When do I let go of an injured Fledgling Pigeon?

[WINGANDAPRAYER]

I was most interested in kathyb’s question. “help in care of adolescent pigeon”

I live in London and on Monday morning I was walking back to my office at home when I found a little huddled mass under the wheels of a 4 x 4. Which turned out to be a fledgling pigeon. Eventually, I managed to catch the baby pigeon and take it home.

The pigeon had received a terrible mauling from a cat, and could only fly about 20 feet then drop to the ground. Once home, I put the pigeon in a box and gave him some birdseed that my wife and I use for the Wood Pigeon (Dumber) who comes everyday to my garden. The pigeon would not eat.

As the pigeon was not eating and not drinking and clearly in shock, I took him to the local Vet – some 8 hours after the attack. The Vet said that he would look at the pigeon but would have to put it to sleep if it was beyond saving.

I do not believe in such philosophy and would fight to the very last regardless.

However, the Vet was very kind and examined the pigeon. The pigeon was ripped under his right wing, lacerated behind his head and down his back. The Vet gave the pigeon an antibiotic. I was instructed to keep the pigeon tranquil in a box and to try and break-up the massive blood clot in his down feathers behind the pigeon’s head and down his chest.

On Tuesday, I went to the local Chemists (Drugstore) and purchased some Glucose and an eyedropper. I mixed up the Glucose with water and fed it to the pigeon along with some aspirin mixed with water. As I held the pigeon he relaxed and drank.

It is now Wednesday and I have been trying to find out more about how to look after the pigeon. I have been holding him with my bare hands so that I can identify his condition. He is very lacerated behind his head, but has started to heal. He has a very powerful wing and foot movement, and his feet are warm - he is completely emaciated though. He seems to like me holding him in my right hand and cup my left hand with my palm under his chest and rub the back of his head with my thumb. He is very warm to the hand and appears strong. But I believe him to be frail. However, I do not wish to harm him by being kind. He seems to be trying to get back to the wild as soon as he can.

I cannot gain any information here in London as people are not very interested.

My questions are:

When should I let the pigeon go? - - - He seems to be fighting a tough fight but is gaining strength. I have wiped a great deal of the blood away from his head. However he is frail and terribly thin. Nonetheless, he tries to fly and makes wing-fluttering noises in his box. The box is about 1.5 ft x 1.5 ft x 1.5 ft high. I have cut slots into the side and the pigeon has grain for pigeons from the local pet shop and water mixed with glucose. I am concerned that the pigeon is trying to get out and fly but in my opinion is too frail, as he hasn’t eaten. I believe that if I let him go, he will not have the strength to sustain flight and will descend into someone’s garden and be caught by a predator.

Where should I let him go? - - - I live in a typical London ‘town house’. It has a small garden and many pigeons come and pick up birdseed that has fallen from the birdseed feeders for Sparrows and Robins. Unfortunately there are three cats in the neighbourhood, but that goes for most of London. There is a large park nearby with pigeons but food is scarce.

Any ideas?

[pdpbison]

Hi wingandaprayer,

Thank you for comandeering the little one!

Please refer to this link to see if you can tell the age of this Bird -

http://www.speedpigeon.com/baby_racing_pigeon.htm

Possibly this Bird had up till now, only been fed by it's Parents, and, found starvation and Cat peril, from having become seperated from them.
The Bird may have 'just' been a neophyte Flier, but with it's lack of food, then injury, had little opportunity to continue with it's new found skills.

Now, unless the Bird starts eating, or is fed somehow, it will likely perish from starvation or from various secondary infections opportuneing upon it's diminished immune system.

In order for it to heal and get well, it must eat, or be fed well, for certainly the next three or four weeks.

See if you can determine the approximate age of this Bird, and I, as well as others here, will reply further to your next posting..!

Also, please make sure the Bird may be kept warm, 'wrist' temperature 'warm' or so. A conventional electric Heating Pad, set on low or medium, wrapped with a towell, in a box, in such a way as to allow the Bird to be on or off the Pad at it's descretion, would be a good idea for now also. Any energy the Bird is spending to keep itself warm, against whatever your ambient temperatures may be by day or night, is energy it needs to stay alive with in it's present compromise.

Best wishes!

Phil
Las Vegas

[John_D]

Hi,

The glucose and water will have helped rehydrate him, which is good. The recommended rehydration solution is:

International Rehydration Solution
Half a litre of water (preferably filtered)
• Half a teaspoonful salt
• Half a tablespoonful sugar or glucose

Stir until salt and sugar are dissolved and administer lukewarm.

Plain water is fine once his system is rehydrated.

