The Balcony Family

[docbjb]

Hi, everyone! Just an update from my balcony...the bigger baby (whose name, I've decided, is Beef because he eats everything in sight and is a BIG little guy!) is getting ready to fly. In fact, he may be flying a bit...the entire family was gone the night before last, so he must have had a little flying practice then. Beef is spending his time on top of the nesting box I built. Inside the box, mom and dad have built a nest and last night I had to take an egg from mom.

I feel awful doing it. I was going to take it and boil it, but it squashed on the way out of the box. I feel so bad for the parents! It's hard getting the eggs out because of the way the box is built and the way mom doesn't want me in there in the first place. I'm sure I'll have another egg tonight or tomorrow and hope I can get it out in one piece, boil, and replace.

As soon as I can get close enough with my cell phone, I'll post a pic of Beef. They grow up so fast!

Bonney

[feralpigeon]

Hi Bonney,

I'm glad you are enjoying your feral friends while also providing a valuable
service to them (Innkeeper ). If this is something you will be doing over
time, you might want to consider keeping some fake pigeon eggs on hand for those times when you have an Oops occasion and inadvertenly break the egg.
Most of the Pigeon Supply Houses carry pigeon eggs for the purposes of birth
control, and we list most of these supply houses in the Resource section in a "sticky":

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f25/

Here's an example from one of the houses that I'm talking about:

http://www.nepigeonsupplies.com/cata...ing%20Supplies

Scroll down to the catalogue item in the fourth row of pictures that
is called Fake Eggs, they have wooden and plastic. I like the wooden
ones because of how they are weighted. Some folks fill the plastic ones
to give them more of a natural feel. Now, even though the wooden eggs
are larger than the eggs that a small feral and two Archangel hens here lay,
they all accept these wooden eggs and will sit on them for the duration
of the incubation period or at least until they are convinced it's time to
get off the nest.

Even though I let the hens here sit on their unfertilized eggs, I do sometimes
have those embarrassing moments when I'm cleaning the nest and crack
the egg. I hear the crack and so do they, but when they fly to the nest to
check and see what the clumsy human has done, they see the pij supply eggs, heave a sigh of relief and continue enjoying their time away from the nest . They likewise continue attempting incubation.

fp

[Trees Gray]

Hi Bonney,

Thank you for sharing the latest on your balcony birds.

If the egg shell is perhaps a little too thin they will break easy, which means the hen may not be getting enough calcium in her diet. You might want to get some calcium grit for the little hen if you can from the same links.

Thank you.

[flitsnowzoom]

Hi Bonney,
Thanks for the update! It's great to know your pigeons are still doing well and that Beef is growing up big and strong. Post pictures

[docbjb]

I'm checking the NE Pigeon Supply site, and they have oyster shell which mixes with grit for calcium supplementation. How do I get them to take the grit? Do I mix it with the pigeon seed or give it separately??

I'm ordering birth control eggs too, never fear. And a pic of Beef will be up tomorrow, if he isn't out trying out his wings again. He likes to fly to the balcony next door and the one beneath me, but not much further.

[John_D]

Hi,

Grit should be offered separately - they know when they need it.

Don't be surprised, though, if they don't show much interest in it. I have put pigeon grit out for my balcony ferals and, despite the number of visitors, it is rarely if ever eaten. I think my crowd just don't recognize it for what it is.

Our rescue pigeon aviary is different. The grit is in constant demand, probably because they don't have access to whatever they used to find outside.

John

[docbjb]

Baby Beef won't stay still enough for me to take his picture. He's flying all over now, and tonight he was sitting in the food dish flapping his wings at his mother as she tried to get some seed. He's a very piggy little pigeon!

[docbjb]

This seems strange to me....Beef and family have left their hangout on my balcony. Mom and Dad still return looking for seed (which I don't put out any more since the baby has grown for fear of attracting my apartment management's attention) once in a while, but they are not using the pigeon box (where they had built a nest) and I think have found another nesting spot. Could it be because I took the egg and scared them away?

[Trees Gray]

Did you replace the egg?

I wouldn't worry about it, they may have found a better place elsewhere.

I think it is wise of you to not to feed them too much either, as eventually they would attract negative attention, now that would be frightful.

Thank you for being their guardian angel. Hopefully you can keep an eye out on them still from time to time.

[MellissaG]

Originally Posted by docbjb

This seems strange to me....Beef and family have left their hangout on my balcony. Mom and Dad still return looking for seed (which I don't put out any more since the baby has grown for fear of attracting my apartment management's attention) once in a while, but they are not using the pigeon box (where they had built a nest) and I think have found another nesting spot. Could it be because I took the egg and scared them away?

When Aisha and Ali left their nest box around 6 weeks (finally! lazy buggers) , theyd be gone for a couple days at a time.. their parents just produced some new shelled siblings for the two, soon to be yellow fuzzballs -- so I think they knew their parents needed some "mommy and daddy" time at the home for a while -- so the teenaged siblings went on a vacation. But with the two eggs being incubated in what was Aisha and Ali's nest -- aisha and ali now come back to sleep at night, though they are gone all day. =) And even then, they are not here EVERY night.

Point is, they might come back -- Beef is probably just exploring. Keep an eye out for him... if you remember his color patterns