Rescued baby Pigeon from Crow

[Girl]

Hi,I rescued a baby pigeon from a crow attack last week Friday, the crow was on top of the baby pigeon and pulling its feathers out! I think it may have fallen out of its nest and thats how the crow got to it.
I took it to the local animal hospital and was informed that if I handed it to them, it would be pts because pigeons are considered vermin in Melbourne,Australia. I have taken care of it since. Comparing against Sarah's pics, I would estimate it at 2 1/2 - 3 weeks old.
I feed it 1 syringe full 3 times a day because it never seems hungry and always struggles when I try to feed it. After I let it wonder around and put it back into the box, thats the only time it ever chirps unhappily.
Its poo turned green Wed this week and I am alittle worried. It was only 3 days ago, Monday that I took it to the vet and was told that it looked very healthy.
Q1.Comparing it to other pigeon stories, it looks alittle slow in eating on its own and always has to be syringe fed. Is this normal at 2 1/2 - 3 weeks?
Q2. It's Friday tomorrow, should I wait till the end of this week to determine whether the green poo is serious? Is it possible that it could clear on its own? The baby pigeon is quite lively and seems happy and not acting sick.
Q3. I recently changed its feeding formula to Avione Hand Rearing Formula, could this have affected the colour of its poo?
Q4. How much should I be feeding it per day?

I appreciate any advice. Thanks.

[Reti]

Thank you so much for rescuing this baby.

Changes in diet can affect the droppings, and formulas can make the dropping pretty liquid.

How many cc's/ml does the syringe have?
How thick is the formula you are feeding him?
At his age you can make the formula a bit thicker and he could eat 20-30cc's at a time, even more.
Also, even he is a bit young yet to feef on his own, you could put out some seeds for him, small seeds are best, he could start pecking on them.

Reti

[cyro51]

Hello,

You might want to try the syringe and balloon method of feeding described in this thread. That is much more satisfying for the baby and rewarding for the feeder. You can introduce small seeds as part of the mixture to wean.

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showth...referrerid=560

Cynthia

[Girl]

Reti, in answer to your question,
The syringe is only 6cc's. The thickness of the formula is more like yoghurt with a squirt of plain water at the end. 20-30 ccs! Sounds like I am under feeding him. Its hard to feed a baby bird which never chirps for food, he is more interested in exploring or hopping onto my lap. I actually feel bad for force feeding him.
Q1. What sort of small seeds can I feed him? I have a stick full of small canary seeds I think, but he doesn't show any interest in it. Any other suggestions as to what small seeds that I can easily purchase at a local pet shop?
Q2. How often in a day should I feed him 20-30 cc's? I leave for the gym and work at 6.15am and don't get back till 6.30pm. I normally feed it at 6am, 7pm & 11pm.
Q2. He always shakes his head after being feed, is this normal?
Q3. I fed it boiled peas & corn last night, I even chopped it in half! Is this okie?

Cynthia, thanks for the syringe and ballon method, I will try it on the weekend. Hopefully it will be more appealing to the little one. Will keep you updated. I will post some pics of it soon. It is a mixture of black and white which I thought was unusal in Melb. Most of the pigeons here are either blueish grey, all black, all white (rare) or a brown (very rare). Can pigeons be any colour and is black and white very common?

[TAWhatley]

Originally Posted by Girl

Q1. What sort of small seeds can I feed him? I have a stick full of small canary seeds I think, but he doesn't show any interest in it. Any other suggestions as to what small seeds that I can easily purchase at a local pet shop?

Canary, finch, or parakeet.

Originally Posted by Girl

Q2. How often in a day should I feed him 20-30 cc's? I leave for the gym and work at 6.15am and don't get back till 6.30pm. I normally feed it at 6am, 7pm & 11pm.

Though it's a long time between 6AM and 6:30PM, the bird should do OK on three feedings per day .. but you need to be getting the 20-30 cc's in each time. I'd definitely try for 30 cc's in the AM.

Originally Posted by Girl

Q2. He always shakes his head after being feed, is this normal?

Not really normal but not really abnormal either. Be very careful that you aren't getting any formula into the respiratory system.

Originally Posted by Girl

Q3. I fed it boiled peas & corn last night, I even chopped it in half! Is this okie?

Yep!

Terry

[Girl]

Here are the pics of my baby pigeon. Sorrie, its alittle dark coz it was taken at night. I will take better ones on the weekend.

[Reti]

Oh, what a cutie!

Terry answered your questions.

The balloon method will definetly cut back ont the feeding time. Please try it.

Please, let us know how the baby is coming along.

