The PMV Thread with Pina, Willy, Jimi and Winnie

Pina definitely sounds like a normal hen to me, with her little pijjie snappy attitude. :That\\\'s so f

I hear ya about the biting. When Pij'ette is sitting on her artificial eggs she will bite the devil out of my hand when I go to feed her. And she doesn't let go.

That's what my couples do too, when they are on eggs....pekh, peck peck. My hand avoids them as much as possible. :That\\\'s so f

I don't think they associate the hand as being part of us but rather something from another planet.

Time has come: since a few days I am neither hand feeding Jimi nor Alice any more. On Sunday they will be weighed again, checked and if nothing supicious is visible I am going to release them both. They are a loving couple now and I want to give them a chance to build a nest in freedom. Who would have thought?

It will be hard for me to let them go but they are born free and they shall be free again. And they hopefully will return to our balcony to pick up their little goodies. There is no sign of PMV, canker or anything else as far as I can determine. So it would be cruel to keep them further in a box. The weather is quite lovely at the moment - so the conditions are good.

I will keep you updated how it goes!

When the time comes for your release Jimi and Alice, may the Pigeon Prayer be your shadow. Bless you both.

And to you Petra, you have done a wonderful job of bringing these two back to a healthy state.
You are truly a through and through.

Cindy - I thank you so much for your kind words - I am already very nervous and hardly could sleep tonight. I wish them so much a happy long life

I know exactly what you are feeling, Petra. I was always nervous the night before I released a rehabbed pij.
Please do keep us posted on how things go with the release.

I don't know yet whether I am going to release them tomorrow. At the moment - it is 10 pm - it is raining quite hard and the temperatures have gone down a bit. It depends on whether tomorrow the sun is shining. I am not going to let them "run away" while it is raining...
Oh my this is realy hard on my nerves

The whole thing is becoming really freaky. Today Jimi and Alice behaved somewhat strange as if they knew exactly what was going to happen. Jimi especially flew around here on places he never tried before as if he wanted to show me what a good flyer he is and that I need not worry. Also Pete was outside the window in the afternoon so often that it was also strange. Jimi and Pete communicated with one another and I wonder whether Jimi told his father that he would be coming soon again. Am I getting mad?

No...you are not getting mad. I think you are worried about what will happen when they are out of your control. That's really scary. I would feel the same. At least they have come from the wild and so they know what it's like to be out there. They also know where to come for help if they need it. Who knows...could be they have a fly around and then return to your door at dusk to come in.

:That\\\'s so f - Charis - that was on my mind too - maybe they fly around and when it comes to find a good place to roost they possibly think - hey - back to Hotel Mama

Btw - I postponed the release to tomorrow. Today it is below 10 °C again and it is rainy weather. Not the best conditions. What is one day more???

pigeonwriter wrote:

:That\\\'s so f - Charis - that was on my mind too - maybe they fly around and when it comes to find a good place to roost they possibly think - hey - back to Hotel Mama

Btw - I postponed the release to tomorrow. Today it is below 10 °C again and it is rainy weather. Not the best conditions. What is one day more????

Hotel Mama!! Love it!

Good idea.
You'll know when the time is right for their release.

Hotel Mama is very funny. You need to paint a little sign to put over your door.
Your are right...the conditions need to be perfect to let them go and what is another day or more...
You are so busted, Petra. You are without doubt

I know I am, Charis!!!!!


Btw - here is a little video showing Pina starting to eat all by herself again - after 4 months of handfeeding! I am so proud of our little princess and sooooooooo relieved:




Another highlight:
Pina managed to fly up on the closet and climbed into the box where she always sat with Peppi! And then she really cooed and danced a little dance of triumph on her little platform on the bookshelf - and of course I was so "shocked" that I forgot my camera -

Great post and video, Petra.

Oops, I thought, reading your other thread, that you had already released Alice and Jimi, so my message was premature! But I agree with you that 10º below and rain doesn't sound very appetising...
Best wishes for their release, and congratulations to you on bringing them this far and gradually seeing them all get better!

Just a short note: Jimi and Alice are flying free again. It was fully successful. I couldn't get enough to watch them flying around and coming back to the balcony again and again. Photos and video from the realease later.....

That's wonderful.

I'm so glad to hear the release was successful, Petra.
Bless you for the wonderful care you gave them.

And here are the news with pics.
I hardly had time yesterday to do anything else but watching both. You really could see how happy they were and how they loved to fly free again. They stopped many times on the balcony which made me very happy as I had feared that they would be off and gone. But the contrary happened - they took a snack here from time to time and they slept during the night on the balcony!

Today it was even better: both came in as if this were the most natural thing to do and really had their meal here. When I was feeding Angelo in the late morning - he always jumps on my arm while I am holding the food bowl and cannot stand when another pijjie wants to eat there too - his Mama is all his!!! - Jimi jumped on my other arm - yes I have two - and both pijjies ate from the food bowl.

