[Mirnocka]

Hello!
Someone please, I need an urgent advice. I found a common wood pigeon unable to fly, no apparent injuries. The vet will examine her to see what is wrong, but I need help with the feeding!
She is with me since last Friday, and since then I browsed and watched a lot of videos on how to hand feed a pigeon, because she does not eat on her own and I am not sure if she is drinking water. At first I gave her a mixture of water with grounded seeds with a 1mL injection into her mouth, carefully, but then realized I was feeding her too little!
Then I learned how to hand feed the whole seeds. But today I did not feed her because she looked perky and okay, so I tried to leave her so she could finally eat on her own-she does not! It is evening now and she has not touched her food the whole day!!! Also not sure if she is drinking at all!
Her poop became nice and firm dark with white paste on top, as I read it should be after we switched on hand feeding the whole seeds, but now it is just yellow, probably because she is not eating. What to do?Should I wait until tomorrow or is this too dangerous?
Help!

 

[Friend John]

Maybe try to feed it small defrosted peas? They contain moisture so drinking will become less critical.

 

[Mirnocka]

I did because I would not wait until morning,I could not risk her getting worse.She ate 31 piece!And she took it from the tip of the open beak, while she would usually not eat any other seeds this way!

 

[Friend John]

That's awesome. Hope it will help until she learns how to eat seeds and drink.

P.S.
Make sure the peas are not cold when you give them to the bird, they should be lukewarm.

 

[Mirnocka]

I tried them myself before giving them to her to make sure they are not still frozen or too warm.Thank you so much for replying.I left a couple along with other seeds in her dish,to try and get her interest into eating them this way.

 

[Marina B]

If she is a fledgling that has not learned to eat by herself, then you can handfeed her 30 peas 3 times daily. A total of 90 peas per day. Always leave a small bowl of peas with her, they quickly learn to eat peas by themselves. Then you can start adding some small seeds as well.

 

[Mirnocka]

Thank you!She is an adult I think,she weighs a bit more over 400g on a cheap kitchen scale.Could it be possible she is younger and does not know how to fly?

 

[Jay3]

She may be sick and need medication. Or even egg bound hen. Can you post her pic?

 

[Mirnocka]

Here she is in a separated house,where she has no stress.I live with a lot of cats and two dogs in the main house and no one would have peace,even if she was in a separated room,because the cats would smell her.

 

[Mirnocka]

Here she is on last Friday.

 

[Mirnocka]

I fed her 40 peas for breakfast,the peas from yesterday along with the seeds were untouched.She also has a much wider ceramic bowl for water now.Cannot feed every 6 hours,I am at work until 4PM so that would mean the third meal would be very late in the night.

 

[Mirnocka]

She started eating the peas by herself!!!
I even counted them before putting them on a plate-everything was gone when I came later!
I am so happy!
I just wish she would start eating the seeds as well.

 

[Marina B]

That's great news! You can keep the bowl filled with peas, she will probably take in more than 90 peas every day. Start adding some small seed to the peas, she will eventually start eating those as well.

 

[Mirnocka]

Okay, will do that. I have already added some seeds. I let her out of the cage yesterday to take a stroll in the room-she could only lift herself up aprox.30 cm from the ground when running away from me. Both her wings look simetrical, they don't drop or something like that, so I don't know what's wrong. Our vets here are not specialised for birds that much. I have an option to take her to a wildlife center once I am sure she will eat the seeds as well, but I would be more happier if she would be able to fly, so I could release her. We have a big outdoor cat habitat. Maybe she could practice her flying there every day for an hour or two? (of course, without the cats in it) The habitat is aprox.3 meters high. I just hope I will be able to catch her afterwards.

 

[Marina B]

It will be nice for her to practise flying in there, even better if the cage get some sun. You can put up some perches in the corners for her to land on once she gets better at flying. It will also be nice to release her from there once she is healthy again. She will get familiar with the surroundings and hopefully will stick around once released.

Pigeons don't see well in the dark, so it will be best to put her inside there in the afternoons and when it gets dark it will be easier to catch her again.

 

[Mirnocka]

Yes,I will do it like that.We have a tree in the middle of the habitat with perches, plus a cat rail on the side and no roof,so the sun can shine in the afternoon (cats go out of our house thru a bridge only when the weather is nice).I just hope we will be able to catch her when it is time to go inside!

 

[Mirnocka]

I hope she will be able to fly and hope she will then stick around.We have at least two feeders for smaller birds plus feeder balls suspended from a big cherry tree,and get regular visits from a pair of also wood pigeons and a couple of doves.

 

[Jay3]

You said you thought it was an adult. If an adult and not flying, then it is either sick or injured. If it is a youngster, then it needs to learn to fly. Where did you find the bird? Was it somewhere that it could not have gotten without being able to fly?
I ask these questions because if the bird is sick, and everyone is overlooking that, then he isn't being treated, and will get worse.
Can you post an close up of his face? You said he weighed 400 grams. Not sure it is a youngster who has not learned to eat or fly. Could be a sick adult. If it weighs over 400 grams, and has the neck bands, then you have an adult. And he or she probably needs meds. Or could even be a female who needs calcium, or is egg bound.
Was is everyone just assuming it is a youngster who needs to learn to eat and fly?

 

[Jay3]

She can't be left outside in an enclosure with no roof, as any bird of prey can grab her.

 

[Mirnocka]

Hey Jay3!
I found the bird last Friday in the middle of pouring rain, in the center of the town,and there are trees nearby. I came across her twice and it looked suspicious because she wasn't flying, she just sat there stoned. When I got near her she tried to fly away but could not, she just flapped her wings really awkwardly like she was injured, barely raising from the ground. With a storm coming for the weekend, I could not leave her there.I knew if she was a fledgling the parents might be near by and I also know they are not to be touched. But she looked like an injured adult.I don't know much about birds, but I am reading about pigeons for a week now, trying to figure out first the type, then if it is an adult and then how or what to feed. She weighs over 400 grams, and has white patches. I never said she was a youngster or that she needed to learn how to fly or eat, I just asked if I might be wrong. She just cannot fly and would not eat on her own. We have overcome the feeding part and she started to eat by herself (peas helped a lot). Her wings look okay and simmetrical, not hanging but when she flaps them, it looks a bit tilted when she is off the ground those couple of seconds (don't know how else to describe this). She doesn't have a single scratch on her, her eyes and beak look alright. It is over 9 PM here but I will get some closeups tomorrow. Now that she is eating on her own, I try not to bother her a lot so to keep the stress at minimum.
I don't know if I made a mistake by picking her up, I just tried to help her because she looked like she was in a lot of trouble. And I don't know if what I am doing is okay. I do my best.