Hi--I asked for advice on this before, maybe a month ago. I was sick and couldn't get pictures. Now I have some pictures to show. It appears that something has gotten into my coop and attacked the babies a couple of times. I will try to upload a shot of the coup and tow of the baby's injuries. You can easily see the scabbing since he is barely feathered in. He seems fine, but something has happened to him for sure! Any advice would be appreciated!
Injured Baby Pigeons
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Possibly rodents are doing this damage .. poor little birds! Check your loft very carefully for any openings even remotely large enough for a rodent to get through .. you'ed be amazed at just how small an opening they can take advantage of. Have you brought that little one inside and are taking care of it? The little pigeon does NOT look fine to me .. the eyes are dull and not wide open .. I think that little one is in pain and in shock.
Terry
Terry
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Any openings larger then 1/4 inch need to be covered with 1/4 inch hardware cloth, and all necessary ventilations under the roof should also be covered. Make sure your coop is not only predator proofed, but weather and draft proof as well as providing proper ventilation.
Be sure to bring the little ones inside and provide warmth and a draft free environment for the youngster and hand feed until they are well.
Be sure to bring the little ones inside and provide warmth and a draft free environment for the youngster and hand feed until they are well.
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I was looking for you previous post, but was unable to find it.
I'm sorry but this should never be allowed to happen twice.
The baby does not look fine in the pictures you provided.
I hope he recovered and is doing well.
Make sure your coop is predator proof.
Cindy
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How old is this picture? That baby doesn't look good at all. It should NOT be in the loft, but in your house being taken care of. You really need to take a good look at your loft from top to bottom and see how something would get in. I tend to think that it's quite possible another bird did this to the baby. I would think that if something from the outside got into the loft, that as bad as that baby is injured, it would have finished the job and not left it just injured.
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I agree with Renee. If it had been a rat or something, it probably would have finished him off. After the initial attack, I don't understand why you would have left him out there to be attacked again, if indeed you did. Hopefully you brought him in. The poor thing looks to be in a lot of pain. As I have already mentioned, it could be another pigeon doing this. I surely would not leave him out there in that condition. He should be inside, protected. If it IS one of your birds doing this, it is very important that you find out who it is.
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I was looking for your previous post, but was unable to find it.
Cindy
If this person did ask for advice, it either wasn't on this site or it was under a different username as St. Clare just recently joined PT and only has one post, that being the one posted in this thread.
Cindy
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They probably just asked the question without registering and if they did, the post won't show up under their name when they do register.
That's why we hate that feature so much.....or at least I do.
OR they could have posted at the end of an ongoing thread without registering. I vaguely remember someone posting something and when asked if they could provide pictures, they said they were sick. However, after looking and looking, I can't find it.
Hi--I had to re-register because I couldn't remember my former name. This attack has happened in the coup twice but not to the same bird. The first time, whatever it was killed the bird, and this bird here was injured. The pic is two weeks old, and he is doing fine now. As for how many birds live in the coup--12 adults and now 6 nestlings. I don't think it's overpopulated. In both cases, I found the bird in the morning on the floor, so they had either fallen from the nest or had been chased from there. After the first attack, rodents were suggested, so I have buttened up the coup perfectly (I thought). I try to keep the rodents out of all of my poultry and feed storage. Perhaps I should try a rat trap?
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Rats will usually kill a pigeon. Even an adult. They usually come out at night. The bird can't see to fly away, and is therefore at their mercy. How do you know that it wasn' t one of your birds. We never like to think that it could be, but that is not uncommon. By the way. How large is your loft?
Injured baby
The coup is 8 x 12 feet and it's pretty tall. We have lots of little loft nesting spaces built in there too. Both times that we've found a baby in this condition, they had fallen from their nest. I should mention that it's hard to see in the pic, but the windows are covered in small square wire mesh. The holes are 1/4 inch. The grate over the door is one of the typical variety that lets in but not out.
The coup is 8 x 12 feet and it's pretty tall. We have lots of little loft nesting spaces built in there too. Both times that we've found a baby in this condition, they had fallen from their nest. I should mention that it's hard to see in the pic, but the windows are covered in small square wire mesh. The holes are 1/4 inch. The grate over the door is one of the typical variety that lets in but not out.
