r/BalconyBabies

Sweetpea tries to show baby Ilia what seeb is! ☺️

For anyone who’s familiar with my pigeon family these are Blue’s new siblings. Hello babies!

Troy and Sweetpea's baby, Ilia, remembers she likes me after all!!

EDIT: I completely appreciate anyone's concern regarding my interaction with this baby. It means you care. But there is a little context here.

For 3 years now, a gang of feral pigeons have taken up residence on my balcony. There have been a LOT of babies. Most fledge successfully, some visit for a while. Some sit on my head or lap or eat out of my hand. But they HATE anyone else, including my husband. If he walks near the balcony, the flock fly away. They only like who they feel familiar with. As I sit on my balcony all the time, I am beyond familiar to this group.

Mama was nearby during this above interaction and didn't grunt once. The baby now doesn't snap when I move around as it's slightly older. The snapping is just a natural reaction they all do at that age when anything nearby moves. But immediately, it was soothed by the memory of my hand.

This baby has also been showing signs of congestion, and I'm giving it drops daily to help. Therefore, I'm happy for it not to be afraid of The Hand.

I do hope that answers any concerns you have. 🫶🫶🫶

This random pigeon laid two eggs on my balcony, I really don’t know how to deal with it also my maid js refused to throw it away, any ideas about how to handle this??😭😭💁🏼‍♀️ pls lemme know!!!!

Baby Carm annoying his dad for a feeding!

About two weeks ago we saw two pigeons on our balcony again. This is their third try with eggs, and it is a success. Today we went there again, and found these two. We monitor them on cameras when we are not here.

Update:
14.08.
Getting bigger

So, about 2-3 months ago, a couple of feral pigeons (Lionel & Petra) decided that the bucket we used to use as an ashtray on the balcony was a perfectly good nesting spot. They raised two perfectly happy, healthy babies (Karly & Olivia) who both made it and have now become part of the local flock that lives on my roof. It honestly kinda changed my world a bit - I’ve since become obsessed with pigeons, Ive named the entire flock, and I go out to the balcony most days to give them a scattered buffet of high quality racing pigeon seed mix.

As soon as Karly fledged however, not three days had passed before I popped out to see Lionel sat back in the bucket on top of a new egg (pictured). The miracle of pibbin life continues! (And why wouldn’t it, they’ve got a safe place away from predators & a near constant food supply!) Buuut based on everything I’ve seen, people have been saying it’s not really ethical to let pigeons breed in perpetuity as it could cause food scarcities and they may struggle/suffer.

Now we’re letting them have the next clutch, not least because I went on holiday for 2 weeks a few days later so by the time I get back it’ll be near hatching time - I’ve asked my housemate to keep scattering seeb on the balcony during this time but I’m not 1000% sure he will remember because he’s not as invested in pigeons as me. And as soon as I return I’ll continue to care for them from a non threatening distance as I did with the first round of squabs.

But if they’re happy and settled and well fed, I have heard this cycle will keep happening and it could be harmful to both the parents & the flock if we get increasingly rapid population growth. So the question is, is it probably a good idea to buy fake eggs before the cycle starts again? I’m concerned constant laying could really take it out of Petra as well. Or is this a case where I shouldn’t interfere in their natural reproductive cycle?

(A caveat because people often ask: No, taking them inside and raising them as pets isnt really an option - we live with big skylight windows open a lot of the time, we’re in a small rented flat and any pigeon in the flat would have a front row seat to watch the local flock on the roof through the window which might be a bit cruel. We’re also both neurodivergent and I’m not sure I could fully take care of another creature and give it the life it deserves).

Troy and Sweetpea have a baby! 💁‍♀️😁

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