Please help !

[Fatimah]

Hi everyone. I really need help concerning the above. I live in a
block of flats where feeding pigeons is absolutely discouraged to the point
of cruelty. The problem is that due to the weather sometimes being on
both sides of the extreme ie. hot/cold the building and its nooks/corners provides great shelter and the pigeons take refuge/make them into
nesting sites etc.

This morning my mother found the chap who cleans out
the fire escapes outside; was taking a broom to a pigeon defending her
egg. My mother had the day before taken the egg and all of its
twigs/branches/misc items making up the nest and put them all into a small box which she set back down in the corner. The pigeon did not seem to mind
because that was were she was today, defending her egg in the box when
the guy took it and dumped it somewhere. My mother became really upset
and told us when we came home.

We searched around and found the garbage bin he had dumped the box into, it must have been away from its mum for a good few hours but was still kept in place in it's little nest in box. i took the egg and laid it in layers of cotton wool in a box. I'm not sure what will happen since i've never raised a baby pigeon and this one would be a true infant in every sense. I have raised a 2
week old grey, have 2 lovebirds and an amazon, all of them were from
abused homes/pet shops/badly treated. How do i keep the egg warm or is the
cotton wrapped around it ok ? Should i turn a lamp on it (well already did that, so rather do i keep it on ?), whould the petshops have the 'crop milk' formula ? do i get it from my avian vet ?

Someone who's been through this please give advice. I refuse to let
this baby die if i can do something, after all when it had gotten dumped
in the bin the shell could have crack but it didn't and i want to give it every chance i can.

Many thanks and best regards
Fatimah
South africa

[phyll]

Fatimah, I admire your good intentions, but caring for a newborn pigeon would be very difficult.
Others will be along shortly to advise you about this, but I wanted to thank you & your mother for being such kind & caring people.

May God bless you.

Phyll

[Fatimah]

hi Phyll

I love animals more than people, i know it sounds horrible but honestly people can be unbelievable. When i was younger my mother told me to go and live in the zoo because i wanted to care for everything that caught my attention and usually end up in tears when the inevitable bad news is given. I really hate it when something innocent ie. not human is abused/neglected/mistreated. From what i've been reading all around the net, i hear it is one of the hardest things to do, i have no idea whether the egg is viable, it was probably laid yesterday since my mother goes out everyday to feed the pigeons and that's when she had told me she'd come across that one, where on earth am i suppose to get crop milk from if this chap does hatch ?

Thank you for the kind words, i'd been conversing with someone else who deals with pigeons and she's advised me to find an incubator *which is going to be pretty tough since there are practically zero feed stores around where i live *well she said they don't sell them in pet stores - another place i dispise; and to find it in a feed store* i think that's going to be a dead end though will look for any possibilities. Aside from that she said the egg's going to die

Took a moth out that was stuck in an elevator this morning, i know i can't save everything but if i see it happening in front of my eyes and i do nothing, i know it will dig into my conscience, not to mention my heart. Hopefully this won't turn out badly.

[TAWhatley]

Hi Fatimah and welcome to Pigeon-Talk. It is a pretty difficult undertaking to successfully incubate the egg and then raise the baby. That isn't to say that it can't be done, but if you decide to try, please be prepared to spend a great deal of time and effort on the egg and baby pigeon that will hopefully hatch as a healthy little one.

Here's a link to some good incubation information: http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=4968

And a good link on various feeding methods: http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=9682

You need to have all the necessary supplies such as baby bird formula, syringes or eyedroppers, heating pads,
etc. all lined up and ready to go when the baby hatches.

Terry

[Charis]

Originally Posted by Fatimah

hi Phyll

I love animals more than people, i know it sounds horrible but honestly people can be unbelievable. When i was younger my mother told me to go and live in the zoo because i wanted to care for everything that caught my attention and usually end up in tears when the inevitable bad news is given. I really hate it when something innocent ie. not human is abused/neglected/mistreated. From what i've been reading all around the net, i hear it is one of the hardest things to do, i have no idea whether the egg is viable, it was probably laid yesterday since my mother goes out everyday to feed the pigeons and that's when she had told me she'd come across that one, where on earth am i suppose to get crop milk from if this chap does hatch ?

Thank you for the kind words, i'd been conversing with someone else who deals with pigeons and she's advised me to find an incubator *which is going to be pretty tough since there are practically zero feed stores around where i live *well she said they don't sell them in pet stores - another place i dispise; and to find it in a feed store* i think that's going to be a dead end though will look for any possibilities. Aside from that she said the egg's going to die

Took a moth out that was stuck in an elevator this morning, i know i can't save everything but if i see it happening in front of my eyes and i do nothing, i know it will dig into my conscience, not to mention my heart. Hopefully this won't turn out badly.

I love your spirit. I hope you always remain compassionate and kind no mater what anyone might say.
I love that you saved the moth. I would have done the same.

[phyll]

[quote=Fatimah;187787]hi Phyll
I love animals more than people, i know it sounds horrible but honestly people can be unbelievable.

Saying that you love animals more than people doesn't sound horrible to me.
I totally understand your feelings. I have always loved animals, but the older I get, the more I love & appreciate them.

