[ixitellyixi]

Baby Pigeons - Newbie Questions *HELP* PICTURES

Hi. I just joined the boards to ask some questions.

We currently have 6 pigeons; 3 males and 3 females. They are all mated up and have been laying and we finally had our first two hatch.

Everything was going great until this afternoon when I went out to check on them and one of the babies is like 8" away from the nest and in the corner. It looks ok except theres these purple, scarlet "tubes" along the top edge of the bottom beak. It kind of looks like a vein? And then on its back, it looks like either the sibling or parents pecked it as it looks like some dried blood. But no puncture or cut visable.

I know in other species of birds the stronger one will push the weaker one out of the nest. Do pigeons do this? The babies are about 1 week old. I saw them under the mom on Sunday. It is possible they were hatched Saturday night (the 25th or 26th).

Anyways, I am concerned the other baby was pushed out by its sibling and I need to intervein. But I dont want to if it is ok.

Help?

BTW they are very warm, mom and dad are taking good care of them from what I see, and mom sits them every night. They are opening their eyes and the one in the corner, I did briefly pick it up to examine it and then put it back down and it was looking up at me and very alert.

Thanks for any help and I will try to get pics of the one with that "vein" thing on its beak.


UPDATE:

Here are pics from tonight. The one baby was still in the corner away from the other one. I took pics of it as a whole, the beak, and then that bloody area on its back. This mom is my very shy pigeon and even when she was sitting her eggs, she would make that pigeon "errrrh" noise and get fluffy but never pecked or wing slapped. She will generally back up slightly. So when I was taking pics she was on the other side of the coop but I caught her and put her back over to the nest and she was semi sitting the one in the nest so I picked up the one in the corner and put it next to its sibling. When it felt mom, it started cheeping and poking her chest some and then it settled down and the two siblings kind of head bopped at each other and then curled up and slept.

Anyways the pics.

Little one in the corner, see its beak???

The back of the one in the corner. Whats up with that blood?

The one still in the nest

 

[Skyeking]

Hello and Welcome to pigeon Talk,

Is the area on the beak bloody or just different color, from the rest of the beak? It looks like it isn't an injury, looks normal to me.

I doubt the parents pecked at the baby, it may be another pigeon that is in the coop. Does the family have a nest box of their own? if not it may be an intruder that pecked the baby. I would remove the baby at night until ot is grown and feathered and better able to protect itself. Then before they start breeding again, make sure to build a nice big nest box for the couples, that will allow them privacy and keep intruders out. If you have any openings larger then 1/4 inch to the outside world, cover those with hardware cloth, if the injury is due to predators on the outside.

The older baby may be stronger and get more attention and food from mom and dad, but they won't push the weaker one out of the nest. Is there a big difference in their size?

Can we get a better picture of the injury on the back?

I would put some Neosporin on the injury on the back, and I would make sure the injured smaller baby gets fed first at each meal, and then allow the older baby to eat. Make sure after it is fed the crop is full. You can remove the older sibling until the younger one has had its fill. I have done that with some babies until the weaker/smaller one is stronger and able to compete for food.

 

[ixitellyixi]

Thanks for the help. When I checked on them this morning, they were both still together. Today was coop cleaning day so I put the babies in a basket with a towel and covered them and we cleaned the coop and replaced the hay and put them back in. I have not seen the parents feed them but I know they are because they are SO much bigger than they were when they were hatched. They are pretty much the same size.

Today I did see the father feed both of them. And when I checked on them again tonight to close the flight door, they were both still together and bright eyed.

Its a fully enclosed coop with chicken wire along the top 3' of 3 of the walls and then the back wall is solid wood, except for the flight door which we lock shut at night.

This was a chicken coop before we moved into the house. My husband took some plywood and built "shelves" that are like nest boxes on top of each other but this pair decided to lay and nest on the left of the boxes and they have the whole 1/3rd of the shelf/perch area to themselves. But I told him we needed to move them so they are more closed off.

So hopefully the one being in the corner was because thats the one that likes to move around more and got misplaced and the sore? Maybe anothr pigeon but we will fix that.

Thanks again so much. I was really worried. I know sometimes you will lose some of the babies but I really dont want to!

 

[Jay3]

Well, as far as the beak, it's normal. Not all beaks are pink. Some are black, and some are pink with black. Here's a pic of my latest babies, and you can see that the one on the left has that darker mark on his bottom beak, as does his Dad. I think it's cute.

As far as your chicken wire, on the top of the three walls. That's very unsafe, if it is actually chicken wire. That should be covered over with hardware cloth, as mice and rats can go right through chicken wire, and both can cause disease that can make your birds VERY sick, and rats will kill your pigeons. Keep an eye on the back of the injured one, and I hope you will keep us updated. But please.................cover the chicken wire with hardware cloth. It's really very important.

And by the way, welcome to pigeon talk. I hope you will stick around, as the people here are full of great ideas and very helpful information. I'd love to see the babies as they grow.