# rejected baby pigeon



## dorion (Mar 3, 2012)

Greeting everyone,
Just joined the forum. I volunteer at the Wildlife Care Center at Audubon. I had 4 pigeons in my house for home care until they could be released come spring. Well, 2 of them mated and both eggs hatched. The parents fed both babies and sat on them, taking turns. When they were 5 days old, I had to go out of town and left my neighbor (a 4-H member) to take care. She is very competent. The day before I was to get home, she called to say one of the babies had died; it seems the parents had pecked it to death. When I got home, I found the other baby alone, cold, also pecked bloody and starving. I think it had been without food for 2 days. I immediately started hand-feeding and it seems to be doing fine almost a week later. It's now 3 weeks old and there are still some scabs on its back and no feathers there. I brought it with me to Audubon last Tuesday and the vet said she thought there wouldn't be any permanent damage, but I've looked at pictures of 3 week old pigeons, and they have lots of feathers. I'm thinking maybe there was damage to the follicles and no feathers will grow on its back! The other feathers seem fine everywhere else. It's also on the small size, understandably. The vet said usually when the parents care for the baby to start with, they continue, so she doesn't know why they stopped. I wonder if my neighbor handled them a lot; I'll never know what happened. They were in a huge dog kennel, separated from the other 2 pigeons, with plenty of food. Any thoughts?


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

That's strange that the parent birds would have changed on them like that. Something must have happened or changed while you were gone. If indeed they were handled by what they perceived to be a stranger, that could have made them feel unsafe, and maybe even made them act out on the babies. Just don't know. I'm so sorry for you and for the babies.

As far as the feathers coming back, they still may in time.


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## Quazar (Jul 27, 2010)

dorion said:


> Greeting everyone,
> Just joined the forum. I volunteer at the Wildlife Care Center at Audubon. I had 4 pigeons in my house for home care until they could be released come spring. Well, 2 of them mated and both eggs hatched. The parents fed both babies and sat on them, taking turns. When they were 5 days old, I had to go out of town and left my neighbor (a 4-H member) to take care. She is very competent. The day before I was to get home, she called to say one of the babies had died; it seems the parents had pecked it to death. When I got home, I found the other baby alone, cold, also pecked bloody and starving. I think it had been without food for 2 days. I immediately started hand-feeding and it seems to be doing fine almost a week later. *It's now 3 weeks old and there are still some scabs on its back and no feathers there*. I brought it with me to Audubon last Tuesday and the vet said she thought there wouldn't be any permanent damage, but I've looked at pictures of 3 week old pigeons, and they have lots of feathers. I'm thinking maybe there was damage to the follicles and no feathers will grow on its back! The other feathers seem fine everywhere else. It's also on the small size, understandably. The vet said usually when the parents care for the baby to start with, they continue, so she doesn't know why they stopped. I wonder if my neighbor handled them a lot; I'll never know what happened. They were in a huge dog kennel, separated from the other 2 pigeons, with plenty of food. Any thoughts?


They will grow back, just takes time.
I had a feral rescue that fell from its nest and seemed to have grazed its wing & back on a wall on the way down. The wing feathers replaced quickly, but the ones on its back took about 6 weeks before it was totally covered again.


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

That is odd...is it possible one of the other two adults attacked the babies ? That would seem more explicable.

As Quazar said,don't worry about the bald patches. Even in a worst-case scenario where they never grow back...they are neither primary or secondary flight feathers nor tailfeathers...just covert feathers, so there'd be no harm done.

Lucky you got home when you did....


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## dorion (Mar 3, 2012)

I don't think it was either of the other 2 adults because they never went down to the enclosure where the parents were staying, but anything is possible. Also, the parents were very protective; when I would clean up, whoever was sitting on the eggs/babies would go after me, beating me with their wings and biting. The other 2 are young pigeons and keep to themselves. The other feathers are coming in nicely; if the ones on its back don't, he might need a little pigeon jacket to keep warm.


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## dorion (Mar 3, 2012)

Just wanted to say the feathers are beginning to grow back, and the bird weighed 120 grams last week, but when I took him to Audubon this past Tuesday, he weighed in at 230 grams!!! So all is well and he is progressing nicely. Had him outside in the sun today to soak up some vitamin D. I named him Rocky because he's a fighter.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

It's amazing how resilient pigeons are, and...how quickly they grow!


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Glad he's doing so well. Thanks for the update."Rocky" is cute. I named one of mine the same thing once, and for the same reason. Rocky turned out to be a Roxy. I still like the name though. She is my avatar.


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