The new rooster meets his seniors
This is the rooster who was found abandoned the other day with both legs tied together. He’s getting used to this place, but now and then the senior birds put silent pressure on him.
Today Cho came right up beside him to lean on him a little. He ignored her, as if to say, “I can’t see you.” Cho closed the gap and threatened him, and he kept on ignoring her… until their eyes met. Now he can’t ignore her anymore! Then Sonata moved in too, and he was trapped between them — like a frog frozen under a snake’s stare. What will he do? He escaped out the door. Seniors are scary!
Six days old
The pigeon babies are getting bigger! This one is six days old, and its eyes are open. So cute. These were born to a white pigeon and a white pigeon, so why is one of them black? They’re snoozing away. At this age they don’t do anything yet; they just eat and sleep, eat and sleep. When Happy first came to our house, she was bigger than this.
Ten days old
Here’s a ten-day-old baby pigeon. At first they’re squishy and do nothing, but by now they move around on their own and show a will of their own. All the hair on its head is swept forward, giving it a funny hairstyle. Its first real adult feathers are coming in, and it’s peeping at me. Happy was about this size, or a little bigger, when she came to us.
Its crop (the food pouch in the throat) holds not only pigeon milk but quite a lot of the regular grains the parents eat. Pigeon-raising guides often say not to give babies whole grains, but the parents put them in, so maybe it’s fine? I didn’t know that.
Hard to believe this will become a grown pigeon! Its hairstyle is a kappa cut (like the bowl-shaped hair of the kappa, a Japanese water sprite). Its beak is big for its body, I can see lots of feather shafts, and it’s begging for food.
And here’s its sibling, a little smaller. Why is your shoulder bleeding? Did someone peck you? As I mentioned, black babies like these usually turn gray as adults — so why would a pair of white pigeons have gray babies? Were they raising someone else’s egg? I don’t know, and the new feathers coming in look whitish. The truth remains a mystery. This one’s eyes are open too, and being black makes the kappa look even stronger.
Look forward to more pigeon growth updates!