CapnJane and I have been having a very busy life. Jane's mum had a stroke and while she's well enough to be home from the hospital, and doesn't seem to be suffering any lasting ill effects, she can't be left alone for more than a few hours at a time. Fortunately for all of us, she lives here in San Francisco so the readjustment in our lives isn't anywhere near so dramatic as it could be if she were far away. Jane has been living with her mum since her mum came home from hospital a week ago and Jane finally came home for a few hours visit today. I've missed her very much - across town seems very far away sometimes since taking the bus between here and there takes about an hour. She's been away from the Forum the whole time because her mum doesn't have a computer and, outside of work, all she has is her cell phone - which won't let her view the Forum. (Should I ask Dion if this can be fixed?)

Jenny has been having a completely uneventful time of it - right up until I went to give Ava her potty break and took Jenny out of the cage, too. I put Jenny on my shoulder and he decided he wanted to go flying! This isn't usually a problem, we just keep a hand under him and he sort of bounces off the hand in the air around the room. (For those of you who haven't met him, Jenny is our blind feral rescue pij.) This time, however, he decided to take off and go flying off on his own, out of my reach and into the one corner in the room that I can't easily get to - I had to move the whole cage to get to him and it's surprising how fast I moved! He was a little confused, just stuck in the corner, but perfectly happy to do a little more flapping when he was brought out. Ava just sat on the ground and watched the whole thing looking terribly blasé.

This is one side of their cage, with Jenny on his shelf where he spends most of his cage time, and Ava in her nesting box where she spends almost all of her time.



Ava has laid yet another set of lovely eggs, exactly one month after the last pair. We're making sure to put calcium in her water on a regular basis, but we're still a little concerned - one pair of eggs a month seems a bit more than she should be laying. She seems awfully content sitting on her nest, though. Ava doesn't like to defecate inside the cage, and because she's sitting on her eggs she'll hold it for hours and hours. When we first get up in the morning, and other times as well, Ava will get up and come to the cage door and do a little potty dance to let us know she'd like to come out and do her business. It's very funny because when we take her out and put her on her towel she starts flapping frantically, usually going in circles, until she has (another euphemism? ) on the towel. Then she casually wanders off in search of seeds that may have fallen on the floor. She's a very persnickety princess. After she's had her fill of out-time she'll fly into the cage and back to her nest.

This is Ava looking pretty on her eggs:



I hope you can forgive my putting notes about Bijou the dove in with the pijs... He still seems to be afraid of everything - except when he's not. We haven't figured out yet what triggers his fears and what doesn't, so we just muddle on as best we can. Sometimes I can put my hand into the cage and get quite close to him before he sidles away and sometimes opening the cage door is enough to spook him. He is, however, willing to eat and drink with us standing right next to the cage and even sometimes with the cage door open. I'm doubting that he'll ever be very tame, but I'm willing to be patient for as long as he needs - and if he's never happy with people, then hopefully we can find him a nice aviary somewhere.

He's doing a bit of moulting and we were astounded at the color of the feathers that have come from beneath his clipped wings - they're very, very red - and we're wondering if that's the color his primaries will be when they grow out? The rest of his feathers are a very blueish grey so the red was quite a surprise.

Your two wonderful pigeons sound very normal to me as well as your Diamond Dove and they seem to be doing just wonderful as well..My doves when they molt sometimes molt out brown and red feathers with black and sooo pretty and they grow back in time and look that much more beautiful.....Diamonds are not personality oriented like other birds but you and your mate will find something very special about them especially since you are on a one to one basis with this high strung special birdie...So sorry about captnjane mother having such sickness at this time and I hope everything works out okay for you two special people..Your pigeons are just beautiful and the droppings will be a little large at times and don't let this bother you for when they sit this happens because like you say she is holding it until the proper moment.. .I bet when Captnjane was away and you let out your blind Jenny and Jenny flew more than usual and ended up in the corner that your mate had a fit because she was away and was worried so---just guessing at this.... for I feel she could be a worry wort as well just like me.Thanks for the nice post and update so us here won't worry too much about less talking from you two peas in a pod...Thanks...

Hi Anney, thank you for your interesting update. I'm sorry to hear about Jane's mother being ill. One of my daughters had a stroke a few years ago and has completely recovered and leads a 100% normal life. From what you said it may well be the same for Jane's mother and Jane will be able to return home soon. I had noticed you were not posting as frequently as usual. You have been missed. Best wishes.

Gladys

As c.hert mentioned, that first poop when she gets off of her eggs can be quite large, as much sometimes as a small dog will evacuate. It will usually smell pretty raunchy too. Nothing to worry about tho... it's completely normal. Sorry to hear about the Mom.

