can pigeons make guniea pig friends?

[feathers]

Hi, my daughter rescued a baby pigeon and it is lving in our conservatory. We have two guinnea pigs which have been with us 5 years and live in a big run/hutch. The pigeon seems to hang out close to them when they have their noses up to the wire of the cage. We are convinced the guinneas 'talk' to the pigeon. We don't know a thing about pigeons! help! It doesn't seem to be able to fly at all, no lift off! Worried he is disabled in some way. Now been with us for 6 weeks or so (was a bit fluffy in the feather department when we found him), and seems to be thriving. But how will it learn to fly? Will it want to escape when we open our door to outside world? Eerie thing is the previous owners lived in our large Victorian mansion for thirty years and had a pet pigeon (we are based in England). 10 years ago now, but is this a relative perhaps? Not sure if we should be encouraging it to leave, or fly or dance and sing, or what? Any help would be appreciated! It seems a very calm happy sort of pigeon.

[Fred]

You have to be careful with this bird because if he is not flying, he can't. He may have been hit on the spine paralyzing the nerves to the wings or he may have suffered a fractured wing that didn't heal properly. If you release this bird, he will not live much longer than it will take for a predator like a cat or a rat to get him.
If you want to put him in with the guinea pigs, he has to be closely supervised in order to make sure that they don't bite him and are truly friendly.

[feathers]

Thank you for responding. We took him in knowing he had been left to fend for himself, and there are cats everywhere in neighbouring gardens, so he has been safe in our conservatory. We are beginning to think he is going to be a long term guest, though this was not our naive intention. We wanted to 'wait' until our baby could fly, and then release him. Now I worry he can't leave as he isn't flying. Should we take him to a vet for a check up? We will make teh pogeon his own 'home' tomorrow within the conservatory. The pigeon will not go into teh same hutch as the guinnea pigs, but seems to sit up close to their hutch when they are out, and they 'chat'.

[Fred]

Hi,
Well, without knowing the history, we aren't going to know why this bird can't fly so it's all guesswork. What is certain is that if he is at least 6 weeks old, he should be flying and he isn't so the future doesn't look to good for an improvement.
For sure, you saved his life and he will be fine for as long as you keep him.
If you take him to a vet, you may not get an answer as to why he isn't flying. Is he flapping his wings and if he does, are both wings flapping strongly or is one slower than the other?

[This message has been edited by Fred (edited December 22, 2003).]

[feathers]

Hi again, his wings are flapping, and I will check if one seems stronger than the other. We will look after the pigeon as I just cannot imagine throwing him out into the cold. My husband thinks he is a bit smaller than he should be by now, so looks like the pigeon needs us. As I said, we had not planned on keeping him forever, and I may look if there is a bird shelter for him somewhere. If not, we will do our best to care for him.

[Fred]

A bird shelter would put him to sleep if he can't fly. That's why I abhor the name, "Shelter."

[feathers]

Oh dear, I hadn't realised! I guess he has a permanent home with us then. I just feel sad for him that he can't fly. If we left the door open, and he hopped out, would he come back? Would he think of our conservatory as home? Do I have to worry about diseases? No one has actually handled the pigeon yet.

[Fred]

I just thought of something. If this bird was kept in a cage, it's possible that he has become wingbound. He may not have developed the muscles necessary for lift. I don't know if they can develop now if you put him in a larger area.

[feathers]

I'll try to check. But what I can say is the bird has lots of space to fly if it wanted to. Initially we had it in a large cage, but my chum needed her cage back, and since our bird has been free to hop about our conservatory which is about 15 feet long, 9 feet wide and 11 feet high or so. That seems big enough to experiment for flying. When my daughter brought him home, we believed it had fallen out of its nest, and we know it survived 24 hours on its own. That's when we took it in, as we thought it would be eaten for sure by the neighbour's cat. We just thought it couldn't fly as it was a baby.

