Distressing problem with new addition to feral flock

[dodo]

Hello again all

I have a rather upsetting problem with a new addition to my regular feral friends. To be honest, I'm surprised that having had feral pigeons lounging around in my backyard all day, every day for 18 months now, it's actually taken this long for a problem to arise.

Sadly this poor young chap has a serious leg problem. His legs are bound up with string. I have no idea whether this was the act of a cruel and sick human being, or whether the string naturally become entangled there. Id prefer to think it was the latter. But not only has the string caused severe swelling on one leg, but the single piece of string is attached to both legs, meaning the poor fellow is walking around like a prisoner in leg irons.

Apart from that, he can fly perfectly well and spends most of the day either outside my bedroom window, on my roof, lying on my lawn or perching on the neighbours second story window sill overlooking my door.

Before I posted here I have gone to exceptional lengths to try and acquire the pigeon so that he can get the required attention. Unfortunately he has resisted all my attempts over the last few weeks to be caught. I can get a couple of feet away and that is it. What makes things much more difficult is that he perpectually hangs about in a group of 5 others who have been actually been regulars at my home since they were youngsters. So the group all look out for each other, making any sort of approach to this bird all but impossible. On the ocassions he is alone, it is simply impossible to catch him. I have tried...and tried...and tried.

Ironically, although most of my other ferals will happily walk through my laundry into the kitchen (and do so quite often at feeding time), this bird will simply not come anywhere near. So I can't even trap him in the house.

I really have no idea what to do. He seems OK and I feed him about 4 times a day. But this is almost as distressing for me as it must be for the bird and I am very upset about it.

Thanks

Jonathan

[Reti]

I am so sorry for the poor little guy.
You have to catch him and remove the string, I know you tried, did you try Mary's trap method?
I cannot explain it well so I hope Mary will see the post and respond soon.
Until then you can do a search in the arscives, it has to be in there.

Reti

[stella]

This is an odd and sad coincidence - after over a week of trying, I was finally able to capture a string entangled pij on my deck. His legs were also bound together, and he's lost a toe.

He's just a little guy, painfully thin (he's eating well now). I have been working for hours with him to remove the string. It's just terrible.

I wish you all the best in catching your friend - I know it's very difficult. Sending good thoughts your way.

[dodo]

OK thanks. I found Mary's old thread. The sticking point is with other pigeons around all the time this could be exceedingly tricky. There would be 5 or 6 birds all happily chomping along the seed trail. I just wish the bird would do what the others do and walk into the laundry. I could then go around the other side of the house and shut the door from the outside.

[Yong]

I catch birds when I don't try...I have a cage, a simple cage, the cheap kind for parakeets. I keep it outside. Sometime I leave the door up on it. Inside there's usually always food left over, and a few of ferals who lock themselves in. what happens is several of the birds cram into eat the food, then others will jump on top of the cage in a frenzy and then the door shuts. I came home today and found three in there today. Give it a whirl, and see what happens. =) Yong

[dodo]

I'm actually going to get a good quality cat cage from Mum when I next visit her, so I will think about that. Mum and I were only discussing this yesterday. I've guess there isn't much to lose, except catching any pigeon other than this one

As I say, the main problem is that this young bird has attached itself to the other 6 regulars who have basically made my backyard their daylight home. The other 6 will always grab the food first. This pigeon, however, will only go to the food when it sees the others are already digging into it. I just can't forsee a situation where the others would not be around all the time.

I'm still hopeful I can do a "laundry" job on him. I could have trapped 90% of my feral friends this way, but this chap's mobility means he doesn't want to go very far on foot.

I know it's a bizarre thought, but a broken wing would seemingly be a much easier problem to deal with than this.

[cyro51]

Hi Jonathan,

When Mary has used her trap she catches a number of pigeons, slides something underneath the trap and then selects the injured pigeon, removes it and lets the others go. I may be wrong but I think that she has released the healthy ones inside her apartment once!

It is extremely difficult to catch a well fed pigeon in this condition! I have had much more success with the starving ones because they will fall in a heap at my feet when I throw down peanuts and it is easy to pick out the one I want. It is so much more difficult to catch them if they are in one of the flocks that I feed daily.

Unfortunately every time the pigeon tries to walk the string will tighten and it will eventually kill one or both feet, or individual toes. Thread and fishing line will cut into the flesh to the bone. So keep trying but don’t blame yourself when you can’t catch it. Remember that a pigeon that is easily caught by a human would be even more easily caught by a predator!

You might want to prepared yourself for action when you catch it. We all have our own methods and tools for thread removal, these are mine:

I usually start by rubbing Bach Rescue Cream into the foot, this softens any muck and in my experience also loosens the string, probably because it reduces swelling.

