What can I feed injured pigeon that I have in the house?

[WendyJ]

I have found pigeon crouched and puffed up on the ground of my front porch. I am not sure I can check him out but can possibly catch and put in cardboard box with heating pad and hydration. BUT, I have no birdfood, corn, peas or raw nuts and cannot leave my house as we are in the midst of a gas shortage emergency. So, what would I have for humans that can be substituted to feed this pigeon if I can catch him/her?

[TAWhatley]

Hi WendyJ and welcome!

Soaked dry dog or cat food (soaked in water) or dry pet food smashed up into pigeon sized pieces .. no need to soak then, crumbled cereal such as bran or corn flakes or Cheerios, crumbles of toast (preferably wheat or multi-grain), corn meal (dry), cream of wheat (dry), oatmeal flakes (dry), raw rice, raw popcorn (no microwave stuff .. just real popcorn kernals). Still thinking here ..

Hope you can catch this needy pigeon and give it a warm place with food and water for tonight.

Please keep us posted.

Terry

[WendyJ]

Hi Terry:

Thanks for your response and info. It was amazing to find so much great information so quickly to help this bird.

After posting my message, I caught the bird and placed it in a cardboard box with holes punched in the sides. I had the box ready after reading different posts on your sight.

Paper over a heating pad on low and water with salt and sugar were obviously appreciated by the pigeon and the "puffing up" stopped enough to reveal a banded leg. After reading the band, and sleuthing on the internet, I found that the pigeon's home was just 35 minutes from me.

Determined to get that bird home, I reverse listed the address, called the "Yankee Doodle" farm and met the farmer and owner of the Holland Bakery half way at a local Walmart. The pigeon is safely home and being taken care of by someone who knows what they are doing.

Intertestingly, the bird's human explained that the pigeon is not a "roaming" pigeon but rather a bird that twirls or rolls in the air and does not normally go out of sight of home.

Anyway, thanks to the wonderful resource of Pigeon-Talk, I knew that I could most likely save this bird and did.

Have a great Holiday season!

Wendy

[pdpbison]

Hi Wendy,


Wow...!

Good Work there!


Happy Holidays...!


Phil
Las Vegas

[relofts]

Great job!!

You did wonderful and I can't tell you how much we appreciate your assisting a downed bird, the little feathered friend would not of made it without your assistance as the owner explained the pigeon you had was a performing roller and they have very little homing instinct and can not make it back home if they stray to far away or are chased by a predator and range out to far.

Thanks again.

Ellen

[Trees Gray]

Hello and Welcome to Pigeon Talk!

Thank you so much for doing all the investigative work and bringing this bird back to its owner.

I just want to say we appreciate your time and effort spent at doing the right thing, and enabling this bird to have his life back, which may not have been the case, if you hadn't made the decision to get involved.

Way to go!

[Pigeonpal2002]

Thanks Wendy for the care and compassion you've given this wayward pigeon. You're gonna get a nice Christmas present this year from Santa for this very good deed