When we first adopted Georgie and Elmo we lived in a flat with no garden. Since both pigeons are disabled we knew they would always be indoor pigeons, however, I felt uneasy about their lack of access to the green green world. A year or so later we moved to a flat with a garden attached and I was able to take Elmo and Georgie outside under supervision. We bought a large rabbit run as well as a bird harness so that our pigeons could be outside safely. (One of the reasons why: Fly, birdie, fly!)

One of the major disadvantages of keeping a pigeon predominantly indoors is the lack of ultraviolet light (UV light) they receive. This is not something to be taken lightly of. Direct sunshine is required for vitamin D production (which helps the absorption of calcium), which is essential for healthy bone growth and strength. It is not enough to simply put a caged bird near a window to receive sunlight since the UV part of sunshine that helps vitamin D production is filtered out when going through window glass and therefore the bird won’t receive the benefits. Since birds can see UV light (feathers reflect it) a lack of UV light can also affect a birds behaviour, particularly its breeding behaviour.

Experts recommend shining a specialised bird UV lamp on an indoor bird for a minimum of 4 hours per day. Never use a reptile or fish UV lamp (or a plant grow light!) as they don’t have the correct spectrum for birds. An avian UV lamp should have 12% UV-a (for behaviour) and 2.4% UV-b (for calcium). Arcadia sell avian UV lamps: Arcadia bird lamp

For more information: The Essential Nutrient Your Pet Bird is Likely Seriously Short On… and Ultraviolet Lighting and Birds

Please watch this video on the subject:

In our past veterinary visits with Georgie and Elmo the vet has always asked, “Do you provide UV light?” So I knew how important it was for our pigeons but I had my reservations about one aspect of it. And it’s this: Georgie hates bright lights. And I mean HATES. Here’s what happened when she met a lava lamp: Explosive behaviour (For those of you who don’t know this, Georgie has distorted pupils and scarring on her eyes so she has limited vision. She can, however, see bright lights and movement.)

As I’ve written numerous times before, if my camera light goes on Georgie will back away. If the flash goes off then Georgie will wing slap me! So what is Georgie going to do with a super bright UV light shining on her?!!

But I had to bite the bullet and implement the light for her own well being. Summers being so wet here in the UK it’s not always possible for me to be outside with Georgie and Elmo – and never for many hours a day – so they’re missing out on essential ultraviolet light from the sun.

So I bought a light and turned it on and Georgie started a war campaign against it! And to be honest, I don’t blame her. The thing is BRIGHT!! Hurts my eyes when it’s on!

Georgie doesn't like the new light

Elmo, on the other hand, doesn’t mind the light at all.

Elmo fast asleep

To get Georgie used to the light I have to have her on my lap or shoulder while I sit next to the lamp. (I wonder what health benefits I will get from the bird light?) Sometimes she seems to tolerate it, but mostly she’ll become angry when I turn it on. A minimum of 4 hours is asking a lot for her to tolerate I’m afraid. I think I’ll have to build up to that slowly.

As I’m typing this I have looked over to the sofa and seen Georgie settled down for a nap next to the lamp. Success!! Maybe she’s realised that the lamp is doing her good.

Georgie and Elmo and the UV light

Elmo was being so ridiculous yesterday. I’ve never seen him in such a state. He was utterly jealous of Georgie!

I let Georgie incubate the fake eggs for longer than usual to prevent her from laying another set of eggs too soon since she’s had some health problems with the previous pairs of eggs (see: Vet trip and Updates on Georgie and Elmo) so Elmo hasn’t had any real contact with her or seen her for about a month. Yesterday Georgie decided she’d had enough (and frankly, so had I! I wanted my cuddly pigeon back) and left the nest to join me and you should have seen the look on Elmo’s face!!! He was livid. He couldn’t handle all the attention I was giving Georgie.

Now Georgie is my ‘mate’, while my husband is Elmo’s, so it’s only natural for me to reestablish my bond with Georgie. But Elmo wasn’t impressed. Since I’ve been home more often during the daytime Elmo has decided he likes me and has been bonding with me as well. I think, with Georgie out of the picture for a month, Elmo thought he was top bird!

So when Georgie started to cuddle with me last night on the sofa Elmo raced over and was visibly shaking with jealousy and anger at the sight of me cuddling Georgie. It was hilarious!! As soon as I looked down at Elmo he’d twitch and coo to invite me to cuddle him, but if I ignored him to cuddle Georgie he’d peck my arm to get my attention.