I have some baby scissors with blunt ends, because these can be used to snip thread that is embedded into the skin without cutting the flesh.

I also use a seam splitter (a dressmaking tool for picking stitches which has a blunted end) for separating the thread from the flesh before cutting it.

I have antibacterial cream to rub in the wound and I use a single drop of Metacam in the inside tip of the pigeon’s beak as a painkiller:

I have cotton buds , sterile gauze and cornflour to treat minor bleeds.

I also have a pair of small sharp scissors to cut the thread.

When you examine a bird always ensure that the head is raised so that there is no danger of regurgitation that could cause it to aspirate and die. It sometimes helps to lay a piece of gauze over its face to reduce struggling.

In a lot of cases the thread or string is visible and therefore quite easy to remove just by patiently snipping and unwinding. It sometimes takes several goes , with rests for the pigeon and the rescuer in between.

Before you start examine the foot carefully. Yellow bits are a sign of infection that will need to be treated with antibiotics. Blackened flesh is dead and in my experience is dangerous to poke about in as it could cause a severe bleed..

If the string has done significant damage to the foot then it might be a good idea to take it to the vet who will have specialised instruments to do the job and also be able to provide emergency treatment if there is a bleed.

I always cut the bit that links the feet together first, so that if the pigeon escapes it is that little bit better off. Then I start with the loosest bits, snipping and gently unwinding, taking care not to pull so that the thread doesn’t cut further into the flesh.


If there is any bleeding at all I stop what I am, apply direct pressure to the area and hold the foot up in the air to inhibit the blood flow. For major bleeds I have had to use a tourniquet, but the pigeon has also needed treatment for shock.

When all the thread is removed I treat open wounds with antibacterial cream, otherwise I rub Bach Rescue Cream into the foot immediately and continue to do that 3 times a day.

I usually keep the pigeon for some time after the string removal, to treat any other related problems. Sometimes the thread or string will that tied the back toe inward, or twisted other toes and splinting will be required. The only times I release immedately is when there has been no damage to the foot because it has been caught early enough.

Let me reassure you that the tying together of the feet is a thing that happens often to pigeons, the only involvement that humans have in their condition is leaving string and thread lying around so that it becomes a hazard.

Cynthia

[TerriB]

Cynthia,

Lots of useful information in your post. I have added it to my save file. Thanks so much!

[dodo]

Hello Cynthia,


Many thanks for that excellent and informative post. I'm sure it will come in useful for a lot of readers. I'm sure it took you quite a while to type all that in as well Thanks also for helping to put me more at ease with the situation. To be honest I truly don't fancy my chances catching him given that he is always in close proximty to all my other hungry regulars who tend to barge in quite headstrong whenever the food is handed out. But in the end he is surely having a better go of things for my being around - one would hope.

Yesterday he was actually perched inside the top filter of my rainwater tank (a plastic nest as it were). It only occured to me this is a potential hazard for birds if the filter had been removed for cleaning at the time I'm going to have to put a cover on the tank whenever I clean the filter from now on. I had not forseen the posibility of a bird trying to dive into the narrow top opening of my water tank!

I can only hope I can make a bit more progress with young Mr. Stringfellow, but nevertheless I feel a bit better about the situation, although quite frustrated at the same time.

[ZigZagMarquis]

Dodo... have you tired the old inverted box proped up with a stick and a string tied to the stick trap trick?? Understand that there are a lot of birds there, but with a bunch of food in the trap and some patience, I gotta belive sooner or later your "target" bird will be under the trap and you and catch him... you may get a few others in the process, but so what, just turn them loose right away.

[dodo]

Hi again all,

Well for the past three weeks I have done everything I can to try to save this poor bird, which for convenience sake I have now called "Lizzy". I have spent about three hours every day trying to help this bird.

Firstly, Mary's trap works very well I think I could have collected myself a pretty large flock of birds had I pulled the string for every bird that fed under it.

But Lizzy is a very smart (or stupid ) bird. She knows what the trap is all about and won't go near it. In fact, you can almost see what is going through her brain when she watches all the others eat under it (..."you guys have got to be kidding me!!...").

Anyway, tapping into the psychology of this bird is proving to be an all but impossible task. Her condition has now deteriorated to the point where her fellow ferals are now picking on her. When this started happening about a week ago, she would immediately take flight and land within a few feet of me. I guess she thinks if she is near me she is safe from her fellow ferals.