Thank you for rescuing the birds & providing a loving home. Like Charis, I also love that you saved the moth.
Too bad there aren't more people like you in the world, it would be a much better place.
I hope you will never be discouraged by anyone. When you help any creature, you are doing the right thing.

Did you candle the egg?

Phyll

[naturegirl]

I think you have such an enormous heart for animals and happy to say that I wish all humans out there were like that. Thank You to you and your Mum for being so passionate to the birds and animals.

Cindy

[JGregg]

Hi Fatimah,

Thank you for saving the poor helpless baby, to think people would put a creature in a trash can (but they do it).

You'll want the baby bird formula to be watery (not too thick) because you're dealing with a very young baby, the formula should be warm but not hot. I would recommend mixing up new formula for each feeding. Besides the feeding method Terry gave you a link to you could syringe feed by gently opening the baby's beak and feeding the formula. Be careful that you are not squirting formula into the baby's lungs, and don't do it quickly. Feed the baby until the crop is full and squishy but not taunt. An impacted crop can kill the baby. Feed again when the crop is empty.

If the food in the crop becomes hard you can syringe in warm water and gently massage the crop.

[Fatimah]

Gosh, thanks for all the kind words and the info. I really appreciate it and don't feel as terrified anymore. From what i had been reading up, it seems that baby pigeons are very hard to bring up when hatched. I had spoken to a few people today and the ones that had eggs as children said all the pigeons died after hatching *maybe because they weren't giving the right food ? The receptionist at the emergency vet told me to cover it in cotton wool and once hatched, give it to the local rehab programme - CROW, to grow up since it needs specialized care. Am just afraid that they will put the tiny chap down *should the egg hatch that is* since they've got so much to do, are always understaffed and short of money. Was thinking about going over and getting some of the food they were talking about to keep on hand if this egg decides to leap into this world, i have the other supplies mentioned since we have had birds with various problems enter our lives. The baby bird food, do i get a particular type *I've only thus far bought for a baby parrot and there were a few varieties mentioned so any advice on this ?*

I had tried candling the egg but i think it was too early, my mother is fanatical about her pigeons, she knows who's cheating on who, who ate the other's share and so on....so if my thinking is right it's about 2, max 3 days old right now. I didn't see much of anything, looked more like an undefinable mass, isn't a huge egg either but for its size it felt a good weight. Will try again tomorrow. Am keeping a lamp on it, it's nestled in a box, styrofoam chips on the bottom and nestled in all my cotton wool *haven't cleaned my face today so unless i buy more, the chick might shriek and die when it sees my mug , I wash my hands to try and reduce bacterial contamination and then turn the egg a little and lastly the lamp is pointing from above *don't worry it's not close enough to hurt/cook whoever might be living inside*

Just read on one of the links given about the new england pigeon supply, has the food that the squabs need *lol, ahh i suppose since i'm new here i'm the squab too :-D* does anyone know if they ship internationally ? can't seem to find any info on the site.

I've been trying to reach the cleaning chap for 2 days now, going to tell him to bring any of the eggs he's going to throw out to me. I really hate doing this and i know that most likely it does not bode well for the egg, but rather than have him throw it into the bin like the last time, where it might slowly die if it had already been in the incubation process, maybe it might have a chance with me. I can't believe the lack of respect shown, i really felt like taking him and his wheelbarrow and shoving him off a cliff. I know, i sound deranged but heck, i've been like this since i could count so it's not a 'taking on a fashionable cause, are we' type thing.

*grin* thanks for the advice, will post whatever happens throughout day. One thing, do i spray it with warm water ? a pigeon person on another site *apparently with alot of experience* told me about humidity/temp. Right now the egg's in the kitchen which is pretty warm, not to mention south africa's a very humid place. do i spray it with warm water *worried about drying it out* ??

Many thanks again for all the beautiful words and kind thoughts.
Fatimah

[Fatimah]

Originally Posted by JGregg

You'll want the baby bird formula to be watery (not too thick) because you're dealing with a very young baby, the formula should be warm but not hot. I would recommend mixing up new formula for each feeding. Besides the feeding method Terry gave you a link to you could syringe feed by gently opening the baby's beak and feeding the formula. Be careful that you are not squirting formula into the baby's lungs, and don't do it quickly. Feed the baby until the crop is full and squishy but not taunt. An impacted crop can kill the baby. Feed again when the crop is empty.

If the food in the crop becomes hard you can syringe in warm water and gently massage the crop.

Hi :-)

Thanks for the info, just want to know what type of food to buy, i've come across food for finches, the great big parrots like macaws, little parakeets and lovebirds, which type do i get ?

My bird used to get very excited when he saw his old feeding spoon. actually preferred eating everything off it..lol, go figure.

[TAWhatley]

Hi Fatimah,

You would want the baby hookbill formula from the pet store .. Kaytee Exact or another brand name that is the same stuff.

There are two difficulties you are facing .. one is successfully incubating the egg to the hatch point, and if that happens then # 2 is successfully raising the baby. Lots of things can go wrong during incubation and you end up with a physically and possibly mentally challenged baby bird. Assuming the incubation and hatching is successful, then you have about 6 weeks of rather intensive care to assure that you have raised a healthy baby pigeon. Obviously, the first three-four weeks are the really critical time, and it does take a lot of care and effort.

I wish you well on this one and hope all will turn out as we would all hope.

Terry