# Need help! Six babies all at once!



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Hello. My name is Jay and I am new to Pigeon Talk. An old porch was torn down on April 17, and along with it, sadly, baby pigeons. By the time I happened by, the two little yellow ones,(judging by the pics I've compared them to, about 2 or 3 days old), had been placed by the workmen, on a board, then placed atop a hedge. They were in hopes that the parent pigeons would come back to them. They placed them there at about 10:00 in the a.m., and it was now about 2:30 in the afternoon. There were two more, but these were older, I think about 4 to 4 1/2 weeks. I have raised birds before, and love animals, so I figured that I couldn't do any more harm to them than to leave them there to die. It was still cool here in massachusetts, and cold at night. Well, I took them home and immediately went online to learn more about them and their needs. I had no idea how different they would be to raise. Just getting them to open their cute little beaks was a challenge, as they don't do it that way in nature. Oh no, they had to be different from most birds that I was used to. As if this wasn't challenging enough, I received a call the next afternoon, telling me that 2 more babies had been found. They too were about 4 weeks old. Great! Did I forget to mention that I also have a job, and do need to sleep on occaision? I am NOT a morning person, but I found myself gettin up with the chickens, so to speak, so that I would have time to feed the little monsters before work. My job is such that the hours go up and down, so it worked out fairly well. I could get back home to feed them on different days. Eventually, we got used to each other and we both adjusted to the new routine. The 2 or 3 day old babies were pretty easy, as they weren't really used to the routine with the parent birds yet. I didn't want to tube feed them, as I wasn't familiar with that, so it was by syringe and eyedropper. This ended up taking about 6 or 7 hours daily. Eventually, the larger birds were totally on seed, so that helped tons. The two younger ones are still being fed by me, and eating seed also. Soon, they will be on just seed. We bought the heating elements to put over the cages to keep them warm, and converted a dog crate over to a pigeon home. Then they started flying. This was interesting, as I keep them in my dining room, on a table in front of two large windows. They would be let out to climb on us, or go to the top of the cage. One night we had them out, and one took off to the other side of the room. Of course all followed, and soon we had pigeons flying all over the dining room. We just looked at each other. I told my husband that we could not have pigeons flying all over the place, and would have to have somewhere they could exercise. I don't know why that never occurred to me before. DUH! Anyway, the only thing I could think of was wiring in the 8 X 10 area under the deck, which also is right outside the window where I keep the birds. So we wired that in, put up shelves, put out a bird bath, and now we just open the window and put them out for a few hours. I don't feed them while they are outside, because this gives them reason to come back to the window at the end of the afternoon and come in to be fed. Then, after giving everyone the popcorn seeds they love, I place them back in their cages for the night. It still gets quite cool here at night and they are not used to it. The two younger ones have had a cage to themselves so that the others wouldn't hurt them, and recently, (last night), I had to separate the other 4 because as they got older ( abt. 63 days now) they peck at each other and fight sometimes. I think they just needed more room to spread out. So I have 2 in each cage at night. When it gets warmer outside, they will stay out there. I have a flock of pigeons that come here for the bird feeders I have outside, and I always throw down some seed for them. How do I go about incorporating them into the flock? I think their parents are in this flock, as it is only about a minute or so by way of wing, from my house to where they were found. I have a box feeder just outside of their enclosure, which the ferral pigeons come to. You should see them checking each other out. Will I be able to release them into this group? I have absolutely fallen in love with them, but I really believe they should be free. I hate to keep anything wild caged up. And my husband isn't too crazy about the fact that I have enclosed the area outside of the windows with wire. He has been very good about all of this though, and helps me with them as much as he can. It's just that we had these windows put in so that we could relax there at the end of the day, have a cup of coffee, and enjoy the view of the backyard, and all the birds and wildlife that come to our yard. I would appreciate all the help I can get, and any suggestions and advice are very welcome. Also, one of them might have mites or something, as she has pulled out a few flight feathers,(I think), and some of her soft downy feathers are coming out. I dusted them all this morning with permethrin. I was told to cut it in half with cornstarch, so I did this. I hope it was the right thing to do. If you have any other ideas about what the problem could be, please let me know. I have learned a lot just in reading peoples posts, and your helpful comments. And am looking forward to hearing from everyone. I will post pics as soon as I get the chance. Thanks.
Jay


