# Teaching Blind Baby Pigeon To Eat On His Own



## whitefeathers4u (Aug 28, 2007)

Hi Everyone!

I am new to this forum but not new to the pigeon world. I have racing pigeons, rollers, fairy swallows and a few doves. Having a blind baby roller IS new to me. I have been hand feeding him since he was about 2 weeks old. I thought his parents were pushing him out of the nest because he was on the floor of the loft...I would put him back in his nest and he would end up on the floor again. I realized that he wasn't being pushed out but was falling out...long story...bottom line is that I discovered why he was having such a hard time learning to eat on his own after me hand feeding him for a few weeks...he IS completley blind. It took me awhile to realize that was what was wrong with him. Now that I made that discovery...it is very plain to see that he CAN'T see anything. I've had him in my house in a cage since he was about 2 weeks old and he is about 8 weeks or so now. Has all his feathers, including all the feathers under his wings. I was feeding him the Exact baby formula but he has been on seeds only for about a week and a half. He was getting way too fat on the formula. 

Now that I have saved this little guy and he is fat and happy my big question is: will he ever learn to eat on his own? Will I ever be able to leave my house again for more than a few hours LOL I have food and water in the cage in little feeding cups. He HAS started pecking at the seeds if I show him where they are but can't get any in his beak, even though they are small seeds and large ones in the dish. I also put a small paper plate in the cage with seeds on it and he will peck if I tap the plate but again can't pick any up. He did learn to drink, not on his own but if I tipped his head a little into the water he will drink. It is weird though because he sticks his whole entire head in the water, right up past his eyes. When he gets done dunking his head he backs up, shakes his head and then spins around and around in circles. Not sure what that is all about. Does anyone has any ideas on how to teach him to find the seed and water dish on his own and eat on his own??? I have always kept them in the same spot in the cage. They are right in front of a low perch that he does like to sit on. I even put some in his nest bowl in case he wants to peck at them. Am I expecting him to learn to quick? Will he ever learn? Also, I have never had a pigeon be born blind-will it happen again with the same parents?? I just got these birds last year as youngsters and this was their first baby(the other egg never hatched). They are on eggs now and I worry that these babies will be blind too???

Sorry to be so long winded...just trying to give all the details. Here is a picture of Mr. Fat & Happy (I actually named him Mr. Potatoe Head)
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2717767610068038703upcDQD










Thanks so much!
Patti


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Patti, although I can't help you with this little one, as I've never had a blind pigeon, BUT.......we do have a few members that do have blind pigeons and I'm sure they'll be along in a while. Just keep checking back. Good luck.


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## whitefeathers4u (Aug 28, 2007)

*Thanks!*

Thank you! BTW-I have seen your loft before (on-line of course) maybe it came up on search (maybe 911Pigeon on Yahoo ??)...anyway...I love it...VERY nice!

Patti


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Patti, welcome to the forum. Your pictures are wonderful, especially with all those white beauties lying on the lawn with yellow flowers around them.

We do have a number of people with blind birds and they do very well. This first link is to "Izze's" webcam (which I keep bookmarked and look at often). Izze belongs to a member, Monica. We also have "Unie" who is member Pidgey's blind pigeon.

Izze: http://appliedfantasy.net/izze_cam/izze.html

Unie: http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=10825

Another member, Earthapidge, acquired a blind pigeon a few months ago. She has 2-3 threads about her pigeon "Twirlyshirley". Just search "Earthapidge" to pull up those threads. 

Best of luck.


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## whitefeathers4u (Aug 28, 2007)

Thank you so much! I will look at all the links and do a search for "Twirlyshirley" She sounds like my pigeon, he spins around a lot.
Thanks for taking the time to look at my pictures! As you can see, I do love my pigeons! I love the whites. I have white rollers and also quite a few of the white racers, but I don't race them LOL I love them too much to send them on a race. They just fly around the neighborhood but not for too much longer, it will be hawk season soon and they will be locked up in the loft until late Spring :-(
Thanks again, It was nice to meet you!
Patti


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## naturegirl (Nov 7, 2005)

Hi Patti I have a blind pigeon named Ginger she is beautiful, she came in with head trauma and i must have fed her formula for oh about 2 months, I also had another baby around the same age as her and let them roam around the kitchen with a big bowl of seed topped up and believe it or not, the other one helped Ginger learn how to eat, I would tap the side of her bowl of seed and call her by name and she would come along with the other baby. I was so frustrated at the thought I couldn't teach her how to eat or drink on her own. It does take a while and it will happen but please be patient. I must have asked everyone on here so many times they were probably getting sick of me asking. Ginger can see things about 1 inch away in only one eye but that is all. She can't see out of the other eye at all. She is so precious! Good Luck and maybe others can help as well. 

