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#1
5th October 2006, 04:52 PM
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Help Please!!!!Hello,
I found a baby pigeon, it still has like spurts of yellow baby feathers on it. I have it in a big critter keeper box, with pigeon/dove seed mix and water. Now the only thing is that i received it yesterday and i have not seen it eat. I have rehabilitated many wild birds before with the soaked dog food so i tried to see if i could give him/her some, and he/she wanted nothing to do with it. I did see him/her pick up a tiny piece of the ground. I let him out in a pen (inside) and it was trying to fly, and flapping its wings. Its crop seems still full from yesterday when he came in, but I am afraid to let him/her go so long without eating or drinking. I am not familar with pigeons at all, and can I release him/her when its ready? And what should I be feeding it? It looks like it is pecking at the bedding and some seed in my hand but not eating far enough to fill up the crop. PLEASE HELP!!!! THank you!! 
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#2
5th October 2006, 05:04 PM
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Usually, nestling pigeons aren't that good at figuring out what seeds and water are actually for. Their normal method of eating is to stick their beaks in their parents' beaks and blindly take what's regurgitated. That doesn't mean that they can't learn to eat--just that it takes a little doing on your part. The more starved they are, the more likely they are to learn. It's easier for them to learn to drink water because you can push the back of their heads down in a deep bowl or cup of water and if they're thirsty, they'll figure it out remarkably quick. Pigeons and doves actually suck water up much like we do, rather than the tipping-back method (drop by drop) that other birds use.
As to learning to peck grains and seeds, that's another story. You can peck at the seeds with your finger or a pencil and eventually it'll get curious and start trying it. It may be a dismal failure at first but just keep working at it. Pigeon chicks don't die of starvation if they're not fed for a day so it's doesn't have quite the smack of urgency that folks normally give to it. Pidgey
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#3
5th October 2006, 05:10 PM
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And if the little fella's just out-and-out useless at it, you can opt to pry its beak open and literally roll dried peas and corn down into it. Believe me, it can swallow them quite effortlessly.
As to gauging what it's got in its crop, that's more difficult than you might think. The cervical vertebrae (neck bones) kinda' come down and forward in an "S" shape that can fool you. Their crops actually lay somewhat on their chests (just up above the tops of the breast muscles) and you need to slide your finger in sideways through the feathers to get a good feel of it. At his age, you'd normally feel whole seeds through there (depends on what the parents have had access to, of course) and they kinda' grind around under your fingers when you palpate them. If it feels like an air bubble, there can be gas in the crop or an air sac rupture that causes an actual air bubble under the skin. Something like that can occur from a fall and they can get over it. Pidgey
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#5
5th October 2006, 05:18 PM
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Sure (on the release). They are fairly social birds and they definitely like their own kind. That doesn't mean that he can't get attached to you--just that they usually see other pigeons and want to join the herd. It will be best if you allow him to partially bond and then you do some training which we'll go into later.
As to the feeding, let's try the initial finger tappings and see how that goes for a day and also with the water. Give him hugs, too. They kinda' like that once they get over being afraid of you. Pigeons hate being alone. Pidgey
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#6
5th October 2006, 05:20 PM
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By the way, you can feed them puppy chow that's been dipped in water. It's better if they learn to eat the seeds they're likely to find in bird feeders so that the later adjustment's easier but you CAN feed them the puppy chow in a pinch.
Pidgey
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#8
5th October 2006, 08:16 PM
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Hi Brooke24,
If you are gentle, you can find ways of encouraging her to 'nuzzle', which of course is their way of asking to be fed... You can softly massage her Beak with finger tips dipped in warm water, to encourage this, and so so from just below her Eye level... If you cen get her nuzzleing, you can guide her Beak, keeping your finger tips on it, into a small narrow deepish glass of small whole Seeds, where she will 'gobble' kind if as if eating from her parent's feeding her... And if you can do this, very soon then, she will begin pecking nicely at the same Seeds. Finch Seed or Canary Seed works well for this. Ift is working well, do not let her over eat...which they can do...and the Seeds of course will swell as they hydrate in her Crop. letting her eat a Teaspoon or so at a time, four or five times-a-day will be fine for now. You can guide her Beak into "tepid" Water in the same manner, and she will drink... Good luck... Phil Las Vegas
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