baby wood pigeon wont fly

hi im wondering if anyone could help me, woodpigeons have nested in a 30ft tree in my garden and i found a baby woodpigeon (although adult size) sitting on my fence then pecking around in my garden for nearly 2hrs, thinking he/she might be injured and feared he/she will be cat food soon i approached it, the bird seemed fine, but would not fly, so i put it in my shed over night to be safe, with food and water, the next morning i bought the bird out and encouraged it to fly, but would just flap down to the ground, so my neighbour took him into her garden, as it has alot of cover and places to hide and be safe, two days later, the bird still refuses to fly, it can flap its wings fine, and flap down from things in attemps of flying lessons, encouraged by us, nothing seems to be wrong, no apparent injurys but he/she just seems to be happy pecking around on the ground or pirched on my hand or shoulder, ever so friendly and cute. the wood pigeon's parents are still around keeping an eye out, but doing nothing
is there anything we can do before he/she gets attacked from cats?, or anything we should look for?
please help
lucy

[Feefo]

Hi Lucy,

Can you take a photo? If not, can you tell us how long her tail and flight feathers are?

I have often found that pigeons become weak and are unable to fly when they have roundworms, though she sounds a bit young to be so badly affected.

I think it would be best if you took her inside for safety while we try to work out why she can't fly...because it is definitely a case of can't rather than won't!

For the time being, can you also check inside her mouth and confirm that it is clean and pink? And can you let us know where you are? There might be a member, vet or sanctuary in your area that can help.

Cynthia

[lgdiva77]

hi
thanks in getting back to me, i think ive attached 2 x photos, ive never uploaded photos before, let me know if you cant see them
i will check he's/ her mouth tomorrow when its light and i live in bournemouth dorset

[Feefo]

The photos are fine. He is certainly old enough to fly and too old to be that tame.

Is he able to eat OK? Even though he is pecking around he might not be getting enough food and water.

If you have not seen him drinking or eating in any quantity then give him an artificial heat source such as a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel and let him warm up for a while. Then mix 1 pint warm water with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 tablespoon of glucose, honey or sugar. Pour some into a shallow contained and dip his beak in it so that he knows there is water there. He will need to be rehydrated before he is given food, so wait a few hours befor offering him something like wild bird seed.

If he doesn't eat the seed, the defrost some froxen peas , open his beak and pop them into his mouth one at a time.

As well as a reporrt on the inside of his mouth it would be helpful if you described his poops, a birds poops tell a lot about his health.

Cynthia

[lgdiva77]

i think he is eating well and drinking, and he has seemed to have grown in the past 2 days, but i will try the mixture, thank you
and yes i was surprised how tame he is, he would sit on my hand or shoulders all day if i let him, ha ha and he's quite happy to go nose to beak
he does flap his wings in the normal manor but just doesnt seem to fly
the RSPCA did say, when phoned that they are very lazy birds and learn to fly from the ground and usually takes about 3 days, maybe i just have a very lazy bird??????

[Feefo]

Pigeons can usually fly when they leave the nest, their survival depends on it.
My rescue woodies have always been a lot younger than that when they start to fly!

Cynthia

[lgdiva77]

i have sent a message to a rehoming place near me, found through this site, to see if they can help and maybe re-home, because if he cant fly then he wont unfortunately survive, im just waiting for a reply
thank you again for your much needed help, as i dont know anything about birds and didnt know what to do, thank you
and how old do you think he is?