I’ve never seen him this jealous before. Usually Georgie is jealous of Elmo when I give him attention, so it was funny to see Elmo jealous of her! (see: Jealous Georgie!)

I now have two needy pigeons vying for my attention.

I’m happy to report that Georgie’s health is back to normal now. She acquired a limp about a month ago after laying an egg, then she laid another set of infertile eggs shortly after, which caused her to become very weak and unable to stand up for long. Our avian vet gave me medication to give her every day to tackle her limp and we upped her calcium and vitamin D supplement intake to boost her strength. It’s taken her a while to recover from the strain of laying eggs so closely after the first set, but we’re so happy to have her back to normal.

I took a photo of Georgie’s chest feathers when she has been sitting on the fake eggs. The feathers are all out of place because she pushes them out to expose the brood patch so the eggs are against her skin.

Georgie's ruffled chest feathers

I realised I had forgotten to tell you about Elmo’s new sleeping arrangements. He used to sleep on the bedside table in our bedroom, however, when we bought a new bed we didn’t realise how much higher it was to the old one – so unfortunately Elmo hurt his foot one day when he lept down from the bed (which he recovered from). And since the bed is higher he no longer is able to jump up onto the bed like he used to do when staying home alone. So we decided that he would be better off if he stayed in the living room on the sofa. He now sleeps there and when we are out for the day, he has the run of the living room, which is bigger than the bedroom so he has more space to explore than he used to.

Yesterday I found Elmo in Georgie’s empty nest. I guess it is payback for all the times Georgie has snuck into his nest.

Elmo in Georgie's nest

Georgie is fast asleep on my lap and I can hear Elmo calling to me on the sofa. They are such wonderful birds but they are often quite demanding with their attention-seeking desires.

With the sun shining so gloriously, I took Elmo and Georgie out into the garden to enjoy it:

Georgie

Georgie sunbathing

Elmo

Visiting pigeons

Visiting pigeons

The following is a very good website with information and advice about pigeon fanciers lung: British Pigeon Fanciers Medical Research

Please read about a condition that may affect you if you work in close contact with pigeons. It is the only real threat to us pigeon lovers. The overall message is to wear a mask and protective clothing as a preventive measure when cleaning out your loft or aviary.

PIGEON FANCIERS LUNG FAQ

WHAT IS PIGEON FANCIERS LUNG?
It is an allergic reaction which affects the air exchanging parts of the lung and causes shortness of breath, cough and feverish illness.

WHAT CAUSES IT?
Sensitivity to Pigeon Protein. The commonest source is the bloom but droppings and other dust in the loft may be important.

IS IT COMMON?
It is more common than people think. World wide studies indicate that from 6% to 22% of fanciers have symptoms following exposure to pigeons. In British Pigeon Fanciers, 31% were found to be sensitised and 16% to have symptoms.

HOW DO I KNOW THAT I HAVE IT?
Breathlessness, dry cough, “flu like” feelings, headache and aching joints, sweating, exhaustion 2-6 hours after contact with pigeons. Weight loss. With high sensitivity, the reaction can occur more quickly and people can be very sick.

A blood check for reaction to pigeon protein would show raised levels.

WHAT DO RAISED BLOOD LEVELS MEAN?
a) The normal body defence systems have responded to contact with pigeon protein.
b) Everyone will tend to make antibody reaction to pigeon protein, but some people make much more than others.
c) People with high reaction levels are more likely to get chest trouble than those with low levels
d) If levels are raised, then there is a real risk of problems.

DO I HAVE TO GIVE UP MY PIGEONS IF I HAVE IT?
The answer in the main is NO, although for some people, unfortunately this is the only solution. It is entirely a personal decision and there are no hard and fast rules about it. WEAR MASK, CAP AND COAT at all times when you are in the loft to reduce the amount of bloom you breathe into the lungs.

IF I HAVE CHEST TROUBLE FOLLOWING CONTACT WITH PIGEONS WILL MY ANTIBODY LEVELS BE HIGH?
YES – Those with severe symptoms have higher levels than those with minor problems.

IS IT FATAL?
NO – if untreated however, it can cause chronic ill health and lung damage and this can eventually be fatal if neglected.

