[Bella]

Hi again guys. I have a mixed update on my feral pigeons that I've been hand raising. While hawk is still doing little bursts of beating it's wings and little 6 inch helicopter flights, Scout is pretty much winging from the tops of furniture and really flying well.


After tossing them single seeds for a few days, I am now having to fill hawk's food and water dish twice daily and feel comfortable not feeding him/her any longer.

Oddly enough, Scout, who seems to be the more physically mature of the two, is still not eating any substantial amount...and still shows no interest in water.
I have backed Scout down to one feeding daily in the hopes that hunger will drive him to eat on his own.
Every time I arrive home Scout goes a bit loony as soon as he sees me and marches around the perimeter of the cage begging to be fed. WHen he does this I grab him and stick his beak in his water dish and play with his seeds hoping he'll get the point. But I'm not having any luck at all pushing him towards independence.

I assume that since he's flying so well, he is more than capable of feeding himself, but he's being a spoiled little brat about it.

Should I continue to feed him once daily? Or should I cut him off completely?

Seems like a case of failure to launch...seems he wants to be hand fed forever

 

[Lovebirds]

Does Scout have food and water in the cage while you're not there? I suspect, and am almost sure, that if he does, then he's drinking and probably eating too and you just don't see it. That may be why he's not taking a drink, because he's not REALLY thirsty. And he may not be hungry either....just looking for attention.
I know that occasionally I'll wean a baby that I KNOW is eating and drinking, but as soon as I walk in the loft, it's all over me like it's starving to death and I know that's not the case.

 

[Bella]

They do always have food and water in their cages. So to track what they have been eating I heap their food dishes full and then level them off with the top of their dishes. Gives the food a nice flat surface, so I can tell if they've touched it, and based on how much they scatter on the floor, get an approximate idea of how much they've been eating. Scout plays with his occasionally, but doesn't eat much of it.

I do the same with their water dishes, fill them full so just a few drops trickles out when I hang it in their cages. Water is easier to tell how much they've been drinking. Scouts hasn't drank any at all yet so far

I'm holding out on him for a bit...we are going on day 3 of only one feeding a day on him. I have been feeding him at night right before I'm off to bed so he will be most hungry during the day when I am around to spy on him.

He seems fine, definitely hungry but energetic, alert, and his usual self.
Maybe I am just worrying over it too much lol.