feral baby needs help

[silvertabby]

please can someone help me - a baby pigeon who is not yet able to fly was found near my house and as I could not see his parents, and it was getting dark, i took him in. For 2 days i have not been able to feed him. I am extremely worried. I can hold him in my hand, but when i try to secure him to try and open his beak to feed him he gets very distressed. He is not a newborn. i have tried several times to put him outside to practice flying or see if his parents find him - but each time he runs back into the playhouse where he has been stopping. Please help!!!!

[Skyeking]

Please put the baby in a safe area, away from traffic and predators. Make sure he is warm, in a box, where he can rest. Try gently dipping his beak in a bowl of clean water. He may suck it in or not, you can tell if he is swallowing. Since he is running I will assume he is not in shock.

Do you have any dry dog kibble, and frozen peas, or corn? Thaw the peas and/or corn until room temperature & drain. You can open the beak and put one piece of corn or peas in the back of his throat behind the tongue. Let him swallow and put one more piece in, and let him swallow. Continue till he gets about a tablespoon in.

If you have dried dog food, soak it until it is soft, drain it of any excess water, break into small pieces and feed one small piece at a time, as stated above.

Treesa

[silvertabby]

thank you for the advice - but can you also advise how i can actually get him to open his beak - as soon as i try he just struggles and starts puffing....

[Skyeking]

Of course....

If you have an old clean towel you can try to wrap him up in it, tightly, but not too tight, so that his head sticks out. This will help when feeding him.

Use one hand, the fore finger and thumb to pry open his beak, gently but firmly. You can do it. He is scared and he doesn't know you want to help, but it is okay. Just open it wide enough to put a piece of corn, or pea, or smaller piece in.

Use the other hand to place the thawed food or softened dog food on back of tongue. If it is extremely hard for you, find someone else to hold him for you if you still have problems.

Treesa

[John_D]

Hi,

Looks like Treesa has covered it far as feeding by hand is concerned.

If he is mobile but still babyish, and his parents had been feeding him, he may take to the syringe method as a last resort if he doesn't accept other foods:

Use a syringe at minimum 20ml - cut the end off just above the tip.
A piece of ordinary party balloon, self-adhesive support bandage, or a piece of cloth, whatever you have - cut big enough to cover the open end of the syringe.
Fill the syringe with Kaytee Exact baby bird formula or something similar from the petstore.
Fix the balloon or cloth over the end of the syringe with an elastic band.
Cut 2 slits in the cloth, in cross shape.
Guide baby's beak into slit, when he should hopefully start to slurp up the formula.
Make sure his entire face doesn't go in and clog his nostrils.
Disengage beak for a second of two to give him air, then do it again, til he refuses any more.
Wipe face thoroughly clean with damp cloth.
He should be fed anough so his crop is full but still a little squishy - not hard.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pi...nge_method.htm

John

[upcd]

There are quicker ways to feed a baby. Go to a thread to find out how old your baby is. Check out balloon or tube feeding. Thank you for caring for the baby. Other will be along shortly with more info.

[silvertabby]

where is the thread to tell the age? I tried searching but it came up with no matches...

[Lin Hansen]

Hi Silvertabby,

The thread and others showing feeding methods, etc. are located in the Pigeon Daily section under Resources...

Here is the thread:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.speedpigeon.com/baby_racing_pigeon.htm

Linda

[pdpbison]

Hi silvertabby,


Thanks for wishing to help this little one...

Baby Pigeons do not open-their-Beak to be fed like Sparrow babys or others do.
Instead, they insert their little Beak into the Beak of their parent, and the parent brings up food from it's Crop for the Baby to eat in that mode.

If you moisten your finger tips, and gently massage the little one's Beak, it may stimulate him to suppose you wish to feed him.

He will 'nuzzle' with his Beak, assertively even, but more likely tentatively, if he becomes interested. You can repeat the moist finget tip Beak massage several times, or even do so with wet finget tips, which will get a little water into him and encourage him to accept that you wish to feed him.

Likely, he will then readily eat from the hollow of a regular soft people-baby Rubber nipple, into which you may put small Seeds and Water mixed with instant people-baby-cereal into a kind of 'Soup'...

Make sure the food is "TEPID" when presented to him for him to eat...

...they do not eat 'dry' things or other than warm or tepid 'soupy' things from their parents and are not disposed to accept them from anyone else...