Did the vet give you a course of antibiotics? Normally for a cat-caught bird, we would give something like a 10 day course of Synulox as it can take time for the bird to be free from infection.

Has he shown any signs yet of eating the seed?

If he is a very young one (is the normally white fleshy cere above the beak still pink/gray?) then, as Phil says, he will need to be fed.

It is possible to hand feed a pigeon by starting off with sweetcorn and peas from a frozen veg pack, left to soak in a dish of fresh-boiled water for 30 - 40 minutes til a little soft and well thawed. They are just popped inside the beak for him to swallow one at a time. Lengthy process, but it has saved a few lives.

If he is only just fledged he may still take food from an approximation of the parents' feeding method - a cut off syringe with baby bird formula (like kaytee) or well soaked chick crumbs (chick starter?) or even chicken flavour human baby food. A piece of self-adhesive bandage (like from Boots Chemist), piece of party balloon or just plain old cloth is cut to size, placed over the open end of syringe, and has a cross shaped cut made in it for the bird's beak. The beak is then gently guided into the hole so that the bird can eat the mixture inside the syringe (say 40ml to start). Depends at what stage he is at though.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pi...nge_method.htm

Phil is right on about the warmth. Our temperatures on the S Coast are hardly Florida, and I doubt it is much better in London.

Also, there is a group somewhere around London called 'Pigeon recovery' you could contact if you wish.

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~picas/pigrec/

(There is a phone contact at bottom of their page)

John

[pdpbison]

Hi Les,

How goes?

Are you finding the method for feeding them? Or, are they eating on their own?

Refer us to an image of the little one if you can...


Phil
Las Vegas

[WINGANDAPRAYER]

Dear Phil

It is amazing - this evening I tried your recommendations about feeding the little fella. I wrapped him up into his towel and started to feed him. First, I dipped my fingers into the mix as you suggested and he went crazy. He pecked everywhere. My fingers, the towel, the spoon - anything in reach. As he was playing with his food rather than eating it I had to resort to the syringe for two squirts.

"" he will respond with some curiosity and assertion "" How true your words are. He was like a baby – I guess this is his first time.

Q1 - - During the feed he was very warm and kept falling asleep after about 15 minutes of playing around - - I know that on winter months after I have eaten, if I sit in front of the radiator, I fall asleep. I am not sure if this similar behaviour for Pigeons.

Q2 - - Can the mix be too thick and sticky? He seemed only interested in sucking around the solid seeds and playing with them. He did peck all over my fingers and then plunge his beak between my thumb and forefingers which held a large lump of mix. He then closed his eye, as the mix was sticky and let it stay shut until I wiped it clean. He has a personality that is playful.

Q3 - - After he was finished, he drank more than he ate. In fact, today is very hot here in London. About 25 degrees Centigrade (about 80 degrees F). He drank more than two large syringes of water. Can a baby pigeon have too much water?

I have enclosed two photographs of him. He is a real gem – I can hardly hold myself together when I think of the condition in which I found him.

I am most grateful for your assistance in advice. I would have been lost without you. I realise now that there are few who understand what it is to hold a precious form of wildlife in their hands. We both thank you.

Please keep the advice coming. This is the first day and he has only stated pecking food for the first time. I hope that he will take seeds in time. In the meantime I will continue with seed mix, complan and porridge oats. Tomorrow, I am going to buy him some Kaytee recommended by JohnB.

Kind Regards

Les

[Dovena]

Are you sure the vet is experienced with birds? Having an experienced avian vet can make a huge difference.

[pdpbison]

Hi Les,


In fact, since this is rather a lot to take in all at once, please consider to print this and the next one ( part the twost) , and read them then, several times at liesure...






This is still a quite young Bird who you will need to hand feed for another two weeks perhaps. Or who in two weeks time, may be eating on his own, but for now, you need to feed him exclusively.

(Les sent me an image, accompanying the e-mail which was a duplicate of his above post...which image I will forward to Terry, so that she may post it in this thread if she likes, since I do not know how! Also, I am posting my reply amid the text of his message in the event others may wish to add additional or more detailed mentions...)

Likely, by that time, you will be able to initiate "learning to peck Seeds' occasions, but for now, and for the near future, it is for you to feed him.


Dear Phil

It is amazing - this evening I tried your recommendations about feeding the little fella. I wrapped him up into his towel and started to feed him. First, I dipped my fingers into the mix as you suggested and he went crazy. He pecked everywhere. My fingers, the towel, the spoon - anything in reach. As he was playing with his food rather than eating it I had to resort to the syringe for two squirts.





Ahhh, very good..!

However., my suggestion was for you to dip your finger tips into tepid Water, not into the 'mix'...! Lol...