I watched Alice eating from the ground together with the others - so I was so relieved that they picked up their normal life. I wonder what will happen tonight and during the next days. The weather forecast is not so good for the next days but I am sure now that Jimi and Alice will manage it.

Here is the little video from the release:



And a couple of photos from the balcony:







And here is a photo with their friend Blacky - who often visited them looking into the window from outside!!! Isn't this cute?

In case you did not see my update before with the video and pics:

each day now Jimi and Alice are coming in to get their breakfast and lunch inside!!!

It is incredible! With the greatest implicitness they wait in front of the balcony door until I open it - they then "pace" inside and go to the food bowl. Not a singly nervous twitch about me closing the door behind them. They greet Winnie who has taken over Jimi's box at the window and when they have finished I have to compliment them out of the door again. It looks soooooo funny! :That\\\'s so f :That\\\'s so f :That\\\'s so f

Since a couple of days Willy has become very fidgety and flies through the appartment like crazy. So I understood he wanted to tell me that he was ready to go out. He did not do this last week so this was his way to tell me that he was ready to go.
With a heavy heart I therefore decided yesterday morning to open the balcony door and let him fly. I did not know whether he would come back for food, whether he would continue with egg sitting in exchange with Pina, I did not know anything besides that he wanted so very much to fly again - so I let him.

He flew to the balustrade and you could see that he hardly believed his luck. And off he was to the opposite building. After half an hour he was back again, walking inside as if nothing had happened and took his breakfast. After that he went off again. Like a clock he was back again at the time he ususally takes over egg sitting. I was impressed!!! I openend the balcony door, he came in, I closed the door, he went to the nest, greeted Pina and went straight away on the eggs. I was impressed again.

In the late afternoon Willy wanted to fly out again - showing this to me while he flew from one point to another in the appartment - so I let him out again, wondering whether he would come back in the evening. Of course he did!!! What a bird, what a responsible mate and father. I think some humans could take him as a role model.

I am so happy because Willy is happy again. You could see that. And today it was just the same: he flew out in the early morning, came back for breakfast - btw. together with Jimi and Alice - went out again and we went shopping. Before lunchtime we were back and after 5 minutes or so Willy appeared on the balcony to switch duty with Pina again.

Now we have only Pina and Winnie left to fully recover and it looks good at the moment. I wonder what will happen when Pina AND Winnie are out again. Will Willy have a ménage à trois? Boy - this will be really exciting.

I am so relieved. I would never have thought that Willy would ever be the former Willy again but he is - fully. My goodness and he was near to death. What a transformation. I could not be happier about this.

I missed the video you posted a couple od days ago. They look great, Petra. They look healthy and plump.

Wonderful update.

What a spectacular you are, Petra.

I've only just managed to see the release video -- thanks to my daughter, who managed to find the direct link to YouTube, as the link in your post only showed up as a blank:

:eek:

Jimi and Alice look great! And what a joy that they come back to feed and you can carry on seeing them everyday!

And Willy is free too! Good on him to come back and do his share of the egg duties! What a good mate and father!

It must have taken a lot of courage to let them fly and follow their destiny. I don't know if I would have been able to do it. But looking at how happy your pigeons look, THEY obviously think it's the right thing to do. I hope the future will prove them right and that they will continue to fly happy and safe.

Matilda wrote:

I missed the video you posted a couple od days ago. They look great, Petra. They look healthy and plump.

Thank you Charis - I thought so too - well fed with little round tummies. They still eat like piggies when they come in every day - somtimes twice. In a speed as if they were paid for it....

Fancyfeathers wrote:

Wonderful update.

What a spectacular you are, Petra.

"May the Pigeon Prayer follow close behind you, sweet Willy."

Thank you Cindy - yes they can need all the prayers in the world!

Teresa wrote:

It must have taken a lot of courage to let them fly and follow their destiny. I don't know if I would have been able to do it. But looking at how happy your pigeons look, THEY obviously think it's the right thing to do. I hope the future will prove them right and that they will continue to fly happy and safe.

Oh Teresa, I cannot even describe my feelings nor can I tell you the thousand thoughts that rushed through my head - I had a very heavy heart. But after it went so well I am really calm now and the fact that I see them every day several times helps a lot. The way they come in for breakfast lets me hope that they would come if they need help again.

And here is some more good news: Pina is sitting on the (plaster)eggs now for the 19th day - which means she has already completed a full breeding cycle and given her body some peace. Watching her how she arranges the nest and how she pushes the eggs under her belly again, using even her wings to make it right just lets my heart melt. She is very caring.

On a downside she is still stargazing, some days worse, some better and although she can fly her flights/landings are not always to the point. Although she thinks she is ready to go outside she is definitely not. So I have to be very careful that she does not escape. The positive side again is that she is fully able to eat by herself again although I am still continuing to tubefeed her in the morning and peas for lunch because I find her still a bit too light. She is simply not eating enough by herself. So a lot of patience is still needed.