The second-density companions we love

[Jade]

Thank you Diana!! We are very blessed. Our "roommates" fulfill us more and more every day! Our dream is to buy a nice acreage somewhere here in the mountains... the dream gets closer and closer all the time! (Well, it could happen in a couple years maybe, haha!) We have our eyes on a couple 20-30 acre lots that we'd love to get so that we can expand. We definitely still have room for a handful or so more here, and are fortunate enough that we live outside the city limits so we aren't the only ones on the block with roosters.

And since I ran out of space in the other post, I'll add a couple more pics here. Here is one of Nash after he got a new litterbox and was a bit... confused... on how to use it. Yes, he has even pulled some bedding in there.



Here is a picture I tried to sneak of Aquila and Cygnus snuggling. Cygnus is still especially wary of us. We are not sure who was the culprit who laid the egg - so they both remain ambiguously gendered! We are going to start building them an aviary in the spring. We should be able to make one large enough so that we can rescue 4 more pigeons or so. Did you know that they are one of the smartest species of animal on the planet? Like, top 5, easily. I had no idea until I was researching their care after adopting them.



They make these cooing/croaking noises 24/7 and preen each other all over. It's been really awesome watching them emerge from the trauma that they came from. We thought for sure that they were both males, since we've had them for 5+ months now and nobody had laid an egg - until a few weeks ago! No idea who it was though. Sweet peas. They actually laid two eggs, which is what pigeons do. We removed the eggs and hardboiled them (which was weird and difficult and heartbreaking) and they tried to brood them for a couple days, but since they were so new they just kind of stood next to them for a while then gave up. They will try again soon.

I have fake eggs on order from Amazon, so that next time they lay, we can just switch the eggs out immediately. I'm not sure what we'll do with them then... the lady who I met who gave me the pigeons said she would leave them out for the ravens, who would deter the hawks from coming by. It's important to let them brood though, or try to, otherwise they will lay eggs almost constantly, like a chicken, and their tiny bodies can't handle that. This type of birth control has them laying two eggs every 21 days or so. Obviously I don't want them to breed, or else they would have 6-8 babies every year, for 20+ years. Most pigeons pairs live a very happy life on the cycle of laying, brooding for 2-3 weeks, "honeymooning" (croaking/preening like crazy/nesting) for a week or so, then laying another pair of eggs and doting on them and nonstop for a couple weeks. Bless them!

Here is a picture of their first egg, with bonus crazy eyes from Judy (our shock at finding the egg had interrupted preparations for her morning walk!).