No harm...but water is cleaner..for you afterward to deal with, and of course for him...



No need for a Towell in fact, let him stand if he will, and go from there. You can gently, or have an assistant gently support him at his shoulders, with a free hand, if he is leaning too far forward in his eagerness.

However, any pressure on is Crop when he is eating can result in food and liquid being pushed 'up', or, in not going 'down' well, and could result in asyphixiation if any gets into his little windpipe.

Skip the Towell I think, or at best, to use it, merely have it as a kind of sling around the fropnt of him where someone holds the tneds of it behind him, but overall, a gentle hand is better. So, instead of the Towell, let him stand so his Crop is never pressed upon while he is eating or being fed.



Feeding (when we do it!) can be a little messy, which is fine, it all dries and falls off as he preens at liesure and so on, so a lite wipeing off maybe with a damp tissue or something after feeding, is all one need be concerned about.



"" he will respond with some curiosity and assertion "" How true your words are. He was like a baby – I guess this is his first time.

Q1 - - During the feed he was very warm and kept falling asleep after about 15 minutes of playing around - - I know that on winter months after I have eaten, if I sit in front of the radiator, I fall asleep. I am not sure if this similar behaviour for Pigeons.



Likely he has a lot of catching up to do, as far as hydration and nourishment...his strength and stamina presently are very low.





Q2 - - Can the mix be too thick and sticky?



Yes...it is likely best as to where a spoonfull when tipped, will run off more nearly as liquid than as 'goo'...

I forgot what you are feeding him?



If you have a regular kitchen Blender, please consider to put a full Tea or Coffee Cup or so of regular, decent, whoesome Bird Seeds into it and 'blend' them into a powder. Some Seeds will remain on the bottom and not be pulverized, and some of it will be fine, and some coarse, which is a nice three-way combination of textures. Remove all of it from the Blender and mix it up in a cup or small Bowl and you can use it for the rest of the day or the next few days or something, where you will be useing a small amount at a time.

allways make sure their food is "tepid" when feeding them. Make new Food every day ot twice a-day, and refridgerate, coverd, inbetween if you make liquidy batches larger than one meal's worth, then, warm in a pan of water o n the stove to where you are sure it is only 'tepid'.

Anyway...

Take a small cup or glass, and put in say two tablespoons of this powder of 'meal' made from fresh well seasoned Bird Seed in your Kitchen counter Blender. To this, add some whole small Seeds, such as Canary or Finch Seeds. Then add a little - say half a teaspoon or so - (get at any Health Food store) 'Powdered Super Greens' or Powdered Alphalfa...mix it up with the handle of a spoon or something...then, add enough good, clean, non 'tap' Water and mix all nicely. To this add a few drops of Olive Oil from a new Bottle, not an old Bottle which has sat on one's shelf or pantry or larder. Make to be about like a porriage more or less, not too thick, not too runny.



Put some of this into the hollow of a conventional, soft, rubber Baby Bottle 'Nipple' and see if you may guide his Beak into it.

A finger from a surgical or similar thin rubber Glove, or a section of a Baloon, may also be fitted closely to the end of a larger sort of syringe whose actual 'end' has been cut off. This sometimes works very well also for them to insert their Beak into a small "X" you make in the very end of the thin rubber diaphram covering the now 'open' end of the syringe Barrel. Fill as needed, insert plunger only a tiny bit, then, hold with the "X" end up, and tap on something or tap it, so the contents settle down, then advance the plunger into the barrel to expell the air.

He may like to feel your fingers on the sides of his Baek as he inserts it into the Nipple. Or, if you make the syinge feeder, he will feel the "X" opening in the thin rubber against his Beak.


Likely, with a few trys, he will respond well to either of these methods. He will likely, while standing, push himself into it assetively, with his legs, causing his whole head to try pushing into the hollow of the nipple or syringe-end-diaphram. Likely he will flap his Wings also, which they normally do when being fed. If you gentlu sugest an up-and-down motion when he is feeding, he will likely amplify those movements as he eats. They and their parents do a sort of up and down 'pumping' motion when feeding normally.

This is how they are in their eating enthusiasms.



Get some sort of Grit also, and be adding a little of it to the food.




He seemed only interested in sucking around the solid seeds and playing with them. He did peck all over my fingers and then plunge his beak between my thumb and forefingers which held a large lump of mix.



He is trying to meet you half way somewhere...with how he was used to being fed.


He then closed his eye, as the mix was sticky and let it stay shut until I wiped it clean. He has a personality that is playful.



It will take a little practice on both your parts, to arrive at a method of safe, and effective feeding...right now, he is weak, exhausted, and has a lot of catching up to do.