[Fred]

Then wingbound is not the reason for this. If he fell from a tree, he may have suffered neurological damage.

[maryco]

Hello,

Thought this might help as it's a post on basic pet pigeon needs, It would be great if you could keep him, I have one handicapped pet pigeon myself who only has one foot, Dotty is his name and he was a feral.

here are some pics of Dotty and his wife Pearl a pure white homing pigeon: http://community.webshots.com/user/marypigeon

If your pigeon has any external parasites they can easily be removed by using an anti parasite spray for birds from a pet shop, Also check his mouth, it should be light pink, he should be alert and his feathers should be healthy looking.. I wouldn't worry about disease because it's very rare that a human can really catch something, most of the time the diseases they have spread though their own kind.
When I brought Dotty in for the first time I gave him some preventative meds even though he was very healthy, he got one pill for internal parasites, one pill for canker and one for cocci and I also sprayed his feathers as he had one pigeon fly and afew lice under his wings (Not to worry these are only feather lice and can't live on anything like fur or hair except feathers)

Keep us posted!

Mary


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Pigeons make wonderful pets and are pretty easy to care for, here are some basic things that pigeons need:
1. Fresh water (I usually change it twice a day)

2. A pigeon mix either from a supply store or you can make your own by buying some seeds from a bulk store and mixing them (Pigeons like things like Milo, whole white or green peas, whole corn, millet, safflower, raw peanuts (NOT salted or dry roasted)..etc.

3. Pigeon grit (Not gravel from a pet shop) you can get red cross grit from a feed supply store, it contains crushed oyster shells and is a good source of calcium.
Also you can offer him chopped cuttle bone and crushed egg shells.

4. If your bird is an indoor pet he will need a vitamin and mineral powder that goes in the water since he won't be able to produce any vitamin D3 without direct sunlight, so you can buy a supplement from a pet shop.

Housing:

A nice cage will do, the pigeon should be able to stretch out both wings and still have some room. Pigeons don't really like round perches so you can get a flat perch.
The droppings should be cleaned once a day to keep the cage clean and the pigeon healthy.

You can add ACV (Apple cider vinegar) to the water once a week, this helps keep the bird healthy also.
The dose is 1/4 cup or alittle less per gallon of fresh water.

Also once or twice a week you can offer the pijjie a shallow pan filled with water to bath in, pigeons love baths and it's so fun to watch them splash around too!

If you have any questions please post them here..

[cyro51]

Hello,

I have heard of people mixing guinea pigs and pigeons together to keep mice away. Apparently mice fear the guinea pigs.

The pigeon will be quite happy in your conservatory, once they feel safe somewhere they are reluctant to leave...but he wold be very vulnerable outside on his own.

Where in the UK are you?

Cynthia

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All beings are fond of themselves, they like pleasure, they hate pain, they shun destruction, they like life and want to live long. To all, life is dear; hence their life should be protected.

-Mahavira

[feathers]

Hi,
I am based in North Buckinghamshire. Looks as if our pigeon is here to stay! We've accepted he can't fly, and I do think one of hiw wings may have been injured. But he looks pretty healthy. We think he may even adore the guinnea pigs as he sits up close to their 'run' on the other side of the wire enclosure. Maybe he has focused on them as his nearest and dearest! They are gentle guinne pigs, and have never nipped at my children. But we wouldn't put the pigeon in with the guinnea pigs anyway.

Thank you everyone for your kind and helpful feedback as we are new to our pigeon caretaking role.

[cyro51]

i am so glad that you have decided to keep her. She will bring you peace and joy.

Cynthia

[Afra]

I just saw this topic, and wanted to add a little bit of humor to it. I agree with what the others have said here so far, but take a look at one of my previous topics: http://www.pigeons.com/.ubb/Forum1/HTML/002383.html

Also, click on my name and find my profile, and it should tell you a link to the website where I have posted pictures of my own pigeon. There is a picture of my brother's guinea pig with my pigeon on that site. Hope you enjoy them!