Annoyances

I'd written a post about the ongoing fecal problems in the loft, which have resulted most recently in treatment for worms. THAT has caused new problems amounting to some pretty significant diarrhea, including for the babies, which has me worried (I must worry about something! Everything!)

Anyway, blogger ATE my postin spite of alleged drafts..etc. Well I don't feel like re-creating it all so this is here instead.

I have some new pics and also some little movies, which I'll put up at my photo album site with a link soon as I post them online.

A Day as Pretty as a Picture

Link to an album

Official Worry Wort

Should be my title. This morning I decided BB/Walt aren't feeding their babies enough. There was nothing in either crop. Of course, it was first thing in the a.m. and no one had anything to eat yet. The birds all ate and BB went to the nest and the larger baby proceeded to hog food..I stood waiting and watching till eventually the smaller goomer got his beak in there for some grub too. But baby #1 kept forcing his big beak in her mouth at the same time, and he definately got most of it. Especially that little guy, I'll have to make sure he gets stuffed good and full!

Anyway I've decided to supplement their feeding, starting this afternoon when I get home. It won't hurt, can only help, and I'm concerned since Walter has begun cavorting with every other female in the place! I saw him mating with 16 a couple days ago, this morning, she had a fresh egg. No doubt that one will be fertile..sigh..they've all got to get into the act! They all want babies to feed, I guess.

I suppose I shouldn't be concerned that he'll abandon his nest since he's been so protective and taken such good care of his babies so far, and the squirmer I saw in Woo's is obviously his, too. He takes no interest in that baby and its existence hasn't caused him to lose interest in the pair he has with BB.

I wonder if that squirmer is even still alive, I've seen no movement and the girls won't let me have a clear peek. If it is alive and if it makes it...I'll probably have to name it Squirmer!

Oh, Dear....

I've been convalescing and keeping a low profile, just poking my nose out as much as necessary and turtling again.

On Monday, or perhaps it was Sunday, I was nosing around in the pidgie palace and discovered a bit to my shock and dismay that Woo and her nestmate '15' have a baby in their nest bowl. They had 4 eggs in there, which makes them a pair of females...hanky-panky! They are determined to protect their precious from ogling by ugly bald headed humans so I haven't glimpsed the thrashing squirmer since and have no idea if it's still alive, or...shudder...has siblings. :(

I was quite comfy thinking that the females had bonded and would continue to lay their infertile eggs when the fancy took them and the population would remain under control. EEEK. Meanwhile Mama and Papa apparently are bored with their new home - or maybe they like it a lot - today I found a pair of eggs in their nestbox too. It's her first normal pair, so far she's produced one bad egg per round. Last time one wasn't fertile, maybe such will be the case this time around as well. Hopefully neither of them is any good. I'm beginning to be overrun!

I will be shopping for plastic "dummy" eggs immediately!

The loft can hold up to 30 birds, but I never wanted to have that many! I was pretty content with the 9 or 10 I had - oops.

I've banded both of Beauty's babies, kind of funny, I banded the larger one and the next day I found the band OFF the baby's leg and dumped in the channel outside the bowl..with the POOP. Guess that's what mom and dad think of that ugly green plastic bracelet on their offspring. One of them will be dark! A surprise as his mom and dad are mostly white, his grandparents on mom's side all white, and gramma on dad's side, too...somewhere in there a cross was made and this is it coming back I guess. I took this pic a few days after the first:

you can see the darker one already showing. Today he's got pin feathers starting and his primaries will certainly be dark and maybe his head, he has spots of darker pigmented skin on his feet too...it's much fun watching them grow and imagining what they'll be like when they're bigger (besides fertile!) The smaller/younger of the two isn't getting its fair share of the groceries, I'm afraid, and so far I think it will be white like mom. Maybe it's a boy and a girl...?

Happy Grandma

Beauty's eggs have hatched!!!

Making me an official grandparent of some kind...an official foster grandma? I took this picture Friday the 14th of September so I was pretty close guessing the day the eggs appeared as I was expecting them to hatch this weekend.

So far she is a very protective parent - I only got to have a glimpse and snap their picture when hunger drove her off of them and she was very worried and fretful about my nosing around the nest. I peeked again this morning just to make sure there were still 2 little miracles and so far, so good. My worry circuits have kicked on so I'm about to go out and see if I can nudge papa off for another glimpse.

'15' wants to help feed the little rascals, she obviously has good mothering instincts..I only hope one or more of the 3 new guys really IS a guy so some of the girls in the loft have suitors to choose from. I've heard some romantic cooing sounds coming from their temporary home, I hope they don't get paired up before they even meet the rest of their flock. Tomorrow is moving day for them, provided my cold lets me feel well enough to install some new roosting spots.

Goodbye Little Alex

When I come to the end of the road
And the sun has set for me
I want no rites in a gloom filled room
Why cry for a soul set free.

Miss me a little--but not too long
And not with your head bowed low
Remember the love that we once shared
Miss me--but let me go.

For this journey that we all must take
And each must go alone
It's all a part of the Master's plan
A step on the road to home.

When you are lonely and sick at heart
Go to the friends we know
And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds
Miss me--but let me go.

Goodbye little Alex

HEDDIE LOVES ME!

Her little family moved to the big loft on Labor Day (Sep. 3 '07) and since she is 'odd man out' there, with everyone else being paired off, she has no friends and no one to become chummy with. Since I handled her almost daily since she was banded at a week, she is unafraid of me and comes readily to sit on my shoulder where she preens my bald neck and hair, and tries to coax food from my earhole. I'm her only 'friend' and I think she is very lonely.

The good news on that score may be that the 3 new kids are nearing the end of their quarantine period and can soon join the rest. I am thinking of letting Heddie spend the next week or 10 days with them, in the small coop (I call it the annex) so she gets to know them a little bit before they all move into the big place together. I don't want to stick her into a situation though where she is the alone amongst strangers, so it's a tough call there...to leave her to discover the 3 new birds along with everyone else or let her try to make / have some new friends now...dilemma. A small one though. :)