Tweaty and Pip

Hi Wendy,

Great to hear from you and the news on Tweaty and Pip.

I wonder if the youngster who visits is more aware of their gender and has got 'her' eye on one of them !!

I get two very distinct colours in the garden. Some are the lightest shade of almost sky blue on the backs with very pretty pinkish chests. The others are very autumnal, quite browny on the back with a deep almost bronze chest. I wondered if this was due to age at one time but one I unfortunately lost last week with canker wasn't young but was the lighter of the two shades.

I wonder how we can tell what Tweaty and Pip are ! May have to keep an eye on how they react to the visitors around.

So glad they're living well together even if not in love.

Sorry about the computer problems. I'll send you my details again in case so you need them.

Love to the 'boys'

Janet

Hi Wendy,
Just checking in to see how you, Tweaty and Pip are coming along.
I hope all is going well.

Hi everyone and happy new year! Hope you all had a good Christmas.

I run a magazine and my deadlines have kept me extremely busy before Christmas. I'm taking this week off until Saturday when it's time for distribution, so I'm catching up with everyone, finally! Sometimes I hate the fact my job controls my life, but it gives me a good living, so I'm not complaining, really....

Tweaty and Pip are doing absolutely fine so far. I've had a few nightmares with this cold weather, but they have coped brilliantly. They were even both in their water bath during the freezing weather so I guess I shouldn't worry too much. They are eating much more seed (they love dried peas and maize) at the moment, rather than greens. I feed the local woodys outside the aviary too, and we also have a field at the back of us full of clover, so I watch what the wild woodys are doing and try and keep my two doing the same. So when I see the wild ones going mad over the clover, I take some greens to my two and you can guarantee that's what they are needing.

I also notice that the wild ones have a strict timescale in terms of feeding. They come down about three times a day and my two are starting to take on the same routine. This means I have to time it right during the afternoon and go down just after the wild ones have finished their second meal of the day and offer mine some treats like their dried peas, etc. They usually can't get enough of them, but if I go down any earlier, they aren't interested. Fascinating, isn't it?

They love sitting in the rain (well Tweaty more than Pip) and lifting their wings up to catch the drops. I've got them some parrot toys and they spend their time tugging at them and messing around.

I think they have a good life, but sometimes I can't help but feel sorry for them especially when they see all the wild ones feeding around them. Then again, the wild ones stick their beaks through the wire and look longingly at the life my two have inside, so I guess it's not all bad. I'm going to get another couple of sections put in after the new year so they've got a bit more flying room.

I go down and spent a lot of time with them as it's lovely to be away from the phone and computer, in the silence of the garden. I've got a little stool that folds flat that I keep down there and I sit on that. As soon as I sit down, Tweaty comes and flys onto my legs and proceeds to jump from leg to leg with a little 'tweat' each time. He loves his tickles and loves flying onto my head with mucky feet!

Pippy started to do the same yesterday. She's been a hard nut to crack in terms of enjoying being handled, but she's doing really well. She adores her spinach leaves. Her plumage is completely normal now, nothing like she was when she arrived.

I hope that's updated you. Here's a pic I took of them both on Christmas Day when I was out with the camera photographing our lovely snow. Can't believe we got snow on Christmas day! Pip's on the left and Tweaty on the right.

I'm now going to have a browse around the site and catch up with what's been going on.

Wend
x

Hi Wendy,
It's great to hear from you and know that you are doing well.
I totally understand the work 'thing' and time constraint.

I loved your update. Tweaty and Pip are looking wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing the photo.
Did you get any snow photos?

I hope you enjoy your week of vacation.
Please do stop by when time permits. We so enjoy visiting with you.

It's been lovely catching up on the forum. Janet - your babies are adorable! And little Scooter's story is lovely.

Not one of the pigeons as they didn't want to get out of bed that morning! But here's one of Rosie our spaniel, who suffered a nasal tumour in the summer of last year. She had radiotherapy at Cambridge Vet Hospital and is currently doing very well, apart from some hair loss on her nose. She was going nuts near the aviary in the snow in this picture.

And one of the local woodies all coming down for breakfast!

Love the pictures, Wendy. Thanks for posting them.

Rosie is adorable.
So glad to hear she recovered from her 'illness'.

