Hi. My name is Chloe, I'm really new to this site, have read through a couple of posts but I wanted to post my own because I'm still not really sure what to do.
Yesterday around 2pm my housemate (I live in a house with 6 girls, were students) found a baby pigeon in the gutter of next doors front garden. It was chirping really loudly (for its age) and was standing on top of, what I can imagine, a dead sibling as it was around the same size. There was no sign of a mother or father around so I brought he/she in and placed her into a very old fish tank that we dont use anymore. (We get shed loads of cats around here and we're by the beach so we get plenty of seagulls that would have most likely made it supper)
At the time I put down bubble wrap (That was the only thing me and my girlfriend had at the time) but we later went and bought hay and we bought some seed for it too, it didnt eat or drink much when we first brought it in but this morning I woke up and found that all the seed had been eaten, the water didnt look like it had been touched really. I have a lamp shining onto one corner of the tank so it has a heated side (the lamp itself does get quite hot but the light coming from it is warm enough for a bird I assume without overheating it).
I think its about 3 weeks old after comparing it to pictures. It looks overall healthy, its wings are not broken as it flapped them about a bit this morning when I was trying to wash it and it can walk fine too.
It cant at the moment fly which is one of the things I wanted to ask about, what is the best way of trying to help it to fly so I can release it when its in better condition. It has a few missing feathers under the neck but apart from that it looks ok. I did however see a small bug/mite/flea crawling around on its head yesterday, I dont know what this thing is but it was so small I couldnt see the detail on it, it just looked like a little greyish bug. What is this?
I have tried to handle it to get it used to me so that when the time is right I can teach it to fly without it being unresponsive and it seems to not mind sometimes but then back away from my hand other times even when I go in to replace food or water. Whats the best way to get it used to me and my girlfriend without scaring it too much. It tends to poo a lot when we do handle it when changing the hay in its cage etc, I guess pooing is a good thing but then it means that its scared right? And I dont want it to be even though its probably terrified. I just want to make it as comfortable as possible.
I thought about calling the R.S.P.C.A but I thought they wouldn't do anything, because pigeons are 'vermin' and I don't want them to euthanize it. Am I right in looking after it to release it into the wild? I'm also currently making him a larger box because the fish tank he's in at the moment is very small and he was pecking at it earlier so I'm guessing he doesn't like it.
Any help would be gladly appreciacted
Regards
Chloe & Bex
P.S here is a picture to give you guys an idea of what it looks like, its still a little damp form its bath earlier. oh and we named him Wilson (For those of you that have seen the film Cast Away) that's where his name came from, not sure if its male or what but we decided to name him that anyway.
P.S2 while photographing him for you we noticed some bald patches, under his wing and belly as well as his neck, we took photos of these for you also
Yesterday around 2pm my housemate (I live in a house with 6 girls, were students) found a baby pigeon in the gutter of next doors front garden. It was chirping really loudly (for its age) and was standing on top of, what I can imagine, a dead sibling as it was around the same size. There was no sign of a mother or father around so I brought he/she in and placed her into a very old fish tank that we dont use anymore. (We get shed loads of cats around here and we're by the beach so we get plenty of seagulls that would have most likely made it supper)
At the time I put down bubble wrap (That was the only thing me and my girlfriend had at the time) but we later went and bought hay and we bought some seed for it too, it didnt eat or drink much when we first brought it in but this morning I woke up and found that all the seed had been eaten, the water didnt look like it had been touched really. I have a lamp shining onto one corner of the tank so it has a heated side (the lamp itself does get quite hot but the light coming from it is warm enough for a bird I assume without overheating it).
I think its about 3 weeks old after comparing it to pictures. It looks overall healthy, its wings are not broken as it flapped them about a bit this morning when I was trying to wash it and it can walk fine too.
It cant at the moment fly which is one of the things I wanted to ask about, what is the best way of trying to help it to fly so I can release it when its in better condition. It has a few missing feathers under the neck but apart from that it looks ok. I did however see a small bug/mite/flea crawling around on its head yesterday, I dont know what this thing is but it was so small I couldnt see the detail on it, it just looked like a little greyish bug. What is this?
I have tried to handle it to get it used to me so that when the time is right I can teach it to fly without it being unresponsive and it seems to not mind sometimes but then back away from my hand other times even when I go in to replace food or water. Whats the best way to get it used to me and my girlfriend without scaring it too much. It tends to poo a lot when we do handle it when changing the hay in its cage etc, I guess pooing is a good thing but then it means that its scared right? And I dont want it to be even though its probably terrified. I just want to make it as comfortable as possible.
I thought about calling the R.S.P.C.A but I thought they wouldn't do anything, because pigeons are 'vermin' and I don't want them to euthanize it. Am I right in looking after it to release it into the wild? I'm also currently making him a larger box because the fish tank he's in at the moment is very small and he was pecking at it earlier so I'm guessing he doesn't like it.
Any help would be gladly appreciacted
Regards
Chloe & Bex
P.S here is a picture to give you guys an idea of what it looks like, its still a little damp form its bath earlier. oh and we named him Wilson (For those of you that have seen the film Cast Away) that's where his name came from, not sure if its male or what but we decided to name him that anyway.
P.S2 while photographing him for you we noticed some bald patches, under his wing and belly as well as his neck, we took photos of these for you also