I know that her poops are perfectly normal - since she's been on one set of eggs or another for the last few months we've definitely gotten used to it. I just find her behavior amusing, with her little potty dance at the cage door and all. Today while she was out on her morning walkabout she found a long piece of grass - just like the other long pieces of grass that are all around her nest - picked it up, contemplated it, put it down, wandered around some more and finally went back, picked it up again and flew with it back to her nest. I guess it wasn't just like all the grass around her nest after all. I've never seen her do that before - too cute!

Jane's mum is definitely on the mend. The only affect that the stroke produced was a slurring of her speech - and since she was herself a speech therapist at one point she's known what to do and is almost completely back to normal already. She's still weak from her time spent in bed at the hospital and needs help with everyday tasks like cooking and laundry (not really a new thing, but she's more willing to see it now) and we're getting her a med-alert service - the installation is Wednesday. Since the beginning of all this was a fall from which she was unable to rise, she's more than happy to wear the little button around her neck! When she has it, Jane will feel much safer about leaving her mum on her own.

That is a wonderful thing that she is doing so well. My Mother has fallen a few times and broken bones (arm & shoulder bones). It is such a worry not to be able to see that she is alright. We have her wear her cell phone with the closest siblings phone numbers programmed so that she has been able to call with one touch of a button even in the middle of the night when she has fallen and can't get up. It has worked wonderfully well. So I and my siblings can certainly relate to her worries. I certainly hope the very best for you all in that situation.

Annye wrote: I know that her poops are perfectly normal - since she's been on one set of eggs or another for the last few months we've definitely gotten used to it. I just find her behavior amusing, with her little potty dance at the cage door and all. Today while she was out on her morning walkabout she found a long piece of grass - just like the other long pieces of grass that are all around her nest - picked it up, contemplated it, put it down, wandered around some more and finally went back, picked it up again and flew with it back to her nest. I guess it wasn't just like all the grass around her nest after all. I've never seen her do that before - too cute!

Jane's mum is definitely on the mend. The only affect that the stroke produced was a slurring of her speech - and since she was herself a speech therapist at one point she's known what to do and is almost completely back to normal already. She's still weak from her time spent in bed at the hospital and needs help with everyday tasks like cooking and laundry (not really a new thing, but she's more willing to see it now) and we're getting her a med-alert service - the installation is Wednesday. Since the beginning of all this was a fall from which she was unable to rise, she's more than happy to wear the little button around her neck! When she has it, Jane will feel much safer about leaving her mum on her own.

My daughter's speech had also been affected by the stroke, the curious thing being that the first words she was able to utter were in English ( her first language until the age 9 when we left England) although she had been speaking Spanish for some 40 years. Fortunately, as I mentioned before, she completely recovered all her faculties. I am glad Jane's mother is on the mend. The med-alert service is a wonderful thing for people living alone even free of health problems. Best wishes;

Gladys

HOORAY!!! Jane and her mum today convinced the doctor that Jane's mum needs more help than she can safely get at home (which has been true all along) and she's been readmitted to the hospital where they can give her the care she needs - which means that Jane is coming home!! She's got so much to catch up on now that it may yet be a while before she has a chance to get back to the Forum, but she'll be back soon.

The pijs are well and happy, and I'll talk about Bijou in the doves section...

Hey Annye--

I am sorry to hear of Jane's mother's health issues--my mom went through some slightly similar issues. I am glad that there is a plan of care in place and that Jane is now able to return home to you and your critters! I loved the updates on the birds (sans dove?) My pigeon Sophie sounds very similar to Ava--she sits on her eggs on her "nest" all day on my desk, but when she wants to go potty, she will leave the nest and walk to the edge of my desk. I then stop what I am doing and put my hand out so she can climb aboard, and then I taxi her to the sink, place her in and she does her business and then (impatiently) waits for me to remove her from the sink, and then I usually carry her over to her food area, where she will snack until she decides to return to her nest at her leisure. They are not princess pigeons--they are QUEEN pidges!

Bill B.

Hooray!!!

Ava ( ) has been wearing a boot on her bad foot to hold it straight so that she wasn't walking on her knuckles. The boot fell off this evening on her landing on way back to the nest - we let/make her fly back to her nest on the theory that the more she exercises the healthier she'll be. I saw the boot fall, but it took me a minute to realize what it was, by which time she was back on her nest. However, like the Elephant's Child I have 'satiable curiosity and lured her off the nest and a little way beyond with her favorite treats - she'll do almost anything for hemp seeds - and she walked with her foot flat on the ground!!! She's still limping, and it may only be temporary, but it's seems a wonderful sign! Hooray for Ava and special thanks to Elizabeth of MickaCoo who thought of the boot in the first place!

Hi Annye, that is a very good piece of news. It would seem that Ava discarded a boot she didn't need anymore. Congratulation!

