All hail my new SQUIRE!!!!

[Scotty Hunter]

After much anticipation, my "Squire" has finally arrived!! The high born son of Sir Andrew Highflyer and the Lady Pajamas, without any further ado, here he is:

(the best first-photo I could get while being attacked by his father)

The proud parents:

(daddy in the foreground with the legband, mama in the background)

Why am I so excited??? Squire marks my first pigeon squab... ever!  His parents were both special cases, and their first set of two eggs were broken just a few days into incubation, it took them 3 months to lay again. Squire was a single egg, and hatched 3 days early, but he looks wonderful!!! He wasn't due until the 14th, but with daily temps in the high 90's and 102 today, I guess it just sped up his incubation a bit. Keeping my fingers crossed he remains extra healthy.

I am over the moon about my ugly little squab right now. Had to share!!

Be sure to check back in a few days when Squire receives his official leg band, Ill post some photos of the process since its a big deal for me, lol!
I haven't decided on his number yet though, I have 10 bands with numbers from 65451 to 65460. His father is AU VIR 2006 #387. His mother is unbanded. Squire will be AU ARPU 2011 #654?? 

More photos coming soon.

[Merlin the Elder]

Squabs are really pretty ugly... My brother and I raided some nests when we were teens in order to get some pigeons to raise. We did well with them, and it was rather strange when we finally released them back to the wild, that they would come back and visit. We always kept food available for their return trips.  I think now I'm more aware of the hazards (to the animals) of doing it that way.

[Scotty Hunter]

haha, yep they are quite ugly!! But it's part of their charm. lol. So ugly they are cute. Squire is no different, his eyes are buggy and his beak is huge and taking up most of his face! His feet are huge, his belly is bald, his neck is all crooked and his crop is loaded the size of a golfball. He's just a yellow downy pile of ugliness.

PJ, the mother, was a feral capture. Andy was an unclaimed racer I found near-death in Vegas. Squire will be a pet, nothing more. He's getting his ARPU band so I can breed him(her? who knows) in the future, build up a little pedigree of my own birds. Eventually, if we ever decide to settle down, I might build up a loft, do "dove releases" and race on the side. I love the idea of racing, but with a whopping total of 3 pigeons I'd never let my guys fly since they are pets with names, not just numbers. With a larger flock though, I'd love to see it. If I lost any of my three to a hawk, I'd cry for days. Thats just me.

I'm also fascinated with "pigeon whistles" and "pigeon flutes" from asia.  Eventually I hope to someday have a flock around 50 birds in size with around 20-25 whistles or so. All different tones, multi tones of some of the birds. The sound would be amazing.

[Rowan MacD]

  Wow.  I didn't know those flutes existed! Amazing!

[Scotty Hunter]

I'm heading outside in a bit to rip daddy off the nest and get some decent pics of his son, but until then, here is a video on Youtube of the sound of pigeon whistles. This is just 3 whistles on a small flock, but it gives you an idea of the sound. With multi-tones and more birds, the sound can be hauntingly beautiful, much the same as a humpback whale song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kln02TEdFvA

[Scotty Hunter]

Finally, some decent shots of my little man.. err, lady? Who knows...

[Becky10]

Haha awww congrats!

He reminds me of a dodo bird.

[Merlin the Elder]

...He reminds me of a dodo bird.

Me, or the squab? hehe... He's certainly smaller than the one's we birdnapped, but probably not by much. The attachments that animals make always amaze me. Cats and dogs, sure, but I've also had birds and fish form attachments...

[Scotty Hunter]

He's certainly smaller than the one's we birdnapped, but probably not by much.

Well he was hatched 3 days early... I mean I check on these birds a dozen times a day, and when PJ laid the egg I knew within a couple hours. So I marked the hatch day on the calendar and pretty much counted the minutes. He wasn't even supposed to make his grand debut until the 14th, rather somewhere between the 13th and 15th! Little stinker popped out on the 11th happy as you please.

Give him time, he'll soon grow as large as his brute of a father.   I just know it.

[dbaldock]

So, since I'm not personal friends with any pigeons, would those photos be considered examples of a good hair day, or a bad hair day?      

[Scotty Hunter]

lol!  Actually, those pics would fall more under the "bed head" category, I think .... let me dig through some older files and find one of Andy when he was molting last fall. He had a little bald monk-hairdo going, it was just hilarious.

[Once Debauched]

CONGRATULATIONS! on your new addition.  I can't wait to show my daughter the pics of Squire.  We're all about the critters over here!

[Scotty Hunter]

dbaldock, I couldn't find any photos of Andy with his bald monk hairdo, I know I have them somewhere but I have literally tens of thousands of pics, and I'm bad at getting them all in order.   Ill find it eventually, and post it when I can.


Here are some photos of little Squire from today, July 15th. He's nearly doubled in size and weight since the 11th, and his eyes opened last night too, so he's been eyeballing his dirty cage with disgust I'm sure!
His leg is still too small for the legband, I tried it today and it just slid right back off, so I'll give it another go in a day or two. I'm new at this, and have read things that say band at 5 days, band at 8 days, band at 3 days, etc... so I'll just keep trying until it stays on him.

I decided on using band #65460 for Squire... wish I had 65402 or 65462 since those are the zip codes we live/shop in. But maybe next year. haha. 

Mom and dad have been feeding him like crazy, and he's got a little bald pot belly and overstuffed crop. No wonder he's growing so fast! lol  Dad is a very protective guy, attacks my hand everytime I reach in to handle Squire.

Here is the little monster in all his squabby goodness:







*sigh* I'm in love. lol

[Merlin the Elder]

Oh, how quickly they grow up and leave the nest...

It looks like his eyes are starting to open.

[Scotty Hunter]

Yup, they opened last night. He can open them all the way, but apparently enjoyed squinting for the photo. lol