Cindy


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Hi Patti,

I have two adults that are completely blind. They came in at different times but both caught on very quickly to finding the food and water containers which are always in the very same place. It seems to help them to have fairly deep unspillable bowls.

I also have two very young pigeons that are blind. I am hand feeding them and working with them several times a day to try and show them how to eat and drink on their own .. no luck so far in the self sufficiency category. I suspect it may take another month before they really catch on to how to do their own eating and drinking.

All four of my blind pigeons turn in circles. I think the circling somehow helps them determine what is around them. 

Good luck with your youngster, and please do keep us posted.

Terry


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

One more member with a blind pigeon is Cindy (AZWhitefeather). 

Cindy has Rae Charles, who is a delightful hen. Whenever I visit Cindy's lovely aviary, I get to hold and pet Rae.

Cindy has Rae in her own "apartment" (cage) within the aviary. The other birds keep Rae informed of all the latest gossip going around. 

Rae's dishes are also kept in the same place and there is a slightly raised bar in front of the dishes. Rae will also turn while cooing away! She was named "Ray" until she laid an egg!

I will send Cindy a note to check this thread to give her input.

Mr. Potato Head is a lovely pij!

Squeaks and I wish you all the very best with LOTS of HUGS and SCRITCHES!

Shi & Squeaks


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

Wow, your pigeons are beautiful. I especially loved the pictures of the babies and the ones around 24, 25, 26 with the big fluffed up males.  Mr. Potato Head p ) should do just fine as he gets older. Having another pigeon around his age might help teach him as well, as they do imitate even by sound, I understand. Good luck!


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Hi Patti,



One intermediary step...can be to guide her Beak into a full Shot-Glass of small whole Seeds...and keeping your finger tips on the sides of her Beak while doing so...and see how that goes.


One bad thing about not letting them feed in a natural way ( ie eating/gobbleing, verses tubes) , is they have a harder time then finding an easy continuity on to pecking.


If she has any tendency to 'nuzzle' that can still be inspired, she should 'gobble' once her Beak is guided into the Seeds...especially with your finger tips on the sides of her Beak.


...and from there, once they are 'gobbleing' with out the finger tips needed, usually, they will begin pecking also, sometimes it helps to have one's hand just behind their head so their head stays close for short pecking distance.


Good luck..!


Phil
l v


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi Patti,

Welcome to Pigeon Talk,

I have baby sat a blind pigeon and they do have a tendancy to spin in circles. Eventually he will learn where his bowls are and he will learn to eat. This bird was a 2003 racing pigeon that lost both eyes in some freak accident. I did put him outside with my birds, but only when I could be there with him. Some males will pick on them so they cannot be left with sighted birds at all unless they are kept inside a cage within the coop. But they have to have 24/7 supervision.

As far as the bird being blind, I had two babies born blind when I was a child, it turned out the parents were sister and brother. You might ask the original owner if these two are related. The band numbers may be right in sequence if they are brother and sister.


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## whitefeathers4u (Aug 28, 2007)

Thanks so much Cindy. I did have 2 baby racing pigeons in the cage with him for about 2 weeks. Their parents had stopped feeding them and they were a little too young to be eating on their own. They did learn to eat seeds quickly and I thought that with all their pecking at seeds that Mr. Potatoe Head would learn from them but he didn't. He did seem to like having them in there with him but he never learned to eat from them. I ended up taking the racers out and put them in the loft because they were getting way too big for the cage and were able to eat on their own. 

I will keep trying, I am not going to give up on this pigeon. I don't even mind hand feeding him, my concern is when I go away I will have to find someone who will hand feed him.

Thanks again,
Patti


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## whitefeathers4u (Aug 28, 2007)

TAWhatley said:


> Hi Patti,
> 
> I have two adults that are completely blind. They came in at different times but both caught on very quickly to finding the food and water containers which are always in the very same place. It seems to help them to have fairly deep unspillable bowls.
> 
> ...


Thanks Terry! I will keep you posted on how he is doing. He seems happy enough, he sure perks up when I talk to him. I guess he thinks I am his Mommy, he is always rubbing my hand to try to get me to feed him. 

Have a good weekend!
Patti


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## whitefeathers4u (Aug 28, 2007)

mr squeaks said:


> One more member with a blind pigeon is Cindy (AZWhitefeather).
> 
> Cindy has Rae Charles, who is a delightful hen. Whenever I visit Cindy's lovely aviary, I get to hold and pet Rae.
> 
> ...


Thanks Shi! I do appreciate all the help with this one. I am very attached to him. It was my first time hand feeding a pigeon. He was so little when I first brought him in the house. It was so cute the way he would flap his wings and squeak when I would talk to him. How could I let him starve! Many people said I should have killed him but I could never have done that. 

