No rest for the wicked

Teresa, Glad to hear that Hercules is behaving again, and that Charlie is doing much better.

Strophe sounds like a little sweetheart I don't think you'll be able to release her, she is much too imprinted and human friendly.


Louise

Many thanks for the update, Teresa.

Great news that Charlie should be able to be released soon.

Glad to hear Hercules is being a 'gentleman' once again.
Hercules!!

I'll bet Strophe is one darling little pij.

What a lovely update, Teresa - I am so glad that you have such good news
And with Strophe - that sounds just like Pina! What a sweetie. Isn't it like feeling that your heart just melts away when pijjies so very much trust you? I always say that they have some human souls - how is their humanlike behaviour otherwise explainable???

pigeonwriter wrote:

What a lovely update, Teresa - I am so glad that you have such good news
And with Strophe - that sounds just like Pina! What a sweetie. Isn't it like feeling that your heart just melts away when pijjies so very much trust you? I always say that they have some human souls - how is their humanlike behaviour otherwise explainable???

Maybe you're right -- or maybe they have their own little pidgy souls, with angel wings!

One happy customer!

Here is Piper, when she had just completed examining the changes I made to her quarters. She looks pleased.

She is beautiful, Teresa.

Charlie was released yesterday afternoon (minus her band), and today she was back here as usual, having her afternoon nap on top of Hercules and Piper's cage! Hercules complained a lot about it, but I was thrilled!



Abby and George are 'moult monsters' at the moment, looking more like porcupines than anything else, so I'm giving them extra peas and lentils for protein. Both still have a droopy left wing (Abby was presumably clipped by a car, and George was accidentally trapped by a wing under a venetian blind). Out of the two, Abby seems keener to exercise, and she can lift her bad wing quite high. Good girl!


Sammy and Pippin have most of their new feathers now, and they're looking good. Both are enjoying their daily morning sunlight on the veranda, and vastly improved view -- but now that they can see so many ferals close up, Pippin is showing an interest in the boys, and Sammy gets jealous and wingslaps them away.


There's a spare squeaker in my veranda! She's there right now, for the third night in a row. She's a little blue-bar with practically no tail feathers but a lot of spirit in competing for food! I guess she must be a lucky survivor of a foiled predator attack.
She forages around all day, and as soon as the sun starts to go down, in she comes! She's sleeping in a little newspaper-lined tray on top of Abby's cage, and has her own food and water dishes. I've called her Manx.

This was her last night, sleeping on top of George's cage:

What a smart little squeaker. I hope she continues to come in until she is more confident.

Thanks for the update on the Portugal pijjies, Teresa.
It looks like your veranda is pretty well occupied.

Manx is one lucky little squeaker.
So glad she found your place to rest her feathers.

Love this update again, Teresa!

After a great initial improvement, Hercules got a severe bout of diarrhea, so I put him on Baytril and Flagyl, and today I started Piper on Flagyl only, after she produced the first soft poops. (Wish I could get a fecal... )
On the up side, I'm managing to medicate them (yes, even HIM) without any fuss, by offering them half a pea (Piper) or a piece of corn (Hercules) with the med inside it. Hercules hates being handled -- first he gets very violent, and when constrained, he's terrified -- so I'm just glad he loves his sweetcorn and gobbles it up with no questions!

The rest of the residents are doing fine, but Abby's bad wing is showing poor feather growth, with some feathers still 'entubed'. Should I try to tease bits of the tubes away with my nail?

Charlie comes in every day for lunch and her afternoon nap, then goes off again.

Little Manx comes in every day at dusk and stays till after breakfast. She's there right now, nice and cosy, while it's pouring with rain outside!

Is Piper getting ready to lay eggs? Could be that is why she has soft droppings.

When I give a pigeon a pill...I just open their beak and pop the pill at the back of the mouth, over the throat and they go right on down.

Matilda wrote:

Is Piper getting ready to lay eggs? Could be that is why she has soft droppings.

Yes, she is, they mated a couple of days ago, but as it was just when Hercules started having diarrhea I thought she might get it from him.

Quote :

When I give a pigeon a pill...I just open their beak and pop the pill at the back of the mouth, over the throat and they go right on down.

I do that with 'normal' pigeons, but Hercules gets paranoid when he's handled for whatever reason, and he doesn't like me to handle Piper either, and can show violent behaviour towards her when I do. Gotta tiptoe around those two...

I'm sorry to hear about Hercules, Teresa. Sure hope he's doing better real soon.
Will be thinking good thoughts.

So glad to hear Charlie and Manx are doing well.

Just a quick update...

Hercules is better, but he's still not in top form. The heavy moult has debilitated him somewhat.

Abby has had a few grooming sessions, which she thoroughly enjoyed after initially growling at me and she's looking much better. She lifts her bad wing much more, and you'd never know her head had been scalped once.