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It would be helpful to see the inside of your loft. How big are the nest boxes? That baby looks pretty young, and by the time you had taken that picture, he was healing. So he must have been pretty young when he fell out. I don't think they usually walk around enough to fall out of a good sized box when they are really young. Do you have some sort of guard on the front of the boxes? Ya know, like a board running across the bottom that is a couple of inches high, to stop them from just walking out over the edge? You really should have that on all the boxes. It prevents them from falling out at a young age. Usually, when they fall out onto the floor, and look like that, it's because you have a bird or birds, usually cock birds, who will attack them. Lots of people have been very surprised to find out that one of their birds would do this. It would be very helpful to see your loft inside, see the boxes, how it is arranged, and to know how many birds you have. It would help to narrow down the question of what happened, and it would be helpful also, because others in here may be able to make suggestions as to what you can do to prevent it from happening in the future.
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You said you have 12 adults. Is that 6 hens and 6 cocks? I honestly believe that you've got a bully cock bird fighting for a nest box and the baby probably got thrown from the box during the scuffle. An odd number of sexes will cause this.
I agree with Jay3..........pictures would be very helpful.........we just want to help YOU make sure that this doesn't happen again.
I agree with Jay3..........pictures would be very helpful.........we just want to help YOU make sure that this doesn't happen again.
There are 12 adults and 6 babies in nests. I don't have a flash on my camera, but I'll try to get some inside shots. The nesting boxes are about 2x2feet and are installed in the back of the coup toward the roof. There are 8 of these and a high shelf on either end of the coup where nests also appear. They don't all prefer the boxes, it seems. An adult bullying the younger ones also sounds plausible since the sores are broad surface scabs. I would think that a rodent would have caused deep laserations with bites and scratches. The baby appeared to be more knocked about and scraped up. When does this behavior surface? During the night? I wonder how I can catch it? Thanks for all the help, by the way!!
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No. It could happen at any time. During the night, they're sleeping. Pigeons don't fly around causing trouble during the night. They can't see to fly in the dark. If a baby falls out of the box, to the floor, a mean cock will go after it. Sometimes they will even kill it.
Do you have a 2 inch board running across the bottom of the nest boxes? That helps to keep them in. His parents should have protected him from a bully if they were there. So this could be happening after they are starting to leave him alone more. And the other bird could be going into the boxes to hurt the youngsters. At the time this happened, had you checked out all the adults very closely, you may have been able to detect blood on one of their beaks or faces. You need to find out who is doing this. As Renee has mentioned, it could also be a bully, trying to take over the nest box. Maybe you could use more boxs. They like to have choices. Do you have perches for them? That's important. The male normally wants to perch outside of the box somewhere for the night. When one bird is on the eggs or babies, the other is out running around and perching. If you don't have perches, they will try to take over another box to go to when they are out of the nest. How many perches do you have? You should have more than the number of birds that you have. Do you have any adults who seem aggressive? I spend a lot of time with my birds, and therefore pretty much get to know what each one is like, but sometimes even they can surprise me. My loft is built right off my house, and I can watch them through a large window. Sometimes I'm surprised to see one of them do something that seems out of character. Some of our members have set up cams in their lofts, that connect to their tv's or computers, and they can watch the interactions that go on between the birds. It's really interesting to watch. How long have you had them? A lot of people put boards, like low shelves along the walls, where the babies can go under and get away from the adults. Little places to hide.
Do you have a 2 inch board running across the bottom of the nest boxes? That helps to keep them in. His parents should have protected him from a bully if they were there. So this could be happening after they are starting to leave him alone more. And the other bird could be going into the boxes to hurt the youngsters. At the time this happened, had you checked out all the adults very closely, you may have been able to detect blood on one of their beaks or faces. You need to find out who is doing this. As Renee has mentioned, it could also be a bully, trying to take over the nest box. Maybe you could use more boxs. They like to have choices. Do you have perches for them? That's important. The male normally wants to perch outside of the box somewhere for the night. When one bird is on the eggs or babies, the other is out running around and perching. If you don't have perches, they will try to take over another box to go to when they are out of the nest. How many perches do you have? You should have more than the number of birds that you have. Do you have any adults who seem aggressive? I spend a lot of time with my birds, and therefore pretty much get to know what each one is like, but sometimes even they can surprise me. My loft is built right off my house, and I can watch them through a large window. Sometimes I'm surprised to see one of them do something that seems out of character. Some of our members have set up cams in their lofts, that connect to their tv's or computers, and they can watch the interactions that go on between the birds. It's really interesting to watch. How long have you had them? A lot of people put boards, like low shelves along the walls, where the babies can go under and get away from the adults. Little places to hide.
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