New feathers?

[KIPPY]

Is there anything you can do for a young bird who is growing feathers? Zeke looks like a pin cushion and to me it looks painful.

[TerriB]

You might offer a bath or at least mist the feathers to soften the sheaths for easier removal. Also offering some high fat seed (safflower or hemp) will give the feathers a nice sheen and soft feel. Of course, it bugs the birds when you keep wanting to pet them all the time! :-)

[AZWhitefeather]

Kim,
I'm not sure about the 'pin cushion' look on Zeke, but I have seen a few squeakers recently looking like that. I also figured out why I have been finding so many squeakers in our backyard lately.

After I returned home from CA I walked out to see Mikko & the gang (it was about 6:30 pm) & about a dozen pigeons flew overhead, landing on our roof. This struck me as being very unusual, given the time. I went back into the AZ room & a couple minutes later I heard someone yelling, like they were herding cattle, looked out the window to find my neighbor spraying the hose, full blast, into her palm tree. All of a sudden another group of pijjies scattered to our roof.
I summoned Chuck to come see what was going on. I guess she heard me & went inside. I watched to see if the pijjies returned to the tree & they did.

Needless to say I was livid. It's bad enough chasing them from their home, but to do it at dusk is even more cruel.

I'm sure that's where Zeke came from. These poor babies probably got blown out of the tree with the rest of the pigeons but were unable to fly back.


"I must say, Kim was a Godsend. I found Zeke wandering about our backyard in the pouring rain the night before I was to leave for CA. I had no idea what I was going to do with him when Kim came to the resuce & offered to take him in."

He is a doll baby & when he get his 'bigbird' feathers, he is going to be a beauty.

Cindy

[KIPPY]

That's just not right. I'd like to spray that lady down with the hose and roll her into the lake.

Can you add bath salt to the water or is Zeke to young? I put a saucer of water in his cage this weekend. He drank the water and walked in it but that's about it. I'm afraid if I mist him and he doesn't like it, he will be afraid of me. Can you add like wheat germ or canola oil to bird seed?

[AZWhitefeather]

I'd like to spray that lady down with the hose and roll her into the lake.

If I see her pulling that stunt again, I'm going to have to ask her "why" is she doing it. After all, the pigeons were in the tree long before she was in that house.
She has never indicated that the birds have bothered her in the past.

I'm really not sure what you should add to the water to help Zeke's feathers Kim.
Were you able to resize his picture so you could post it? If not, maybe I can use the one you sent me. He is just too cute.

Cindy

[ZigZagMarquis]

Originally Posted by AZWhitefeather

[b]If I see her pulling that stunt again, I'm going to have to ask her "why" is she doing it. After all, the pigeons were in the tree long before she was in that house.
She has never indicated that the birds have bothered her in the past.

People are weird... sometimes they get a hair up their butt for no explainable reason... if you think about it, you can probably come up with an example of yourself doing it too. For what ever reason, she may have decided "they were bothering her"... the cooing kept her up or they pooped on her car just after she washed it... who know's... but basically, it was probably something pretty tame that could have been ignored, but she decided otherwise and now its stuck in her mind. In reality, unless you have a good relationship with your neighbor, I'd bet that if you confront her as to why she's doing that the next time you see her, its more likely to cause it to happen more often and not stop it.

I like animals and have come to learn keeping a few pigeons can be kinda cool and hate to see any animal tortured, but at the same time... on person's pet is another person's pest... think about it... there are folks here that have said something to the effect of "all hawks should go away" or "hawks should learn to eat stuff besides other birds"... its all relative.

Okay, her squirting them with a hose isn't cool, but it could be worse, she could be using a pellet gun or putting out poision. Do you want to have a calm and civil relationship with your neighbor?

What would my approach be... well, maybe you could wait a bit and see if she quits doing it... or you could make mention that you found a young pigeon that fell out of her tree, maybe when she was spritzing it, and that you were taking care of it and maybe she could help keep an eye out for more that are young and cannot yet fly... i.e. don't make the focus of the conversation the fact that she's hosing the birds, just mention it so its in her mind and she thinks about it.

Anyway, I'm not trying to criticize anyone, just some things to think about.

[Pigeonpal2002]

Zig,

Excellent commentary, albeit colourful (LOL). But I think you are very right, very wise and everything that you said is a completely common sense approach.


Brad

[AZWhitefeather]

People are weird...
In deed they are ZigZag.
This is the same woman who chooses to blow the leaves off her lawn at 11:30 at night. Figure that one out.

Cindy

[ZigZagMarquis]

Originally Posted by AZWhitefeather

People are weird...
This is the same woman who chooses to blow the leaves off her lawn at 11:30 at night

Oh, so basically, she's an idiot. ... bummer your local feral flock has picked her tree to roost in. I hope they get smart and move on eventually and bummer again that in the short term it will be bad for their young.

Anyway... remember... "Never get into an arguement with an idiot, because from a distance, others can't always figure out who's who."

[zoo keeper]

Zig man, you plain have a way with words. Your notes are very comical. Now me with my blonde bird brain would most likely poke my head out the door and say..... Hey, there is no spraying the birds!!!!!!

[John_D]

This is the same woman who chooses to blow the leaves off her lawn at 11:30 at night

Don't tell me, Cindy - she crawls around on her hands and knees to do it

John

[KIPPY]

Zeke showing off his new feathers

[AZWhitefeather]

Now me with my blonde bird brain would most likely poke my head out the door and say..... Hey, there is no spraying the birds!!!!!!
.

Don't tell me, Cindy - she crawls around on her hands and knees to do it
Hi John, How ya doin'?
Actually we have observed her getting 'up close & personal' with those leave. She seems to have an obsession with that blower. lol. She will literally spend better than an hour 'cleaning' her lawn. The funny thing is, her lawn is small & she doesn't have that many leaves. She's a bit odd but quite harmless.

Zeke showing off his new feathers
Hey Kim. I didn't realize Zeke had that many bare spots, but then I only saw him for a short time the evening you came over to pick him up.
He's a cutie!

Cindy

[KIPPY]

This picture is like the next day after I picked him up from your house.

[AZWhitefeather]

This picture is like the next day after I picked him up from your house.
Aren't they just too cute at that age? I can hardly wait to see him fully feathered. His coloring is going to be beautiful.

Cindy