There is no need to use force if you can communicate with him in terms he will understand, that you wish to feed him. Likely he is in fact quite hungry by now anyway and would be a willing sport to see the situation come around to favor him.

Let us know how old you think he is for having reviewed the age-images, and or see if you can post an image somewhere for us to see...

Please do not try putting any liquids 'into' his Beak or down his throat untill you have found out a good deal more about how to do it...it can too easily go into the wrong 'pipe' and drown them.

Best wishes!

Phil
Las Vegas

[silvertabby]

great news he has eaten he ate sweetcorn, peas and bread soked in milk (is this ok - i read on another site that it was) he ate really well too, so hopefully everything will be ok. I tried putting him outside again and he ran straight back into the house - is this normal? I think he is about 30days from the pictures. when do they start to fly? He flutters, but doesnt actually fly yet. I am so happy

[Skyeking]

Thank you for helping the baby. Please don't use milk it is not good for pigeons.

Continue to feed him the softened corn and peas for now.

Does he have bare spots under the wings? Are his tail feathers short and stubby or long?

Even so, if he is close to 30 days, you can introduce him to wild bird seed along with a bowl of water. Try to dip his beak gently into the water, up to but not including his nostrils. If he drinks you can soon get him to pick up wild bird seed, by moving it around with your fingers, that will generate an interest.

He is not ready to be out on his own, he is not capable of flying well and will become prey to predators, cats, hawks, etc. Keep him inside and in a safe place.

Treesa

[ladygray]

When my husband first brought home two baby pigeons I knew nothing about what to do for them. I got on the internet and did some research and came across three sites where people had actually done this. They said to soak cat food in water until soft, add some dry cornmeal and dry baby cereal to the mix and make a "slurry". Fortunately I had all of this here at the house. I let it all soften and diluted it down a bit more with water and then heated it to a warm temperature before feeding them. They will not eat it cold. At first they wanted no part of it, but I gently pressed on the sides of their beak to get their mouth open and once they found out they were going to get some good food they started sipping it up like crazy. I also happened to have a small cup shaped thing that was from a water bottle from when we had a parakeet and I would put the "slurry" in that and they would stick their beak down in there and eat like crazy. As they got older I started adding seed to the "slurry" mix. When they were old enough to go on a seed diet they really just kind of let me know by starting to refuse the "slurry". Unlike other birds, pigeons suck their food and water just like we suck through a straw. I have raised 16 healthy big birds using this method.

[Feefo]

Hi Lady Gray,

15 healthy babies are a good recommendation!

I use Kaytee Exact or Chick crumbs but a lot of rescuers (specially European ones) don't even live near a shop that sells such things, so I like to be able to recommend a variety of suitable diets that can be made up of reasonably priced and available food. Thank you.

Just out of interest, though, what is cornmeal? WE probably call it something else in the UK.

Cynthia

[Lin Hansen]

Hi Cynthia,

Cornmeal is like a rough yellow flour made of coarsely ground corn...it's what it used to make tortillas, polenta, etc. Hope that helps..

Linda

[ladygray]

Hi Cynthia and All,

I just happened to have a box of Jiffy cornbread mix in the pantry and of course plenty of cat food since we have five cats, and the baby cereal was left over from when I had to supplement feedings for a litter of baby kittens. This is what the three sites I was on told me to do and I figured it was give it a try or they would die for sure from hunger. Maybe I just have the magic touch or something, because I really had no problem getting any of them to start eating and it is a riot when two, one time three, tried to get their beaks in the small feeder tube at the same time. I just find them amazing birds. Once we had one little guy that was a little bit of a problem to get him to eat so my husband had him on some paper on the table trying to get him to take to the slurry mix. He had put the other two in the cage but I guess he did not get the door shut and locked. He looked up and here sat our cat Gizmo inside the cage with the two other baby pigeons. He was just sitting there like that was exactly where he was supposed to be and never made a move to harm them in any way. In fact, both of our cats like to lay in front of the cage when we bring them in at night and watch them. Even the two outside cats do not bother the pigeons. I guess we have told them enough times now that they are our friends and to be nice to them. I have told my husband every time he comes dragging these little guys home "No more!", but just between the two of us - I really love those goofy little guys. My last two that flew off recently have come back within the last few days to pay a visit. They even flew down and landed on my hand, which they sometimes will not do once they get out and find others of their own kind and get that "wild streak" in them. Prior to the leaving process though, they follow me around whistling Dixie like I am their mama.