Thanks again! I will keep everyone posted on his progress!
Patti


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## whitefeathers4u (Aug 28, 2007)

maryjane said:


> Wow, your pigeons are beautiful. I especially loved the pictures of the babies and the ones around 24, 25, 26 with the big fluffed up males.  Mr. Potato Head p ) should do just fine as he gets older. Having another pigeon around his age might help teach him as well, as they do imitate even by sound, I understand. Good luck!


Thanks so much! Naturally, I think all my pigeons are beautiful. I love the whites, especially the ones with the orange eyes. 

I am thinking of putting one of the other baby rollers in the cage with him to see if that will work out. I tried putting him in the loft with the other rollers at feeding time but they started pecking at him :-( I took him out of there fast!

Thanks again! Have a good weekend.
Patti


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## whitefeathers4u (Aug 28, 2007)

pdpbison said:


> Hi Patti,
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for the advise Phil. I have been putting his beak in the seed bowl but so far no luck with that. He does peck at the paper plate with seeds on it, but never gets any in his beak. He just can't seem to get them in his beak. I will try what you suggested and see how that goes. I do think he is smart because when I ask him if he is hungry he starts doing some "air pecking" looking for the seeds. 
Thanks again,
Patti


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## whitefeathers4u (Aug 28, 2007)

maryjane said:


> Wow, your pigeons are beautiful. I especially loved the pictures of the babies and the ones around 24, 25, 26 with the big fluffed up males.  Mr. Potato Head p ) should do just fine as he gets older. Having another pigeon around his age might help teach him as well, as they do imitate even by sound, I understand. Good luck!


I love all the pictures of your pigeons! Especially Charlie (that is my dog's name) What a great idea to use a tent! I wish I could do that here but I don't think it would hold up too well with the snow  We have 2 lofts and I would like another one...just working on getting the boyfriend to build me one 
Patti


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## whitefeathers4u (Aug 28, 2007)

Trees Gray said:


> Hi Patti,
> 
> Welcome to Pigeon Talk,
> 
> ...


You are right, it might be that they are related. I never thought of checking the band numbers. Mr. Potato Head's father happens to be "Marshall" which is my favorite of the rollers. He is very sweet and lets me pick him up. I will have to check the band number on his "girlfriend" today.

I do know what you mean about the other birds pecking at him. I did put him in the loft once at feeding time when I was trying to get him to eat on his own. This was before I realized he was blind. The other birds had him in a corner pecking at him. I got him out fast and he was not harmed. 
Thanks again, have a good weekend.
Patti


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## Guest (Sep 1, 2007)

Patti,
Once in a while, you can get a bird that has a congenital defect like blindness. Would you please look at both eyes and look for a cloudiness over the pupil which would tell you if there are cataracts? 
The one thing that concerns me is that parents which are carrying paratyphoid can produce blind offspring so my only suggestion is to have the parents tested for salmonella and to treat them if it's present in their bodies.


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

Hello Patti,

I don't think anyone has mentioned *Izze-Cam*, the website with live web-cam coverage of Izze, a blind pigeon who likes to sit on her eggs. She is quite active, and fun to watch. Might find something informative in watching her.

http://www.appliedfantasy.net/izze_cam/izze.html

And don't ever worry about being too long-winded (unless you seriously want people to read your posts, ha!). No one's obligated to read the whole thing, except maybe a conscientious discussion board monitor.

Nice pictures of *Mr. Fat & Happy*, and the others!

Larry


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## whitefeathers4u (Aug 28, 2007)

pigeonperson said:


> Patti,
> Once in a while, you can get a bird that has a congenital defect like blindness. Would you please look at both eyes and look for a cloudiness over the pupil which would tell you if there are cataracts?
> The one thing that concerns me is that parents which are carrying paratyphoid can produce blind offspring so my only suggestion is to have the parents tested for salmonella and to treat them if it's present in their bodies.


Hello there,

No, I did not see any cataracts. The eyes look fine. 
We have meds to treat for paratyphoid but I have never used it because the birds seem fine-no one is going light-stools look great-none are sitting around looking dumpy. We are really good about worming, giving meds to prevent canker, vax. for PMV, etc. and I give them fresh water EVERY day. I use the bullet waters so nothing can get in the water.

Thanks for your input-I do appreciate it. I will keep paratyphoid in mind. The last thing I want is sick birds.
Patti


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

ou are right, it might be that they are related. I never thought of checking the band numbers. Mr. Potato Head's father happens to be "Marshall" which is my favorite of the rollers. He is very sweet and lets me pick him up. I will have to check the band number on his "girlfriend" today.

Did you check their bands? Sometimes these youngsters will find each other because they were bonded as nest mates, and will pair up at their new home, this happened with a few birds I got as youngsters.


I do know what you mean about the other birds pecking at him. I did put him in the loft once at feeding time when I was trying to get him to eat on his own. This was before I realized he was blind. The other birds had him in a corner pecking at him. I got him out fast and he was not harmed. 


