baby ring collar dove

[farmer's wife]

Hello there
I just found this forum and it looks just the place for getting some much needed advice. I have just been given a young ( although he has most of his adult feathers) bird that was found by a neighbour. I live in England where it's pretty cold at the moment. The bird seems reasonably well fed but my husband says he has a malformation of the tail feathers. It appears that the sheaths in which the feathers start growing have grown with the feathers so that he has full length tail feathers wrapped up in a long sheath with just a tuft of feather sticking out the end. Maybe he was turfed out the nest to make his own way and of course can't fly. Any suggestions? I have put down some water and some ground up mueslie and some old cockatiel food but he's just huddling in the corner.
Hope some-one out ther will know what I'm talking about
Thanks in advance for any replies
Mandy

[Reti]

Hi Mandy,

thank you for rescuing this little dove and welcome to pigeon-talk.
We have several UK members and they will be on very soon to help you out.
If I remember well it was Cynthia who had a similar problem with the feathers of a couple of doves and she did a great job in rehabbing them.
I'll send her an alert to check out your post.

Reti

[Maggie-NC]

Just a quick response until Cynthia comes on. Usually, partly sheathed feathers like you describe are caused by malnutrition. Just make sure you keep this little fellow warm and hydrated.

Maggie

[AZWhitefeather]

Hello & Welcome,
Thank you for taking in this sweet baby.

While you are waiting for other members to reply, please click on the link below, if you haven't already done so, which describes, step by step, the basic care of an ill or injured pigeon or dove.

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=8822

If you have any other questions or concerns, please do post them.

Cindy

[Feefo]

Hi Mandy,

Collared doves must be prone to pipey feathers and I know they are prone to metabolic metabolic bone disease.

Mine all recovered, I gave them two drops of Gem Liquid Calcium a day for three or four days.

If you e-mail me privately I can send you some liquid calcium.

If you live anywhere near me (Norwich Norfolk) I can take the dove and put it with another one that I have, they can eventually be released together.

We also have a member in Devon that has just rescued a fledgeling dove, so if you are near her she could help. Another of our members with collared doves lives in Northampton. She would also be glad to help.

Cindy has already covered the first and vital steps. After that, if it can't eat by itself then moisten some wholemeal bread and make little balls out of it, open its beak gently and push the little bread balls to the back of the throat. You can do the same with chick crumbs or CeeDee egg mix, soaked for half an hour in hot (but not boiling) water. If she can eat by herself then wild bird seed or canary seed will be fine for her.

Doves are very clean around the house, their poops are usually nice and firm, easy to brush up, so if you can't get it to a rehabilitator it will be able to learn to fly in an empty bedroom.

These are links to the threads and photos of my collared doves with pipey feathers:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showth...referrerid=560

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showth...referrerid=560

Cynthia

[Pidgey]

I've had a few young pigeons that had chickhood illnesses that simply didn't preen the tail feathers because it was too much effort during the growing phase. In such a case, it's good to find and resolve the illness. It's also a good idea to preen those feathers yourself--you just lightly pinch and tug the sheaths with your fingernails. Those are normally on there but the bird usually preens them off as the feather grows and all you see is a bunch of dander. If they stay on too long, the feather has a harder time expanding out to its natural plume.

Pidgey

[Maggie-NC]

Well dag-gone Pidgey, you've taught me something else. I was always afraid to mess with them.

Maggie

[Derek Boyes]

Just a note wishing you well. If you are In North Yorkshire I can give details of good suppliers of general pigeon needs.

[kittypaws]

to mirror Derek, if you are in the South East of England, (Surrey, West Kent, Sussex, London or Middlesex) I can advise where you could take the dove for assistance ( and these are good places where they would help a dove or pigeon)

Tania

[farmer's wife]

Thank you all so much for all your advice and kind words. Sadly the dove died this afternoon while I was out at work. my husband had tried to feed it with a syringe in the morning and said that its beak was all soft, so I think you were right whoever suggested that it might be malnutrition. We have been having some really cold weather here so maybe mum couldn't find enough to feed it on. Also Andrew has found that he had a broken wing as well so he obviously had a serious deficiency. I read up that the tail problem was a sign.
Sorry this tale had a sad ending

[kittypaws]

to hear about the little dove.

At least it spent its last day in the warmth of your home.

It's sad when a little one dies especially when you take it in and look for help ( like here). The people on here are fantastic with advice I'm a novice and don't know much about the care of pigeons and doves but I'm learning and next time I find a bird in need I'll be tuning in here first.

You can take comfort that you saved it from dying in the cold or was taken by a cat or similar.

Tania

[Maggie-NC]

You did the best you could. At least he was warm and thinking of that always gives me comfort. You are to be commended for trying to save him.

Maggie

[Camrron]

Sorry about the loss Mandy. It hurts when we try but cannot help and that is outside of our control sometimes. It sounds like your bird was very sick when you found him and sometimes it is just too late too help despite our best intentions. I am glad you came here to this site though. There are so many knowledgeable and caring people here. If you ever find another pigeon, please do come back and the members will whatever they can to help out as they always do.

Cameron.