Now the situation has worsened, and she spends much of the day sitting as close as possible to whereever I may be. This usually ends up being the yellow cardboard recycling bin that sits just outside my bedroom window. Yesterday she was lying on the back door mat.

And here is the strange part. She now lets me get my face within inches of her own face and she won't fly away. And I'm starting to notice that as time goes by, I seem to able to move my hand closer to her without her flying away or giving an audible "alarm" signal.

Seeing as I can get closer to her, I actually tried carrying a large towel to throw over her, but again - it's just like the trap. She know what I want to use the towel for and she is then all but impossible to capture.

So I am wondering if I can make any headway in actually being able to touch her? As I say, in the last week, I have gone from not being able to get close, to being able to move my face right next to hers.

If I try this approach, do you think it is possible in your experience for her to learn to tolerate having my hand so close as to actually stroke her?

And if I can ultimately stroke her, how big a step would it be to actually capturing her with my hands? For example, how long would it take before I could attempt this?

PS: I am not sure poor Lizzy has too much time left. I feel certain she is going to lose one leg, and could well lose both now. She also seems to be shaking very mildly much of the time now. I think this episode is going to have a sad ending.

[Lin Hansen]

Hi Dodo,

It so frustrating when you are trying to help a bird, but it just won't let you!! I know what that is like.

I am sure others will be along to advise you on your plan for capturing w/ your hands...it sounds good to me...the only bad thing is, if you try it once and miss, Lizzy may not come near you again.

I was thinking maybe you could try a hand net? The kind that fisherman use to scoop fish out of the water? I know one of our other members uses a hand net w/ much success, but again, if you try once and miss....can make the bird very wary of coming too close again.

Sorry I have not been much help here...thank you for trying to help this bird...by the way, hope Dimity is doing well.

Linda

[cyro51]

You have done a wonderful job to get her to recognise you as a safe source of food, so don’t give up !

I have had much more success capturing pigeons with my hands than using towels and nets. I will only use a towel (or jacket or whatever comes to hand) when a pigeon is unable to fly but still able to flutter off very quickly.

Grabbing by hand works well for me.

Assuming that you are right handed see if you can tempt her to eat seed from your left hand. Once she is eating it should be easy to bring your right hand over her from behind and pin her down very gently holding both her wings in place. You can try doing this in a slow fluid movement (as if you were smoothing her wings down but securing at the same time) or as a quick grab. I have done both. The trick is to trap her firmly but gently so that she is not over compressed or hurt in any way.

If you are anything like me then you would probably benefit from a dose of Bach Rescue Remedy before trying. I find that the adrenalin rush that I get when I prepare to grab an injured pigeon works against me.

There have been pigeons that I despaired of catching because they were so wary, but I got them when I least expected to. Pain will slow them down so keep trying.

Good luck.

Cynthia

[dodo]

Thanks Lyn and Cynthia.

That is sort of the way I am thinking of tackling this, but I wasn't expecting that I might be able to grab her with one hand only (although she is a small bird).

I made some more progress today in that she actually ate out of my hand. I was quite amazed at this - this is the first time I have ever gotten to this stage with a feral.

Do you think it might make the situation easier if I first try to get to the stage where I can pat her whilst feeding her? I'm just a bit worried with her feet so badly damaged now that the amount of compression required to keep her wings secure with one hand would cause her enormous pain. Wouldn't I sort of have to press down with one hand, but with two I could apply the pressure more inwards?

Also to Lyn. Thanks for asking about Dimity. Unfortunately the sad news is that within 2 weeks of giving everyone an update here, she suddenly disappeared and never returned. I don't really know what happened. I am 100% certain that if she had ever been in a position to return to me, she would have. She never failed to visit me several times per day, every day -without fail - for over 9 months. I just didn't feel like posting this news, because I did not see much point in posting such sad news.

But I've accepted this and can at least take comfort that I made a big difference to her life when she was around. On the upside my backyard continues to be a real hit with the ferals, and every day they simply like to lounge around, sitting quietly on the ground, enjoying the sun. At any time of the day, you can usually see at least 10 ferals simply lying on the ground enjoying themselves like humans would at a picnic. As time goes by, they become more and more tame, and they will quite happily follow me around as I attend to the daily chores. There is even a new fancy pigeon that now comes regularly (completely unbanded), so life happily moves on.

[Lin Hansen]

Dodo,

I am so sorry to hear the news about Dimity...forgive me for asking and making you post the sad news. She had a wonderful life with you. I am glad you have the flock around to help you take your mind off things. When things are going well, they are such a joy to have around. Unfortunately, when things happen (Dimity, Lizzy), they can break your heart too.
Good luck w/ Lizzy......hope this story has a happy ending.

Linda