# Luke & baby Liberty



## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

I thought you guys would enjoy a picture of my tame Nun pigeon Luke (officially renamed Lucy since I finally figured out "he" is a hen) with her baby. The little one hatched on July 4th, so I named it Liberty. I don't usually name them until they're older and we know the sex, but I figure it works for either a cock or a hen. 

Luke has quite a story. For over a year I believed her to be a cock-bird. She's two years old and was the more dominant chick in the clutch. At four months of age she became very sick with a mysterious infection, the only symptoms of which were weight loss and unwillingness to fly. It didn't respond to Baytril and my vet put her on Ticarcillin injections, which were terribly painful for her. She had to live in the house for several weeks while I treated her and initially I didn't expect her to survive. After she pulled through I made a habit of feeding her safflower seed from my hand and she became very tame as a result. She knows her name and comes when I call her.

Luke paired off with one of my young roller hens last year, so I thought for sure she was a cock. There were only two eggs in the nest so I did not suspect a same-sex pair. Then early this year they broke up and the roller paired off with a roller cock. Luke then paired off with a roller cock, so I realized she was actually a hen. But she never laid eggs in the nest. I suspected her mysterious infection might have rendered her infertile.

In the meantime, I got a new Nun cock from a friend. I paired him with Luke just so she would have a proper mate, but I didn't expect her to lay eggs. I was happily surprised when she layed eggs for him! Sadly, a few days into incubation there was a quarrel; one egg got broken and the Nuns abandoned the nest. So I fostered the remaining egg to a pair of rollers and moved Luke and Sawyer to the loft, which is better for raising babies. The fostered egg hatched into a beautiful baby, Liberty's older sibling. 

And on Independence Day, along came baby Liberty. Luke seems very proud of herself and I'm delighted to see her with a baby.


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

*Big sibling*

And here is Liberty's older brother or sister, who hatched 12 days ago and is being fostered by rollers. Markings look good so far.


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## KIPPY (Dec 18, 2003)

Oh my gosh, cute picture. Pretty pij and cute baby. Love the story and love the name.


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

Thank you! I've really fallen in love with Nuns. They have such friendly, curious and delightful personalities in addition to their striking good looks. Even their coo is different than other pigeons, very low and musical. My son begged for a pair at a show three years ago and that's how I got into them. He quickly lost interest, but I didn't.


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

Aww, cute, cute pic of Liberty's sibling. Luke's story is a good one, and really,
*he* and *he*n are somewhat close  , though Lucy let you know,
not quite close enough. Never seen/heard nuns close up but they are very
pretty birds and sounds like they have a sweet temperment, egg quarrel to oneside. Thanks for sharing and posting Luke/Lucy's story and pics.

fp


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## michbird (Jul 5, 2007)

Awwww! They're wonderful!!!! Congrats!


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

What a pretty little baby. Nuns are very beautiful birds. I'm sure the little yellow one will be just as pretty.......but for now, it's just a CUTIE!!


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## Margarret (May 3, 2007)

What a neat name and wonderful little guy. He looks so alert for such a new baby. Congratulations!

Margarret


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

SUCH BEAUTIFUL BIRDS!!

I will really look forward to watching their development into adulthood!

HUGS and SCRITCHES TO THEM ALL!!

Shi


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## Tess (Jun 28, 2007)

Yes i agree with everyone beautiful babies


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Lovely birds, Cathy! They are just gorgeous!

Terry


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## Jazicat (Oct 31, 2005)

Mom is beautiful and the babies are adorable!


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

What darling babies and beautiful parent. Lucy is quite a lovely lady and what luck to have such an alert little one, born on the 4th. Great name, by the way. 

Thanks for sharing, Cathy.


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

Thank you, all! Gotta love those babies.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Welcome little Liberty!

Cathy, terrific story about Lucy. Your vet must be a terrific person to know just what to give her to pull through. Is this the same vet who was with you when Romeo passed away? I will never forget that little gander and how kind the vet was during that time.

Nuns are one of the most beautiful pigeon breeds. Glad to read their disposition matches their looks.


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

Lady Tarheel said:


> Welcome little Liberty!
> 
> Cathy, terrific story about Lucy. Your vet must be a terrific person to know just what to give her to pull through. Is this the same vet who was with you when Romeo passed away? I will never forget that little gander and how kind the vet was during that time.
> 
> Nuns are one of the most beautiful pigeon breeds. Glad to read their disposition matches their looks.


Oh Maggie, you're so sweet to remember that! Yes, he's the same vet who treated Romeo. He was as perplexed as I was as to what was wrong with Luke. He did a blood test on her and her white cell count was sky high; that's how we knew it was an infection and he prescribed Ticarcillin. I've since learned from my nurse friends it's a really big gun. 

Luke got sick in November and I kept her indoors for warmth. But I would sit with her in the afternoon sun that came through the sliding glass door and just scratch her head. She really seemed to enjoy those sun baths and I think it's part of what bonded her to me. Bonded me to her, too. It works both ways.