CAN I PASS IT ON TO MY FAMILY?
NO – It is not an infectious disease. (It is NOT the same thing as “Psittacosis” which is infectious )

WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I THINK I HAVE IT?
Go and see your Doctor. The British Pigeon Fanciers Research Fund covers the cost of a blood test. All that is needed is to send a 10ml sample of clotted blood in a plain container to us, the details for this are on the contact page.

Your Doctor can contact Kenneth Boyd who can put him/her in touch with Dr. Boyd directly, should he/she wish to discuss any matters with him.

CAN ANYTHING BE DONE ABOUT IT?
YES -People react to the condition in different ways. Some have one or two attacks and then have no more trouble. Others have severe disease and must keep away from pigeons altogether. The acute illness can be treated by drugs.

PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE – WEAR MASK, CAP AND COAT WHEN WITH YOUR BIRDS.

CAN IT BE CURED?
The only true cure is to keep away from pigeons altogether. Only a few people have to do this because the condition varies very much in its severity and most people only experience problems from time to time, which if treated, does not progress.

HOW MUCH CONTACT WITH PIGEONS DO I NEED BEFORE I AM LIKELY TO GET IT?
The answer is not known for certain but studies, so far, indicate that the occurrence of disease is related to:

• The age of the individual
• The number of birds kept
• The average weekly exposure to pigeons
• The number of years in the Fancy
• The individual’s own inborn reaction. (some are very sensitive and others are not).

IF I REDUCE CONTACT WITH PIGEONS WILL THE DISEASE PROBLEM IMPROVE?
YES -This is very important until the illness settles. Sometimes treatment is needed. Attacks can often be prevented by avoiding excessive contact with the bloom or dust e.g. by avoiding cleaning the loft personally or by wearing a mask, cap and coat.

IS PIGEON BREEDERS DISEASE MORE LIKELY?

• With racing pigeons or with show pigeons - NO
• In overcrowded lofts – YES
• In poorly ventilated lofts – YES
• With deep litter – NO
• With more than normal contact with pigeons – YES

e.g.

• Study of eye signs.
• Use of eyeglass to examine pigeons.
• If many youngsters are hand reared.
• Hand and mouth feeding of squeakers.

IS THERE ANY PROBLEM RELATED TO PIGEON MANAGEMENT THAT MAKES IT MORE LIKELY TO CAUSE PIGEON LUNG?
e.g.

• Separated cocks/Separated hens
• Paired cocks/Paired hens
• Pigeons on natural/Widowhood systems
• Different strains – e.g. inbred, outcross
• Short/Middle/Long Distance birds

NO

N.B. Fanciers using the “Widowhood” system may be more at risk than those using the natural system because the loft is fully enclosed.
PEAK INCIDENCE – END OF RACING SEASON/MOULTING SEASON

IS THERE ANYTHING IN THE FEEDING OF THE PIGEONS WHICH MAKES THEM MORE LIKELY TO CAUSE A REACTION IN MAN?
None found.

WHAT MASK SHOULD I WEAR?
CAUTIONARY NOTE:

• All Fanciers should use a mask when cleaning out.
• Pigeon fanciers with symptoms of Pigeon Lung of any degree should use a mask, cap and coat every time they are with birds, even at Shows and Marking Stations.
• Fanciers with pigeon Lung should be very careful after an absence from the birds (e.g. after being on holiday). An increased reaction may be experienced on their return to the birds. A mask is essential.

The pigeon bloom, which is the main source of inhaled pigeon protein, is an extremely small dust particle (<5 microns). It is, therefore, important that the correct filter mask is used. Any mask used must comply with the appropriate European standard (or equivalent – in other countries)

The standard is EN149:FFP1 (S) for disposable masks and EN143:1990 for the Replaceable Filter Mask.

Please see our dedicated mask page, for detail of specific masks.

(From: http://www.pigeon-lung.co.uk/faq.html)

There have been two articles about feral pigeons in my area. One about the problem of pigeons breeding under a railway bridge, and another about using a hawk to scare pigeons away from a certain area in town.

I know the bridge mentioned in the first article, I’ve been under it and have seen the pigeon population that breeds there. Since the design of the bridge is perfect for pigeons – with ledges and nooks and crannies – pigeons naturally choose to roost and nest under them.

