One month old baby pigeon - help needed

[sharadan]

Dear All

For the past few months our house was locked up and when we returned we saw that there was a whole family of pigeons in our balconies. One balcony had a pair of baby pigeons about 15 days old and a pair of eggs. The eggs hatched shortly thereafter. The older pair is about one month old now. The older pair's nest was on a 3 foot high metal drum. The younger ones are on the floor. I've seen four adult pigeons too. I don't disturb them at all, but once or twice a day open the balcony door to see the progress.

Two days ago, one of the older pair had fallen off the drum on the floor. She stayed there the whole night. The next morning my father took it and replaced her in her nest. She looked quite healthy. (the nest is just a few twigs and these are old enough to stand on their legs and flutter their wings). A few minutes later, I went to check how she is doing. I saw that she was lying down. She had a huge gash on her head. I wondered how she managed to get herself hurt so badly. My father applied some ointment on her head and replaced her on the metal drum. I was desperately hoping that she'd get better. When I went to check back after a few minutes, I saw her in a very bad state hurt even more with wounds on her face. That's when I realized that one of the adult pigeons has been hurting her. She died soon after.

I feared that the adults will hurt her twin too. After an hour or two what I feared happened. The twin was hurt too with a bleeding wound above its beak. I immediately took her and relocated her to another balcony. I placed her inside a cardboard box, but she soon fluttered and hopped out of it and has been hiding behind a flower pot. She's stayed there all night. I placed some water and grains, but I don't know if she's even touched them. I am at office now and won't be back home till another few hours. Looks like she's in a shock. She's been unusually quiet.

Now, my questions.

1. Why would the adult pigeons attack these little ones? My mom says their parents might have left and these might be another pair mating and find these little ones a hindrance. (There's not much space in the balcony).

2. Will the parents leave the children even before they are ready to fend for themselves? These are about one month old.

3. Will my baby pigeon survive all alone? From past experience I can say that if things had gone well she would have flown out in another week or so.

4. I don't want to keep her as a pet. I want her to survive and fly away. I don't want her to die like her twin. What should I do for her to survive? Do one month olds know how to drink water and eat grain for themselves? Or does she have to be fed? What do I feed her and how?

Please do reply soon. I am from Chennai in India and she is a common Indian pigeon.

Sharada

[sharadan]

I checked the photos in this link
http://www.speedpigeon.com/baby_racing_pigeon.htm

Now I'm not at all sure she's one month old. She could be anywhere between 23 and 26 days old.

Help please!

Sharada

[Lovebirds]

Shara, thank you for being concerned for this poor baby. It does sound as if the parents, for whatever reason, have left this baby. They may have been killed or who knows what. Fact is, you can't worry about them now. The baby is another matter. At this age they don't know how to feed themselves but are getting very close. Leaving the baby outside is most likely certain death. I would recommend bringing the baby inside for now. I would think that in no time you can have it eating and drinking on it's own. You will have to be it's teacher though. If the parents are still there somewhere, they most likely won't find the baby if you've moved it. You can get seeds, wild bird seed is fine and show the baby how to eat. You will have to put seeds in it's mouth one at a time until it realizes what you are doing. Placing seeds on the floor around it and "pecking at them with your fingers" will get the babies attention and pretty soon it will get the idea and begin to eat on it's own. At some point, (a few weeks) it can be released but someone could help you with that when the time comes. You need to do the same with water. A small dish an inch or so deep. Gently place the babies beak in the water. He'll figure out what to do. If you have a small syringe, you can place drops of water along the side of the beak and let the baby swallow it. Again, he'll get the idea. Others will be along shortly to give more advice. It's still early here in the US. I'll be around for a bit longer is you have other questions.

[Lovebirds]

I don't know if you can get your hands on some baby bird feeding formula? We in the states use Kaytee Exact. Surely there's something in India........just don't know what it would be? If the baby won't eat the seeds right away, it will need to be hand fed for a few days.

[sharadan]

Thanks for the quick reply. I browsed through the archives and gathered some more info about feeding. I just hope she gets along well until I reach home. Please write anything you think would help me.

Thanks again
Sharada

[Lovebirds]

Well, for now, the most important thing is getting the baby to safety. The other adult birds WILL pick on it and hurt or possibly kill it. Not because they are "bad or mean" birds..........I expect a pair is looking for a nesting place and the baby is an easy target to run off so they can have his "spot".......will you have internet access at home? By that time, there will be lots of other members on line that will give you all kinds of good advice. I'll be logging off in a few minutes. Please stay in touch if you can and let us know how things go.

[pdpbison]

Hi sharada,


Yes, as Lovebirds mentions, do bring her in and make her safe and warm.


If you like, you can refer to a current thread in which I have posted some feeding information which would apply just as well to your youngster -


http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=23463


And, you can make formula from scratch very easily if you can obtain some basic wholesome grains to grind up in a little Coffee Grinderor the likes, and, add small whole Seeds to it also.

