Found a baby pigeon! Help please!

[beci]

We found a baby pigeon, we think about two weeks old, wandering the downtown streets. We watched it for a while but did not see a mother, so we now have it in a box. We've fed it corn flakes with bird seed and water blended into a milky solution. We've fed it using a syringe and have fed it a total of 9 cc's over the last 12 hours at intervals.

We'd like to know the right stuff to feed it and the best way to give it a good start. We're attaching a picture. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks much!!

[Reti]

Thank you for rescuing this sweet little baby.
The baby will need more food as it grows very fast. Try to feed about 10cc's the next feeding, then gradually go up to 15cc's at each feed three times a day. It is best to check it's crop while feeding. You will see the area in front of the chest inflate while you feed him. Before the next feed make sure the crop is empty.
You can purchase from the pet store Kaytee Exact baby feeding formula. Babys do good on this formula.
I the meantime you can purchase a pigeon mix or wild dove seeds, in about a week he should start pecking at the seeds and start eating by himself.
When he will start eating the seeds he will also need grit and water available at all times.

Reti

[John_D]

Hi & thanks for picking up a needy baby,

For food I would suggest a bird-rearing food like Kaytee Exact for all baby birds. Another is chick crumbs (called by our American friends chick starter, I believe). This can be mixed (with water) to a slightly thick soup consistency and given at a temperature of between 35 to 40 C. Warm on the wrist, but not hot. A way we have found works well, bearing in mind how pigeons parents feed their youngsters, is by the 'cut off syringe' method. I have a link to our pics of it, from when we had an almost fledged but underdeveloped pigeon.

(If he is taking food from you OK anyway, then just continue as you are.)

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

He looks quite snug. He will need to be nice n warm and away from any resident animals.

When feeding him, check that his crop (below the throat - see pic on web page) has pretty much emptied - will feel flat. After food, it should be full but a bit squishy.

John

[Feefo]

You did the right thing by picking the baby up, it is far too young to be out of the nest and the parents probably wouldn't recognise it on the ground.

Fortunately baby pigeons do well when they are hand reared, but you will most probably lose your heart to it. What a darling it is!

Cynthia

[Maggie-NC]

John, you can too teach an old dog new tricks... In the 12 years and 300+ pigeons we've cared for, I have never tried this method, but I made a copy of the web page and plan to try it on a baby we have now. We have always had good results using cat nipples (I don't tube any of them) but this method looks as if it would be natural.

That little baby looks so sweet.

[beci]

Thanks to all of you for the advice. We got the Kaytee Exact and just finished getting him/her to eat 9 cc's. We have been using a syringe that we've used to medicate the cats, and that works as long as we give him a bit at a time and then give him a little break. We have to open his beak gently and then put the syringe in his beak (far enough back to ensure it gets down his throat but not too far), and he does swallow it. We'll give him another feeding later tonight and try to increase the amount again.

We're calling the baby "Emu" since it sort of reminded us of one. So Emu seems pretty perky now. He's already made a break out of the dog crate (managed to squeeze through the bars). So he is now in a cat carrier in the basement (our basement is quite warm in Charleston, South Carolina). And we're keeping a close eye on him.

Thanks again!!

[John_D]

Originally Posted by beci

He's already made a break out of the dog crate (managed to squeeze through the bars). So he is now in a cat carrier in the basement (our basement is quite warm in Charleston, South Carolina). And we're keeping a close eye on him.

He's going to be a real handful

If he's already bright enough to be planning his escape route, you gotta be doing some right things for him!

John

[Feefo]

LOL, Emu is a word that I use to describe a baby pigeon of a certain age. I picked it up from Mary.

Be very careful about where you squirt fluids. I think it is safer to place liquids at the very front of the "bowl" that the bottom beak forms, so the pigeon can taste it and swallow without any danger of aspiration.

But at the Emu stage I would definitely prefer to use one of the "natural" methods of feeding such as the "syringe and balloon" or Stacey's "baggie" method : http://community.webshots.com/album/102109969uMjJeJ

Cynthia

[beci]

Thanks for the tip and web page on the baggie method. We will give that a try. I like the cutoff syring idea, too, but I don't have a large syringe like that, and do have little plastic bags.

Thanks again!

[Feefo]

Hi Beci,

It is the principle rather than the tools that works. A former member used a disposable icing bag with the same effect and I think that Phil uses a similar method by putting a bag of food inside his clenched fist.

All the methods try to imitate the way a perent bird will hold the squabs beak inside its own beak and gently pump food into it's gaping mouth.

Cynthia

[pdpbison]

Hi beci...!


Oooooo...a little Squeaker-Baby...!


Yes, if you had not scooped him up, he'd have had pretty much no chance at all.

I need to write my schpeil one of these days, in Outlook Express or something so I can just paste it here when needed!

Lol...

But as Cynthia mentions, in effect, I like to deal with them as close to how their biological parents would have, as I can. And I think they like it best that way, too.

