Baby wood pigeon - please help!!

[kazzer]

Hello!


I'm new to this forum, and to looking after birds, so you all might be a bit alarmed to hear that I have been looking after a baby wood pigeon for two days now, after it fell out of a 30ft tree into my garden. We can't get it back in the tree and our next door neighbour has three cats all of whom love nothing more than baby birds for breakfast, so I couldn't just leave it to die.
I have been browsing this forum, what a godsend!
I just have a few questions, as I'm so frightened I'm going to end up killing the poor thing with wrong food etc!
Firstly, I'm going to try and post a picture with this, could anyone tell me how old they think it is?
Secondly, it doesn't seem to be interested in food at all, it's quite a struggle to feed it. I'm not able to get hold of any rearing food until tomorrow, so have been feeding it weetabix mushed with milk and porridge mixed with boiled egg yolk ( all sieved ) through a syringe. About 10ml every 4 hours.
Am I doing the right thing? It doesn't seem very happy and just sits in the box very quiet most of the time. It does perk up when we get it out of the box though. I have been keeping it in a warm place, and it doesn't seem to be cold. I have weighed it today and it's 130g. Is that good or bad?
Sorry for the ramble, any advice greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Reti]

Welcome to PT and thank you for rescuing this sweet bird.
I don't know much about wood pigeons but we do have several members who do, so hang in there, they will be on soon.
Please do not feed him any more milk. Pigeons are intolerant to lactose. Could you purchase baby bird formula from the pet store? That would be much more appropriate for feeding.

Reti

[kazzer]

Hello Reti,

Thanks for letting me know, I had no idea they couldn't be fed milk. The pet store is closed until tomorrow, so I'm going to have to make do with what's in my cupboard until then. Is it ok to feed it weetabix soaked in water? I'm worried there might be too much salt in it.
On a plus note, baby pigeon is quite aggressive this morning, so I think it's feeling a little better after it's long fall from the tree!
Thanks!

[Feefo]

Hi Kazzer,

Thank you for rescuing the baby. I would say he is about 2 weeks old.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1...44786621MGJEiJ

He can be fed porridge or Ready Brek as long as it is made with warm water, not milk. Wildcare, the London Animal Hospital gives them rusks as well.

Alternatively you could get Nutribird or Kaytee Exact Hand Rearing Formula, or soak chick crumbs for half an hour in hot (not boiling) water, then liquidise and sieve three times (chick crumbs are an excellent rearing food) . At his age he should adapt to the syringe and balloon method of feeding :

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/165797594SYYRWL

This is a recipe for woodie food that someone on another forum provided, I would make the mixture fairly moist for a woodie of that age:

wild bird seed
frozen peas
finely chopped apple
finely chopped peanuts
finely chopped fat balls
finely shredded greens
wholemeal bread crumbs

Feed until his crop is 3/4 full (think of it as a balloon) and soft, not hard.

If he is to be released then he will need to mix with other woodies and also learn what foods he can eat. Can you let us know where you are? There are some good sanctuaries that can rehabilitate him when he is a bit older.

Cynthia

[kazzer]

Thanks Cynthia! That's very helpful. I thought he/she was only a week old! lol
I'm near Lincoln, if there is anyone who is interested, let me know!
How long do I have to feed him/her before I should be encouraging it to peck at seed?

[Feefo]

He will start to show an interes in seed at about 3 weeks. If you scatter some small seeds around them he might pick them up and consider them.

Cynthia

[Feefo]

Just for reference, this is my Littlewood at 3 weeks old:

[kazzer]

Hello!

Just to let you all know that newly named "lucky" (not very original, I know, but my son suggested it!) is doing great and has started to peck around at small seeds. He's quite a little cutie and very friendly! My mother in law is looking after him whilst I'm at work, he likes to sit on her head most of the day. I think it's going to be quite a white hanky moment when he's finally ready to be released back into the flock of woodies I have in my garden every day. I'm sure when he is eventually released, he'll probably spend most of his time trying to get back indoors! lol
Anyway, just wanted to say a great big THANK YOU to those who helped me, without your help he most certainly would be dead by now. XXX

[Skyeking]

I'm glad he is doing so well, we really appreciate your care and kindness.

It would be best to keep in contact with Cynthia, as she can better advise about releasing the youngster when the time comes, to make it a successful release. They have to be socialized with other woodies and learn to eat foods they can find. A sanctuary would probably best help with that transition.

Thank you for the update.

[amyable]

Hi Kazzer,

It's great Lucky has come on so well. As far as releasing goes he may need a little help first in order to be sure he can cope out there. I just thought I'd tell you about a similar one I hand reared last year from the same age.

He ended up doing really well but did become very used to me and would fly and land on me all the time. I have a lot of Woodies in my garden and hoped he could go free from here. Cynthia had warned me not to let him get too tame but as much as I ignored him, he still would come over to me.

