A pair of baby pigeons in need of help!

[Angelika]

Hi pigeon friends,

I live in Chicago and came to get to know, fall in love, and care for the city's feral pigeons to the extent this is possible for me.
Problem now: Two days ago, I got a pair of baby pigeons, fallen from their nest. They are about two and a half weeks old, healthy, sturdy, tiny, and absolutely adorable. They still need to be hand-fed, but will learn to pick seeds by themselves within a few days. I would love to keep them myself, but I already have four feral-turned-pet pigeons and thus really have reached my limit.
Is there any one who would like to foster-parent these two sweet baby birds? They are nothing out of the ordinary. The smaller one (perhaps a girl, whom I have preliminarily named Sabina or "Beenie") will become a grey checker. The bigger little guy (perhaps a boy and so far named Bernard or "Bernie") will probably develop charcoal colored wings with grey pants. Both of them will keep their extraordinarily big eyes surrounded by pretty white ceres. (I think I know their parents and especially their father.)
They are very, very sweet, and they need help. Right now they would be lost in the outside world.

Angelika

[TAWhatley]

Angelika,

Thank you so much for caring for these babies.

Please try posting in the Adoptions section and see if you get any results.

If not, then keep posting here.

Terry Whatley

[bigbird]

Angelika,
Your efforts on behalf of these feral pigeons is exemplary, a true example of what this web site stands for and is all about. Please keep trying here, and anywhere else you can find to locate new homes for these babies.
Thanks so much,
Carl

[jdogvolunteer87]

I live in Wilmette, and I know of a rehabber who lives in Evanston. I can give you her name and phone number, if you're interested, and she might be able to take them. However, she already has a few pigeons (including a baby I found recently) and may be full. if you're interested, let me know

[jdogvolunteer87]

Nevermind, sorry. I talked to her and she's full up with animals. Good luck in finding a home!

[Angelika]

Dear Terry, Carl, and jdogvolunteer87:

First of all thank you all very much again for your prompt responses and your encouragements for an acquired passion that many think is simply not quite normal. I really wish the world as a whole would be like things are on this website. Really, I mean this.
I will post my message also in the "Adoption" department, as you have suggested.

Dear jdogvolunteer87, in particular (sorry, for addressing you like this, but I do not know your name: yes, I would be interested to get in contact with the rehabber in Evanston. Maybe, she has other suggestions, even if she herself is full (just as, unfortunately ,I am full right now myself).
The point is that these two new ones are very tiny little crittures and have not yet have yet a chance to experience the outside world in the normal way (that is, by being fully brought up and initiated properly into the hazards of a city-pigeon's life by pigeon parents), and so it might be that these two little sweeties are in the end better off in some loving human household. That's why I think permanent human foster parents might potentially be the best for them.
Pigeons are really wonderful house companions, but they require some time--and work (and toilet paper)--and with four already in residence, I simply cannot guarantee any more to juggle it out with my work life.

At any rate, let me tell you an anecdote about my present situation. Among my four pet pigeons (counted without the two new babies) is one "lady-bird" who came to my balkony door when she was seeking simply a quiet place to die--from paratyphus in a very advanced state. It was a little miracle that she survived (thanks to Baytril). She's still recovering and not too interested in the new babies.
The other three were all adopted as fallen babies. The oldest of these is maybe a little over three months now: Christopher. He is quite phenomenal. When the two younger ones arrived, aged about two and a half weeks and no more than a month younger than himself, he played parent-bird and really crop-fed them. Those two little ones are now about two months old; they just have stopped squeaking and are now, more or less, youngsters like himself.
All four of my pigeons have become very close friends. They are always out for some kind of mischief: like emptying the soil from the pots of my plants. Alas, four of them, and I have so many plants!! Little Gremlins they are!

Now, however, that the two new tiny ones have arrived, Christopher displays the same kind of parent-behaviour again,only in a much more pronounced way. I have the babies in an extra cage, but Christopher sits right in front of that cage, tenderly cooing and trying to feed them from the outside. He has spilled the contents of his little crop there several times, although, the good boy is just in the middle of his first major moult and would need the nourishment for himself. Christopher has been very tame and "shmoozy" all the time I have him, but now he does not want me to get near--not even to let him into the babies' cage. When his other pigeon friends come while he is adoring the babies, he gets outright aggressive. He obviously loves babies above all other things! To be sure, from all his other behaviour I have no doubt at all that he is male.

Has anyone of you observed that kind of behaviour in a young pigeon?

Well, this is only a story aside.

My new babies still wait for a good home. Once more, I truly love Beenie and Bernie (and they are sweeeter than honey), but I can't properly care for six creative little pigeons (gremlins) in one Chicago city apartment. I will be more than grateful for any help in finding the right home for my two tiniest ones.

Thanks for any advice, suggestion, and help.

Angelika

[cyro51]

Dear Angelika,

You sound as if you have your hands full! I had a single pigeon- appropriately named Piglet - in my bedroom while she recovered from canker, and was astounded by the mess she managed to make...I am certain that she equalled my other 24 in poop production...a one bird guano factory, bless her!

I hope that you are able to find a loving home for the two new babies!

Cynthia

[jdogvolunteer87]

I have good news! Turns out I called the wrong person, and I called the right person a few minutes ago. She's kinda private, so I'm not to give you her name, but you can bring them to the Evanston Animal Shelter, and she can take it from there. The address is 2310 Oakton, and it's just off McCormick blvd. If you don't know where that is, I can give you better directions, and here's the link to the shelter's site
www.care-evanston.org

[Angelika]

Pigeon friends,

I have sad news. A few hours ago, Sabina, the smaller one of the baby pigeon pair for whom I hoped to find foster parents died.
I do not know exactly how it happened, but it apparently was a coincidence of several unfortunate factors.

