Young pigeon rescued

[Vincent Pia]

Hi group,
Long time bird rescuer but new to this site. Helped many sparrows,
one crow and a mocker. Found my first baby pigeon out front last night.
He/she is about the size of a baseball when all cuddled up. Fully feathered.
I've been feeding her/him wax worms and baby bird hand feeding formula
along with a sip of cool water from a straw. Any help here would be appreciated. I live in Riverside California.
Thank you,
Vince

[Dezirrae]

Hi Vince and welcome to Pigeon Talk You're gonna love this site - so many knowledgeable people. Thanks for taking this little guy/girl in too!

Glad you have the baby bird hand feeding formula already. You should stop feeding the worms though. Pigeons are grain and seed eaters once they're old enough.

Does the piji have any yellow downy feathers? If you could post a picture that would be very helpful! This will help identify his/her age better and help determine whether or not he's close to weaning age.

Pigeons also drink water different than other birds - they sip the water in through their beaks - sort of like a person using a straw. Do you have a deep dish (like a pyrex small dessert dish) of some kind... you can see if the pigeon knows how to drink on his own yet. Offer him the water - if he doesn't drink on his own, try dipping his beak gently in the water (being careful to not dip the nostrals too )

For the timing keep him warm too. Others with more experience and knowledge will be along but figured I'd give you some started advice.

Again - Welcome

[TAWhatley]

Hi Vince and welcome! Thank you so much for helping this young bird. As Dezirrae posted, a picture or two would be really helpful.

Ditto on no more worms though I'm sure waxworms from a pet store have done no harm .. worms just aren't their usual diet.

I'm in Lake Forest in South Orange County and have a very bird savvy friend in Norco. If either of us could be of any help to you, post back here or just call me tomorrow at 949-584-6696.

If the young bird you have should be a Mourning Dove or Band Tail pigeon, you would need to get it to a state/federally permitted rehabilitator, and we can help with that also if needed.

We'll look forward to hearing more from you soon!

Terry

[Vincent Pia]

I want to thank you folks for the info. I don't really see any "yellow" colored
downy feathers on the bird. I'll try to post some pictures soon. I hope the
worms have provided some nourishment because getting him/her to eat the
hand feeding formula seems difficult for some reason. I have found that if I
just place a few drops of thickly mixed formula near the bird it will pick it up on it's own but only in small quantities. I'm going to switch to using a small
syringe in hopes of encouraging the bird to eat more. I have always monitored
the craw of my birds as a method of feeding.
I'll be in touch and thanks again,
Vince

[pdpbison]

Hi Vince,



Formula needs to be 'soupy' and about body temperature, or they will refuse it.


Water, also...they will gladly drink if guided to do so, but, Water needs to be close to body temperature, or they wil refuse it.


He will also gladly eat small whole Seeds, if guided to do so, so really, for one of his age, no 'feeding' is even needed in any sense of forcing the issue...and, you need merely to guide him for his eating and drinking.


Usually, one has to softly keep one's finger tips on the sides of their Beak, also...for the to eat or drink, then soon they do it without you having to.


You can try this, too, which works very well for getting them fed -


http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f5/sho...ons-29629.html


Good luck..!

Phil
l v

[Vincent Pia]

Hi Phil,
Thanks for the response. I've been working with this guy/gal to
encourage some "self feeding" effort and just like that the bird got the
idea. Now he/she is pecking and gobbling everything in sight. Seems to
like the wild bird seed mix with sunflower seeds. Thought I'd add bits of
whole wheat bread aswell. Time to get out of the box and into the safety
of a cage. I can't hardly wait until this pretty baby is flying!
Thanks to all for the info and support,
Vince

[TAWhatley]

Hi Vince! I'm glad to see that your little one has mastered seed eating so easily!

Continued good luck with your little feathered charge!

Terry

[pdpbison]

Hi Vince,


Glad to hear...!


Once they get the knack, they can really go for the gusto..!


With this in mind, you have to be careful she does not have access to more Seeds than she can safely fit into her Crop...


Youngsters who are just learning, can be so excited with their new found skill, and so into 'eating', they can way over-do it, and injure their Crop by putting away too much food...

Seeds expand in the Crop by Hydration, so, bear in mind, any quantity of dry seeds she eats at a sitting, will swell up to three times that bulk, once in her Crop and getting hydrated there.


The 'safe' side of this, but what is to the 'max', I call 'Tennis Ball', which is where a youngster is 'full' and the Crop feels like, and is almoxst the size of, their having a Tennis Ball in there...


Lol...


So, keep things on the shy side of 'that'...just to be safe...because they reliably will over-eat if allowed to..!


Probably, say, one dry Ounce of Seeds, being presented for her to eat, at a time...if she eats them all, she is well within a safe boundry...and, an hour or two later, or several hours later, whenever you see her Crop has enough room again, provide another 'Ounce'...

If she is post fledgling age, this could be two Ounces instead of 'one'...but i do not recall her age or size, so...


A two week old, learning self feeding, IF having a History of being well fed prior, so their Crop is used to it, can handle an Ounce just fine...far as rules-of-thumb go...meaning, no more than that in a Seed Bowl for them to have access to, and or, depending on what is in their Crop already, if having an empty Crop say, letting them have an Ounce of Seeds to peck at, is alright to do...with next Seed allotment defering to how much is still in their Crop.




Best wishes!



Phil
l v