rest of the day: my daughter touch-types VERY fast, and she has very long nails, so she's scratched off most of the letters on her keyboard. It doesn't bother her at all. Me, I need to look at the letters, but the only letters I can see are these: qwpçzx
So if you were a fly on the wall, you would hear something like: tap-tap-tap-oh rats!-erase-erase-tap-tap-tap-tap-curse... etc...

Abby's wing still 'clicks', meaning the bones haven't set yet, and her head must be itchy because she's been scratching it. I may need to invent pigeon gloves. But she's better nevertheless, and feistier.

I've got the results of the cultures related to Tigga's necropsy: positive for protozoans, fungi and bacteria, the latter probably a secondary, opportunistic infection. My vet is going to ask for more details, to see if pneumonia was involved.

That is sooo funny about the computer keyboard, Teresa.

I'm glad Abby seems to be doing good other than her wing.
I hope things improve with that real soon.

Your vet is doing a wonderful job of trying to gt down the very bottom of Tigga's death.
I know it must be somewhat difficult to post all these findings, but we do appreciate it.
We all learn from information like this.

Interesting about the culture. Be interesting to know what kind of fungi too. Poor little Tigga.

As promised, I got the video evidence of Piper and Hercules at work destroying the place:

http://www.pigeonangels.com/pigeon-behavior-f37/oh-no-they-re-eating-my-house-t2111.htm

And lots more news:

Xi-ri scared me this morning, because he didn't want to eat! Before his crop was a quarter full he stopped and wouldn't eat any more. So I switched to feeding him tiny amounts as soon as his crop was empty, which was about every half hour. By lunchtime he was back to his normal self, and I proceeded to feed him every 2 hours.

My sister-in-law told me that she'd only handed him over to me because she was sure he was about to die, and she didn't want "a dead creature" in her house (so NOT because he needed help)! :eek:
And as soon as she heard he was better she wanted to take him home... 'Sure', I said. 'If you can prove to me you'll keep him at the right temperature 24/7 and feed him every 2 hours!' About his temperature, her idea was to put a square of material over his nest and as for the feeds she said, 'if I'm at the beach, my mother can feed him when she has the time!' I asked her what temperature his food should be, and she looked at me blankly... So I took a deep breath and said simply, 'NO. He's staying here until he can fend for himself.'
(God give me patience...)

Abby's wing has not set fully yet, but it's getting there! But whether the wing will be fully operational, we can't say yet, as apparently it's setting with a little overlap.
The little rascal actually did a Houdini on the very day she was due to go to the vet's to have the dressing changed, so her freedom didn't last!
She'll have her next X-ray on Wednesday.

Pippin has managed her first full flight today! Not just a few feet, but a full flight right round the room several times, negociating obstacles and landing perfectly!
I've never understood why she didn't fly well before, except for some inherent weakness related to illness and starvation when she was very young.
You should have seen her, she looked so proud of her achievement! Of course I praised her LOTS, but then I had to go over and praise Sammy, who was VERY jealous of the attention her mate was getting!

And finally, here's Sammy rearranging her nest, with a look in her eye that says, 'Stay away from my tissue, you filthy human!'

Great update, Teresa.
I love the videos.

There never seems to be a dull moment in the Teresa household.

Abby had her wing X-ray today. There is healthy tissue growth, but the femur is not totally aligned with the joint. The vet said it's much easier to line up an actual break, which usually is in the middle of the bone, and in this case the progress is as good as could be achieved.
So she's come home without her bandage, and I can hear her right now busily preening her mucky wing! I'll offer her a bath tomorrow -- I'm sure she'll enjoy that!
She's very good with me, as I'm not the one who has to get unpopular by banding her wing, but apparently she gave the vets a hard time... She's been watching Hercules, I reckon...

Appreciate the update on Abby, Teresa.
Sorry to hear things erem't able to be totally aligned.
I'm sure Hercules gives them all a 'pep' talk before going off to see the vet.

Poor little thing. Sounds like she may be a keeper...yes?

Poor little one, I'm glad she has you Teresa . Will you keep her or find her a new home?

Poor little Abby

These wing injuries are so tragic.

Louise

Jackie's Mom wrote:

Poor little Abby

These wing injuries are so tragic.

Louise

They sure can be.

If she can't fly well, then I'll keep her. I just don't know of anyone else in Portugal who keeps unreleaseable pigeons, and there are no sanctuaries or anything. Goodness knows what I'm going to do if I find 20 more... better start playing the lottery, eh?

Teresa wrote:

If she can't fly well, then I'll keep her. better start playing the lottery, eh?

I kinda had a feeling that there might not be any sanctuaries or many people that keep pigeons as pets

I keep hoping we have the winning number too

Abby's idea of a bath was that she should give me a bath. She succeeded. But she also came out of it very refreshed, and at last that very mucky wing was cleaned up and gently brushed.
The observation and bandaging process led to her losing a lot of flight feathers, so until the next moult comes that wing will be rather bare.
Her wing is VERY droopy, poor Abby. It gets in the way, and something in her eyes tells me it's still very sore. She's having a break from antibiotics at the moment, and is due to restart tomorrow. If at the end of that course things have not improved, I'll consider using Clindamycin (which worked miracles for Noel's swolen elbow joint) plus Nystatin, just in case.

After-bath pics:

1) Very wet -- good wing:



2) Still very wet -- bad wing:



3) Drying -- bad wing. The feathers are growing back on her head:

Those are cute pictures, Teresa.
I'm sure she enjopyed 'sharing' her bath with you.

The eyes do tell a lot don't they? I hope she's not in too much discomfort.
She's sure a cutie.

Abby is in great spirits, curious, pecky and... starting to call! Well, she needn't set her eyes on Hercules, or Piper will have something to say about that...
Best of all, she's been stretching and exercising her wings! I was worried when I first saw her do it, as her bad wing is so droopy, but she can raise it quite a bit!

My sister-in-law came over to collect her canaries (Xi-ri'sparents) which I've been babysitting.
She arrived just before midnight just as I was going to have an early night, but the ensuing exchange got me wide awake.
First, I had to explain that the new additions to the cage were a calcium block and a container with grit (they'd never had either! :eek: )
Then I said there were 2 eggs in the nest, but one was empty (though I don't know how a bird can lay an empty shell) and the other was hard-boiled as soon as it was laid. My nephew peered in. 'But there's 4 eggs there!!' And so there were. They'd been busy in the last few hours.
Out of the new eggs, one was again empty and the other was fertile. Given the late hour, and considering there were already another 3 there, I proposed simply disposing of the fourth. My sister-in-law stopped me, saying to her son, 'Oh, but wouldn't you like to have another baby bird?'
'What, to watch it die like the last one?! This is not a decision for a child to take, and these are living beings that need to be taken care of. And taking care of them right now means letting them sit on the eggs but not allowing them to reproduce, because: a) Their cage is too small for 2, let alone more; b) You don't know how to look after baby canaries, and I'm not going down that road again, and c) I believe the cockbird is infected at subclinical levels, and shouldn't reproduce until he's been given a clean bill of health by an avian vet.'
'Okay, then', she said. 'Let's just throw away the eggs that are no good.'
'Haven't you heard a word I said? They need to sit on them for a while, to give them a break from constant breeding, which will weaken the female and encourage aggressive behaviour.'

In the end I got permission to remove the 'good' egg and leave the others. I don't know how long for, though. If I know her and her parents they'll feel that non-live eggs are disgusting accessories to have in their carefully manicured and sanitised house...