# 18-day old pigeon fell from roof



## davidjess (Jul 4, 2010)

Born about 2010-06-16
Baby rock pigeon fell from roof

Thank you for your web resources on feeding baby pigeons. I will try as hard as I can. Please see the details below and offer any specific advice that you can.

Sincerely,

David Jess Borough
MEd candidate, Educational Technology
Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University
Department of Advanced Studies in Learning, Technology, and Psychology in Education
Email [email protected]

[Foto attached] 2010-07-04 150 g, about 18 days old. 

2010-07-03--Day 17, found fallen from roof on top step, scared, will not eat or fly. Yellow micro feathers all over head and sticking thru body feathers, brown eyes, brown beak bumps. Identified as a rock pigeon (very common on the porch and at the park nearby). Approximate age, 17 days (from internet day-by-day fotos). Parents and nest not found on the tile roof (although looking from the edge only, not explored). What would be her chances if we just stuck her back on the roof or stuck her in the park with other pigeons? Will her parents come into the patio at night when we are gone to feed her? AZ Game and Fish volunteer coordinator contacted via email. Moved to outside patio. Water and bread provided. Bathes in water, but does not eat or drink on its own. Squeeks and hides.

2010-07-04--Day 18, 150 grams. 10:00 AM. Force fed 2 popcorn kernals. Attempted warm water through a metal tube, but it does not open its beak for it. May have drunk a tiny amount of it. No longer runs from me. Right wing may be injured (sticks out). Outside temperature in ZIP 85202 varies between 20 and 40 degrees C. Foto taken, labeled by date. Details sent to Austin Duck Police. Registered on Pigeon Talk.

Contacts:
See Pigeon Talk 
Care of baby pigeon: http://www.duckpolice.org/BirdWeb/PigeonResourceWeb/babypigeoncare.html
Flys at 45 days, must be hand fed even when self-feeding. How to tube feed with Kaytee Exact or Lafeber's Nutri-Start. [email protected]


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

David,

Thanks for helping this little guy out, please see the following posts to start,

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showpost.php?p=475500&postcount=26
http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f20/feeding-a-three-week-old-pigeon-27936.html

These should give you some good information and what you can expect. Try the tepid water in a shot glass ASAP, in the second link, to get some hydration into him.

Any questions ask away.

Good luck with him,

Karyn


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## davidjess (Jul 4, 2010)

I used your pigeon resources to find a local rehabilitator, Nancy, who agreed to take in the bird. I am awaiting a phone call to deliver it this afternoon. Meanwhile, I have gotten in a tiny amount of food and water.


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## davidjess (Jul 4, 2010)

*Status updates*

12:00 PM. Finally some water! Warmed, comfortable on wrist. Poured from plastic tube into open beak, maybe she got 1 ml. Also tried sticking her beak into the tube and pouring it. She does not seem interested in food and water at all. Her beak is never open unless forced. Also force fed thawed peas 2, corn 2, and raw rice 7. It is not much, but much better than nothing!

4 PM: Nancy Eilertsen left email that she will rehabilitate the pigeon. I left a message with my cell phone to deliver it to Chandler any time this afternoon.

4:30 PM: I came home to see an adult bird showing a great amount of interest in the baby. I observed it for 4 minutes, trying not to scare it off, but I think it knew that I was observing it from 10 m away in the dining room through the glass door. Baby is showing feeding behavior now, bobbing its head back and forth rapidly. Got its beak in the feeding tube, and it gobbled up some water (maybe 0.5 – 1.0 ml), 2 peas, and 2 corns. Still little but way better than nothing. I bought a syringe and Kay Tee Exact hand feed, but will probably return it since the rehabilitator will take over quite soon. I put out tepid water in a full cup 4 cm high. When I put her beak into it, it seems like she is sucking some up. That seems like a good sign that she will start drinking, soon.


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## davidjess (Jul 4, 2010)

*Turned pigeon over to rehabilitator*

6:10 PM: Nancy called, and I delivered the pigeon. Nancy said that its crop was completely empty, so its parents were definitely not feeding it in the patio. She said they almost certainly would, though, if they were around. They are not afraid of patios, only paper boxes seem to be a common fear. It looks like it is in good shape though. We caught it in time.


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## davidjess (Jul 4, 2010)

*Could a feral pigeon navigate back to our patio?*

Question, could it ever come back to our patio since it was fed, here? (If so, we would like to ring it so that we would recognize it. We would not want to keep it, but since pigeons are half domesticated, anyway, we would encourage its visits with seed).


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

David, I am glad to hear you were able to manage to find a local rehabber to take over this little one, you did a good job in rescuing him and thanks for the detailed chronology of events of his time with you.

There is a involved set of things that need to happen for a pigeon to be able to find its way back to a particular place or "home", and I am afraid your little guy was just too young to be able "imprint" on your location. It would be nice if you stayed in touch with Nancy to stay up to date on his progress and we would be interested in hearing how things turned out for him.

Karyn


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## sreeshs (Aug 16, 2009)

davidjess said:


> Question, could it ever come back to our patio since it was fed, here? (If so, we would like to ring it so that we would recognize it. We would not want to keep it, but since pigeons are half domesticated, anyway, we would encourage its visits with seed).


If there is a feral flock in the surroundings, you can try resettling the bird in that flock.


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