Our 7th Batch: Bob and Susie

[Siam Sam]

And we we have a squab!

Little Bob hatched this morning (Monday morning). The wife looked out before leaving home at 6:40. Little Pidgee was gone, so she could see the eggs. Both still there, she told me before leaving. I got up at 8:20, and there was Bob. Still no Little Pidgee at that time. Must have been out for breakfast. I called the wife to tell her, and she said she had seen something new on one of the eggs, looked sort of like dirt, but she thinks now it was an incipient crack. Mama returned after a while, and mother and squab are out there now, along with Susie still in the other egg.

Looks like there's going to be a problem with Big Pidgee, though. He's not been seen at all for 3-1/2 days now. The last time the wife saw him was late Thursday afternoon when he stopped by for water, and he's not sat on the eggs at all since Wednesday. We were gone all day Saturday, but we're not optimistic he came around that day.

If the wife had not seen him on Thursday, at the end of the first day he missed his shift, I'd be more worried that something happened to him. As it is, I suspect he's done a runner. Very few pigeons seem to be left in the neighborhood now, although other bird life remains; we think he may have flown off with the others. Odd, because he's usually the more conscientious parent. We were home all day yesterday (Sunday) and kept a sharp eye out, but no Big Pidgee, not even for water, a very bad sign indeed. Especially so since Little Pidgee tends to become bored with the squabs after a week or 10 days; after that, it's Big Pidgee who does most of the parenting. Hope he comes back.

We're sure Bob came out of the first egg laid, as he hatched 18 days after the first one but only 16 days after the second one; from what we've read, 16 days is not long enough to incubate. In the previous batch, which ended up having one unfertilized egg, George could have come from either egg, as he hatched 19 days after the first one and 17 days after the second one, so he could very well have been Gracie instead of George. But this one is definitely the first egg, Bob.

Photos later this week.