Help with a baby pigeon!

[Beanie]

Hi
I have a problem. I have a baby pigeon who is about 3 or 4 weeks old. His leg was all the way out to the side. I think I didn't put enough bedding in his nest and he was the only egg of the pair so he didn't have anything to balance himself. His leg is better but his foot is still out to the side. Well I only have a few pens and the other birds will start to fight and maybe kill him. I don't know what to do with him. Does anyone know if he will grow out of this? Will he ever be able to fly and race? His back (my mom thinks it is his breast bone) looks a little off as if it didn't grow properly. I think his wings are good and sturdy. What am I to do???????? Has anyone had this problem and what happened?

[TAWhatley]

Sorry to learn of the problems with this youngster. Can you post some pictures for us? That would be helpful in determining what might be able to be done.

You can search here for the term splay leg or splayed leg and should find some informative posts.

Terry

[Skyeking]

Hi Beanie,

Thank you for your care and concern over this youngster.

Please do the research and don't waste any time on this, because if this is a splay leg it still may be corrected, but the window of oportunity is closing, and some SEVERELY splay legs never recover.

[Feefo]

Hello Beanie,

I found a fully fledged pigeon with a splay leg a couple of years ago. I thought it would have been too late to help it, but Marion Issaacs advised me to tape its leg, and it corrected the splay.

The following link shows what was done, with photographs and explanatory notes, I hope that it helps.

http://community.webshots.com/album/193589827zTYswz

Cynthia

[Beanie]

I'm sorry. I don't know how to send pictures excempt through e-mail.

[TAWhatley]

Originally Posted by Beanie

I'm sorry. I don't know how to send pictures excempt through e-mail.

You can send them to me at TAWhatley@sbcglobal.net, and I will get them posted for you.

Terry

[Beanie]

Thank you! I will do so tomarrow. Right now I must eat dinner .

[TAWhatley]

http://www.rims.net/Beanie

Beanie is a darling little pigeon. I'm glad you got the legs taped.

Terry

[Skyeking]

Glad to see the legs are taped and it does not look like a very serious case. I did have another youngster who had a mild case as yours and it was easily correctable.

Thank you for helping Beanie, what a cutie!

[pigeonkid1046]

I got a story for ya. My grandpa had a nice pigeon with its leg out to the side due to not enough bedding. We named her "CRIP" and Crip turned out to be an excellent roller that couldn't fly to where she wanted to go without rolling. She adapted to the new way of walking, and got around pretty well. My grandpa still has her and she is a very good mom. Though I would share. Oh....would definitally tape it up to try to get it corrected. My grandpa did and it fixed it a little bit but didn't do it early enough. With not enough bedding, they try to get as close to their mom as possible and always pushing upward into her warm feathers. And their leg goes out from under them, and they can't retrieve it back under themselfs. SO.....it eventually grows to be like that. I heard some breeders that are strict with their breeding........gets rid of them in a not so humaine way. He should be back to normal, he isn't bad at all. Crips leg was sticking literally straight out.