Found Pigeon - not flying

[jeff houghton]

Pigeons normally roost on one foot thats nothing to worry about and its not that unusual for them to have slightly different coloured toes either, but the chances are he just needs a bird bath ,he will enjoy it.A little bit of salt in the water will help his feet or cleanse them with some cotton wool and diluted TCP.

[Joy Sundancer]

Pigeon looks stressed sometimes. I don't know what normal pigeon behaviour is and I thought the pigeon was cleaning himself but I also wondered at his behaviour as if sometimes he looked like he was itchy. He would then try to agressively prun his feathers or scratch himself or wipe off his beek.

I let him out for the first time today to see if he could fly. I put him on the ground in the living room and he did fly to the top of a shelf. I then noticed a bare spot below his breast bone area orsort of forward from area between his legs. He has been pulling out his feathers here.

What would cause him to behave this way? I did not notice anything when we first found him. But there is something bugging him.

[Libis]

Is it all patchy and uneven looking, or does it have a very defined smooth line around the bald part? There is usually a bald spot on the chest of doves and pigeons where they sit on their eggs.

Have you checked for mites/parasites?

If he really is plucking, is there something possibly scary in the room--other pets, new or loud people, scary movies/music, etc?

Is there any kind of wound there? On the first set of pictures that you posted, it looked kind of brown and weird around the lower chest. Like maybe there's a scab or some dry blood in the feathers? Kinda hard to tell though.

Can you get a good picture of this bald spot?

Oh, if his toes get any greyer, go to the vet just in case. I've had light frostbite myself on my toes and it sucks.

[Joy Sundancer]

How do you check for mites, lice or peracites?

When I found him he had all his feathers there are far as I could tell. I have been noticing him react like he is itchy. I have papers at the bottom of the cage to collect his poop that I change everyday. There appears to me today some flaky stuff on the papers but don't know what it is, it is white, very small but not sure if it is flakes from his skin or feathers. I don't know what lice looks like. I have seen maggots in my garbage can before and that is not what i see here.

A week or so I had him checked at the vet when we first found him and he did not appear then to have a problem.

I am finding feathers on the ground in the last few days and more flakes.

He seems to respond to something bugging him like he has to scratch a part of his body and then he goes into to more pruning. I did not see the bald spot very well today but enough to notice feathers were missing.

He is in the living room near a large window with indirect sun light coming through. We don't listen to music and my 90 year old mother whatches tv in the same room once in the last week. We have no other animals and I think it is a fairly quite home for him.

I will try to get a closer look tomorrow, he really does not like me handling him.

[Msfreebird]

I would check for lice or mites, but you probably would have seen them when you first found him.
Chances are he was in a unheated loft or cooler surroundings, and being inside now he will moult to adjust to the warmer temperature change. Are they fluffy little feathers? The 'flakes' would be from the new feathers coming in.
Is he otherwise acting OK......eating, drinking, poops?

[Quazar]

It sounds like he is moulting - i.e. hes shedding his old feathers & getting new ones in.
The constant preening is him rearranging his feathers and removing the bits of the sheath that protects the new feathers till they are ready. Thats the flakes that you see. The old feathers will just fall out or he'll pick them off once loose.

Normal practice for a pigeon so nothing to worry about

[Joy Sundancer]

I let Pigeon out of the cage today and let him check out the house while I cleaned up his cage. I had a hard time capturing him again but while he was on top of the frig I got a few pictures of the loss of feather spot. I would not be able to take a pic while holding him. I finaly managed to get him back in the cage but barely so lost opportunity to take a closer look of the exposed skin area.

Attached are the pictures that show the spot of where the feathers have been pulled out. Is a normal process for pigeons?

[M Kurps]

Joy, are you giving the pigeon grit ? Lack of minerals can cause the pigeon to pull out and even eat thier feathers.
Kurps

[Pidgey]

The white flakes that you mentioned earlier are very normal for birds of all kinds to shed. There are a certain amount of feathers being replaced at all times and the amounts also change due to the ambient temperature like dogs, horses, etc. putting on "winter coats" when it starts getting cool in the fall and then shedding like crazy when it starts warming up.

The balding area that is demonstrated in the picture is actually right over the actual keel (a hatchet-shaped breastbone) and is a bit curious. He certainly could have a parasite problem but they can also have some interesting internal problems that cause them to itch deep inside and so they start getting pretty rough with their beaks trying to scratch the itch. Sometimes this is due to some kind of fungal infection in the GI and there are other things that I can't remember currently that could cause it.

Since he's not a true wild species, he actually NEEDS a home--can't think of a better one than yours, so don't feel like you need to let him go to fulfill any needs of freedom. Trust me... loft birds do NOT fare well "out there" most of the time.

So, see if you can acquire a little pigeon grit (or for chickens) to help him out that way, give it some time and keep us updated.

Pidgey

[Joy Sundancer]

Yes, I give him medium No 2 grits (that would be used for chickens) or so the Feeds store recommended.

I watched hime tonight, I think there is something bugging him. He was pecking at the area pretty hard and seemed also uncomfortable in other areas too but perhaps it more like a carry over to having to scratch something. So far that is the only spot I see him balding.

Is there something I could give him for parasites. I don't imagine it would hurt. We all have them and I do a parasite cleanse every year myself although I am vegetarian there is still stuff on the veggies you buy. However it could be something else in his gut like you said maybe even a virus.

I don't think he has been handled very much and probably was an outdoor bird even if he was owned.

He sure liked checking out the house and flying around avoiding his capture!

[Pidgey]

You can get a Pyrethrin-based lice & mite spray like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9SIA02F0006JZ5

Pidgey

[Joy Sundancer]

Thank you, I will give that a try and see if things improve.

[Pidgey]

Another old thread about feather picking:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f6/dov...ing-28994.html

Pidgey

[Joy Sundancer]

Hi Pigeon Lovers!

Our pigeon is doing well we think. Pigeon spend more time out side his cage then in and enjoys relaxing on the couch. We have sheets over the couches to catch the poop but we are quite busy picking up after his poop everywhere else.

I am concerned about what to do for Pigeon as I need to leave for a trip and there will be no one home for about a month. I cannot leave Pigeon alone in the house and so am wondering how best to handle this.

We have not had him long but he is adapting well to our home. He still does not like being handled.

I don't know what life he had before we found him outside.

I was wondering if I built an outdoor cage/coop that he could come and go as he pleases but have access to food and water then I could prepare him to be outdoors again. Not sure how to do that but perhaps keeping him in the cage outdoors for awhile and then opening it up for him to come and go perhaps, this is what I did with indoors.

Our weather is still not great, -20 degrees C at night still but by the time I leave in mid March it should be warmer but still may go below zero at night.

My other options I guess is to find someone to take him and look after him for the time we are away or have someone come by the house, clean his papers and give him food but he would be alone then.

I am looking for some suggestions and perhaps dome designs of an outdoor cage or coop that I could build that would offer him protection from cats etc but allow him freedom to come and go.

I have attached some recent pictures.

Thank you
Joy

[doveone52]

Love his "nest bowl"!