# Found Baby Pigeon Leicester UK



## dawny690 (Feb 28, 2010)

Hi I found a 10-12 (roughly) day old baby pigeon at work the builders moved it and the mum never came back so I took it home and warmed it up and gave it some food and water. What do I do now? Here are a picture when I first found it:










and this is today just after feeding:



















Ay advice/help greatfully recieved to help this little bird thanks Dawn


----------



## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hi Dawnie,

Can you get your hands on some Ready Brek? If not, some day old wholemeal bread?

Cynthia


----------



## dawny690 (Feb 28, 2010)

Feefo said:


> Hi Dawnie,
> 
> Can you get your hands on some Ready Brek? If not, some day old wholemeal bread?
> 
> Cynthia


I have got some ready brek Thans Dawn


----------



## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

That is great. Make up the Ready Brek with warm water to a creamy consistency and have a look at this thread, it describes all the ways of feeding a squab:

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

If you have a hot waterbottle wrap it in a towel and place the baby on it.

Cynthia


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

If you have a heating pad, you can set it on low, and cover it with a towel, and place the baby on it. This poor little one is too young to know how to eat on his own. Or drink for that matter.


----------



## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hi Dawn,

You might find you want to keep the baby as a pet, but otherwise this place might be able to help:

Mrs. Angela Downham (Chairperson)
12, Rookery Close
Kibworth
LEICESTER
LE8 0SD
Tel.: 0116 279 3789
Mobile: 07951 285 366
Fax: 0116 279 3789
Email: [email protected] 
Website www.leicesterwildlifehospital.org

Description Rescue, care of sick, injured or orphaned wildlife with the objective to return it to the wild. 
Meeting Times Open for casualties 24 hours. Charity number 1078817


----------



## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Another way of keeping a baby pigeon warm is to place a lamp next to its bed. An angled lamp with a red bulb is ideal, but failing this any lamp will do...or you can put its bed in the airing cupboard.

Cynthia


----------



## dawny690 (Feb 28, 2010)

I have a light near it and its in a glass tank without the lid on and a cardboard box over the baby and its warm to touch and thanks cynthia on te feeding tips they worked a treat. Dawn


----------



## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

That is one pretty little baby. How lucky you found it and are able to care for it.

Good luck and please carry on asking if you need any advice and please keep us posted as to what happens to it.

Janet


----------



## dawny690 (Feb 28, 2010)

I will thankyou its so cute im just glad I can look after it or I dread to think what would have happened to it xxxx


----------



## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

I forgot to say, these babies should come with a health warning.....
they have a nasty habit of stealing your heart....beware..

Janet


----------



## dawny690 (Feb 28, 2010)

LOL it already has xxx


----------



## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

> LOL it already has xxx


I remember falling completely in love when my first squeaker looked me in the eye, waggled her wings and squeaked!

Cynthia


----------



## dawny690 (Feb 28, 2010)

Feefo said:


> I remember falling completely in love when my first squeaker looked me in the eye, waggled her wings and squeaked!
> 
> Cynthia


Sounds a bit like this one it was so sweet when it ate earlier waggling its wings and squalking to me and nuzzling me with its beak xxxx


----------



## dawny690 (Feb 28, 2010)

Im a bit worried as the baby isnt eating so good now and not so much either what shoud I do? xxxx


----------



## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

How much is it eating and how often?

Is its crop emptying? It should empty completely at least once every 24 hours. If it is not emptying then try to get some infant apple sauce and feed it that...also, try lying it on a hot water bottle covered in a towel, it might need the extra warmth.

Can you describe the poops (frequency, consistency and colour)

Do you have the transport to take it to the wildlife hospital? They might have a look at it for you.

Cynthia


----------



## dawny690 (Feb 28, 2010)

Feefo said:


> How much is it eating and how often? It has just eaten half a 8oz baby bottle full of porridge and baby apple sauce.
> 
> Is its crop emptying? It should empty completely at least once every 24 hours. If it is not emptying then try to get some infant apple sauce and feed it that...also, try lying it on a hot water bottle covered in a towel, it might need the extra warmth. Yes it is emptying but before now it was only getting half full now its full like a balloon
> 
> ...


Thanks again for your help answers above xxxx


----------



## lwerden (May 31, 2008)

Sounds like the baby is being overfed. 4oz of formula is much to much at one time for a baby of this age. 

You must always wait for the crop to completly empty before adding additional food or else you will run into crop statis.

Wait for the crop to completely empty, and then proceed with 5cc's of baby applesauce and then 10cc's of formula.

A baby of this age (according to your pictures) should be getting approx. 15cc's of formula every 4 hours if crop has emptied. There is no need for feeding during the night.

Thank you so much for saving and caring for this baby.


----------



## dawny690 (Feb 28, 2010)

It is bigger now and 5 days older now how much in a bottle should it have? xxxx


----------



## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

> A baby of this age (according to your pictures) should be getting approx. 15cc's of formula every 4 hours if crop has emptied.


I don't think the members of this forum will ever be in agreement of how much should be fed and how often! 

This is from Helen's (Nooti's) instructions:



> At* 1 week*, they should be on 15mls and will only need feeding every 6 hours. Then you can get a nights sleep.


This baby is supposed to be 2 weeks old. But I think that as crop sizes vary it is safer to let them eat until their crop is soft and spongy like a 3/4 filled balloon. And to ensure it is flat before feeding and empties completely overnight.


----------



## dawny690 (Feb 28, 2010)

Feefo said:


> I don't think the members of this forum will ever be in agreement of how much should be fed and how often!
> 
> This is from Helen's (Nooti's) instructions:
> 
> ...


