what the formula you are using?? and are you supplying them with heat??
help with squabs please
I've got a pair of white garden doves. They had 2 eggs which hatched 10days ago. On day 8 I noticed that one squab was only half the size of the other. I thought it would die and being a softie I took it out of the nest and have been trying to handrear it in the house. It's still with me today but it really isn't growing. Its eyes are mostly shut. However, it does feed, I use a method of filling handrearing slurry mixed with soja milk into the finger of a surgical glove, cutting a slit in the tip and sticking its beak inside. Is this kind of feed okay? Why isn't the little one growing?
To make matters worse, I noticed today that the parent birds did not return to the aviary and the chubby sibling was sitting shivering in his nest after dark. I've brought him into the house overnight and fed him the same mixture. He was VERY hungry. Now I'm dreading that something happened to the parent birds (they've never stayed out before) and that I'm stranded with two orphans to raise. I already feel quite shattered looking after the tiny chap and don't quite know how I am to cope with the two should the parents not return.
Any advice most gratefully received.
Spok
To make matters worse, I noticed today that the parent birds did not return to the aviary and the chubby sibling was sitting shivering in his nest after dark. I've brought him into the house overnight and fed him the same mixture. He was VERY hungry. Now I'm dreading that something happened to the parent birds (they've never stayed out before) and that I'm stranded with two orphans to raise. I already feel quite shattered looking after the tiny chap and don't quite know how I am to cope with the two should the parents not return.
Any advice most gratefully received.
Spok
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The aviary floor is made up of big patio slabs, the frame is 1cm above the slabs to allow water etc to be flushed away. Through this gap field mice get inside to the feed. I haven't seen any rats and would like to think that the gap is too small for them.
I live in Canterbury, Kent. I got the parents last year from a breeder in Surrey when they were about 4 months old.
The bigger bird is feeding well and makes a beeline for the syringe which I now use with the tip cut off and pierced latex stretched across the opening. I wished I'd started with this right away. The little one keeps looking poorly. I think its skin on the neck is reddening almost like a baby's bottom when they have a fungal infection. Maybe it's time to visit the vet on Monday (he'll probably think I'm mad and I must say I am beginning to think so too)
I live in Canterbury, Kent. I got the parents last year from a breeder in Surrey when they were about 4 months old.
The bigger bird is feeding well and makes a beeline for the syringe which I now use with the tip cut off and pierced latex stretched across the opening. I wished I'd started with this right away. The little one keeps looking poorly. I think its skin on the neck is reddening almost like a baby's bottom when they have a fungal infection. Maybe it's time to visit the vet on Monday (he'll probably think I'm mad and I must say I am beginning to think so too)
i would be very careful about that my babies with canker one of them started to get red round his neck in till a lump on the side of his neck grew intill i found out it was canker i had no clue i would just be very carefullThe aviary floor is made up of big patio slabs, the frame is 1cm above the slabs to allow water etc to be flushed away. Through this gap field mice get inside to the feed. I haven't seen any rats and would like to think that the gap is too small for them.
I live in Canterbury, Kent. I got the parents last year from a breeder in Surrey when they were about 4 months old.
The bigger bird is feeding well and makes a beeline for the syringe which I now use with the tip cut off and pierced latex stretched across the opening. I wished I'd started with this right away. The little one keeps looking poorly. I think its skin on the neck is reddening almost like a baby's bottom when they have a fungal infection. Maybe it's time to visit the vet on Monday (he'll probably think I'm mad and I must say I am beginning to think so too)
Thank you for helping these doves. It sounds like you're doing a great job; as Terry mentioned, you may want to try some Enrofloxacin (Baytril/Cipro) as Paratyphoid often presents with symptoms such as the tiny baby has. I have a very small pigeon that I hand raised who was in the same situation--she didn't have paratyphoid, but was a tiny runt who did not grow for three months. Finally she grew a bit more and is now the size of a dove at a year old and healthy as can be. For a long time she was the scrawniest, tiniest squab. So they do have a chance even when they start out poorly. Have you tried this feeding method?
http://picasaweb.google.com/awrats3333/BabyFeeding#
They seem to pick it up very easily. Good luck and remember you're doing your best. Please feel free to ask any other questions you can think of.
even when they start out poorly. Have you tried this feeding method?http://picasaweb.google.com/awrats3333/BabyFeeding#
They seem to pick it up very easily. Good luck and remember you're doing your best. Please feel free to ask any other questions you can think of.
Thankyou very much for all your replies so far! It does make a difference to get advice and encouragement when you stand there trying your best every 2 hours struggling against the odds. That said, the bigger of the two is clearly thriving. Greedy, empties 2 syringes of slurp in no time at all. Then back into his nest for a kip. The same can't be said for the little fellow though. When I took him in almost 6 days ago he weighed 47g. First his weight went up to 53g, then it dropped to 39g. Have him back up to 53 now, but he's increasingly struggling to keep halfway warm, I have the two in a tiny room with an oil-filled heater that makes the place feel like a sauna. I've noticed a bit of hardness like a pea just off centre on his throat above the crop. He brought up a little bit of feed just now and I can hear a slight 'bubbling' sound as he breathes. All that makes me think he may well be gone within the next few hours. It has been the weekend so I could not get any medication organised.
And the parents haven't come back either. So it's a sorry story. As hard as it may sound, I feel now that I may have been kinder to let nature take its course. He stood no chance of getting any more feed off his parents once his brother was twice his size. It might have been a quick exit for him then, instead he's had me poking about, coaxing and hassling him and yet he is still closer to death than to life.
Sorry I am wailing away. Am feeling pretty despondent.
Spok
in no time at all. Then back into his nest for a kip. The same can't be said for the little fellow though. When I took him in almost 6 days ago he weighed 47g. First his weight went up to 53g, then it dropped to 39g. Have him back up to 53 now, but he's increasingly struggling to keep halfway warm, I have the two in a tiny room with an oil-filled heater that makes the place feel like a sauna. I've noticed a bit of hardness like a pea just off centre on his throat above the crop. He brought up a little bit of feed just now and I can hear a slight 'bubbling' sound as he breathes. All that makes me think he may well be gone within the next few hours. It has been the weekend so I could not get any medication organised. And the parents haven't come back either. So it's a sorry story. As hard as it may sound, I feel now that I may have been kinder to let nature take its course. He stood no chance of getting any more feed off his parents once his brother was twice his size. It might have been a quick exit for him then, instead he's had me poking about, coaxing and hassling him and yet he is still closer to death than to life.
Sorry I am wailing away. Am feeling pretty despondent.
Spok
all you can do is try, you did your best. can not fight mother nature sometimes. he may have something that can not be helped, otherwise with your good care he would of thrived.....so sorry.Thankyou very much for all your replies so far! It does make a difference to get advice and encouragement when you stand there trying your best every 2 hours struggling against the odds. That said, the bigger of the two is clearly thriving. Greedy, empties 2 syringes of slurp
And the parents haven't come back either. So it's a sorry story. As hard as it may sound, I feel now that I may have been kinder to let nature take its course. He stood no chance of getting any more feed off his parents once his brother was twice his size. It might have been a quick exit for him then, instead he's had me poking about, coaxing and hassling him and yet he is still closer to death than to life.
Sorry I am wailing away. Am feeling pretty despondent.
Spok
Ok. I'll bite..........what's with the PM's instead of just posting?
I'm just catching up and this is the second time I've seen you tell someone this.
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