Since these types of bridges normally have a busy road under them I always fear for the baby pigeons that might accidentally fall from their nest. I would personally like to see the bridge netted off to prevent pigeons from nesting there (purely to stop baby pigeons from falling to their death), however, it would need to be done properly so that the pigeons could not get through and become stuck.

What I’m worried about is what will happen to the existing baby pigeons under the bridge. Will they be “rehomed” as the councillor is suggesting or will they simply be killed by the pest control company? I will be contacting the relevant people about this matter.

Councillor vows he will clip the wings of pigeon problem

Friday, March 11, 2011, 08:00

By Helen Kitchener (helen.kitchener@courier.co.uk)

It has been a slimy, unpleasant problem for more than 15 years – but now a Sherwood councillor has pledged to tackle the scourge of pigeon droppings from Sandhurst Road railway bridge once and for all.

For several years councillors and residents have lobbied Network Rail, which owns the bridge, to clean it up and move the pigeons which roost there but to no avail.

Recently elected councillor Bob Backhouse, who lives round the corner from the bridge, said it was high time the disgusting mess was tackled. But Mr Backhouse was quick to point out he was “not declaring war on pigeons”.

“This is one of those issues which sounds trivial but when you go out knocking on doors people want it sorted,” said Mr Backhouse. “Just the other day I heard from a woman who was pushing a double buggy and one of the pigeons dumped on her. It’s happened to me when I was walking into town and I had to turn round and go home to wash my hair.”

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council employs a contractor to spray the area around the bridge with antiseptic on a regular basis.

“I’ve been assured by the borough council there’s a file about four inches thick on it,” said Mr Backhouse. “The council has really tried but has come up against a brick wall with Network Rail. I understand they have much more important things to sort out but they seem to have quite a cavalier attitude.”

Mr Backhouse is pushing for the railway authority to rehouse the animals and put up netting after they had bred to stop them returning.

“It’s one of those things that if we get it done it will make a lot of folk happy,” he added.

Network Rail refused to comment.

(From: http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/news/Councillor-vows-clip-wings-pigeon-problem/article-3317091-detail/article.html)

Sandhurst Road railway bridge:

(Photo from: http://kevinlynes.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/sandhurst-road-railway-bridge-a-real-bird-puller/)

The second article is about the fact that some traders are fed up with the local feral pigeons and the mess they leave. They take the usual ignorant stance that pigeons are dirty and a health hazard and therefore need to go (please see my post: Feral pigeons and disease). I understand that their droppings can damage buildings, etc., however, without barring off the nesting sites and ridding the place of waste food, the pigeons will stay in the area. A few hours in the week of a hawk flying about won’t deter them.

While I applaud the traders efforts to find a humane solution to their so-called pigeon problem, it is flawed and will most likely be ineffective. My worry is that once they’ve realised that their hawk plan isn’t working they’ll turn to inhumane actions.

As far as I can tell from the original article, the hawk isn’t trained to catch the pigeons, only to fly about and scare them off by its presence.

I’ve known for a while now that Georgie had eggs on the mind. All the usual symptoms were there: looking for a nest as well as excessive courting and mating behaviour. Anything could set her off. Usually just hearing my voice would get Georgie in the mood, but when she’s decided she’s going to lay eggs, well, even Richard’s voice would do! LOL!

I foolishly thought that if I didn’t give Georgie a nest then she wouldn’t lay any eggs. How naive of me!

Last night George jumped down from her usual spot on the sofa onto Elmo’s nest. She knows that he has a nest there and usually doesn’t try to go there because Elmo would of course attack her, but last night she was obviously desperate. I didn’t read her behaviour correctly and thought she was trying to get to the peanut jar so I popped her into her cage so that she could eat. After a minute or so I looked back to see what Georgie was doing and saw that she was about to lay an egg while standing on edge of her cage! OMG!

I quickly picked Georgie up and placed her on the pink fleece (that she loves so much) and watched her lay her egg. It’s actually quite painful to watch because of the size of the egg compaired to the cloaca (vent). I do feel for Georgie. Poor girl. At one point she got the egg out half way but then stopped for a second to regroup her energy and then she gave one last push and the egg came out. Phew!

Once the egg was laid though, Georgie ran away as if not interested. Fair enough. I hadn’t given her a chance to really bond to a nesting place so she disconnected her thoughts from the egg pretty quickly. Her eggs are of course infertile so there’s no problem with her not incubating them.