So, pending my long-version schpiel, for now, to mention, I use (almost allways, for Pigeon Babys) the hollow side of a regular Baby-Nipple that people use on Baby-Bottles, and I cut the rim or collar off with scizzors.

Or sometimes, a little pocket made in plastic film, pushed into a small 'Okay' sign of my Hand.

I mix 'some' K-T, or Lorribush or LeFabers powder formula with several other things, such as 'Albers Corn Meal', and, importantly, Seed 'meal' I make in my Kitchen Blender useing Bird Seeds, Barley, White Safflower, some Anise or Fennel Seeds, maybe some sheet Sea Weed used in 'Sushi' making, and lately, some Goji-Berries that are semi dry, making say a cup full that is kept dry and in the fridge, and then I use some of it as needed when making their meals.


To some of this, I then add, in a little cup, glass or bowl, some powdered Greens, powdered Pro Biotics, Powdered algae such as 'Chlorella', good clean non-tap Water, into a gravy like 'Soup' and feed it to them "tepid"...I also offer Water in the nipple at first, and allways tepid also, then, soon they drink from me holdong for them a Tea Cup with just room temp Water in it. I may sometimes add a little Vitamins to the Water.

Small Whole Seeds may also be added to this 'Soup' for a Bird the age of yours.

I have this little cup then, in a pan of hot Water so their food will be wrist temperature or so when put in to the Nipple with a spoon. I fill the nipple to about 1/8th inch from it's being full.

If, for the first few times, you moisten your finger tips in warm Water and gently massage their soft Beak, and while doing so, make the sounds of "Ooooooo! - Ooooooo!" in a medium low voice, kind of from the back of your throat, and kind of slowly...

They will almost allways respond very well, and begin to nuzzle, and respond with asking to be fed...if they were not already doing so.

One then guides their little Beak into the ready-in-waiting hollow side of the Nipple which has their 'Soup' in it...and which one holds in front of them at as much tilt as one can without the contents running out.

They will want to eat also in a way the includes a sort of slow 'pumping' action of their head and neck. If you do not follow them you would not know they want to do it. This is them swallowing at their most effecient manner. It is like a dance with them being the lead pardner...just hold the nipple loosely in a way, and if you do not feel them doing it, you can gently tilt and push toward them, hold for a moment, then gently pull it back a little, and they will scrunch their neck and then re-extend it and so on, in a slow rythum of swallowing, and eating to swallow.

One the size of yours, I would likely feed six nipples full to a sesion, ten times a day, whatever that is, maybe more...

Normally their parents keep them SO stuffed it is hilarious..you'd think they'd eaten a couple Golf Balls or something with their little crops being so full.


I do not like plain K-T or any other 'powder' on it's own, and it can clump up in their cops also sometimes which is not good. Hence, having coarse, fresh Seed 'meal' and small whole Seeds also, I feel is a good practice for that reason as well as it is much better nutrition and has something for their Gizzard to do as for masticating the little Seeds, and is closer to what they would be getting fed in Nature.

The little whole Seeds mey be pre soaked to hydrate them somewhat.

They are basically stomachs with little Wings and feet...Lol...


The Beak massage will not need to be repeated after the initial how-de-do of it, but one does well to allways announce feeding them with the "Oooooo! - Oooooo!" since that is the call for them to either come and eat, or to be fed. Same when offering Water.

They will flap their wings and press forward and push with their little legs like crazy and be squealing and honking and squeaking with delight and enthusiasm. They love to eat, they love to be fed, and for them it is a very energetic, familiar, inter-socially important and affirming experience.

For them, 'food', or rather, 'being fed', is about emotion and connection with their care-giver and the attending affirmations of various kinds in which they feel things are "Okay" and happy and safe. In Nature, they would never see a Seed untill they are able to fly with their parents to graze and forrage. So for them, what being fed is all about, is the gesture and the connection and the feelings about those things confluenceing into their viscertonic and emotional well being and sense of security.

Be careful when restraining them from their enthusiastic forward assertions in eating, that you are not pressing against their Crop...but rather, from above, with a couple fingers of your free hand, restrain them from their shoulders.

Like anything, all of this gets easier and more elegantly casual and natural with practice.

I never keep a Baby Pigeon in-a-box or Cage, since they are disposed by Nature to stay put nicely, being cliff dwelling Rock Birds used to high places.

Right now, I do put the Baby and the one good flier youngster and a young adult with a hurt Wing, all in the same smallish Cage at night only for me to sleep, and they are fine with this.

If I did not do this they would be sleeping perched on my ear, my hip bone and so on and I dare not risk me turning over or someing in a dream and maybe hurting them...as well as it is hard for me TO sleep that way if they are on me sleeping also...Lol...



So, for them, Babys I mean, and for me, otherwise, any small free standing table top does nicely for 24/7 for their 'Nest area'.

They immediately accept such a small table top as their 'Nest-ledge' and they stay on it just fine. Rarely does anyone ever tumble off, and if they do, I put them back on it and they do not tend to tumble off again.