Reti

[Girl]

Anyone?
On the 3rd of March in my previous message, I wrote that I started feeding it corn and peas. I was trying to teach it to eat by itself. Step by step, I first fed corn straight into its beak, then let it eat the corn out of my hand, then put the corn onto the ground.
Since the baby pigeon has discovered corn it has taken a tremedous liking to corn. So much so that its like an addiction. I don't know whether its part of the pigeon growing up process, it never use to chirp but it now chirps like crazy and always trys to peck at my hands, looking for corn. Even when I direct it to the ground where the corn is, it still prefers to hop onto my lap and peck at my hands. Every time I walk pass the box (in which I house the baby pigeon), it will start chirping like crazy and standing up with its neck craning to look out of the box. This all happens even after its has been fed and its crop is big.

Q1.Is a baby pigeon like a pet dog in that it lavishes for attention?
Q2.Is it normal for a baby pigeon to get addicted to a particular kind of food? I now started to mix the corn with small seeds and baby pigeon powder formula so it gets the proper nutrition and hopefully reduces its addiction to corn.
Q3.Is it normal/bad/good for a pigeon to be standing up tall like a puppy on its hind legs begging for food?
Q4.How should I discourage/discipline my baby pigeon to stop pecking at my hands? It's beak use to be soft but its growing harder and I'm afraid that it's pecks are going to hurt eventually.

Its only been a week but the change in my baby pigeon is huge since I first got it and I am alittle worried that my baby pigeon is picking up unpigeon like habits, what should I do?

Any advise is welcome.

[TAWhatley]

My responses are just my opinions and my experience and should not necessarily be considered words from the "How To Raise A Baby Pigeon Bible" ..

Originally Posted by Girl

Q1.Is a baby pigeon like a pet dog in that it lavishes for attention?

Yes, in some respects. Once a baby pigeon figures out that you are the source of food, love, and comfort, they become almost insatiable on all counts. If you intend to keep the pigeon as a pet, this is fine, but if you are wanting to release it when grown, then you need to try to make it as self sufficient as you can and as quickly as you can.

Originally Posted by Girl

Q2.Is it normal for a baby pigeon to get addicted to a particular kind of food? I now started to mix the corn with small seeds and baby pigeon powder formula so it gets the proper nutrition and hopefully reduces its addiction to corn.

Also pretty normal and time to exercise a little "tough" love and make baby eat everything on it's "plate".

Originally Posted by Girl

Q3.Is it normal/bad/good for a pigeon to be standing up tall like a puppy on its hind legs begging for food?

Again, it sounds like you have a perfectly normal and healthy pigeon that is being raised by a human.

Originally Posted by Girl

Q4.How should I discourage/discipline my baby pigeon to stop pecking at my hands? It's beak use to be soft but its growing harder and I'm afraid that it's pecks are going to hurt eventually.

Well, I'm going to cop out on this question .. the pecking will never get particularly hurtful, but it can be annoying. My 18 year old Traveler will latch onto my hand like a ferocious dog .. he does little harm, but it sure makes him feel like he is "cock of the walk". Actually, many members work long and hard to get their pet pigeons to play "Spider Creatures" with them .. fighting the "evil" human hands.

Its only been a week but the change in my baby pigeon is huge since I first got it and I am alittle worried that my baby pigeon is picking up unpigeon like habits, what should I do?

It all boils down to whether you are keeping the pigeon as a pet or wanting to release it. If you are wanting a pet, then I'd say you've got one well on the way .. if you want to release the bird, then you have to stop "babying" the bird and start to withdraw your attention and help the bird learn all it will need to know in order to survive on it's own. That's awfully difficult to do with a single hand raised baby pigeon .. they really need others of their own kind to be with in order to develop a flock mentality and also hopefully be able to learn from older and more streetwise birds.

Terry

[Girl]

Cynthia, Reti, Terry,

I tried the syringe and ballon method. No luck! Baby Pigeon was not interested. I steered it's beck towards the slit in the ballon but Baby did not seem to comprehend what it was meant to do. Baby kept on chirping non stop and struggling. It was getting really messy and I had to abandon the idea. I am also trying to wean it but with not much luck. The only thing it will eat is corn and a few canary seeds. I have tried mung bean sprouts, grated carrots, peas as per one of the threads in this website. I have tried practising tough love but with not much progress. Any other suggestions is welcome.


It is nearly 2 & 1/2 weeks since I found Baby Pigeon and he seems to have stopped growing. I thought Baby was approx. 2 - 2 & 1/2 weeks when I found it so by now, it should be 5 weeks old! From Sarah's pics, it took about 5 weeks for her pigeon to grow with full feathers and fly, my Baby Pigeon has grown some more feathers and has grown alittle bigger but thats all. Baby's fav pastime is trying to get out of the box and has torn some feathers as a result.