Georgie walks away from her freshly laid egg

I do feel a bit guilty for not having given her a nest but I just didn’t want her health to be compromised as it did the last time she laid an egg.

Today Georgie is no different than the last few days. She’s quite chunky in weight (hooray!) and she’s sitting comfortably on my lap. We’re expecting her to lay the second egg tomorrow and we’ll try to capture the moment on video. In the meantime, here’s a video of Georgie laying an egg a year ago:

It’s been a very good weekend for us here with Georgie back to good health. She’s been snuggling up to me a lot and stealing food from my plate whenever she’s had the chance. She managed to run away with a piece of my tortilla yesterday, dragging cheese, corn, lettuce, tomatoes and salsa across the sofa. Lovely.

Elmo has been his usual wonderful self, cooing and twitching and loving. He loves shredded cabbage and lettuce so I’ve been dropping pieces on the kitchen floor whenever he’s in there keeping me company. He likes to keep an eye on things. And he loves his mineral pick-pot! The kitchen floor is covered with the pieces he’s been throwing about. He has very messy eating habits.

There are so many wonderful quirks of Elmo’s that I want to record. I think I need to hire a film crew to follow him about all day so they can capture his funny behaviours. A documentary about Elmo and Georgie would be a good idea.

Another project for me, I guess.

Yesterday I wrote that we were expecting Georgie to lay an egg any minute now, and lo and behold, she did!

The whole day George was restless. She didn’t want to nest in her guinea-pig nest, nor even in the pink and white fleece! For some reason Georgie was rejecting them. I didn’t know what she wanted and nothing I did seemed to please her. Georgie kept moving about without settling.

In the end we found that she’d laid the egg on the floor. She didn’t seem interested in it at all. Poor dear.

We left the egg in Georgie’s cage today when we left for work and returned to find her incubating it. Hooray! (By the way, Georgie’s eggs are never fertile.) We now await the appearance of the second egg, which should happen tomorrow.

This is a video of Georgie laying an egg earlier this year:

Georgie has had an 8 month break since the last time she laid eggs, which I think is good because as you can imagine, egg production and laying takes a lot of energy and calcium. It can take its toll if birds lay eggs continuously, a condition called “chronic egg-laying”. I’m happy that George made the decision to not lay eggs for a while, thus giving herself a break. Now, however, an egg has appeared and who knows if she’ll continue to lay eggs every month from now on. I hope she doesn’t.

Chronic egg-laying can cause a number of serious health problems for birds, and can ultimately lead to the death of the female if left untreated.

“Chronic egg-laying in the pet bird poses a significant threat to the health and behavioral well being of many pet birds. When a hen lays repeated clutches or larger than normal clutch size without regard to the presence of a normal mate or confined breeding season, a myriad of secondary problems can follow. Ultimately, functional exhaustion of the reproductive tract poses risk of metabolic and physiological drain on the bird, particularly on calcium and energy stores. All of these ultimately predispose the hen to egg binding, dystocia, yolk coelomitis, oviductal impaction, oviductal torsion, cloacal prolapse and osteoporosis.” Ask an Expert: Chronic egg laying by Dr. Brian Speer, DVM.

This article – Chronic Egg Laying from AvianWeb – has some good advice on how to combat chronic egg-laying (mainly aimed at parrot species). Please go to the article to see the full explanation of the points below.

Things you can do to discourage / stop your bird from laying eggs:

• Do not remove eggs which she has already laid.
• Remove possible nesting sites and nest-making material.
• Mimic “Shorter Days”.
• Limit food access.
• One vet recommended turning day into night.
• Discourage breeding behavior in your bird.
• Rearrange the cage interior and change the cage location.
• Give your bird optimal nutrition.
• Provide full spectrum light.
• If necessary, separate from “mate”.
• Ask your veterinarian about hormone injections.

The following article has good advice about egg-binding (one of the problems of chronic egg laying):

“Calcium is used by the body to not only form the shell of the developing egg and maintain strong bones, but is also crucial in the proper functioning of the muscles. While it does take a large amount of calcium to form an egg shell, the hen also needs calcium for the muscle action needed to expel the egg.