This is what I have been doing and its crop was soft and spongy and about 3/4 full I will wait now til its flat again  It is about 2 weeks old now I would say by the size and the amount of feathers it has and its flapping its wings now too  thans again cynthia x


----------



## lwerden (May 31, 2008)

If you are now estimating that the baby is approx. 15/17 days old, I would not go over 20cc per feeding.

5cc is equal to one tsb. Measure out 4tsb into the bottle, that should be enough per feeding, but please remember it is most important to let the crop completely empty before adding any additional food.


----------



## lwerden (May 31, 2008)

Cynthia.....I know we will never completely agree on the amounts, but she said half an 8 oz baby bottle.....that is 4oz........which is much, much more than our variance.


----------



## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

> but she said half an 8 oz baby bottle.....that is 4oz........which is much, much more than our variance.


Yes, you are right, that would be a tremendous amount! 110 ml!  But Dawnie said the crop is soft and squishy, not stretched. Dawnie, how much is it taking per feed in teaspoons?



> 5cc is equal to one tsb


Sorry Lousie, can you clarify what tsb stands for?

A teaspoon is 5 ml, a tablespoon is 15ml. In the UK we abbreviate that as tsp and tbs.


----------



## dawny690 (Feb 28, 2010)

I said about half it was actually less than half now looking at the bottle again xx


----------



## dawny690 (Feb 28, 2010)

Not sure teaspoons probably 4/5 teaspoons aprox cant be 100% but the crop is not stretched xx


----------



## lwerden (May 31, 2008)

Sorry Cynthia........I meant to type tsp which is a teaspoon

5cc or 5ml are exactly the same.

5cc is equal to one teaspoon


----------



## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

Hi Dawny690,

This is such a sweet looking little one.

I think it's best to use a number as a guide line and then use the look of the crop for a final determination if the baby is nicely feed. To help a bit here are some photos of how a nicely filled crop should look.

http://www.mumtazticloft.com/BabyPigeons.asp
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baby_Pigeon_2.jpg

Here is a recent thread with some babies being feed. As you can see from the bottle below, the babies are being feed from a bottle that is going to hold more than the crop will, so the judging is taking place by sight.

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showpost.php?p=457405&postcount=40

One of the most important things is to get the temperature right, 102-104 degrees, by doing this you will help head off possible crop slow down issues.

Is there anything you are not quite comfortable with, or feel you do not have a good handle on?

Good luck with this sweet one,

Karyn


----------



## lwerden (May 31, 2008)

Dawn.........if you are feeding her between 4/5 teaspoons (20/25 cc or ml) per feeding you are giving her the correct amount. I would just be careful not to overload her and let the crop empty till where it's almost completely flat.

The baby applesauce is used to stimulate the crop in emptying if she should develop a slow crop.

You're doing a great job.!!!!

Sorry for all the confusion, but when you said 4oz....I could almost imagine the crop rupturing.


----------



## dawny690 (Feb 28, 2010)

Its crop is the same size as in the pictures  it was just a rough estimate, when should I start decreasing the ready brek feeds and start mixing it with seeds? xxx


----------



## dawny690 (Feb 28, 2010)

Also how do you sex them? xxx


----------



## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

dawny690 said:


> Its crop is the same size as in the pictures  it was just a rough estimate, when should I start decreasing the ready brek feeds and start mixing it with seeds? xxx


Sounds good, I am glad the photos helped. If your little one was being raised by its parents it would be getting a mixture of still some crop milk and seeds/food that had sat in its parent's crops to hydrate and soften up, sort of predigesting them for them.

For your little I would stick with what you are doing because it is working and at about day 15, in the first link that I sent you if you hover your cursor over the fifth row of photos 2nd from the right this day 15, you could start to introduce small seeds into the feeding mixture. At about 3 weeks old we will continue with the hand feedings, but we will start and introduce in how pick and peck seeds on its own into the feeding routine. I will find some posts/links on how to do this and post them later. These are rough estimates and there are different opinions on how to do all of this, but the important thing in the end is to get them raised to healthy weaned juveniles.

On sexing, at this age there is no useful lay way to determine sex, this will have to wait a while yet to try and figure out. If you do a search on the forum for "sexing babies" you will have some entertaining reading to do on the speculations and insights into this. I still get it wrong myself, I have a young adult in the coop who at about three weeks old I named Grace, as I was convinced this bird was most definitely a hen. At about 12 weeks old this shy little sweet thing came out of its shell and is now one of the dominate cocks in the coop, a name change was in order and (s)he is now Grayson.

Keep up the good work,

Karyn


----------



## dawny690 (Feb 28, 2010)

Dobato said:


> Sounds good, I am glad the photos helped. If your little one was being raised by its parents it would be getting a mixture of still some crop milk and seeds/food that had sat in its parent's crops to hydrate and soften up, sort of predigesting them for them.
> 
> For your little I would stick with what you are doing because it is working and at about day 15, in the first link that I sent you if you hover your cursor over the fifth row of photos 2nd from the right this day 15, you could start to introduce small seeds into the feeding mixture. At about 3 weeks old we will continue with the hand feedings, but we will start and introduce in how pick and peck seeds on its own into the feeding routine. I will find some posts/links on how to do this and post them later. These are rough estimates and there are different opinions on how to do all of this, but the important thing in the end is to get them raised to healthy weaned juveniles.
> 
> ...


LOL luckily I have named mine squeak so universal name xxxxx


----------