Should I go back to hand feeding it? Maybe this is the reason why it has stopped growing? What easy fast foods can I give it besides corn - I get up really early in the morning and don't get back till late? Or should I continue with the tough love and hope that Baby would know better and eat when its hungry?

Btw, what is splay legs? How do I know if my pigeon has splay legs?

In answer to Terry's post, I would have preferred to release it back into the wild but if that is not wise, I would first try and find someone who keeps other pigeons and give it to them but the last scenario is to keep it myself. Its not because I don't want it but I always believe that its better for it to be with others of its own. Does anyone know anyone in Melbourne, Australia who keeps pigeons?

Any advice is welcome! Thanks.

[Pigeonpal2002]

Hi There,

Can you post a current picture of the youngster so we can see what he looks like now? Sorry to hear you had no luck with the balloon method of feeding. Can you locate a supply store in your area that sells pigeon mix? At this age, it is best to introduce the bird to as many types of food as possible. This way it will learn how to pick up and swallow the different seeds as well. Weaning hand reared birds can be difficult and will require a lot of patience in some cases. If you can get a good pigeon seed mix, then I would suggest trying to show the bird by digging in the bowl with your fingers. He should show interest in this and should learn by imitation and experimenting. You might have to do this very often to get results. My young hand reared pigeons were very stubborn to wean. At first they ate only the tiny canary seeds as well and corn and peas. Good luck and keep trying.

As for the splayed legs, this is a condition where the young bird has not had sufficient grip under his body to hold the legs in a proper position. One or both legs can be affected. As the bird grows, and without proper traction underneath, the bones will grow incorrectly and the legs will be deformed.

[Reti]

At five weeks, the bird should be eating by himself.
I would suggest you leave out for him a good pigeon mix and he will learn to peck on it and eventually eat it when hungry.
Justmake sure he is eating.

Also, you can add some vitamins into the water,pet stores do sell vitamins for birds. It is important for him to get vit A and D for proper bone and feather growth. Vitamin E is also necessary.
Vit A and e you can give only twice a week, too much can be toxic.
Calcium is a must, if he is not eating any grit, add some calcium into his water, he needs it for proper bone growth.
Also he will need some natural sunlight or at least a few hours a day under an UV lamp.

Reti

[pdpbison]

Hi Girl,

The next time you spend time with the little one, have some Seeds in a little shallow jar lid or something in front of him, and 'peck' at the Seeds with your finger tip...and also make gentle happy sounds or approveing tones of encouragement.

Likely he will begin 'eating' with you...and may sqeak or pump his shoulders while doing so, very much like they do when being fed.

[Girl]

Thank you Brad, Reti and Pdpbison for the advice.

Here is the current progress on my Baby Pigeon.
Pictures
I finally got round to getting some recent photos. As you can see, the first pics were taken on the 05/03/05. I assume it was approx. 2 & 1/2 weeks old?
The second lot were taken on the 28/03/05, which is 3 1/2 weeks after the first pics. From Sarah's pics on this website, it should be fully developed but as you can see, it has grown only in size and its wing feathers has grown longer. It is starting to shed its baby feathers but very slowly.
Behaviour Progress
I wouldn't know where along the scale it is but I believe it is fairly normal. It hops onto my lap, arms, walked up onto my shoulder and head, it has used a tea towel that was partially drapped over the box to escape once, it has attempted to fly out of the box and was successful. I bought a cage after the recent escape attempt with two perching horizontal sticks in the middle at different heights. It enjoys walking up the cage to get from one wooden horizontal stick to another and will hop out of the cage whenever I open the door. It regularly preens/pulls at its old feathers and new feathers.
Food Progress
Pigeon mix was hard to find so I bought it wild bird mix which contains - barley, wheat, red sorghum, shell grit, panorama millet, white french millet, black or grey sunflower sees and japense millet. It only eats the red sorghum and nothing else. In additon to thawed chopped corn. When I watch it eat, it can't seem to pick up and swallow the bigger seeds. When I finally found the pigeon/dove mix, I didn't bother buying it coz I know baby pigeon wouldn't be able to pick up the unpopped corn or dried peas. The poo is sometimes very wet and sometimes dry. It is mostly brown with some white in it. It is sometimes in little brown separated bits but it is sometimes long and continuous threadlike.
When I read the "Specific health care and treatment advice can be found at Chevita Gmbh", there are so many possible diseases and reasons why a pigeon is not "normal"! Should I take it to a vet for a faecal sample test or am I worrying too much about Baby Pigeon and its slow growth and fussy eating?

Thanks for listening and any advice is welcome!

[Girl]

More Pics - please see the name of the file for the date it was taken.