Injured Pigeon in Toronto

[jazaroo]

I just got off the phone with mhenan and have made arrangements to pick up the babies later on this afternoon. Will keep you informed.

Ron

[Lady Tarheel]

Ron, this is such good news. The picture that was posted broke my heart. I am sure the parent is dead by now judging by the way it looked in the picture and the babies would not have stood a chance. Thanks to mhernan for being concerned and to you for simply being you.

[Trees Gray]

Originally Posted by jazaroo

I just got off the phone with mhenan and have made arrangements to pick up the babies later on this afternoon. Will keep you informed.

Ron

Hi Ron,

I'm sure glad to hear that. Those poor youngsters have seen and been thru alot. I wonder what hapened to the injured parent and their other parent?

Thanks for letting us know.

[jazaroo]

Hi All,

I am at mhernan's place and I need some advice now. When I got here one parent was still with them and they have food in their crops and one put out a very large dropping right on me. I am thinking of leaving them and returning if their are problems. What do you guys think? Not a lot of time here.

Ron

[Trees Gray]

Hi Ron,

If they have a safe area to stay and mom or/dad has access to seed and water, perhaps it would be best to leave them.

Can you ask mhernan to leave seed and water out for the parent, is that do-able?

[Reti]

I agree with Treesa. They look also old enough to start eating on their own soon.

Reti

[jazaroo]

Hi All,

Well, it was an exciting afternoon. Mhernan was nice enough to go through the trouble of having a friend give me access to her apartment to retrieve the babies, since she was at work. When I looked out through the balcony window I saw one of the parents with them, but as I opened the balcony door it took off.

The friend told me they were around three weeks old, and I proceeded to examine them. Both had food in their crops, one a little more than the other, but the one with less did a rather large dropping onto my pants, thats when I asked to use the computer there to ask for advice, since I was in a quandary as what to do.

As luck would have it, I had purchased a number of bags of Pigeon/Dove mix a few days before and had not taken them out of my car, so I went and got a bag and brought it back. We set up food and water dishes for them near their nest and shortly after I left, the friend called me on my cell to tell me that he decided to put some more seeds right on the nest and the babies were eating them all up .

I thought I would save (hopefully) the best to last. After we had set up the food and water a Pigeon flew down to near the dishes and when it couldn't stand we realized it was the hurt parent. The friend asked me if I thought I could catch it and I told him that I didn't think so, as when they are hurt, but still fly well they are still really hard to catch, plus I had to open the balcony door first, then the screen door, which would give the bird plenty of time to react. He suggested I still give it a try so I slowly opened the first door, the bird watched me do this but didn't take off. I then quickly open the screen door and it took to flight, but I managed to block it in the corner and get a hold of it.

I think it was a combination of the legs being useless and weakness from lack of food and dehydration that was in my favor in managing to catch this bird. When it landed for food, although it was close to the dishes, the best it could manage was a stretch of the neck towards them, unable to stand at all, a very sad sight to see.

I decided to wait until I got home to do a thorough examine and report my findings. When i arrived home the first thing I did was clean the poor thing up, as it was very soiled around its rear area. The second thing I did was give bird 8cc of warmed Pedialyte and .80cc of Calcivet. I have attached a photo of the bird resting comfortably in a "donut" with food and water at hand. I will supplement tonight with some Kaytee, as the bird has lost a fair amount of mass.

Here is what I found, no obvious wounds of any sort. I checked for any leg injuries or breaks and could find none. The bird seems to have good strength in both legs and, opens and closes its toes just fine and when I pull either leg out and hold it, the bird has good pulling strength in both legs and quickly retracts the leg when released. Also, if I support the bird with one hand and rest its feet in the palm of the other, it feels like it then almost has strength to support itself. I am thinking some sort of pelvic injury, and would appreciate any thoughts on this or anything else I can do for this bird.

All the best,

Ron

[Lady Tarheel]

Ron, you can't imagine how happy this post made me. I thought for sure the parent was dead. I think you did right in leaving the babies.

I would give it a wormer and cocci meds in a day or so just to take care of those possible problems. I'm sure you've checked its throat. Something like Bactrim might be needed too.

The pigeon may simply be malnourished and you may even need to feed her for a few days - we often do that with the adults we get in just to help them out.

I'm sorry you got pooped on but know you don't mind under the circumstances.

I hope this little one improves daily. It looks very comfortable and sweet.

[TAWhatley]

What a terrific rescue, Ron! I'm so glad you got the injured parent. I think I would proceed pretty much as Maggie has suggested.

Terry

[Lady Tarheel]

You know, Ron, I was just thinking about this pigeon and the babies. Since we have no idea what happened with the parent, I wonder if a disease is present could it be passed on to the babies?

[Trees Gray]

Oh...Ron!!

What terrific news! I'm so happy you found her/him. What a complete turn about from the first pic.

She looks very cozy in her first class accomodations.

Could it be lack of calcium deficiency, and this is the hen? Perhaps that is the problem, she will start feeling better then rel soon.

Thanks SO much for the wonderful update and for all your hard work, and care of the kids too.

[jazaroo]

Hi Maggie,

With Pidgey's help I have learned to do some of the fecal exams on a microscope, so as soon as the bird stars to produce droppings I will be able to check for cocci oocysts and worm eggs. My feeling is towards injury more than anything else, the other parent landed about 10 feet away and looks in excellent health and the babies appear the same. The mouth and throat of this bird look just fine, but I will also do a crop swab for examination under the microscope for Trichomonads. I have the necessary meds on hand for treating the most possible infections this bird could have.

By the way, I could be wrong, but I have seen both birds and if I had to guess, I think this is the male.

Ron

[Lovebirds]

ALL RIGHT!! Nice job. I thought about that poor bird last night. Someone posts and says a bird is injured and it's one thing, but to look at that picture was horrific. I felt so sorry for it but could do nothing. I'm SO glad you caught her or him.

[mhernan]

Ron is heaven-sent! I am still teary eyed from all this. It touched me so much when my friend told me the injured bird came back. It was amazing, because I honestly couldnt find either of them anywhere! My friend and I had even got down on hands and knees with a lamp (using an extension cord) looking last night. I feel so blessed. Just very happy! And I can't express my gratitude enough. At least now I have some sort of peace of mind. I love these birds.

PS - I have watched the parents cuddle on the ledge and take turns sitting on the nest. It's just so beautiful.

[mhernan]

By the way - Ron he looks so beautiful sitting there - what a gorgeous bird!

Here they are when they were cuddling outside (before the babbies were born)