Sammy had a little stargazing episode today for the first time in months, but it only lasted a couple of seconds. She's as clumsy as ever, bless her, finding new and interesting ways to spill her PMV-safe water containers, so I have to check them often.

Charlie still comes over for a meal and a siesta every day. She no longer favours one foot at all.

As I write, Manx is fast asleep in the veranda, in the tray she adopted as home, above Abby's cage. She's finishing her moult, and her tail is growing back.

The rest of the crew is doing fine, except for Lawrence who had a bit of a stomach upset yesterday. He's on Synulox and has already improved a lot. He wasn't sick at all today, and his appetite is better.

Last but not least... I've got a new rescue, Ana!
I woke up this morning to see a pigeon staring right at me. Then I heard my mother's voice, 'I brought you a pigeon. She flew right into my house and wouldn't leave!'
She's a red and white speckled youngster, barely more than a squeaker. Painfully thin, and her first poops were just urates and liquid. I'd seen her feeding with my feral flock and she should have been able to eat enough. So I started her on Flagyl and Bactrim.
She can eat and drink fine on her own, and according to the poop count she's eating enough. But her poops, although formed, are on the soft side and the urates are a bit yellow. She is very aware, standing upright and showing no discomfort. She's just fallen asleep in her nest (a basket with a thick towel wrapped around a hot water bottle). It will stay warm for the next 5 hours, then I'll change it again.
I haven't taken any photos yet but I'll do it tomorrow.

Appreciate the update, Teresa.
Glad to hear everyone seems to be doing well.

Ana must have been looking for you place and ended up at your Mom's instead.
Sending her 'get well' wishes.
Please keep us posted on her progress.

Teresa wrote:

There's a spare squeaker in my veranda! She's there right now, for the third night in a row. She's a little blue-bar with practically no tail feathers but a lot of spirit in competing for food! I guess she must be a lucky survivor of a foiled predator attack.
She forages around all day, and as soon as the sun starts to go down, in she comes! She's sleeping in a little newspaper-lined tray on top of Abby's cage, and has her own food and water dishes. I've called her Manx.

This was her last night, sleeping on top of George's cage:

Manx has definitely taken up residence. Like any teenager, she only comes home to eat and sleep!
Here is a photo of her perched on the washing line during the day. I think she looks just like Freeway!



And her tail has grown back!

Update on Ana:

The squeaker who went into my mother's house and wouldn't leave is doing well.
She's eating and drinking by herself, she's quite active and the poops are looking better (you can see them in the first photo).

Adorable bird

Ana is absolutely beautiful, Teresa.

I'm glad she's doing good.
Love the picture where she spotted the 'mouse'.

So very pretty! She has the same color & markings as our JuJu Bee.

I'm so glad she's feeling better.

Geez Teresa, what a beautoful little bird and what a colour! I have never seen a colour like that! You hardly can see any reds here

Thanks, everyone! She is a pretty baby, but I like Mac's colouring (softer, greyish-red, with dark eyes) even better -- there's no pleasing some people, eh!
Two years ago a couple of squeakers the same colour as Ana joined my feral flock, and they grew into Arizona (male) and Namibia (female), both reckless, both captured and freed from string early this summer. (I named them after deserts because of their dune-at-sunset colours.) I think Ana is either their daughter, or the daughter of one of them.

She gets very excited when she sees the flock, especially at feeding time. But hopefully in 2 weeks or less she will have put on a bit of weight and finished her meds, so she may be able to rejoin them then.

She's not too happy at being handled, but neither is she afraid of me. In this video, she was a little camera-shy at first, but soon got down to the business of eating!

She just needed the right moment to get started with the eating.
I like the pretty little dish she's eating from.

Mopping after the cats...

My Lawrence had just recovered from being repeatedly sick over 3 days, when Kali started doing the same... Except that she wasn't even keeping her meds down long enough. But after taking an antiemetic things got better.
It seems I've done nothing for days except clean up cat sick, cat poop and pigeon poop! And by pigeon poop I mean the ferals', as they came into the veranda, I wasn't counting the seven cages!
Best effort goes to Kali, picking the best places to throw up: my bed, Soni's drawing table, the edges of books (so it drips down the pages), inside shoes, and over the switches of electrical appliances... the only time she was sick on the floor, she actually crossed the room to throw up on top of the clean rug I'd just laid down! If you'd been around the last 2 days, you would hear -- repeatedly -- 'Oh Kali, you didn't...!!!' But I'm happy to report that she hasn't been sick for a few hours now.

The weather has been awful over here, with torrential rain and floods in several parts of Portugal. So I've brought Ana's cage into my study and set it by the heater, with a thermometer -- it's a better option than changing hot water bottles every few hours. The heating pads sold in the States can't be used here (different voltage) and the British ones are very expensive, so the oil heater is the best option for now. I've also made her a new nest, which she loves.

As I type, flashes of lightning are lighting up the sky, real Halloween weather! Which reminds me, I have a special Halloween picture to upload...