Found injured pigeon... need help!

[BrianNAmy]

Hello everyone. My fiance and I have been searching the Web all morning now and this is the only sight so far we've found that has advice on caring for a pigeon.

Last night we found an injured pigeon sitting on the sidewalk at about 12:30 in the morning. I was able to pull off the road into a parking lot and from there I picked the little guy up. He hopped around a bit but never flew off.

I thought it was possibly a broken wing since he didn't fly, but when we put him down he just stands on one leg, holding the other one up slightly beneath him. Right now we have him in a rather large box with some seeds and a shallow cup of water. Thanks to some of the advice on here we were able to get him to drink a few drops of water and I think I may hear him pecking at some of the seeds right now.

My concern is over the leg though... How is a pigeon treated for a broken/injured leg!? All of the shelters/hospitals I found don't deal with wild birds. I also don't want to bring him in just to have him euthanized, when he appears fine otherwise.

His feathers on one wing are also a bit ruffled and appear shorter than the ones on the other wing - almost like it was clipped from the looks of it. Is there anyway to diagnose this little guy to figure out exactly what's wrong and what can be done to help??

Any advice would be appreciated!

-Brian

[Reti]

Hi Brian,
thank you for taking this poor little guy in.You did good giving him seeds and water.If you can, ckeck out the leg and the wing and give us some more information about his injuries. You can have your fiance hold him and you could gently examine him. Check if he has any open wounds, if there is any swelling, or if you think it is broken. Same for the wing.
I don't know much about injuries, but someone who does know more will post soon.
Also keep him in the box with food and water, you can put and old towel or sweatshirt in, he might be more comfortable.
Keep us posted, please.
Reti


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[Skyeking]

Hello and welcome to pigeons.com

Thank you for helping this needy pigeon.

This bird will need an avian vet or rehabber to determine if the leg is broke.
usually a pigeon will dangle the leg like rag doll leg if it is broke. If it is just sprained it will hold it up. But that is not always the case.

Call an avian vet and see if they know of a local rehabber, or call a pet store and see if they have someone they call. My rehabber has her number at pet stores, and avian vets and with people who have pigeon clubs. I would also try your local pigeon club and see if anyone there would take a look at it, or knows someone who can rehabs pigeons.

Glad to hear your careful about where he is treated, because places do euthanize.

Meanwhile keep him calm and keep offering him water and food.

There will be others with more information. Where are you located?

Treesa

[TAWhatley]

Hi Brian,

Where in Arizona are you located? If you are anywhere near to Chandler you might try East Valley Wildlife.

One of our moderators here (Cindy)is located in the Phoenix area and may be able to help you find a place that can help the bird also.

If the leg is broken it may be able to be set/splinted successfully.

Stand by for additional information.

Terry Whatley

[BrianNAmy]

Okie. We put a towel in the box. So far he/she (How do you tell anyway??) seems to prefer standing over sitting. I placed him on the towel and he immediately sat down but in a few minutes was up hopping around the box.

Just noticed him pruning himself after he had a little snack - a good sign, right? The leg doesn't appear to show any signs of string, etc. he's holding in up underneath him but puts it down every so often. So does that sound more like a sprain?

The wing appears to be the same shape as the other beneath the feathers and there are no signs of bleeding or damage otherwise... just several missing feathers on that one wing.

I'll look at the leg a bit later to see if I could make a splint for it.

We're heading out to a shop to get some proper suplies right now. If all he needs is some attention and a bit of care we have no problem nursing him back to health. Any suggestions on the best things to supply?

[BrianNAmy]

We bought a cage and some feed and oyster shell stuff. We put Bernice/Bernie (depending on gender) in with the towel from the box since she seemed to like it, and she seems to be adjusting. We also put sheets of newspaper over the wire cage floor so she doesn't have to balance as precariously. It is looking more like her leg was sprained than broken. The wing on the opposite side is a little bit deformed, but she can move it. She seems to be getting less nervous about us being around. We are thinking of keeping her. Any suggestions on that aspect? This site has been very helpful Thank you everyone for your suggestions so far

-Amy

[AZWhitefeather]

Hello Brian & Amy,
Welcome to Pigeons.com & thank you so much for taking the time to care for this sweet pij.
As Terry stated, I live in the Mesa area.
If you are in need of a rehabber, here is the email address of East Valley Wildlife. Nancy is a super gal. She will do whatever she can to help.
email address: EVWildlife@aol.com

If you are outside the Phoenix area let me know where & we can see if there is someone closer that would be able to help you.

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Cindy

[BrianNAmy]

An update on Bernie- he seems to be getting stronger, and more defensive. I'm thinking that the past day or so he was in shock (not actual shock where he was cold, but just not knowing what to do) because now he will puff up at us if we reach into the cage and he will slap us with his wing and make a kind of hiss/squawk kind of noise. After you've reached in the cage and then left, if you go near the cage he puffs his feathers up. He also seems to be standing more on both legs now. He's definitely feeling stronger than he was. Probably all the seed and water he's been getting. I hope he gets used to us. What's the best way to get a pigeon to like you? If he's not going to adjust to us I feel like it'd be mean to keep him. Any ideas?

Thanks
-Amy

[pierre]

You guys are great for taking such good care of Bernie/Bernice (I took in a baby pigeon once and also named her Bernice--Sesame Street reference for you, too?!!). My pigeon, Pierre, was absolutely vicious when I first found her (she had a broken wing, and couldn't fly, and I think that she was just terrified and in pain). Very slowly, though, I won her over by (1) singing and talking very softly to her for long periods of time--just as you would talk or sing lullabys to a baby to put her to sleep, and (2) getting her used to me by putting my hand in her cage and leaving it there for a long time--gradually I put it closer, and one day she stepped up onto it and stood there. You get the idea. Eventually Pierre got to the point where she would follow me around, or sit by my feet waiting for her to scratch her head and stroke her back (pairs of birds preen each others' heads very gently--I think that's why they like to have their heads scratched). It takes time and patience, but pigeons are remarkably affectionate and intelligent, and they figure out very quickly if you plan to hurt or help them.
Good luck!

Nancy

[BrianNAmy]

Well, since I'm here at work with some free time, I figured I'd post an update.

Bernie - yes, named after the SS character... thanks to Amy - seems to be doing much better now then when we found him. He eats regularly, seems to take a few sips of water every morning, stretches his wings, grooms himself and even uses his injured leg occasionally to stretch or even stand on a bit.

Nothing appears broken, no blood, no illness or anything, and he can use both his leg and wing, although we have him in a cage where he can't walk around that much. We're still trying to figure out what happened to him. It looks like something may have happened to his wing (all of the longer, flight feathers are missing on one wing and the rest of the feathers on it are a mess) while or just before he tried flying, then he must have "crash landed" on his leg and sprained it.

He's feisty now and puffs up when we approach him. This is the first time I've been close enough to a pigeon to see how defensive they can be! Any time we put a hand in the cage, he turns his side towards us, eyes us a bit, takes aim and WHACK! Perfect wing smack right on target.

We figured we would keep him, at least until he gets better. If he gets used to us by then, we'll give him a home, if he still can't stand to be around us we'll probably let him go free at that point.

Thanks to everyone for the advice in this post and in the others on this board!

[Skyeking]

Thanks for the update and giving him time to recoop. Sounds like he is on his way to mending. It will be some time before he puts his full weight on that leg. Treesa