urgent help .... pigeon tail missing

[sk8er]

Hi,
I caught a wild pigeon and it tried to get away all its tail feathers except 2 came out. I was very sad and decided to keep it home. I left the entire house to himself and a lot of rice but it did not eat anything for 8 hours. When I came back I had the hand feed him the rice and force it down and he finally ate 1 at a time. Now it built it a small cardboard box in which it can get a dark spot to sleep in. However, I have feel very guilty and want to do whatever I can to get its tail and more feathers back. It still struggles and tries to get away from me, although less so, after I fed it some rice.

[sdreamcatcher@g]

Losing tail feathers is a common escape tactic for many species of birds. They will grow back, although I'm not sure how long that will be. Is the bird injured?

Rice is good to start, but you will need to get a good pigeon mix as soon as possible. I'm guessing you are feeding the rice uncooked?

[sk8er]

thanks for the reply. Yeah, the rice is uncooked. DO they like bread? I shall get the pigeon mix tommorrow but the puzzling thing is before I caught him he used to eat rice by himself. Now he doesnt.

Here are my problems:

1. I literally have to force it down its throat.
2. How do I make him friendly towards me. I pts its back, do cooing sounds. Try to pke him in several places with my finger but all he ever does when hes loose is try to get away from me.
3. He is not injured otherwise
4. I gave him a bath and he hated that too.
5. He didnt loos the tail feather on purpose. I caught his tail and he still flew away leaving nothing but feathers in my hands.

I dont want to loose this pigeon and plan on keeping him until he is healthy and grows his tail back.

Thanks.

[pdpbison]

Hi sk8er,


So, what is the situation then with you trying to catch this Pigeon who had nothing wrong with it, untill you messed with it and pulled it's Tail out by trying to catch it...? Who now is in a box getting rice shoved down it's throat...


Can you help me understand what you think you are doing?

Are you like 12 or something?


Phil
Las Vegas

[sk8er]

I know my post looks immmature, but the reason I wanted to catch it is because it flew into my house. While I tried shooing it out the window I just kelt flying deeper. So I tried catching it so I could relase it out but accidently caught its tail and he tried to fly away and hence all his tail feathers came out. Thats the story... I felt bad and hence decided to keep it until its tail came back.

[Trees Gray]

We appreciate you allowing the bird to re-grow its tail feathers in rehab environment, and it will do that in about six weeks, but you have to provide the bird the resources.

Bread is not good for the bird at all, please provide him with a wild dove mix, or pigeon mix, rice alone won't cut it either. He needs some sound nutrition if you want to get him back in shape for the outdoors and get those tail feathers to regrow in good shape.

An avian multi-vitamin in the water once a week wouldn't hurt, either, and a good pigeon grit also.

[sk8er]

thanks. how do i make it friendly towards me?? also it does not eat rice by itself.

[Trees Gray]

The best way to get the bird to befriend you is to feed it out of your hand only, before you know it he will be your friend for life. He may or may not become friendly, after all he is a feral pigeon, and he still remembers you pulled his tail out.

Time will tell, if you want to gain the birds confidence try it, daily, consistently, and then wait and see.

If you offer the bird a clean empty cat litter pan filled with water, he may take a bath. I don't ever force mine, unless for some particular reason. Pigeons love to either bathe, or sit under a sprinkler..on their own.

[sk8er]

He doesnt eat rice out of my hand. When I force it down his throat he eats 80% of the time and the rest 20% is still sitting in his beak, even after 2 hours. Do feral pigeons usually behave like this?? Should I get him a cage. temporarily he is housed in a cardbox with an entrance. So he usually puts his head in a dark corner and goes to sleep.

[bevslape]

I understand that you are trying to help the pigeon, but please put yourself in his place Sk8er, he is frightened of you and does not know your intentions with him.I am assuming it can not fly, which is why you have him? It is normal for him not to trust you. Please be patient, speak softly with him, do not make any sudden moves, and remember, be patient. Sometimes it takes months-even a year for one to fully understand and trust you.

As recommeded earlier, pigeon seed, or the very least, a wild bird seed, which is the closest to the real stuff will do.



A basic calcium grit, the Petco variety will do ok also. They also sell pigeon -dove mix there. We get some of our supplemental supplies from them.

Pigeons dip and sip, as we would from a straw, so make sure the water container is deep. Keep all its dishes clean.This is very important.

Thank you for your concern for this pigeon.

[sk8er]

no, he can fly fine but has no tail feather. I wil try to get some sort of bird food from the local grocery store. How should I feed it to him?? Put seeds in water dish or something ?


How long will his tail take to recuperate?

[pdpbison]

Hi sk8er,


The Bird sounds ill, and you would do well either to take it outside, let it go, so it can die in peace without you continueing to traumatiuse it...

Or, get it to someone who has some experience and leave it with them.

If it is 'sleeping' a lot, it is ill.

Too, if a Bird of ANY kind ever flys into your house again, please, just open a "Door" and sort of get out of it's way...or get to where the Bird is between you and the Door, and see if you can just shoo it out...please do not try catching it.

Basically, if you want a dead Pigeon, keep on it like you are.

If you want this Bird to have any chance, get it to someone who has some experience and familiarity, or just turn it loose even.

Please...


And lastly please do NOT try shoveing any more anything down it's throat, and this includes "water" too...stop it please...!

Get the Bird TO someone who does rehab or has the time and interest to help it, and to figure out what KIND of sick it has, and who will know how to treat it.



Best wishes...!

Phil
Las Vegas

[sk8er]

well, I would have. Secondly, since my first post the bird apparently has started to like me. He does not get scared of me. Can sit on my shoulder .... I havent tried feeding it anything yet. .. I will get the food tomorrow. However, that is since my first post. It is no longer violent etc.... Just getting famalirzed with thouse and apprently likes to sit on the heater maybe to get warm air.

[feralpigeon]

Hi sk8er,

It takes about 6 weeks for the tail feathers to grow back provided they are not just broken off. Do you happen to have an extra room that the pij could stay in? Perhaps the bathroom if you bird-proofed it? Maybe for starters I would just offer the seeds and water and give the bird a chance to settle down and just get used to being around you. Talking softly whenever you are around him/her. Make sure the water and seed dish are both untippable, you want at least a couple of inches of water. As mentioned, it can sometimes take a while for a feral w/no previous history w/you to warm up to the idea of being in your house. Seems like if you are only gonna be keeping long enough for the feathers to grow back, then you wouldn't want to get to close to the bird emotionally because then you will be releasing him/her. It would be hard emotionally on you and confusing for the bird thereby lowering it's survival skills.

Maybe it's for the best to keep an attentive distance.

fp

[Trees Gray]

sk8er,

Perhaps you can find a "pigeon friendly" rehabber in your area that has the time and knowledge to take care of it. The bird should be examined if it is not well, and that may be a posibility since it was trying to get inside your place, it just doesn't sound like normal behavior.

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contactA.htm#il

http://www.pigeons.com/prd.htm

Meanwhile, give the bird some dry peas, thawed and drained corn or peas..until you can get a bird seed mix.