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

*New Baby pictures*

More pictures. Here's baby Liberty today, at nine days of age. You can see s/he already has the characteristic Nun markings.


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

*Baby nuns*

And here's big brother or sis...


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

Here are the parents. That's Lucy on the left and Sawyer on the right. Standing in between them, it just so happens, is Piper. Piper, a roller, is the foster dad of the older nun baby.


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## Rooster2312 (Mar 8, 2006)

What beautiful birds and cute babies!

Lindi


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

That last picture is JUST PERFECT! Lucy and Sawyer look like matching bookends! STUNNING BIRDS!

Thanks for the pictures and look forward to hearing more updates AND seeing more pictures!

HUGS and SCRITCHES TO ALL

Shi & Squeaks

P.S. Piper looks like he's giving a current update!


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Cathy, you have some beautiful birds. Nuns, to me, are some of the most beautiful pigeons there are. What breed is that stunning one in the upper left of the picture?


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

Lady Tarheel said:


> Cathy, you have some beautiful birds. Nuns, to me, are some of the most beautiful pigeons there are. What breed is that stunning one in the upper left of the picture?


That's Rudy, an almond Birmingham Roller. All the others you see in the picture are rollers, too. You really see the size difference between the Nuns and Rollers in the picture. Nuns are homer-sized, but they are gentle.


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## flitsnowzoom (Mar 20, 2007)

Beautiful birds all. I had no idea rollers were "pint-sized"  
Learn something new every day.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Thanks Cathy. They are all so beautiful.


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

*Seeing Double*

The nun saga continues. Up until now I haven't mentioned our third Nun chick this season. This chick was hatched by Lucy's mama, Guinnevere and her new hubby, Byron. Guinny was formerly mated to Lancelot, but he "divorced" her and took up with their other daughter, Leia. We had four chicks out of Lance and Guinny in 2005: Luke (Lucy), Leia, Anakin and Padme (my son was into Star Wars, can you tell?). But Guinny didn't get to raise any of her chicks; we fostered all the eggs out. We did this because it turned out after we brought her home (we bought her and Lance at a show), she had Aspergillus. It took months of daily anti-fungal meds to clear it up and our vet advised us not to let Guinny raise any chicks for a year.

We didn't raise any Nuns last year. This spring I found good homes for all but Guinny and Lucy and got new mates for them. Guinny is nice quality and I wanted her to have a chance to raise her own chicks and just maybe produce a show winner. So I bought her the best mate I could find, Byron. He's a 2006 bird and hadn't been bred before.

Anyway, Byron and Guinny hatched a single chick on July 3rd, the day before Liberty. I had them in a separate breeding pen to give them every chance of success. But yesterday they inexplicably stopped feeding the baby! None of them are sick and nothing was changed in their pen. I noticed for a couple days before they stopped feeding that the chick was crying plaintively far more than was normal. Yesterday its little crop was completely empty. They probably want to re-nest and are too silly and inexperienced to know that re-nesting doesn't mean you stop feeding the current chick.  

So Pigeon Protective Services (Moi) had to step in and remove the baby to a foster home. I believe baby pigeons are best raised by other pigeons whenever possible. So I said a prayer, crossed my fingers and placed the baby in Lucy and Sawyer's nest with Liberty. The chicks are only one day apart and about the same size. Lucy and Sawyer came through! By evening both chicks had nice, full crops and were snuggled together as if they had been nestmates all along. I've had some wacky foster arrangements before, but this is the first time I've had a pigeon raising her own half sibling.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Birdmom4ever said:


> I've had some wacky foster arrangements before, but this is the first time I've had a pigeon raising her own half sibling.


What a cute story. We won't tell if you don't........cause she doesn't know. It's just another baby to her...........so we'll just let her think that.


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

I'm not telling.  I'm not sure pigeons can count. I watched them carefully from a distance and Sawyer went back to feed the second baby as if he'd been doing so all along. After all, he's probably accustomed to having two chicks to feed and it seemed normal to him. It didn't seem to bother Lucy, either. 

I love my Nuns and Tagenrog tumblers, but I have to say that my rollers are much better parents. I've never had rollers abandon a nest or stop feeding a baby prematurely. Never.


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## Margarret (May 3, 2007)

I know you heaved a sigh of relief when Lucy and Sawyer began feeding the second baby. I know I do when that happens to me. Keep sending pics as they grow. This is first time I've seen Nun babies. They are adorable snugged into the nest bowl together.

Margarret


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## Vasp (Jul 25, 2006)

Wow..That pigeon has a beautiful color of eyes! They look like a soft sea-green. The baby is adorable. Congrats and good luck! Beautiful pigeons.


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

Vasp said:


> Wow..That pigeon has a beautiful color of eyes! They look like a soft sea-green. The baby is adorable. Congrats and good luck! Beautiful pigeons.


I think it's just the light. Nuns all have pearl eyes. The babies' eyes are dark when they are little, but they turn white when they mature.


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