This blind bird we babysat is a huge white homer, and a male pigeon who can really hold his own against the other bird. Problem is he IS blind which leaves him at a disadvantage, and some birds will just pick on them anyway when they are odd balls. Also, some will leave them alone thinking they are strange because of his movements going round and round. Anyway, he is okay if he is in his own cage protected from them.


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

whitefeathers4u said:


> Thanks for the advise Phil. I have been putting his beak in the seed bowl but so far no luck with that. He does peck at the paper plate with seeds on it, but never gets any in his beak. He just can't seem to get them in his beak. I will try what you suggested and see how that goes. I do think he is smart because when I ask him if he is hungry he starts doing some "air pecking" looking for the seeds.
> Thanks again,
> Patti



Hi Patti,


A Shot Glass may work well to begin...since, especially if you gently cradle his Head, and keep your finger tips on his Beak, while also steadying him as a whole, his Beak can really conentrate on being in it...and if you only use small whole Seeds, such as Finch Seed or Parakeet Seed, he can 'gobble' it as if he were feeding from his parent's throat.

Once that is a regular or routine thing he is familar with, he will just launch into 'gobbleing' with no finger tips needed...then small easy steps can lead to him eating independantly.

Some youngsters do not open their Beak enough for anything larger than the smallest Seeds, and it can take a while before they do.


Good luck..!


Phil
l v


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## whitefeathers4u (Aug 28, 2007)

Larry_Cologne said:


> Hello Patti,
> 
> I don't think anyone has mentioned *Izze-Cam*, the website with live web-cam coverage of Izze, a blind pigeon who likes to sit on her eggs. She is quite active, and fun to watch. Might find something informative in watching her.
> 
> ...


Hi Larry,
I actually did see the Izze-Cam and thought it was quite something. I also watched the video of the bath which was so funny  I am happy to say that today Mr. Fat and Happy actually found the water dish on his own and took a drink. I think it was a big step...now if he can only figure out what to do with the seeds besides throw them everywhere 
Patti


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## whitefeathers4u (Aug 28, 2007)

Trees Gray said:


> ou are right, it might be that they are related. I never thought of checking the band numbers. Mr. Potato Head's father happens to be "Marshall" which is my favorite of the rollers. He is very sweet and lets me pick him up. I will have to check the band number on his "girlfriend" today.
> 
> Did you check their bands? Sometimes these youngsters will find each other because they were bonded as nest mates, and will pair up at their new home, this happened with a few birds I got as youngsters.
> 
> ...


Hi Treesa,
I did check the bands and they are no where near in number. They are about 30 numbers apart. So I am not sure if that means they just didn't keep their bands in order or not? They are sitting on eggs and I will just have to see how these babies turn out. Only one of their eggs hatched bfore, the other was clear.
Patti


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## whitefeathers4u (Aug 28, 2007)

pdpbison said:


> Hi Patti,
> 
> 
> A Shot Glass may work well to begin...since, especially if you gently cradle his Head, and keep your finger tips on his Beak, while also steadying him as a whole, his Beak can really conentrate on being in it...and if you only use small whole Seeds, such as Finch Seed or Parakeet Seed, he can 'gobble' it as if he were feeding from his parent's throat.
> ...


Hi Phil,

I am happy to say that today Mr. Fat and Happy actually found the water dish on his own and took a drink. I think it was a big step...now if he can only figure out what to do with the seeds besides throw them everywhere  He is trying to eat so I think that is a good sign.
Patti


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

Hi Patti...just an FYI...I sent Cindy (AZWhitefeather) a PM about your thread and THEN found out later that she is out of town.

Hopefully, she will comment when she returns... 

Thanks for the updates!

Shi & Squeaks


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

whitefeathers4u said:


> Hi Treesa,
> I did check the bands and they are no where near in number. They are about 30 numbers apart. So I am not sure if that means they just didn't keep their bands in order or not? They are sitting on eggs and I will just have to see how these babies turn out. Only one of their eggs hatched bfore, the other was clear.
> Patti


How's this little guy doing? Just a thought, if the bands are that far apart, they COULD be brother/sister, but from two differnt rounds.


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## penname (Jul 28, 2008)

I have a blind dove (Noddy), who doesn't know how to eat too. I'm also concerned if I have to go away for any reason. I think that they eventually learn to eat - today for the first time I am thrilled to report that Noddy started pecking at the grit. When he's hungry and I have him out to feed him he does try to pick seeds but is as yet unable. I wish you the best of luck, thank you for not having put him to sleep. Everyone told me to put Noddy down. If you'd like to read more about Noddy or see his (old) pic, here is his thread:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f6/ba...-infection-im-clueless-please-help-28939.html


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