Gladys

Congratulations. I hope you see continued progress, although if it were my bird I would be thrilled just to have come this far.

Hugh

Great news. It sounds very promising!

Linda

She's STILL walking flat-footed this morning!

We're very happy!

I just love it when they do the potty dance. You know right away that 'it's time'. And sure enough, shortly afterwards, out comes the bomb. Pretty raunchy is the right way to describe it.

This morning I was late getting back to the bird cage and Ava made her protest by pooping in the food dish. *sigh* Of the two food bowls in the cage, the one she pooped in is the one - of two - that both birds very much prefer. I've explained to her that pooping in the food is unacceptable and she seemed very much distressed to see me take her bowl away. She'll get it back in a bit, but she's a very bright bird who will, I'm certain, put two and two together - poop in bowl, bowl goes away.

last week I was trying to encourage Ava to fly more and offered her treats if she'd fly up onto the sofa. It took her ONCE to understand this notion - - and now she flies up onto the sofa expecting treats, the greedy darling. She's even flown up onto the sofa, gotten her treats, and then flown to the floor and back onto the sofa again to see if she could get more treats by doing the trick twice.

I hadn't realized how good Jenny's memory is. Before our lives got so complicated, Jane was teaching him to recognize that the word "treats" meant there was a hand with sunflower seeds in front of him. He remembers alright! Since he can't see, he does quite a bit of flailing around with his beak - it's surprising what a bite he's got. I'm going to work on some refinement, like letting him know that the seeds are RIGHT in front of him rather than trying to keep my hand under wherever his beak happens to be - I think it will work out better for both of us that way!

I know that pijs are supposed to be bright, but it's really a delight to discover just how bright they can be. If only our cats were so easily trained!

Jane's mum continues on the mend and I'm expecting Jane home come Thursday or Friday. I'm not hating living alone, but it'll certainly be grand to have my Jane back. Please everybody keep your fingers crossed or your prayers said (depending on your proclivities) for Jane's mum's continuing good health.

These birds are really smart and they do remember things....I have one bird that everytime I go into the bird area of the loft through the door she lets me have it..because she is sitting above the door on a perch and only sits on this perch when I enter the female bird section of the loft. Then like to say you can't catch me will immediately fly outside in the fly pen...Elizabeth was smart to make that shoe for your birdie and so glad that it is getting better and working out--hoping it continues with her walking on it flat and in normal postion---so nice....In my adventures with animals and birdies I find that some are high maintenance and this means at this moment--cost a lot of money and time and can really be a pain with their assorted problems... I have one by the name of Peekaboo and she is a yellow canary but lately she has been just fine..I have another "million dollar" bird by the name of "Thinner" and I have caught him "limping today" and will check this out a little later for he was really in "eating mode" so I left him be...he was fine yesterday so I will see..--maybe it will be shoe time for him.....Glad your sweetie is coming back home and will keep my fingers crossed for you and especially for everything to go okay with her mom...That couch birdie is a real smart one and you will have to spend some extra time with her...I got a feeling....enjoy your love ones...

*Laugh* I had a six million dollar rat once, my Dion. He was a foundling brown roof rat, and one of the finest pets I've ever had. Even wild rats are prone to cancer evidently and it was many vet bills later that we gave up the fight. He even had a blood transfusion from one of my other rats.

I forgot to mention, I think (now that I'm typing I can't scroll back that far) the other amazing thing about Ava's foot. When we took her to the vet's about it, close to two months ago, she had no feeling in it. She was clearly unhappy when the vet messed with the good foot, but completely blasé about it when she inspected the bad foot. Now she has feeling in it again and she's quite clear that she doesn't want it messed with either. Hooray!

I hear ya all. I had a $2000.00 guinea pig once........

Best wishes that Jane's mum will continue to feel better every day.

Linda

These are million dollars animals --a rat and a guinea pig and a pigeon and a canary---we are real suckers...Heck I went out and got the million dollar bird out of the loft to check its little feet out and it seems the feathers that were growing back in were really sharp and penetrating the inside of the wing and sticking into the pigeon and I straighten them out and just in case soaked his feet in warm water and epson salts and put lotion on him and put him in the bird room to keep "our good old night flying Grouchy Dove" company. They know each other well.. Tomorrow I will put him back into the loft and he looks just wonderful and feels just wonderful and what a change from when I first got him....He is getting really pretty...(Thinner)...Maybe when the vet put tubing in him somehow they had to cut feathers or something for they are shorter and sharped tip--I guess growing back out..., but they were all crooked and jabbing into him so I fixed them..Observing him tonight..Put some water based lotion on his little feet as well to make them pretty...Pictures....When you own birdies it is a never ending job and this is what I do in my spare time..