# Found a young pidgy



## qeracing (Jul 14, 2005)

Hi

A baby fell from its nest last night at my barn.. A girl put it up on the rafters as high as she could get it but there are 4 cats and a lot of dangerous stuff up where it was (plastic bags, chemicals..) So I took it home, I wasn't sure if the parents would be able to feed it there, or if the cats would get to it. And I have always wanted a pigeon so I didn't think it would be a bad idea to take it home...

I believe it is 20-22 days, I looked at those pictures on http://www.speedpigeon.com/baby_racing_pigeon.htm it has a lot of the yellow fuzzie all over it.. I read the post before mine, Sensaru I think was her name, and I found that to be quite helpful.

I have a few more questions  The last this bird could have eaten was around 10am, but it still looks to be full, is this normal at this age? Or should it be unfilling itself faster? This picture was taken about 3 hours ago and it still looks the same right now... I have given it water and mashed up some wheat-bran and raisin bran cereal and gave it a little bit, not much because I think it is full.. I squirted some water down its mouth to make sure it was hydrated...

Also, I put it in a dog crate outside with some perches... I just now moved it in... Should I keep it in a box until it is a little older? Or should I let it be outside during the day? I put a blanket over a half of the cage, it is up on a tabe in the trees so it has shade, but still gets air and some sun... And I put some grass hay in the corner of the cage as a nest which the bird seems to have taken a liking to... Do you recommed I get baby bird food formula (if they have it here... I am in Ruidoso, New Mexico and we don't have much of anything) or should it be old enough soon to eat seed? I already bought a pigeon seed mix...

I am VERY excited to have one now, I just want to give it a good life!!! Anything you can tell me would be great.. I have taken in other hurt/baby birds before but this is my first baby pigeon... I once found one of the ones with the strip/line on the wing which I guess are illegal to have (this was in California where they are protected). 

Thanks!


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

qeracing,

Welcome to Pigeons.com! First, this fella' is old enough that what his parents have been feeding him is essentially a mix of slightly hydrated seeds and water, so it's not difficult to feed him at this point as to WHAT to feed him. But he's not going to know what food is to look at in front of him or what a bowl of water is for. You will have to show him. He's not going to learn to like and trust you for a few (2 to 3 usually) days, so you're just going to have to... understand.

Anyhow, you will have to FEEL his "crop" in order to determine if it's "gone down" because looking at the feathers can be deceiving. That's tougher to do than you'd think--it sort of depends on what his parents were feeding him. Essentially, you can feel the "keel", or breastbone, and find the top of it where it just sort of stops up near the base of the neck. Above that, you can feel "the crop" if it has something in it like peas, corn (popcorn sized would be best at his age), safflower seeds--anything somewhat bigger than millet or sesame seeds.

These things are fairly easy to feel through the fairly thin skin--you just roll your finger around gently against the neck looking for things that don't feel like "body parts." You have to do this with your fingers pushed up under the feathers or between them.

To feed him, you can roll him up in a towel like a "burrito" with just his head sticking out and then you can take your left hand (if you're right-handed) and (palm up) cradle his head between your middle and ring fingers while holding his beak between your thumb and index finger. With your other hand you can use your fingernail to open his beak which you can then hold open with the fingers of your left hand already mentioned. Then you can roll dried peas, dried corn (smaller kernels best), safflower seed (the white ones) and the milo, wheat or whatever. It's best not to feed him unshelled sunflower seeds yet.

Pidgey


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## qeracing (Jul 14, 2005)

Okay, it feels empty! That is good  I guess it is just a fat healthy bird hehe  So, do you think I could pick out some of the smaller seeds in the mix and wet them a bit and drop them in his mouth? Or should I go get some frozen peas for it?  It is so cute, when I go to touch it, it chrips and gets all flustered about me  

Heheh, well, I can handle 2 or 3 days  I got a 7 week old wolf-dog that took me 6 months to get her used to me  Hopefully I didn't do a bad thing by taking it, but I don't think it was very safe there!!!


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

This is a very cute little baby, very pretty.
He seems old enough to start feeding by himself in mostly a week. You could offer him some water and hold his beak into the bowl with the water, keep the nostrils out and see if he drinks.
You can grind up some seeds and make a paste dilute it with some water and feed him that with a syringe or eye dropper.
Make sure his crop is empty before you feed him. If his crop is still full, give him just water.

Also you can put a bowl of seeds in his carrier and show him how to peck on them by playing with your fingers in the seeds.

Good luck with your little pigeon. 

Reti


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

qeracing,

Go back and read it all because I was still editing my first post while you were replying. Also, listen to Reti! Don't worry, we'll snow you under with advice if you keep asking questions!

Pidgey


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## qeracing (Jul 14, 2005)

Hehe 

Okie, thanks  Hey, I read somewhere that puppy food is okay? I can't grind the other seeds up, they are really hard, it has like dried peas and corns which arn't getting soft in the microwave  And I will be a few hours before I can buy peas and other stuff to give it...