Oh my goodness...it's so wonderful to hear form you. We have been wondering... Pip and Tweaty look content, plump and wonderful.
Rosey is just precious. I love the picture of her little romp in the snow.

Your property is gorgeous.

Hi Wendy and Janet,
Thank you both for sharing your stories about how you got Tweaty and Pip together and how they're getting on... and for the pics, too. They're both beautiful birds.

There's a link below from the International dove Society about Woodies. It says that the sexes are similar (they're not a sexually dimorphic species, anyway) so I'd assume that given different bloodlines, it would be iffy to try and make an accurate determination of gender by plumage. That said, the page does indicate the Female ... sometimes having a smaller white neck patch & less
pinkish on the chest.

Here's the link:
http://www.internationaldovesociety.com/SeedSpecies/EWPigeonpalumbus.htm

Best wishes,
Carol

Thanks for posting the link, Carol.
Those of us on this side of the pond don't see wood pigeons so it's always nice find articles about them.

Very happy to, Cindy

Haha, when I played the sound byte of the Woodies' coo from the link, my ringnecks started cooing along

Best wishes,
Carol

That's really helpful. I'll try and examine them carefully tomorrow. Pippy's got a bigger tummy and is smaller across the shoulders, where as Tweaty has a large shoulder span and is smaller in the tummy area. Pippy looks like she's had a really good dinner and her belly is sticking out a bit! Her chest is less pinky too, although I think her neck ring is about the same as Tweaty's. That's the only difference I can see in them, but it may be due to them being from different parts of the country.

I'd love them to be male and female! I must get my ceramic eggs ready!! They tolerate each other but aren't perch buddies yet. If they do end up sitting next to each other, the old goose neck comes out on both of them. Pip's definitely got the upper hand, so she must be female

Little Fledgling wrote:

That's really helpful. I'll try and examine them carefully tomorrow. Pippy's got a bigger tummy and is smaller across the shoulders, where as Tweaty has a large shoulder span and is smaller in the tummy area. Pippy looks like she's had a really good dinner and her belly is sticking out a bit! Her chest is less pinky too, although I think her neck ring is about the same as Tweaty's. That's the only difference I can see in them, but it may be due to them being from different parts of the country.

I'd love them to be male and female! I must get my ceramic eggs ready!! They tolerate each other but aren't perch buddies yet. If they do end up sitting next to each other, the old goose neck comes out on both of them. Pip's definitely got the upper hand, so she must be female

Hi Wendy,

Just been catching up with your latest pictures.
Your garden looks so different from when I brought Pip up. It's still amazing with all that snow.

Good to see Rosie having fun too !!.

Will speak soon,

Janet

Just wondering if anyone can help. Pippy's got a strange bloody patch on the top of her head. It started with the feathers looking a bit 'loose' over the past week. I thought she was moulting in that area. Then today I saw it had started to look a bit inflamed. I've tried to have a rummage around on her head to see what's causing it, but she got a bit stressed so I left it. I've managed to get some pics of it though - hope you can see it OK. I'm going to go and put some aloe vera and seawead jel on it in a minute, but as I'm a bit of a novice at this, I need to know it's nothing more serious.

I don't think they are fighting. I've got a pigeon cam ( ) to keep an eye on them most of the time and I've not noticed any kind of naughty behaviour between them. I know it's not a hawk trying to get them. I do have a rat problem but as we put wire down before putting the aviary down, they've not come through it (yet - trying to get rid of them via poisoning as we've suddenly got lots in the garden).

Is it mites or other infection do you think?

Wend.

Hi Wendy,
My first thought would be that Pippy was pecked by Tweaty. It just looks like that kind of wound.

Does it look like a deep wound or perhaps a surface wound, but enough to make it bleed a bit?

I know Pippy doesn't like to be examined, but it would be best to catch her, wrap her in a towel and take a really good look at the wound, especially if it's beginning to look a little inflamed.

I'll do that - it's getting dark here now so I'll make it my first job in the morning. It's also snowing like mad again.

It started off as just a few 'ruffled' feathers on her head. Just a few that looked like they weren't laying properly and that was it. That started with just one or two and then spread very slightly over the week which is why I thought she was moulting. Then today it was like this. It's a bit dandruffy I suppose you could describe it as. A bit dry and itchy looking. There is no obvious gash or cut on her skin.

