The Three Squeakers

On Monday, March 16, I went to SF ACC. I didn't have any spots for the many king pigeons there but was going to pick up three (chicken) hens and transport them to the Marin Humane Society in Novato (where they have an easier time adopting them out than in SF). I was also going to introduce kings housed in single cages in order to find some compatible pairs and save some cage space that way, as well. There are more homeless animals than there is cage space and not enough cages can mean euthanasia for animals that have been there awhile in order to make room for the new ones that come in daily. (Don't buy, don't breed- adopt!)

It turned out that the hens had been adopted over the weekend and the three chickens on site were roosters which I couldn't just take to Marin Humane Society unannounced. (Roosters are MUCH harder to place and most have to be euthanized. I've been VERY lucky to hook up with a rooster rescue through Mickaboo connections and, thanks to the help of a Mickaboo volunteer, was actually able to place the roosters the following week.)

Of the four single king pigeons we introduced, three were cocks and even the hen and cock couple we were able to pair up didn't get along well enough to live together in the small cage so the day was pretty unsuccessful, cage-space saving-wise.

And, while there, I saw three baby pigeons (called squeakers), one of which was open-beak breathing and obviously sick. They had been found at the intersection of Lake and Fulton and brought in the day before.

I'm full up and the few pigeon foster homes I have are full up and so I couldn't really take them but I couldn't really leave them either. A city shelter doesn't have the resources to try and diagnose and treat sick baby pigeons that were raised for meat. It's challenge enough to care for all the puppies and kittens and rabbits...

So I brought them home to my kitchen-counter hospital. I named the one that was open-beak breathing Lee. I named one with an over-size beak shaped like voluptuous lips Sweetlips and I named the third Dixie. They showed canker plaques in their mouths and so I treated them for Trichomoniasis and started them on amoxicillin.

Lee improved quickly but Dixie and especially Sweetlips got worse. Their breathing became congested and labored with respiratory infection. They spent most of their time convalescing on a heating pad in their crate on my kitchen counter. They weren't critical and were eating and pooping but their raspy breathing sawed away at my heart. It was a pitiful sound punctuated by little pigeon coughs.

Each day I let them have a little R & R on top of their crate while I cleaned up the mess they had made inside it. They spent most of their time watching my loft and wild neighborhood pigeons through the window- pigeon TV.

They were young (about 4 weeks) and feeling poorly and not making good progress. On Saturday, my friend and pigeon expert made a 911 visit and switched their medication to Doxy-T: a blend of Doxycycline and Tylan. He was concerned too. We did see improvement though in about 24 hours. I could tell they were feeling better because they were more active and alert. Lee and Dixie decided, for the first time, that they wanted to take a bath in their water dish and then both explored beyond the crate-top, also a first. Sweetlips wasn't feeling that good but even his heart-wrenching breathing was a little better.

Soon, even Sweetlips was feeling better and all three felt good enough to explore a bit.

As their health improved, their personalities began to show. Lee, I could soon tell, is female (don't ask me how, I just know she is) and Dixie and Sweetlips are male. Their relationship reminds me of the movie Bandits because while the boys are good friends, they're also both in love with Lee (Cate Blanchett in the movie) and she loves them both too. It's really sweet and so far is working for them. Lee is a very foxy, fetching little hen with big dark eyes and relatively dainty feet (for a king pigeon).

I can't bring them into my loft because of their illness, but, as they recovered, I did start bringing their crate outdoors for some sunshine and sight-seeing which they raptly enjoyed.

To be continued...