I soaked the puppy kibbles in water and made it into a paste so, if you give the okay on the puppy food, I will give it some of that so it has something until I can get something better (few hours )

Thanks again 

Oh yeah, its crop is not full, there might be a wee bit of stuff in there but it is pretty much empty.. GOOD idea Reti. I would have just tried to put his head in the bowl  Once he gets comfy with me, he is still all bothered if I touch him, or if he's cleaning and I look at him he stops and gives me this totally disgruntled look.. SO cute!


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Puppy chow is good if there is nothing else, for an emergency. Don't give him puppy chow long term.
You can feed him frozen thawed peas, corn. You can also give him dried peas, corn, lentils, a few soy beans, whatever you have, just make sure he gets fed enough. His crop should be full after each feeding.

Reti


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## Lin Hansen (Jan 9, 2004)

Hi queracing,

Welcome. It sounds like you're doing a good job and you have received excellent advice. I thought you might find the following link useful as there are pictures to illustrate the different "look" of a full crop as opposed to an empty crop.

Here is the link to a previous thread which contains links to photos our moderator Maryco has posted showing the location of the crop and comparisons of empty and full crops. Hope this helps:
http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=5203) 

Just click on the link and view the slideshow till you get to the pictures I'm talking about.

Good luck,
Linda


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## JGregg (Jul 28, 2003)

Thanks for saving the little baby!

Would it be possible to bring it inside and in a seperate room from your dogs and/or cats? If you leave the baby outside it is possible that larger animal could mutilate the baby though the dog crate.


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## qeracing (Jul 14, 2005)

Yes! I brought it inside earlier so it is in a box in my room... The dog actually sleeps in that crate, and the other one gets locked in the bathroom  The cats are not mine, they are at the barn a few minutes away..

How many peas/corns should I give it? I fed it like, 5... and the crop... Let me make sure I am even feeling the right spot... Above the breast bone, and then it is soft on the left and right side... And then above that there is a hard bone... So, would the soft spot be the crop? It must be, but it didn't feel full after I fed it, but I didn't want to over feed it... The bird is kinda getting the hang of it and holds still for me... And he was all angry when I put him back, he was chirping so I dunno if he was still hungry or just didn't want to go back in the box!!!

So, roughly how many peas/corns? And I gave it water after, which it drank happily, this is good to give water after feeding, right?

Thanks


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Yep, that should be the crop what you are feeling.
If it doesn't feel full after feeding, he didn't have enough. Five peas/corn isn't much, so go ahaid and feed 15 corn/peas, feel the crop and see how it feels. When the crop is empties again, after a few hours after feeding start all over again. At this stage babies need a lot of food, they grow fast and need all the energy they can get.
Pigeons do drink water after feeding, so make sure he drinks.

Reti


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## qeracing (Jul 14, 2005)

I gave it 12 this morning and still didnt feel anything... Should I keep giving it stuff until I DO feel something? Otherwise it is doing well... It is figuring out how to drink finally.. I had to rub its beak in the water so it would open its mouth and see what it was. heheh. I'll feed it again some more in an hour and see what I get, it was really chirpy when I put it back in its box, so I dont know what that means yet!!! Angry or happy chirps, heh... 

THANKS


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

The chirps may be either one, happy or angry that he has to go back to his cage.
12 peas sounds good. If you are not sure about the crop you better give him food more often, every 3-4 hours rather than stuff him.
Good sign that he is drinking, soon he will start also eating by himself.

Thank you for taking such good care of the pijie.

Reti


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hi Queracing,

I have a squab of just about the same age. He had also fallen from the nest just that bit too early and although the parents were feeding him he was in danger, so I brought him home.

I scattered some small seeds around him as he lay in his cage and out of curiosity he started to pick them up and then swallow them. He started self feeding in no time.

It is best if you let the pigeon decide how much food he wants which means encouraging him to eat on his own. This thread has links to photos of various methods of feeding that you might like to try out:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=9682&referrerid=560 

A pigeon that age would need between 80 and 120 ml of liquidised kibble a day.

Cynthia


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## qeracing (Jul 14, 2005)

Do you know how many CCs that is? I just fed it some more food and could feel a few seeds inside the crop.. I gave it a mix of frozen peas/corns -thawed out and slightly warm- and some of the pigeon mix I have, I just dropped it down his beak... I am SO scared of over feeding it and making it blow up... He drank some too

I don't think it likes me  It gets all crabby and bothered if I touch it so I've moved it outside the box and wrapped it up to lay next to me and watch me and get used to me... Any advice on getting it to trust me? It isn't totally scared of me, but it would rather not be bothered  Probably in a few days it will get used to me, hopefully!

Thanks, I am going to try the baggie method and the syringe with the x in it  It wont self feed yet I guess, has no interest in the seeds and peas I put in his box on the floor..


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## qeracing (Jul 14, 2005)

Side question:

I've been reading up on pigeon racing and such... REALLY cool... I didn't know there was anything like that out there!  So, I think what I have got is a rock pigeon? Or is this something else? At least I have something I can start with and see how I do and how I like it!

Here's another picture where you can see it a little better.. It was spying on me for a while and when I wanted to take a picture of it, if crunched back down and was all pestered again... Hehe poor lil guy


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