I wonder if darling Tweaty has been pecking her. She's normally got the upper hand though and rules the roosting area. He tends to sit outside using the bird bath as an umbrella!

Do birds suffer from any skin infections? I make sure they are kept very clean and change the newspaper where they poo every day. There doesn't seem to be any other kind of problem on either of them as I've given them a good going over.

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

The only other thing I can think of is that she may have been startled, after dark, and flown into something in the aviary that nicked her head.
I agree with Cindy that is would be wise to have a proper look to see how bad it is.
Keep us posted.

Oh dear poor Pip.

As Cindy and Charis have already said, the first possibility would be a peck from Tweaty.

I have seen a couple of mine literally hanging off each others heads with their beaks in an argument over Poly, but apart from Roly, where she's lost a lot of feathers on the top of her head, they haven't managed to break the skin.
Maybe Woodies beaks are sharper. In saying that in the 'sanctuary' where I've seen Woodies pecked by others before in the past, I've seen some terrible wounds right through to the scalp on one or two Woodies, so it's a good possibility. Maybe she sat on the wrong perch !

If, like suggested you can wrap her up to stop her struggling, and I'd get a small piece of cotton wool, dipped in saline water and damp around the area so you can see what's under the feathers. It's just a bit easier to see when they're wet.

Good luck, hope you're not too snowed in over night !!!

Janet

Charis' suggestion is what comes to my mind too. When frightened, they fly up and sometimes hurt themsevs. I had several scalped senegal doves that way. Antibiotic ointment will mend this wound.

Thanks everyone. She's absolutely fine in herself - eating well and is roosting nicely - I can see them on the camera. We've had lots of snow tonight, but it's stoppped thankfully. I'll give her a good examine tomorrow and will definitely dampen the area and report back. Naughty Tweaty :For Shame: if that's what he's done. No wonder she's been a bit anti him over the past few days.

By the way, he gave his first proper pigeon coo yesterday. He was sat on my knees, jumping from leg to leg as he does and looking very pleased with himself, when he suddenly tured to me and did a proper call. I'm sure he smiled at me afterwards

Well, I've had a good look at her and can't see anything obvious. Her skin is a bit black but I guess that's where she's had the inflammation. She's not so 'bloody' on it today and so I've put more aloe vera on it. Will keep a daily check on her to see if it's getting any worse and if it does I'll nip her to the vets. I'll probably put a bag over my head as I'm sure I'll get ribbed for taking a wood pigeon in, but there you go

Both haven't eaten all day apart from when I went down to feed them this afternoon. The ground is covered in snow, even though it's not very thick, and I don't think they like walking on it the pair of jessies - I noticed that none of the seed I'd left them had been touched. So I've now set up a shelf in their roosting area with all their food and water, which should hopefully stop the water freezing over so quickly. It's not been above freezing here for days now which is so unusual and it's making everything such hard work.

I put both of them into their food area this afternoon so they knew where I'd moved it to, and they had a peck around but only after absolutely stuffing themselves with dried peas. Tweaty ate three hands full at lightening speed as he was starving. He was bouncing about on his perch watching me get them out of the feed area and was leaning forwards so far he nearly fell off his perch as I came towards him with the food. Little monkeys. If they are so hungry they should learn to walk on snow. Talk about being pampered, but they deserve it.

Poor little things must be terribly confused with snow because it's completely new to them.
That was very wise of you to put a feeding shelf in the avairy.

Appreciate the update, Wendy.
Sending 'warm and sunny' thought to you, Pippy and Tweaty.
I'm sure they will be most excited when winter is over.

Hi Wendy,

So glad nothing too nasty was lurking on Pip's head !

Loved the image of them keeping off the snow, Maybe you could find them some cool Moon Boots for Woodies. :That\\\'s so f

Good idea though putting their food inside in this weather anyway. I feel so sorry for the Woodies in the garden at the moment. I throw seeds out every morning and they're down straight away gobbling until they're all gone. Hard times for them.

Hope Pip keeps improving,

Janet

Do they make pigeon helmets too? I know that diapers are on the market.
Boots will also be handy.

Hope they come right with food soon.