(seguay)

[pdpbison]

(Part the twost)




Q3 - - After he was finished, he drank more than he ate. In fact, today is very hot here in London. About 25 degrees Centigrade (about 80 degrees F). He drank more than two large syringes of water. Can a baby pigeon have too much water?

Water from a Syringe is ver VERY dangerous, and the baby can all too easily aspirate Water into their equivelent of Lungs, and drown within minutes in convulsions...please, do not attempt to introduce Water to his Beak or mouth by any method...



Let him learn to drink, which he will, and readily, from a small Glass or eye Cup or Baby Nipple's hollow side.





Likely he has been dehydrated. They do need quite a lot of Water, and it is best if they be the judge of it in their own drinking of it.

His Beak can be guided into a small glass of "tepid" Water...or, into a Water filled 'Nipple'...make sure the Water is tepid in fact, and not cool or hot. Wrist temperature, or a little less, is ideal.

Offer him Water several times a day. Feed him often, as often as he wishes to eat. Every coup;le hours, invite him to eat and or check his Crop for room to do so. Once he is full, you can decide you are done for that session, and you can see their Crop easily on their front, and you will be able to tell. They can eat certainly, at this age, a Shot Glass or so, or, a fluid Ounce thereabouts of volume.

Wait untill you can tell that his Crop has emptied pretty much for the next feeding to occur, and plan on increasing the amount or proportion of Seeds over the next week.

Keep him warm..

Do not feed him if he has become chilled or seems sluggish...wait till he is warmed up again if that happens.




I have enclosed two photographs of him. He is a real gem – I can hardly hold myself together when I think of the condition in which I found him.



Yes!

He looks very sweet indeed!

...every inch a Baby Pigeon!

They are charmers...



I am most grateful for your assistance in advice. I would have been lost without you. I realise now that there are few who understand what it is to hold a precious form of wildlife in their hands. We both thank you.

Please keep the advice coming. This is the first day and he has only stated pecking food for the first time.

My pleasure...

I appreciate your efforts to aid this little Pigeon, and I am pleased you are finding it to be a genuinely meaningful experience!

They can seduce us in these ways!



He may incidentally 'Peck' now...but do not be mislead, he needs you to feed him often, with truely nutritous wholesome things he is meant to be eating. He has a lot of catching up to do.

How are his poops? - can you describe them?

Too...

A 'people' one-a-day or similar Vitamine, may be dissolved in water at liesure, or crushed in a small Shot-Glass or the likes, and more-or-less dissolved in Water. A tiny bit of that, added to his food, is nice to do, or, if you liked, and can find them readily, Bird Vitamines may be obtained and added according to their instructions.

Later, he will learn to peck effectively, with your support, and I or others additionally, will run you through how to do that later.



I hope that he will take seeds in time.





Yes, he will..but right now, he is a Baby, who normally, for some weeks yet, would still only be fed by his Parents, and who would not be eating on his own.



They do not normally eat on their own untill after they are in fact, quite competant Fliers. Untill then, they are allways fed by their parents.


In the meantime I will continue with seed mix, complan and porridge oats. Tomorrow, I am going to buy him some Kaytee recommended by JohnB.



You can mix the KT with your own Blender-ground fresh Seed meals or thusly made semi coarse-powders, to say 50/50, and then add some small whole Seeds to the tune of say 30 percent or so for now, and so on as I outlined above. Get some Grit and add that also along with a little Olive Oil ( "fresh") and some "Super Greens". This Bird is not meant to be eating only 'goo'...but Seeds in 'Soup' is good. Soon it will be mostly whole seeds in a lite Soup of KT or the likes and Water, and also, offer him plain Tepid Water several times a day in a little glass or nipple.



Please try and obtain a Baby Nipple, or, to make for yourself a proper Feeding-syrings with a thin rubber diaphram end having a small "X" cut into it, for letting the Bird eat more nearly as it would in Nature, where, it would insert it's Beak into that of the parent, which parent brings up Seeds and Moisture from it's own Crop for the Baby to eagerly consume. These methods are safe, sure and practical and allow their diet to be graduated with increasing the amount of whole Seeds and Grit.



The syringe, as a squirting device, or squirting food-liquid into it's mouth, Beak or throat, is very dangerous for the Bird, and very liable to fatal mishap if any of it gets into his windpipe.

He will also, likely, eat ( be fed) more in the course of a day, that you would expect..!

Kind Regards

Les



Till next...!

So far so good!

Phil

Las Vegas

[TAWhatley]

Pictures of Les' baby can be seen here: http://www.rims.net/Steve1.jpg and http://www.rims.net/Steve2.jpg

Terry