baby doing fine

[wildlife]

Hello all,
Thanks for the advice given on my last post, I still have the baby pigeon, must be about 28/29 days old now, I am still feeding him on exact and putting a bowl of wild bird seed and a container of water in his little house, I have had him in the back garden put he tried to fly over the fence so I don,t let him out there any more.

Couple of questions if anyone can help, I have just bought some new seed from the pet shop, red mix something or other? it has aniseed in it, is this ok for him? should I keep feeding him on exact as well, is there better food out there and when should he be ready to be safely set free.

Once again thanks for all your advice and help

[cyro51]

The parents continue to look after them until they are 8 weeks old, I think a hand reared one might take a bit longer to learn the ropes of living free. He will need to develop good strong flight muscles and agility to fly between branches etc!

My woodies and the wild birds love the conditioning mix that has aniseed in it, but I read that anniseed is used for trapping and can make them lethargic. Wild birdseed is good, though.

Once they start to eat they learn very quickly, I usually reduce the feeds until I am giving one feed at night. When I find that I can feel a nice crop full of seeds at the end of the day I stop the Kaytee.

Cynthia

[Pidgey]

Well, actually, the parents are feeding them straight seeds with some water by the time they're about half your chick's age, so you need to start shifting him to regular seeds, mostly because it's time to start weaning. You could feed one Kaytee for its entire life and, who knows, it might even live longer due to fantastic nutrition and also being shielded from germs that it might get from eating with the gang. But, I wouldn't recommend that life.

Pidgey

[wildlife]

Looks like he will be here for a while longer then, I wonder what the neighbours will think if they see me standing on the garden bench flapping my arms trying to give encouragement to the pigeon to fly. Cynthia thanks for the advice its really helpful

[wildlife]

Thanks for the advice pidgey,

[cyro51]

Well, actually, the parents are feeding them straight seeds with some water by the time they're about half your chick's age, so you need to start shifting him to regular seeds, mostly because it's time to start weaning

Pidgey, you do realise that this is a woodpigeon, don't you?

Their diet consists of cabbages, sprouts, peas and grain. Also buds, shoots, seeds, nuts and berries. We don't really know what mix the parents feed them as they are not bred in captivity.

All I know is that when I started hand feeding seeds etc to a juvenile wood pigeon he developed crop stasis, those that I allowed to peck at seed at their own pace were weaned in their own time with no health problems.

Cynthia

[Pidgey]

Originally Posted by cyro51

Pidgey, you do realise that this is a woodpigeon, don't you?

Their diet consists of cabbages, sprouts, peas and grain. Also buds, shoots, seeds, nuts and berries. We don't really know what mix the parents feed them as they are not bred in captivity.

All I know is that when I started hand feeding seeds etc to a juvenile wood pigeon he developed crop stasis, those that I allowed to peck at seed at their own pace were weaned in their own time with no health problems.

Cynthia

Cynthia,

Of course not! Didn't even think about it, only that by that age you can usually begin to feed them something that's more in line with their standard adult diet.

Oops!

I sowwee!

Pidgey

[cyro51]

Wingslap!!!!

Cynthia

[Pidgey]

Originally Posted by cyro51

Wingslap!!!!

Cynthia

OUCH!

I thaid I wuth thowwee!!!

MODTHUWAITOR!!!

Thynthia's picking on MEEEEEEEE!!!