This morning I found that Sabina had a swelling in her throat (actually I even began wondering already yesterday if their was something) and some difficulty breathing. I checked the up-to-date literature , including websites , I have at my disposal. I took a look into her throat (a thing that I still find very difficult to do appropriately ) and saw some yellowish, mucuous stuff. I thought that this might very well be canker. I gave her Ronidazole. But I was not sure that no other respiratory difficulty was involved, and so I also gave her about 2.5 or 3.0 mg of Baytril.
I am at research leave at the moment, which means that I work in my home study, right next to the kitchen were the baby pigeon house is, and I could check in on Sabina almost continually. She took the medication fine. But she seemed to be constantly hungry, and her crop was never quite full. I used thin baby formula and fed her every three hours, each time also adding some of the Ronidazole solved in water and having her either suck it fromm y fingers or very carefully putting it into her beak with a dropper. No accident here . I also gave the Ronidazole solution to her sibling, Bernard, who so far seemed to be o.k.

What came in addition were obviously the baby-feeding instincts of Christopher, the three-month-oldish youngster, about whom I wrote yesterday night.
Since I suspected a disease with Sabina, I had actually tried to secure the baby cage from my other four free-ranging pigeons with thin dish towels on three sides, except the one side that stood close to the wall and could not be accessed, yet allowed sufficient air. I also had added Ronidazole to the drinking water of the older four pigeons.
At any rate, late this afternoon I heard Sabina squeaking and Christopher cooing. I finished the sentence I just was writing in my work and then immediately went to see what had happened. I found Christopher crouching in fron t of the baby cage, cooing. He obviously had found a way to work himself through the dish towels, and was just trying to feed the babies. I gently scolded him and even more gently pushed himaway from the cage. Then I took a look at the cage itself and saw Sabina, who had somehow managed to push her head through the wire mesh towards Christopher. Right at this very moment her tiny body relaxed in death. Obviously she had not been able to withdraw her head and neck through the cage. Christopher had pumped some food, seeds soaked in his crop, into her mouth. That was it. She was dead.

So, this is just the description. There certainly is something I did wrong, though I tried not to. I had tried to find an avian vet in Chicago, but my server could not get me to the right site in time. It is heartbreaking. Now Bernie is alone, squeking for his sibbling. Christopher is disturbed. I have trouble getting himinto his cage over night with his other two adopted youngsters.

Sorry, this sounds so morbid. But trying to care for feral pigeons never quite seems to be even a drop of water on a hot stone. They are so gentle and sweet though, and so amazing in their habits, ways of life, social instincts, learning abilities, and, yes, I guess, this means intelligence.

Please,if there is anything we can do to help finding even better networks to help these astonishing little lives, lets do it. Please, if there are more Chicago people caring for these little animal homeless , let me get in contact with you. Feral pigeons are after all the offspring of abandoned or escaped domestic animals.

Sorry that I am whining right now. But it's all I can do right at this moment.

Angelika

[Angelika]

Dear jdogvolunteer87,

Too bad our messages obviously cross each other. But thank you so much for referring me to the Evansto Animal Shelter. I am not too far from Evanston. I have no car, but I might be able to work with the people there. Do you have any other Chicago contacts that could help me with feral pigeons in need?

Angelika

[jdogvolunteer87]

I'm so sorry to hear about your little pidgeon. Unfortunatly, this lady may well be the only person in the chicago area who will care for them. I doubt even the vets for exotic birds will do anything, for I've made a few calls of my own and they've all led to naught. Some would reference me to another place, that inevitably wouln't do wildlife, or wouldn't do pigeons. However, there may be a few I haven't hit, so I wish you luck. Were I not a student, I would be willing to take your other baby, but being 15 is rather prohibitive. Sorry I can't do more.

Janine

[Angelika]

Janine,

Thank you for your message. I've contacted the Evanston Center and am waiting for a reply. Little Bernard, the survivor of my baby pair seems to be doing fine. No signs of any disease. He has started picking small seeds by himself. Christopher, my baby-loving youngster, has fed him three times today in addition to my Formula-feeding. It happened outside of cages and under my full surveillance.
Sabina's death was truly tragic and keeps haunting me.
Thank you for letting me know your name and age. It would be great if we could stay in contact, perhaps also with the private lady, who might be interested in adopting Bernard. Once more, I love pigeons, and I would gladly keep Bernard as well, but with four adopted pigeons already in residence in my city-condo, I simply are at my limit.
There must be more than three people in Chicago who like (feral) pigeons. If you have any idea of what could be done to mobilize them, creating something like an emergency network, please, let me know.

Bless you,
Angelika

[jdogvolunteer87]

You may or may not get a reply from them, for it can get quite overwhelming. It might be a few days until someone has the time to call you back, because we're quite full right now. You'd probably be better off just going and dropping him off during shelter hours. On Saturday they're from noon-3:30, Sunday from Noon-4, and on the weekdays 6-8 pm. As for finding others who liked pigeons, my only thought is that an ad could be plaed in the paper, but that's risky, for it could as easily attract people who dislike them. There's a Chicago shelter called the Furry Friends Foundation, and they might know something of worth. I've visited the site, and they seem like a very nice animal shelter
http://www.furryfriendsfoundation.com/

[cyro51]

I am sorry about Sabina's death, but as you say it was an unfortunate accident caused by a number of factors, no way could you have anticipated that!

Our poor pigeons are such delicate creatures.

Cynthia