Baby Pigeon And Scary Construction

[wings of miami]

Hello, I was surfing the net looking for information about pigeons . I live in an apartment on the 10th floor in Miami, Fl. A pigeon recently made a nest on my balcony floor (which has fake grass) and she laid two eggs. She moved the nest a few times during the course of 3 or 4 weeks, and she sat on the eggs everyday for all this time. Last Tuesday and Wednesday, the eggs cracked and to little pigeons emerged. One of them disappeared (we don’t know if the mother killed it or what happened) Anyway the one that survived is with its mother on the balcony. She is feeding it, and we sometimes give her bread. My building is going through renovation and they are going to knock a wall of the balcony and I am scared that the mother will be scared away from the workers, and she might abandon her baby. I have no idea about what kind of pigeon it is, and I know nothing about pigeons. My husband said he could make them a bird house, but we need some advice. Here are some pictures of the pigeon.

I think the workers will begin knocking the balcony wall down in two or three weeks. We are animal lovers and would like to do everything possible to help preserve the life of the baby pigeon.

Thanks for your help.
Andrea and Sebastian

[TAWhatley]

Hello Andrea and Sebastian and welcome to pigeons.com. It is very kind of you to be concerned about the little pigeon family residing on your balcony.

It is quite unlikely that either of the parents killed the one baby. Most likely a predator of some type got it or perhaps it somehow fell off the balcony.

The longer you can let the parents tend to the surviving baby, the better its chances to grow up healthy and strong. It won't be quite ready to fly by the time the construction work is going to be done, so I would suggest waiting as long as you can and then bring the baby in and be prepared to care for it or perhaps transfer it to one of our Miami area members who has experience in raising baby pigeons.

You can help further by making sure the lower areas of the balcony are blocked off so the baby can't fall off, put wild bird seed mix or pigeon mix out for the parents along with fresh water each day, and see if you can make a bit better "nest" for the baby. It looks like it is just on the floor of the balcony and may develop splayed legs without a bowl shaped nest lined with something it can grip with its legs/feet. A non-tippable crock or dog bowl lined with an old towel or piece of T-shirt would suffice.

Please keep us posted and look for further advice from other members and especially those in your area who may be able to help you directly.

Terry

[wings of miami]

Thanks for your nice greeting, and for your advice. We are making the nest and getting seeds for them.

We don't touch the baby because we are scared that the mother might smell us should we use a paper napkin to pick him up and place him into the new nest we made for them? We don't want to scare the mother/father away.

I hope someone in Miami can help us!

[bklowe]

Hi Andrea & Sebastion,
Pigeons leave the nest in 25-32 days approximately. The baby might just fledge [ fly on it's own ] sooner due to your warm climate. The is likely a " daddy " involved as well. Pigeons mate for life and the male usually tends to the baby during the day and the mom at night. If you can offer these guys some seed, safflower, milo, grit if you can or just wild birdseed.
Possibly you could talk with the owner of the building and ask if they could wait until the baby leaves the nest to begin the remodel project.
Thank you for contacting the group, I am sure you will get all the information you need from other members.

[bklowe]

I see Terry has been along .... she is great ! Don't worry about picking the baby up gently the parents will not smell your scent and abandon the baby. The parent may slap at you with it's wing but if you move slowly but dilberatly they should not mind you putting the baby in the new nest.

[wings of miami]

I made a nest with an old t-shirt and we formed a rim and placed the baby inside, but the mom doesn't want to enter the nest. She slaps us with her wings when we approach her. So we are leaving her alone to find her way into the nest.
It's 68 degrees outside. I hope she figures it out for herself and climbs in. How long should I wait until she climbs in there? What if she doesn't?

[Reti]

Most likely the mother will go into the nest, it might take her a bit to figure out what happened.

I am sorry the other baby was probably abducted, most likely by a hawk, I had it happen several times.
Where in Miami are you? I am in Brickell.

I would suggest, that if your husband could build some enclosure for the pigeons, something that would have an opening only on one side. That would protect the babies somehow from the hawks. If he knows that there are pigeons on your balcony he will come back.
Also when you feed them, try to hide the food so not too many pigeons will discover the food on your balcony. That could cause trouble from the neighbors, also it will attract even more hawks.

When I had my two pairs of pigeons on my balcony we had also some work done. (actually the management). I used to bring the pigeons with their enclosures into the apartment.
One time I didn't know they were cutting the trees in front of my balcony, when I came home the pigeons were gone, but the minute the workers left, they were all back to their nests.

If you need any help let me know, please.

Reti

[TerriB]

Pigeons will generally accept minor changes to the nest as long as you don't move it. Location is very important part of how they recognize their nest. If she won't climb in, you might try placing the t-shirt a few feet away so it becomes familiar. Then you could try creating a nest with it again in a day or two.

[Yong]

Reti is in Miami and can help you. I am in Broward, but come down to Miami on a regular basis, and will certainly come down to help you as well. Email me for a phone number incase you get desperate (homes4homers@aol.com). We will all help you in anyway we can. Yong

[Yong]

I forgot to mention...for any reason your mother leaves and the baby is not being fed, Reti has birds sitting on eggs thatcan can foster the baby, and I have a pair feeding some squabs right now, that can help out too. BTW...Thank you for caring. Yong

[wings of miami]

Thank you all for the great help with mama pigeon and her baby. She did not climb into the nest we built her, so we put the baby back where it was before. We left the new nest near her to see if she'll use it in the next day or too.
We are so greatful with all of you for taking the time to teach us about pigeons.

[TAWhatley]

Thank you Reti and Yong! Let's all keep this baby going and his/her family safe!

Terry

[Yong]

Wings, no matter what make sure that the babies crop "chest" is quite plump looking. That means that it is being fed. Yong