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Jay3, I don't do rehab work and have never released birds back into the wild, so obviously I can't give you much advice. Below is a link to a thread here that gives instructions. Hopefully it will be of some use to you. Maybe later this morning, other members will chime in on this.
It sounds like you've done a wonderful job with all these little ones and you are certainly to be commended on your efforts.
Of course, we'll love seeing pictures of these guys. Good luck.


http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=11919


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hello and Welcome to Pigeon Talk,

Thank you so much for helping these youngsters.

You can use a regular parakeet lice and mite spray too, it works well on pigeons, just make sure to cover their eyes beak and nostrils. As far as the one that seems to be pulling its feathers out, it may actually just be molting, as youngsters do have a inittial molt they go thru at a young age.

If you have a wonderful gathering of wildlife in your backyard including the pigeons, that may be just the place to release them. Here is a thread on releases, including soft releases.It would be best if you could release as many together as possible, especially all the ones that are around the same age.

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=10874


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## TheSnipes (Apr 9, 2007)

I think your birds will integrate into that flock naturally. They are already trained to home to your house so you can keep providing seeds and water for them, and they can come back there for food and a safe place to sleep but I have a strong feeling that if you provide an opening from your wired-in area, they'll venture out to mix with the feral pigeons out there and eventually join them for good. Or they might stay with you! Or some of both!?  It sounds like a perfect situation for a natural 'soft' release.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

TheSnipes said:


> I think your birds will integrate into that flock naturally. They are already trained to home to your house so you can keep providing seeds and water for them, and they can come back there for food and a safe place to sleep but I have a strong feeling that if you provide an opening from your wired-in area, they'll venture out to mix with the feral pigeons out there and eventually join them for good. Or they might stay with you! Or some of both!?  It sounds like a perfect situation for a natural 'soft' release.


This would be what I would want to do, as I would have a hard time just forcing them to leave. I have grown quite fond of them. they each have their own personality. I know I'll worry about them after they go. If they did keep coming back, that would be fine too, except I don't know if they would be warm enough in the winter time here in Mass. Don't their large numbers help to keep them warm snuggled in together somewhere? This probably sounds like a dumb question, but like I said, I will worry about them.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Lovebirds said:


> Jay3, I don't do rehab work and have never released birds back into the wild, so obviously I can't give you much advice. Below is a link to a thread here that gives instructions. Hopefully it will be of some use to you. Maybe later this morning, other members will chime in on this.
> It sounds like you've done a wonderful job with all these little ones and you are certainly to be commended on your efforts.
> Of course, we'll love seeing pictures of these guys. Good luck.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the link. It will be helpfu.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Jay3 said:


> This would be what I would want to do, as I would have a hard time just forcing them to leave. I have grown quite fond of them. they each have their own personality. I know I'll worry about them after they go. If they did keep coming back, that would be fine too, except I don't know if they would be warm enough in the winter time here in Mass. Don't their large numbers help to keep them warm snuggled in together somewhere? This probably sounds like a dumb question, but like I said, I will worry about them.


I sure understand how you feel, as I fall in love with my rescues. If you think they would be happier with you then allow them that life, if not and they long for the wild, then let them free. The older ones probably would be more likely to desire their freedom, and the young ones may actually become more dependent on you and become bonded, that is possible. Time will tell.

If you give them plenty of food and clean water, and they know where to find it, that would take care of the hardships, and it sounds like you have a nice sanctuary for them in your backyard, perhaps you can even build them a little home. 

I have actually seen my single homers huddle together on cold mornings, so that is possible.


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## philodice (Sep 30, 2007)

That sounds like an awesome idea. I bet your husband would build them a little house on the porch with a seed and water station, and then opened up the wire just a little at a time, you would eventually have free flying part wild pet pigeons. After all, isn't this what we do with dogs? IE give them food and the run of our house and yard and they keep coming back...

The birds you have raised will have a comfy house to come to at night and might not even leave during the day, and you will have your porch back. A good compromise since the ones who want to be wild get to stay wild.


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