I decided to take him to a wild life rescue in the end and he was able to spend some time amongst other young Woodies in an aviary they have for rehabilitation, and then he was released in a flock. The only reason I hadn't let him go in the garden was I had seen others chased off by adults in the past when they had tried to feed with the group, and I was worried he might not know how to mix with his own and what to eat to survive if he wasn't accepted.
The lovely thing was I did pop along to see him in the aviary before he was released, and although I couldn't tell which one was Monkie, (as I called him), when I made a sound he knew, he turned and looked at me, so I know he remembered me.

There is advice on here about how to carry out a 'soft release' which might work if you introduce him bit by bit to the garden Woodies from a cage first.

I can imagine how hard it will be to let him go, the old maternal feelings even come with birds you rear!!

I certainly don't want to put a damper on things but I have just come back from a 'sanctuary' I volunteer at, and two injured Woodies have just been put in an aviary with an older Woodie who has been there for a long time and teamed up with a feral pigeon. Unfortunately the Woodie has attacked this new Woodie and I have had to take it back out again as she has been pecked so badly on her head that it had gone through to the scull. They just didn't want another bird sharing their shed. The problem here is they aren't watched or supervised very well and so this might have gone unnoticed until it was too late, so he needs to go to somewhere that will take care to release him properly.

Get lots of tissues ready! Best of luck, however you decide to do it.

Janet

[Feefo]

Unfortunately the Woodie has attacked this new Woodie and I have had to take it back out again as she has been pecked so badly on her head that it had gone through to the scull. They just didn't want another bird sharing their shed. The problem here is they aren't watched or supervised very well and so this might have gone unnoticed until it was too late, so he needs to go to somewhere that will take care to release him properly.

How sad...in my experience woodies aren't usually that aggressive, I trust them to share with injured collared doves. Are you certain it wasn't the feral pigeon? Our darling Silly Bill (feral hen) was as gentle as anything with Robin, (a disabled collared dove), but attacked Rosewood so visciously that I found him lying in a pool of blood.

Cynthia

[amyable]

Hi Cynthia,

I watched them for a while from a distance and I'm afraid both the Woodie and the feral pecked at her.

I hadn't noticed her head injury at first and was chuckling when I looked in the shed, the existing Woodie was pecking her on the head and then proceeded to do a display, cooing and fanning his tail out. Whether it was due to the fact she didn't respond, he went back to pecking her, but not an affectionate peck, quite harsh. As she rushed across the shed to get away, she unfortunately stumbled onto the feral's nest in the corner, and so she got it from her aswell, poor soul. That's when I thought I'd better catch her and have a look.
I have seen this Woodie chase the other ferals away in the past when there were more in the aviary. Later on when I went back to look, he and the feral were canoodling away in the corner again! I took a video of it as it looked so strange to see.
He did try and get up to where another Woodie was sitting up on a perch, outside, but as he can't fly, he gave up, so hopefully that one will be ok although it's lost all it's tail and flight feathers, it can flutter up high quite well.
So, I am sure this Woodie did have a lot to do with the injury.

Janet

[0121mato]

hi i dont now what age my baby wood pigeon is but he has got all of is feathers and is still not pecking. how can i encourage him to start pecking and flying. at the moment i am just surringe feeding him on rearing food about 24 ml can u please help me i dont want to put him into a bird centurey. i want to put keep him in a cage
please help me
thanks matt

[amyable]

Hi Matt,

I just noticed you'd posted on a previous thread, maybe a good idea to start a new one about your pigeon so you can get some advice.
I'll answer you on here for now.

How long have you had the baby Woodie?

If it is well feathered it can be about 5 to 10 days approx. To get it interested in pecking at seeds just scatter some around it and play with them with your fingers so it can see. It should get curious and have a go at picking them up for itself. They're quite quick at catching on. One I had recently did so in about a minute, but not all of them are so fast. It will still want to be hand fed if that's what it's used to, but you can gradually wean him off over a period of time.

Can I just ask if you intend to release this bird at some time, because if so it will really need to go to a sanctuary for it's own sake, so it can mix with other Woodies, otherwise it won't know how to survive in the wild. Also it does need to be a little nervous of humans and hand rearing does make them reliant in us, which again isn't good for them.

Let us know a little more about it's background and we'll try to help.

Do I assume you're from around Birmingham, just guessing from the 0121!!

Look forward to hearing about your woodie.

Janet

[Feefo]

Hi Matt,

Scatter very small seed a round him.

You musn't keep wood pigeons in a cage, they need fresh air and freedom to fly around. Although you don't want to take him to a sanctuary that is the best place for him, before he gets too tame.

If you want a pet pigeon, you could ask a fancy breeder if they are going to dispose of a squeaker. A lovely little bird was handed in to my vet last week, he is very tame, very pretty and very affectionate. When his owner was contacted he said that if the person that found it brought it back to him he would wring the baby's neck. So there is obviously a need for homes and rescues in that "hobby". This is him, now named Bootsy:

[IMG][/IMG]