a new baby in the house

[UmbraWolf]

alright, about a week ago, coming out of the milkbarn after work and into my truck i find a baby pigeon on my passenger side seat in a box right? well i talk to my boss and he tells me its a baby homing pigeon and if it were to have been left on the ground then the cats (which there are many of out there) would have gotten it. My fiance and i have had experience feeding baby birds as she bought a baby quaker from a pet shop and we of course had to hand feed it. I have been feeding this one every two hours until its gullet is full lol, of course not letting it get so full that it would clog the hole in the back of its throat for breathing, i have a picture here at the bottom of the page. i was wondering what i should be doing with him/her and yes i'm already working on a hutch for it. and yes i need to clean the shavings and its box, i'm working on that right after i post this

[Trees Gray]

Hello and welcome to pigeons.com

Thank you for helping this needy youngster.

What a beautiful baby!

Please make sure his feet are not sliding out from under him. He needs to be on surface that he can grab onto, so his legs and feet sit nicely tucked under him. A nest bowl would be preferable or nice round basket lined with paper towels where he can reside comfortably.

He needs to be kept warm and out of drafts, a small box is fine just cover him lightly with a light towel or light blanket. You might even use a heating pad set on low, and put it in the box under the towel he sits on.

A hutch type coop off the ground will eventually make a nice home for him. Be sure to use hardware cloth that is 1/4" to keep predators out for the aviary area. Chicken wire is not strong enough to keep anything out. Build a nice enclosed area for him that will keep air drafts out, rain and predators out, but is ventilated.

Pigeons are social creatures and do well in groups of 4 or more. You might consider getting him a friend or two in the future.

Here is a great thread on pigeon care:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=10848

[pdpbison]

Hi umbrawolf...


No 'shavings'...instead, a rumpled hand towell and also a Heating Pad to provide warmth which the Baby may be 'on' or off as they see fit.

Do not feed a chilled Baby...if they are not kept warm, about as our body temperature, their whole system slows down and may slow down too far.

A towell allows their feet to have something to grip, in fact, gather a handfull of clean twigs to put on the towell, and have some of the towell on the heating pad also of course.

It is also nice to use say a smaller old style pie pan or cake pan, and have a wash cloth lightly rumpled in it, and some twigs on that, and have it partly on the heating pad, or even all the way on the heating pad, but test the whole to make sure it is not too warm or too cool.

This allows the Baby Pigeon to have "something" it will define as being it's Nest proper, so it will know where to poop, since they prefer to poop over the side of, or outside the boundary of, what they construe to be their nest.


Too, this allows you to see how their poops are, where with 'shavings', the poops get lost and are vague.

What are you feeding them?

How are you feeding them?

Best wishes...!

Phil
Las Vegas

[UmbraWolf]

currently feeding it bird baby food with a 14CC syringe, eats about 3 or 4 of them, sometimes a couple more or 1 less. and am working on changing its set-up now, thanks for all the help