Lost tail feathers

[buttonwillow]

Very happy to have found this forum.

My found pigeon was a fledgling when he was apparently blown out of his nest and found his way to my open garage. I brought him inside and offered seeds and grains which he readily ate.

This was about 2 months ago. He's now mature but......he recently lost half his tail feathers for no discrenable reason and I notice the feathers at the back of his neck looks a little rough or perhaps he has lost some of them. I'm thinking his feed needs to contain more protein. And a cuttle bone might be worth trying.

By the way, I was told at the pet store that pigeons don't eat sunflower seeds. But my guy pefers them, the little black ones, to anything else in the bag.

Comment, anyone?

[John_D]

Hi and welcome,

Assuming your little guy hasn't had a narrow escape from a cat, I would suggest the roughness and/or loss of feathers could well be due to the first molt into adult plumage.

Only this morning I saw a little pidge on my balcony with a very scraggy thin neck, like his feathering had bits pulled out at random. He/she is a juvenile, just entering the molt.

Tail feathers will also drop and be replaced.

Reason I mentioned cats, is because we have a white pigeon who had lost all his tail and got hs rump scraped, due to a run-in with (probably) a cat.

Rather than cuttle, I would find a pigeon grit. If you have a feed store around which does pigeon mix, they would have some. Also, a racing pigeon mix contains pretty much all the ingredients for a good all round diet. If he is inside, you may want to find a vitamin supplement for birds which contains D3 as this helps make up for any lack of natural sunlight.

If you can't find things like the grit and feed, someone will post a web link to one or more pigeon supply outlets.

John (UK)

[buttonwillow]

Thank you, John D. for your reply. I know about molting birds as I used to keep hens. However, since my little guy had completely lost his little bird look and had achieved the slick mature look of an adult bird, I didn't think he would molt so soon.

I live in Southern California and the weather, even for winter, is pretty mild. As I wanted the bird to rejoin his wild compatriots I put him back outside as soon as I could. He stays on my balcony (US second storey, UK first storey) for the most part, where no cats are able to reach him and he sometimes hops down to an awning which is just a foot or two below the balcony.

There is a feed store not too far from my home and I will try there for pigeon grit. There is none listed in the package ingredients of the seed I'm feeding him.

[Reti]

You did a great job raising this little one.
I agree with what John said, your bird is probably going through his first molt.

You can also find the grit in the pet stores. It does not come with the food.The grit is given separately in a dish, so the bird can eat as much as he needs. If mixed with the seed, they might eat too much of it.

Reti