Sneezing and feather removal

[Hids]

I just signed up, so I hope this is the correct procedure for posting a question. I have had a baby pigeon for about a month. This was a wild pigeon that was out at the airport where I work. I thought something was wrong with it, it kept trying to walk and then would fall down--but turns out it was just a baby. The pigeon has been sneezing some since fairly near to the beginning of having him in my care. Is there anything that can or should be done about sneezing? He doesn't sneeze constantly, just sometimes. Also, he can fly now, but could not initally when I first got him. But I am wondering about the preening, he seems to take out important feathers, like so many of his tail feathers he has removed, he has also taken a few of his flight feathers out too. What can or should be done about this? Is this bad or a problem? Why would the bird remove these important feathers? He doesn't seem unhappy or stressed out to me. But I am stressed about him removing those feathers. Looking for some help, thanks for reading.

Heidi

[Pidgey]

Somewhere about three months old they molt out their baby feathers and start replacing them with more adult ones. You wouldn't happen to be able to take and post a digital picture, couldja'?

Does he still squeak or has his voice changed more to that of an adult (cooing)?

Pidgey

[Hids]

He definately squeaks--I have heard no cooing. I will see if I can get a picture going.

[Pidgey]

Can you get a magnifying glass (strongest one possible) and go looking through his feathers for little bugs? He might need some kind of mite and lice bird and cage spray like this one:

http://www.petdiscounters.com/produc...cat=310&page=1

Pidgey

[Hids]

Well I am seeing about the magnifying glass--hard to do, I tried looking a little bit. But I am trying to put this picture on of the tail feathers, hope you get an idea of what it looks like--he has removed so many! Well, I can't seem to get the file to upload--it keeps failing.

Hids

[Pidgey]

They have to be less than 100 KB in size. You may have to take Paint and reduce the physical size of the picture (as well as the memory used) by using the Stretch/Skew tool under the Image menu.

Pidgey

[Hids]

So, I haven't worked the computer magic yet to get a small enough picture onto the site, I am not a guru like that. But, I am worried--still seems to be working those feathers--has like four tail feathers left, when they are spanned out you can see that they are almost all gone. Also seems to work on the flight feathers as well, a few of them have been removed. Should I get that mite/lice spray? I looked a bit with the magnifying glass and couldn't really tell if I was finding anything. Will he grow all those feathers back? Is the spray okay to use even if he doesn't have mites or lice?

Hids

[amoonswirl]

Originally Posted by Hids

Is the spray okay to use even if he doesn't have mites or lice?
Hids

Hi and welcome to Pigeon Talk!
The mites may just be too small for you to see, or they could be hiding in the crevices of his cage and coming out at night to bite him. The spray will not hurt your bird if it does not have bugs - I'd say "better safe than sorry" as over time the mites can cause more serious issues.

Follow directions on the bottle. Usually, removing all food & water from the cage and spraying cage, perches, etc throroughly - let dry before returning the bird to the cage. Also, spray the bird according to directions, and be careful not to get the spray in the eyes or nose.

[Hids]

He does scratch his head a fair amount too, which I don't know if that would be part of the possible mites or lice. Alot of his feathers seem like adult type ones so it seems wierd that he is like tearing them out. I do see some new feathers coming through on his neck on the front that look different to me, pink. I also wondered how old he is because I have had him for a month and he couldn't fly when I first got him. When do they start flying? Also, I am not really sure about the sex of the pigeon, am hoping to figure that out. Thanks for the words.

Hids

[flitsnowzoom]

The adults have some iridescence in their feathers so maybe that's the pink you see.