# Holiday Babies



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Holiday babies at my place! One Eyed Jack and his mate, Jill, (pigeons) blessed me with two perfect babies on Christmas Day. Sometime on New Year's Day, Sox and her mate (also pigeons) had one baby hatch. Ivan and Beauty (ringneck doves) have diligently been sitting on their one egg, so hopefully there will be a dove baby in the next few days. These are all special birds with special stories .. pictures and stories when I can. You already know Ivan's story .. he was blessed to be Maryjane's bird until he came to live with me .. can't say that I am a blessing to him, but he sure is happy with Beauty !

Terry


----------



## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

You sure had a busy holiday. Congratulations on the new babies.
Looking fw to the pics.

Reti


----------



## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

How nice to be blessed with holiday babies, Congratulations to you and all the parents!!

Can't wait to see the pics!


----------



## bluebirdsnfur (Jan 20, 2009)

Yes, Terry, Congradulations on your Holiday Babies! And . . .where are the pictures?


----------



## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Yay for healthy holiday babies! Eagerly awaiting cute pictures!


----------



## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

Oh I'm so excited for Ivan and Beauty!!! Congratulations on all the other ones too!!!


----------



## Hillybean (Oct 30, 2005)

I can't wait for pictures and stories!!!

What a surprise!

-Hilly


----------



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

*Sox and Her Mate's Baby ..*

This little darling hatched on New Year's Day ..

Terry


----------



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

*One Eyed Jack and Jill's Baby*

This one hatched on Christmas Day. Sadly, the sibling died at about two weeks of age.

Terry


----------



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

*A Few More Baby Pics Are Here ..*

http://www.rims.net/2010Jan24 .. there are also some very unpleasant pictures of a duck after the baby pictures. Use extreme caution in viewing any of those past the first one of the duck.

Terry


----------



## Mindy (Apr 2, 2009)

Beautiful Babies. I have to ask what happen to the duck? Poor duck. Will he make it and be able to walk again? Loved all the pics of the pigeons. min


----------



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Mindy said:


> Beautiful Babies. I have to ask what happen to the duck? Poor duck. Will he make it and be able to walk again? Loved all the pics of the pigeons. min


The duck got fishing line tightly wrapped around the leg and nobody could catch him for many weeks. Finally today when the back of the leg "blew out" from the horrible pressure of the swelling, a person fishing at that pond was able to catch him and knew to call my friend, Melinda, to come get him and bring him to me.

Most likely the duck will make it and will do OK though that right leg and foot will never truly be normal again. It will take a very long course of max level antibiotics to even make a dent in improving that leg and foot .. also twice daily soaks in warm Epsom Salts water. It will be a challenge as this duck is NOT friendly towards humans and struggles fiercely when held. Can't say I blame him much about not liking humans .. after all, some human dumped him at a public park and another human was careless with fishing line. Pretty smart duck, actually ..

Terry


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

The baby is precious. Is that string on the ducks leg? Poor thing.


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Guess we were typing at the same time. Well, he's lucky that he is where he is now. Looks like you've got your work cut out for you. Good luck with him. Please keep us updated on him and the baby pij. With pictures, of course.


----------



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Jay3 said:


> The baby is precious. Is that string on the ducks leg? Poor thing.


Thanks! Yes, it was fishing line .. there is none left on the leg .. I got it all off already. There are some fine feathers caught in the moist wound area that look like string, but I'm sure all the fishing line is gone .. took about an hour to get it all off.

Terry


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

That has to be a really tough job. I hope I never run into it. Especially fishing line. It doesn't break. I would like to see it when it has healed.


----------



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Jay3 said:


> That has to be a really tough job. I hope I never run into it. Especially fishing line. It doesn't break. I would like to see it when it has healed.


You have to "unwind" it once you figure out which way the tangle goes .. then you reach a knot and have to cut the knot and start unwinding again. It can take a very long time, but if you don't get all the line off then the "wound" will never heal.

There's a Coot at the duck pond with a two inch ball of line under one foot and big a lure that looks like a little log hanging off that same leg .. Coots are wickedly difficult to catch, but I'll make another try the next trip to the pond.

