Thinking of adopting a pigeon, splayed leg

[ThaRatChick]

Chillin'


Legs


His leg sticking out


So pretty

[Mindy]

I can't help you at all with the legs, but I'm sure someone can. But I really enjoyed the pictures of Franklin, he is gorgeous. He is a very pretty bird. He looks so happy wrapped up. Thanks so much for posting the pics. Can Franklin walk at all? Or is it just one leg that is missed up or is it both? min

[TerriB]

What a handsome young bird!

[ThaRatChick]

Only one leg is screwed up. He hops by balancing with his bad leg and his wings. He gets around pretty well!

[Crazy Pete]

I just love this site, you people don't even no this girl yet you send food and all the best wishes a person could ask for "and they don't have to ask" I'll say it again your the greatest.
Dave

[bluebirdsnfur]

Awwww . . .Franklin is quite the handsome fellow! You have done a wonderful job with him, Ratchick. He looks great! He will forever be your NBF!

[mr squeaks]

I agree!! FRANKLIN is absolutely adorable!!

I wish you BOTH all the VERY BEST!!

Love and Hugs

Shi and the gang: Mr. Squeaks/Dom/Gimie/WoeBeGone

[ThaRatChick]

Franky's doing great. He hates me more than ever (). I decided to try fleece, because earlier this week he spilled his water (im not sure how) and when i dried it was almost impossible to get the newspaper off the bottom.

But i got some blue fleece (3.99 a yard at hancocks!!) and his cage looks pretty snazzy! (I'll have pics soon) But he has a lot of empty space in his cage. Do pigeons like toys? What could i get to fill at least a little of that space, not too much because he has begun flapping a lot

And how often is safe to bath Frank? He gets a dirty bottom/feet so i need to bath him, but I'm not sure if birds can get dry skin?

[Mindy]

I'm glad Franky is doing great. I feel like a grandma to him so I love hearing stories about him. The only thing that my pigeons like is a big mirror. You can lean it against the cage and I'm sure he will love it, mine dance and coo all the time in front of it. I wouldn't worry about the extra room in his cage you don't need to feel it up with toys. But you can give him a stuffed toy and see if he like it. Try anything, you might find out that they like something that we don't know they like. Just make sure its nothing to small so he can't eat it. Can't wait to see the snazzy cage all in blue. As far as giving him baths, you'll have to wait for someone else to answer that. But I think you can bathe him everyday if you want. Mine have bath water all day everyday, but they don't choose to take one everyday. What kind of soap do you use. I know Dawn dish soap is used on all birds that get in oil spills so I would use that. I'm glad your enjoying him. Did you see the thread by Altgirl about the pigeon with the splayed leg. I just saw it today, but it was a nice story and they have pictures of scooter you should go check it out.

The thread is called "splayed twisted leg" if you hit new topics at the top then it might be easier for you to find it or do a search with the title and find it. But there are pictures of his cage so he doesn't get hurt so you might get some idea's for franky. Plus its a very sweet story that has a happy ending like yours. min

[StanelyPidge09]

Hi RatChick!

Franklin is soo Handsome!! One of the prettiest pigeons I have seen! I am so glad that you saved him!

My pidge, Stanley, loves to play with twist ties and rubber bands. I hide them all over the place and scatter them around the room and he seems to love running around and collecting them all. He brings them back to his "room" and builds a nest with them It is quite funny. (I have a picture of him collecting them in my photo album.) He also plays with those little cat balls with the bell in them. He picks it up and throws it around.

As far as the bath goes, Stanley takes a bath every 4 or 5 days. I set up a plastic roasting pan (I bought for like 2 dollars at Wal-Mart) with a couple inches of water. I set it up on the floor and after a couple minutes of me splashing my fingers in the water he will jump right in. If he gets his feet dirty in between his bath days, I just pick him up and while holding him swish is feet around in shallow water so clean off the poop.

