Alea's New Thread & Pic

[Nooti]

Hi Alea
If the crop is emptying during the night then that's ok. It should empty once every 24 hours.
Did I read you right when you said you leave it 12 hours overnight? If that's right I think that's a little long. Just wondered if you can sneak in an extra feed.
Just a thought - what's Complan like? Any good? Terry?

[Feefo]

Would an additional meal of chicken baby food be advisable? As far as I know that is easily digested.

Cynthia

[TAWhatley]

Hi Helen,

I don't think we have Complan here in the U.S. Perhaps Cream of Wheat, grits, or one of the baby cereals would be close.

Terry

[Nooti]

Ah well, I thought I'd heard someone from the States mention Complan before, so I thought maybe you had it. It's a liquid diet designed for people who have been really ill and haven't got their appetite back properly - I think. But it is highly nutritious.

[Feefo]

Sorry, I am the one that keeps mentioning Complan. They donate their product to the RSPCA who use it for baby pigeons.

Cynthia

[TAWhatley]

We do have a number of liquid nutrition products such as Ensure but I'd have to check to see what's in them .. suspect quite a bit of lactose for one thing.

Terry

[Feefo]

I am pretty certain that we established that Complan had lactose in it. The fact that the RSPCA uses a product no longer impresses me. It was that organisation that siad "thanks to your human interference that bird will die" when I picked up a squab that had fallen from the nest and then advised me to feed it peanuts with tweezers!

Cynthia

[alea]

Hello again!
Some good news to report,.... Ali weighed in this morning at about 100g.! I was frustrated for awhile,.. after weighing him in for 10 days or so and not noticing any gain at all. I gave up for awhile but decided to weigh him this morning before feeding. The last time I weighed him he was still about 70g. and that was the under 2 weeks ago....100g.... so yay! Progress, at last. I am almost afraid to get happy... the last time I thought everything was good it seemed to slow a little again. What a let down that was,.. but I am doing cart wheels over here despite myself!
Something kind of odd, though... Bert doesn't seem to want to sleep in the nest-box with him at night any more. Past 2 nights, I put him in there and he jumped/flew right back out. He seems to want to stay in the cage? I'm not going to worry about it too much... just makes me kind of sad for the little guy, who is sleeping alone.
Bert is a character. She flies right to me,.. either landing on my head or my arm. Her favorite trick is to hang out on my shoulder and try to pull my earrings out. LOL!!!
Anyway, all seems to be going good.
And yes, Helen, I will certainly try sneaking in another feed in the night,... I was just concerned before because the crop never seemed to empty completely. I would normally just give a little more water at 9 or 10. The water really seems to be the key, because when I would find him with alot of food still in his crop from the previous feeding, it would be much thicker, and doughy like you said. He does pass quite a bit of water,.. but it still seems to work.
Thanks all!!!
Alea

[alea]

Oh one more thing....
Chicken baby food??? Thoughts?
Maybe for that extra feed in the night? I would just like to see the crop completely empty once in 24 hours, as was said. Would this be more easily digested than my recipe??

[TerriB]

Hi Alea,

Congratulations on getting Ali to the 100 gram weight! With such a rocky start, that's wonderful!

------------------
Terri B

[TAWhatley]

Hi Alea, Ali, and Bert!

Great news about the weight gain for Ali! Sounds like Bert is getting to be a grown up bird .. so precious the s/he flies to you and does your ears for you.

I don't think it would hurt the progress to go ahead and try the human baby food for the last feeding. I seem to remember an old post stating that beef based was better than chicken based baby food .. will have to see if I can find that one and bump it up. At any rate the baby food is definitely worth a try whether chicken or otherwise.

Terry

[alea]

I know... Bert also enjoys bird "showers" as opposed to bird "baths",... s/he is always jumping into the sink when I'm rinsing the dishes... cracks me up.
You might think I'm crazy, but I just bought a small book on potty training birds. I think in general they intended it to be for 'hard' or 'hook' beak type birds, which are more commonly kept as pets... but I know pigeons are pretty smart...so I figured, why not? I know Bert knows when I am talking to her, and I think it could work.
I am pretty busy at work right now, so I may have to wait a couple of weeks to start 'training', but that's okay. She still hasn't even really explored every room in the apartment. I just can't help but think it would be so cool to let her out when I'm home and not have to chase her around and clean up poop. Feel free to tell me I'm nuts, but when I have the time, I'm probably going to give a shot anyway. =0)

[Nooti]

Hi Alea
I say a muted HOORAY and hope it continues. If you weigh him say twice a week hopefully you will continue to see improvements. Bert sounds like he/she is growing up. Things are not looking too bad. I'm so glad. Keep it up and keep us posted.

[Feefo]

That is wonderful and very welcome news, Alea! Well done!!!

The drink of water last thing is a tip worth remembering.

Terry's Piu Piu was trained to poop in a single place. With three birds loose in one room at the moment I can see that there would be great advantages in training a pigeon to be neat. At the moment I have settled for covering the whole floor area with sheets and towels as it is a carpeted room. So PLEASE let us know how successful you are.

Cynthia

[dano7]

I also do the carpet and sheet routine but there are at least two factors that indicate some control if one had the patience: 1) pet birds of other species (which are after all just another previously wild bird) are routinely taught to poop on demand in the designated spot, and 2) my hen will hold it in for up to 10 hours when she is on the eggs--and when she gets up she goes to one of just two spots and unloads up to 50cc's!! Hens demonstrate both the control and location preference that just needs to be cued.