“Vitamin d3 is crucial in the absorption of calcium. Without it, all that good calcium we offer our birds passes right through the body without being absorbed. In outdoor flights, our birds are able to produce d3 via a chemical reaction to sunlight. In indoor flights, they are unable to do this. Sunlight through a window is not sufficient. The ultraviolet light needed does not pass through window glass. Full spectrum lights can help but some studies have shown that the ultraviolet is only at sufficient levels at less than one foot from the light source. For inside birds, a d3 supplement is almost always helpful.” Egg Binding by Carol Heesen

Bird droppings (guano, dung or manure) consists of both faeces and urine since birds excrete through the cloaca, a single opening, in contrast to mammals that excrete through two separate openings. You therefore see a darker section (the faeces) and a whitish section (the urine) in a typical bird dropping (Loon, 2005).

While some bird species keep their nests clean by removing or eating their chicks droppings, pigeons and doves don’t go to such lengths – rather both the adults and the chicks deposit their droppings right in and around the nest. Seems unhygienic, however, this practice is thought to serve an important function, as stated by Loon (2005, p.181): “They act as cement to bind the flimsy twig nest together, a structural improvement that becomes increasingly important as the chicks get bigger.”

When looking into the subject of using pigeon droppings as fertiliser, I came across the usual ignorant and prejudice remarks in certain Q & A websites, such as, “No, never use pigeon droppings! Pigeons are diseased and dirty.” You get my drift. Don’t listen to these people. They don’t know what they’re saying.

Side note: Pigeons pose no serious health risk. If you doubt me please go to: Pigeons Do NOT Present a Health Hazard to Humans and Feral pigeons and disease – do pigeons carry disease?.

Pigeon guano was in fact commonly used for centuries as a prized fertiliser. It was also used to manufacture a critical ingredient of gunpowder: saltpetre (Blechman, 2006).

I did find many gardener and organic growing websites that praised the use of pigeon dung as fertiliser. In fact, pigeon dung rates higher than other manures, with 4.2% nitrogen, 3% phosphorous, and 1.4% potassium (see: Using Manure to Fertilize Your Garden).

Steve Harris (2010) states in his article (see references): “In addition to food, pigeons produced valuable guano so rich in nutrients that one load of it was worth 10 from any other species. In many countries, pigeon dung actually played a key part in agricultural development.”

So why is it not as valuable today? Well, commercially other manures seemed to have become more popular and sold as fertiliser (because of availability), and nowadays pigeon dung is considered more of a health hazard and aesthetic nuisance. Due to the acidic nature of pigeon dung people are becoming upset that it will corrode buildings and monuments where pigeons congregate in large flocks, especially in cities (Blechman, 2006).

Now I must add the usual caution here (just to cover my back). If you are going to deal with large quantities of pigeon droppings (or any faeces for that matter) then please use some common sense. Wear a mask and gloves. However, there is no reason to become hysterical. Please have a read through the folllowing two websites that clearly state that it is extremely unlikely that you will catch any diseases from pigeon dung (unless you have a compromised immune system, in which case you shouldn’t be handling any type of droppings): Facts about pigeon-related diseases, Pigeon Droppings and Cleaning pigeon droppings.

So while seeing statues and buildings splattered with pigeon droppings might be unpleasant to the eye, maybe there is a peaceful solution? Remove the droppings and use it as fertiliser!

* * * * * * * *

References:

• Blechman, Andrew D. (2006). Pigeons: The fascinating saga of the world’s most revered and reviled bird. Grove Press, New York.
• Loon, Rael and Hélène. (2005). Birds, The Inside Story. Struik Publishers, Cape Town.
• Harris, Steve. (2010). BBC Wildlife magazine. Feral pigeon: flying rat or urban hero? [online]. [Accessed 4^th December 2010]. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.bbcwildlifemagazine.com/british-wildlife/feral-pigeon-flying-rat-or-urban-hero

Pet Pigeon Book

The Pet Pigeon Book is a notebook I bought to fill with all the relevant information about Georgie and Elmo.

It contains the following:

• dates when we received Elmo and Georgie
• their hatch-day details
• their weights each month
• the dates when Georgie laid her eggs
• vet details
• health records
• any medication details
• holiday notes
• pigeon sitter details

As time goes by I add things to Georgie’s and Elmo’s individual pages.

We also have a few laminated sheets with instructions for the pet sitters on how to care for Elmo and Georgie – all the quirks and special things they need to consider. Many people have never cared for an indoor pigeon before so we have to make sure that they know what to expect.

I think it is always a good idea to record little things as well as the big things. You never know when you might need the information.

Georgie's front page

Elmo's front page