Right now I have overlapping ages of them, so there has been no point in making such a little table arrange, since I prefer them all to socialise with eachother, which is very good for them, and they all like it. The oldest Bird with the hurt wing and the Baby tend to nap very close and the Baby learned to peck and eat in a few hours of being here from seeing the others doing so.

This baby was about a week older than yours maybe.

Anyway...I still hand 'Nipple' feed anyone interested once or twice a day and meanwhile, the Baby since the morning of it's first being here keeps himself stuffed like he ate two golf balls or something, on his own, so my feedings are simply gestures of something he likes to experience and keeps the connection and affection, affirmed.

A Heating pad set on 'low'...if your clime is coller at night, and a smallish box in it's side, so one side is open, set on the heating pad...and in the box, a small size rumbled towell roughly made into a donut shape, and a thin cloth draped over the open side of the Box leaving a couple inches space at the bottom...makes, for them an ideal 'Nest' as for them being in it, or, out of it, as they like. I keep a towell on the table top also, (when I do this) and they lay there like little boats on shore, walk around or preen and so on, or resort to the inside 'Nest' proper as they like.

I call them to come out and be fed, or to get a drink of Water, and so on, if they are in their 'Nest' proper. I call to them anyway, any time I am going to feed them or offer Water...even when they are decent indoor fliers.

They like this and do well with it.

As they grow up, they begin to wish to explore contiguous areas their little Wings can get them to, and from there, to seek higher roosts and so on, from which I call them to be fed or to have Water. By this time of course they self feed very well, but I still feed once a day or so or once every other day maybe, towards the time when I shall release them.


As they learn to self feed, I still feed them once a day, and I am the Water bringer also untill they leave here to join the wild flock.

So, no need to keep them in a box or cage...just use a little card Table or something, and for that matter, a smaller box open on one side may itself be set ( if need be for your clime, onto a heating pad, with some holes the size of quarters on the then 'bottom' side of the Box for the heat to come up through...more or less...) with a light cloth draped over the open side having a couple inches space at the bottom. They will come out or go in very nicely as they like.

Play with them often, praise them, feed them...note the poos...preen them if they will let you! Usually they just get too excited!

They will let siblings or younger Aunts or Uncles preen them, but parents hardly stand a chance!


Have fun!


Phil
las vegas

[pigeonmama]

Phil and anyone else who uses baby nipple method,
If you e-mail your mailing address to me, I'll send some baby nipples to you. Just e-mail me at peekabo@megalink.net, and I'll send you some things to help with rehabbing.
Daryl

[pdpbison]

Thanks Pigeonmamma!


Sure!


But it takes a lot to wear one out!
Lol...

Phil
el ve

[pdpbison]

Hi Beci,


How much to feed them, really depends on how fast they can process and digest it and make their many poops.

In the Wild, their parents STUFF them to the gills every day, and at any given moment the Babys are conspicuously big-in-the-Crop. I do not think these parents necessarily feed them often, but they feed them heartily...and it is almost all hydrated Seeds-and-Water.

The Babys or youngsters of course can get bigger Seeds into themselves when being fed by their parents, than they will tend to so when I feed them from the hollow of a Nipple, so I tend to use smaller sized Seeds, then after a while I put larger ones in there too and they manage just fine.

My situation, usually, is that sometimes when I have no other Birds going on, I will feed the Babys often and in medium amounts as per the capacity of their Crops. I stuff them, you may be sure! with lots of Seeds-in-Soup...but not so much as I have seen their wild parents do.

Usually though, when other Birds are here for them to be with, they learn to peck and self-feed very well, and pronto, too. Some do not elect to peck as soon as others do, but they all learn to do it on their own from seeing the others doing it next to them, so this then takes the heat off of me for needing to feed them.

I still do feed them, but these are more token feedings for added nutrition and because they just plain love being fed..!

If yours does not like the 'Soup' you make, try shifting the proportions of the ingredients or changinf things, untill you hit on a mix they do like. This can happen, and it is just their individual tastes.

All these kinds of 'Soups' are good tasteing by people standards, some moreso than others maybe, and some are really yummy too. If I had a restuarant, I would have some of these as "Summer Soups", served cool with one or another top-garnish, and have several of them on my menu!

Barley and Oat Groats are also very nice Seed for includeing in one's making 'meal' or to use whole once they can handle Seeds of that size or for their self pecking feeding when it comes about.

Some crushed Graham Cracker was often something I put in them also...



Phil
el ve

[beci]

I'm afraid little Emu is not doing well. He stayed awake for a while after his last feeding, but then I noticed he started to fall forward a bit (he was out of the little nest we made). I put him in the nest and he went to sleep. Now it is time for his feeding, but he seems to not be able to hold his head up - his head is lying over on one side. His crop has not fully emptied but it did empty some; however, not as much as from the last feeding. He does not seem to have the strength to eat on his own using the baggie method recommended. We've given him some water that he did swallow but only by giving it with the syringe. We've also given him some formula with the syringe, but given such a weakened state, I'm concerned about over doing anything.

Any emergency suggestions? I fear Emu is not going to make it.