More on that tomorrow...

Once she accepts your feeding her, at her age, you can soon have her eating on her own, and I would be glad to guide you to and through this.

My posts are delayed sometimes quite a few hours and have not yet appeared in the thread I gave the link to, but they should appear soon, so check for it.

I will look into your thread again in eight or ten hours...for now, I have to sleep and then run some errands...

Use a small light color Towell for her to be on, and thatway you can see and evaluate her poops,. and count them also...which is an important matter in evaluating various things.

The poops will brush off and wash out just fine later, so it will not harm the Towell.




Best wishes!


Phil
Las Vegas

[sharadan]

Where the baby is right now, there are no other birds. It is pretty all alone. Thanks for the help. And yes, will keep checking the forums.

Sharada

[sharadan]

I read elsewhere that the baby should be kept warm. How do I do it? I don't have a heating pad. Anyway, she doesn't seem to stay in one place! It is raining here, not heavily though. Temperature is around 28 degrees celsius

Looks like I might not be able to access Internet from home. I will be at office for another 2 hours.

Update: I just called Blue Cross. They said they might come right away or in the morning to take the baby. So I just have to see it through the night...

Sharada

[Lovebirds]

What is Blue Cross? Just make sure that they don't put the baby down. I have no idea who they are or what they do, but sometimes "places" will put down a pigeon, especially a baby is they don't have the time to spend with it. At this age the baby is, you really shouldn't need to keep it warm, however, it shouldn't be out in the rain. Can you not bring it inside and keep it? A box or pet carrier of some kind would be fine for it.

[sharadan]

Okay, Blue Cross seems to be India based. I thought it was an international organization. I've heard good words about them from friends. Will check with them what kind of care they provide pigeons. Right now, my father called. The baby ate some oat cereal and had some water, he said :-)

http://www.bluecross.org.in/

[Lovebirds]

Originally Posted by sharadan

Okay, Blue Cross seems to be India based. I thought it was an international organization. I've heard good words about them from friends. Will check with them what kind of care they provide pigeons. Right now, my father called. The baby ate some oat cereal and had some water, he said :-)

http://www.bluecross.org.in/

Well, looking quickly through the web site, that might be a good place to take the baby. In the US, Blue Cross is an insurance company........LOL......I didn't think that you were talking about that, but didn't know what it was. That's good that the baby ate something and took a drink of water. It sounds like whoever takes it, may be able to work with it for three weeks or so and then release it.

[sharadan]

Insurance company - lol, I checked wikipedia and realized that too. Sorry for the confusion :-). Thanks, (Renee?), you've been of much help. It's reassuring to hear from someone who knows better. I've never had a pet and never so much as touched any animal before. That's why I'm not very confident about keeping her. If I bungle up, I'd never be able to forgive myself. But still, I need to check with the Blue Cross guys thorughly before handing over. Thanks for all the help. The other threads in this forum have been of much help too.

Will keep updating on the progress.

Thanks a lot.
Sharada

[Lovebirds]

Originally Posted by sharadan

Insurance company - lol, I checked wikipedia and realized that too. Sorry for the confusion :-). Thanks, (Renee?), you've been of much help. It's reassuring to hear from someone who knows better. I've never had a pet and never so much as touched any animal before. That's why I'm not very confident about keeping her. If I bungle up, I'd never be able to forgive myself. But still, I need to check with the Blue Cross guys thorughly before handing over. Thanks for all the help. The other threads in this forum have been of much help too.

Will keep updating on the progress.

Thanks a lot.
Sharada

Well, don't feel as if I did that much, but you are welcome. And yes, I'm Renee. If you hand this little one over to Blue Cross, that's fine, but if by chance you decide not to and want to take care of him yourself, rest assured that our group will help you all the way. These little pigeon babies can work thier way into your heart, so just BEWARE...........we'll look forward to updates.

[sharadan]

Hello everyone, just an update. My baby is doing very well. My father decided not to hand it over to the Blue Cross and thank goodness, she's been doing fine. We've been giving her finger millet. She's eating it on her own. She looks quite active and healthy on the whole, except for the fact that she hasn't recovered from th shock and is very very scared of all of us. Doesn't allow us to touch or caress. She puffs her feathers and makes a strange pose and is generally very quiet and stuck to some corner like a statue if someone is around. If she's alone, she eats, moves around and explores. She can fly about two feet high now. Will post a few photos and videos soon.

Meanwhile I have another question. As I mentioned before, there are two more pairs in our balconies both about 13 days old. In the balcony one of the pairs is in it is quite cold and since it's raining they are mostly wet too. Their parents are still around, but leave the nest frequently. Is it OK for the babies to be so wet? I don't want to disturb the nest, though. Especially since their parents are still around taking care.

Sharada