# Help!! I can't get my pigeon to drink.



## lwerden (May 31, 2008)

I rescued a baby pigeon about 3 weeks ago that fell out of the nest from the top of my roof. He was in pretty bad shape. His head was cut up real bad and his right eye was missing. He was only about a week old as he just had the little yellow fluff on him. I cleaned him up as he was bleeding pretty badly, put him in a box with a towel and didn't think he would make it through the night. I thought it better for him to die peacefully rather than letting a cat get him during the night and being eaten alive. Surprisingly, this little tough guy survived and is thriving. I searched the net and found out about Kaytee Exact. He has done very well on it. I feed him 4 times a day with an eye dropper. He has now started eating parakeet seeds on his own in addition to the hand feeding however I can not get him to drink on his own. I have tried dipping his beak in the water and tried floating some seeds to get his attention but nothing has worked. I know he is OK with water as long as I am still hand feeding the Exact and when he eats his seeds I give him a few eye droppers of water. But how in the world will I ever be able to wean him without him drinking on his own?? I will not be able to release him when he begins to fly as he has no fear of humans and is now become the little darling of our household. I have bought him a great cage and as cute as can be when I take him out to feed him when he's finished he climbs back into his cage and goes to sleep on his towel.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!!!


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Have you been giving him water with a dropper or a syringe?


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

I'm sorry...I see that you are. Try putting a small crock of water in the cage and fill your dropper from that crock. It might be best to put the crock on his seeing side when you fill it. Eventually, as the bird becomes more confident, he/she bird will make the association of where the water come from and start drinking. Just be patient. It takes them a while.


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Oh, shoot, don't worry so much about it--when the time comes, he'll figure it out. They don't die of thirst in the first day away from Kaytee, you know. They have interestingly wonderful water conservation equipment that's far better than ours. As dry as you think grains are, they've got quite a bit of water in them and some pigeons go days without ever drinking. He will get thirsty when you start teaching him to eat seeds and then you can dip your finger in a bowl of water in front of him to entice him to do it. He'll "get it" pretty quick after that. It's actually a lot more difficult to teach them to eat than it is to get them to drink.

Pidgey


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## pigeonmama (Jan 9, 2005)

When he's out for a cuddle/play session with you, try putting some water in a shallow pan, and just gently splashing the water to get his attention. He'll either drink it, or try to take a bath in it, or, heck, maybe do both things.
Daryl


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

I agree, set a bath pan of water near him and watch him get in and play, youngsters love taking baths and showers. There is nothing like them drinking their bath water!


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## philodice (Sep 30, 2007)

That's how I taught my doves to drink. I put a pan of water out, and put their little dove toes in the water. They splashed around and had a drink right away.


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