Hopefully that helps :P

[Whitedove06]

hi all - For my adopted pigeon with the splayed leg, if he gets dirt on his leg(s), I gently clean it with a soft moist cloth. He usually perches on me while I do this. I clean his nails too.

[ThaRatChick]

I did see the thread with the splayed-leg pigeon. I very nice story
For bathing i usually use dawn dishsoap, dawn (i love the animal commercial!). I pick at his feet every day to get all the poop out from between his toes. I don't think he would bath himself, but he does preen his neck/head/wings. He just can't get to his legs and bottom. I'll give him some toys, i have a lot of bird toys from the rats so i'll see if he likes them!

I got pecked for the first time today, and gosh i cant imagine how that would hurt anything! He doesn't like my hands near his face

[Mindy]

Hi TRC, believe me, if he wanted to they can peck pretty hard. He just doesn't want to hurt you. It sounds like your enjoying your new friend and none of them really like hands near there face or actually allot of them don't like there feathers touched.

Have you ever given your rats golf balls? It is remarkable what they can do to a golf ball. If you ever want to see the inside of one, give one to a rat and you will. I'm still amazed by it. I mean clubs don't damage a golf ball but a rat can chew one into tiny bits. min

[Jay3]

Hello Ratchick, I'm the one with the little pij in the post. The one with the splayed leg. Scooter is my baby. He couldn't fly either, but I would hold him up and let him flap his wings, until he did learn to take off. You have to be very careful, and stay right with him, to catch him as he lands. He will have a hard time landing gracefully until he learns, and he could come down hard. I only did this in the living room, with my husband sitting in his chair with a blanket on his lap. I would hold him right in front of the chair so that he would fly to it. Soft landing ya know. You could do this over your bed. He loves flying, and once he learned that he COULD fly, he wanted to fly more. This gave him incentive to try to get up on his good leg, so that he could take off and fly. We worked a lot with him. Finally, he did learn to fly, and if you have seen the post, he just recently learned to stand and balance on that good leg. I exercise his good leg so that it won't contract. Ya know, grow bent, as it was always folded up under him. If that happened, he wouldn't be able to learn to stand on it. The cage has to be kept very clean, as he is always on his belly, and you don't want poop all over him. I wouldn't use newspaper. I know it is easier to clean, but for one thing, it is slippery so he can't really get a good grip to move around, or to try and get up. He can also get sores, as he is always on his tummy, and the pressure from the hard surface can make sores. I use those lambswool cloths that they sell for dogs. Sometimes dog beds are covered with it. And I have a hand towel over that, so that I can change it often. I clean his cage at least three times a day. It doesn't take very long. Shake out the top towel, and put it back, unless it is soiled. If it is, then I just change it. I do a Scooter laundry every week. I wanted it to be soft, but not so soft that he wouldn't be able to try and stand. He is too old for that leg to be straightened with tape now. It would probably take surgery. It has grown that way now, and would only hurt him to bend it back in place.
With time and patience, he could learn to fly, and stand, and even walk. My Scooter takes steps now. It's just great.
Because he uses that splayed leg to push against things to balance himself with, I also put a rolled up towel around the perimeter of the cage. It gives him something to push against to balance with. He used it a lot, until just recently, when he started to get up on his feet. That splayed leg is like a little hand to him. He grabs onto things, and the towel makes it much easier than newspaper. I hope you don't mind the advice, but I learned through trial and error. And this way works. He and I worked hard, but he can now stand walk and fly. He's just amazing. The more time you spend with him the better he will do. Otherwise, he will just sit there with nothing to do as he really can't do much until he learns to stand or fly. They don't generally do much with toys. At least most don't. But they do usually like a good sized mirror in their cage to look at. I think it's great that you have taken him in, and I wish you lots of luck. Just remember that the more you put into it, the more you will get out of it. You'd be amazed just what these guys can do. Your bird is very cute by the way. Please keep us updated on your progress with him. And thanks for giving him a chance.

[Jay3]

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