Doing right by this baby

[eowynroh]

Hello, I have read many of the posts here and really appreciate the wealth of knowledge all of you contribute. In the past, I have raised and released several feral doves. A few days ago, I was brought a baby pigeon to care for.

Punky is growing very fast, and is the picture of health. (By the way, he doens't have a name because I intend to tame him. I've always felt everyone deserves a name. It's just my way of expressing that this is a life to be treasured.) He's very fiesty and demanding when it comes to food. He recognizes that my hands bring him food. I don't think he knows that the rest of my body is attached, and I'd like to keep it that way.

I'd like to keep him as wild as possible, which is very difficult. I raise maybe 1-2 birds a year, either injured or young foundlings. So I don't have typical tools or other pigoens for him to learn from.

What is the best way in your experience to teach him to pick seed up on his own? I don't know if he is quite ready for that, but he's really close. His feathers have just started emerging from the pin feathers. Except for a few small spots, you can't see any more skin unless he flaps his wings. Yesterday, he still looked like a porkupine. He's growing noticably between feeding! I'm pretty proud of him.

Anyway, the sooner he starts eating on his own, the less interaction I will need to have with him. He is living in a large plastic pet carrier right now. As soon as he can regulate his own body temperature, I'm planning on keeping him on our deck. We are on the second story. This way, he can observe the pigeons that live here. There is a nice sized, healthy flock that roosts in the apartment buildings here. These are luxury apartments nestled in a park-like setting, so I'm confident he'll have a safe home with this flock. He looks like them too - mostly gray with a patch of white.

Any extra tips you have to help me make sure his start in life has the best chances for sucess, I would really appreciate. The last thing I want to do is miss something important. I agreed to take care of him when he was brought to me in a box, and I take that responcibilty seriously.

(see attached photo)

[Lovebirds]

What a cute baby. He's not really quite ready to start eating on his own, but he's very close.
What I do is what we refer to here as seed pops. Open mouth and drop in a seed and let him swallow. A baby that age may get a dozen or so seeds at each feeding. Just to get the feel and texture of the solid food.
You can place a shallow dish in front of him and put you finger in the bowl of seeds and sort of swish it around and get his attention. He'll start playing in them, picking up, dropping, picking up, dropping...........until one day he'll actually swallow one. Once he does that, he's just a day or so from self feeding.
With one this young, once they start eating seeds, you do need to keep an eye out and make sure they don't eat too much at one sitting. They can literally stuff themselves and it could take hours and hours to digest all the seeds.
Do the water the same way. Put it in a dish, push his beak down into it and see if he'll take a drink. I even sprinkle a few seeds in the water and when they try to get the seeds, they feel the water and eventually start drinking.
I've found that even once they start drinking and eating on their own, sometimes you have to show them the water and encourage them to drink. I don't think at first they realize that they NEED to take a drink of water after eating. They catch on pretty quick though.
Hope this helps some.

[maryjane]

Welcome and thanks for caring for this baby. It is somewhat difficult to keep baby pigeons "wild" when hand-raising, as they bond very quickly with their foster parent. But, each one is individual. You can also try using baby bird formula (Kaytee is a good brand) and using this or a similar method:

http://picasaweb.google.com/awrats3333/BabyFeeding#

Just make sure after you mix it, let it sit for a few minutes and add more water as it thickens. You can also add 1/4 tspn plain yogurt to help digestion. They pick up very quickly on this feeding method and usually suck the formula right down. Hold the syringe up so he gets the formula instead of air. Feed until the crop (area under beak on chest) is full but not stuffed, like an inflated balloon. Wait until the crop is empty before feeding again. I would think three or four feedings of formula a day would be fine for him. You can also do the seed pops and start offering seed, using your finger to "peck" at it and teach him. If this wasn't mentioned, pigeons drink using their beak as a straw, so you can try dipping the end of his beak into a dish of water and see if this triggers him to drink. Feel free to give him a warm bath in the sink if he's messy after feedings or otherwise. He'll enjoy it. Good luck!

[Lady Tarheel]

Well, this is a real cutie and I agree that it is still too young to be eating on its own. You can keep seed in its cage and "peck" at it with him to encourage him to eat when he is ready. The "seed pops" Renee mentioned will be good for him too.

LOL, we name every single one we take in. For one thing it helps me with my record keeping but most of all, I think of all of them individually and just feel they deserve some special recognition for the time they will be with us. We remember so many of their names from even years ago and talk about them from time to time. (We have pigeon love quite badly )