Terry


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

That sounds awful. But what is a coot? Some kind of Duck? I hope you can catch him. Post if you do.


----------



## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Love those sweet baby faces! 

The ducks at your pond are so fortunate to have such diligent folks watching out for them. How long do you soak in Epsom salt solution? Hope the duck's leg is able to heal. Fishing line is a nasty business!


----------



## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

You must have tremendous courage to take that fishing line out of that poor duck's leg. That has to be worse than giving a thousand pigeons their vaccinations!!!!! The poor thing!! They just found a sea lion locally last week that had so much fishing line wrapped around its nose and face that it was starving to death. He is okay now. If only people would be responsible for their fishing line, lures, etc. Such a pointless tragedy like this that could have been avoided.

So I guess Ivan and Beauty didn't hatch any babies huh?? Maybe next time!

I hope you're able to catch the coot. Sounds awful as well. I don't know how you do it. Kudos as always to you!
Here is a coot:http://www.pdackerman.force9.co.uk/birdphotos/peterborough/coot.jpg


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Sadly, where ever people fish this is going to happen. I'm sure some are just irresponsible and throw line in the water after untangling it when it gets tangled, but usually not. Especially if there is a lure attached to it. More than likely they hooked up on something out there and tried to free their line and couldn't. The line breaks, and remains out there for these poor things to get caught. No harm was intended, but these poor birds and animals suffer the consequences. It's really too bad.


----------



## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Yikes! The babies are adorable, but that poor, poor duck! 
And Jay, Coots are unique little things. They're kind of like fish eating ducks with longer legs


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Thanks Becky. I'd like to see one.


----------



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

MJ posted a good picture of a Coot in her post in this thread. The Epsom Salts soaks need to be about 15 minutes twice a day .. longer if you can manage it .. not possible with this duck. He is very, very uncooperative.

Fishing line is especially nasty because it is usually clear making it very hard to see if you have gotten all of it off/out. It is also not biodegradable and is very, very strong. What happens when a bird or animal gets fishing line entangled is that the more the critter struggles to get the line off, the line stretches and becomes more tightly wound which eventually cuts off the circulation and also starts "eating" through the flesh and ultimately reaches a bone. At that point the swollen flesh sort of folds over the "hole" where the line dug in further complicating things. All in all, it's nasty and causes horrific injury to the creature.

There are some excellent threads here on Pigeon-Talk about removing string, and those are applicable to removing fishing line and even human hair (which is also extremely difficult to see and remove).

This duck is doing well and will certainly survive and be OK though that leg and foot will never be completely normal again.

Terry


----------



## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Glad this duck found his way to your care!

Thanks for the info regarding Epsom salts. I've been using them to try and soothe my old dog's feet, but he has a time limit of about 4 minutes then he's had it!


----------



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

TerriB said:


> Glad this duck found his way to your care!
> 
> Thanks for the info regarding Epsom salts. I've been using them to try and soothe my old dog's feet, but he has a time limit of about 4 minutes then he's had it!


Yeah .. I don't care what kind of bird or animal it is .. it's hard to keep them in the soak as long as is needed. Would aloe vera cream be of use to your dog? What's wrong with the feet? Or perhaps Udder Balm?

Terry


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Wow! Coots are rather pretty little things, aren't they? Never seen one before.


----------



## SPedigrees (Oct 27, 2004)

Great pictures of the baby pidges, and such a tragedy for the poor duck! I'm glad you have him now and he's being treated. Will you be keeping him?


----------



## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

TAWhatley said:


> ..Would aloe vera cream be of use to your dog? What's wrong with the feet? Or perhaps Udder Balm?
> 
> Terry


Thanks for the suggestions. I was using Aquaphor (medicated petroleum jelly) after the Epson salt soak to try to keep him comfortable. He had a metabolic condition triggered by liver cancer that caused his feet to peel and crack and be very painful. It became too much and we had him euthanized two weeks ago. We only had him 2 1/2 years of his 16 years, but thoroughly enjoyed that little old guy. Old dogs are so special!


----------

