# Taking in a hatchling Pigeon. I have a few questions!



## zombiecupcake (Jun 7, 2012)

Hi guys! Its been a long time since I've been on this site. I havent had a pigeon in about 3 years, miss the little guys. 

So a friend of a friend of mine does pest removal around town here and is doing a job to remove a flock of pigeons from a farm stead. The adults will be removed at night and be sold or given away as training for dogs. The squabs and eggs will be left over for the building demolition to follow later this week. 

He is going to save a few squabs for me. I just feel so bad for the babies. 

So I have a couple concerns.

I have no idea what age of birds I will be getting. Are they treatable for mites or lice as a hatchling? if so, what can I use. 

secondly, can I just hand feed them a formula such as kaytee exact? Or do they need a specialized formula? if so, where can i find it? 

Sorry if these questions have been asked over and over. read around to try and find answers but nothing specific to my concerns. 

I plan on keeping one and releasing the others. Assuming I don't get totally attached to all of them.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

I feel bad for the adult birds too. How about adopting them too?


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

If they are younger than 2 weeks, you can feed them Kaytee Exact. If they are older than that, defrosted peas will be best to give them. Google "day to day growth of baby pigeon" and websites with photo's will come up to determine their age. In the meantime you can also check on youtube, there's a lot of video's regarding feeding young pigeons.

Younger than 2 weeks might become human imprinted, I suggest you keep those. Their chances of survival will not be good and you will become attached to those ones.

Pity about the parents that's going to be killed. Is there no way of making the place less attractive to them not to breed there?


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Any squabs you hand raise, their chances of survival are not great. They aren't being raised by parents who belong to a flock. Both teach them survival in the wild, and belonging to a flock is important. When you hand raise and then release, they have no idea of how to survive out there, and are not part of a flock. They can be slowly introduced into one, but survival does go down. Most pet stores will see the Exact formula. Get it now, before the babies come in case you can't find it right away. If very young, they will have to be kept very warm in order to be able to digest whatever you feed them. Do you have a heating pad that doesn't shut off automatically? Set it on LOW and cover with a layer of towel.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Marina B said:


> Pity about the parents that's going to be killed. *Is there no way of making the place less attractive to them not to breed there?*





The building demolition to follow will probably take care of that.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

*Everything you need on what to feed at what age, and how to feed: http://www.pigeonrescue.co.uk/caringforababypigeon.htm

EXTREMELY important when feeding: MAKE sure babies are WARM, food is WARM, and only feed when crop is completely EMPTY. *


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Hand Feeding Babies With Cut Off Syringe (Directions and Pictures)

http://urbanwildlifesociety.org/WLR/BabyPij&DuvFeedg.htm


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## zombiecupcake (Jun 7, 2012)

Thanks for all the help guys! 
I ended up with one baby and a friend of mine took the rest of the other babies. 
I estimate the baby to be about 12 days old. What do you guys think?

Little guy eats with much vigor. I'm using a ziplock bag with a hole cut in the corner to feed him, sticks his whole beak in there. Kinda messy but seems to work for him. 

There were 60 adults removed from the farm. Sure do feel bad for all of them. 
This is the lucky one.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Adorable! You should have taken 2. That way he'd have company.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Jay3 said:


> Adorable! You should have taken 2. That way he'd have company.


*THIS ^^^^^. *


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## zombiecupcake (Jun 7, 2012)

Thought about taking two but if they are opposite sexes I don't want them breeding. I live in a small house in town so I just don't have the space for more birds or cages. We'll just have each other.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Even if you get two if the opposite sex you can swap out real eggs for plastic eggs. They are really cheap. He's really cute!


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

You can prevent breeding. It's easy.


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## zombiecupcake (Jun 7, 2012)

Little guy is getting bigger every day!


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

What are you feeding and how much?


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## zombiecupcake (Jun 7, 2012)

Jay3 said:


> What are you feeding and how much?


Kaytee exact hand feeding formula. 3-4 times a day. I let his crop empty over night. Why do you ask?


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## FredaH (Apr 5, 2016)

He looks fine, nice full crop too. Well done.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

zombiecupcake said:


> Kaytee exact hand feeding formula. 3-4 times a day. I let his crop empty over night. Why do you ask?


I only asked because of the way the droppings looked in the last pic. Not great.
How much do you feed each time?


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## zombiecupcake (Jun 7, 2012)

Jay3 said:


> I only asked because of the way the droppings looked in the last pic. Not great.
> How much do you feed each time?


Enough to fill his crop, but not be overly full. Some of his poos are coiled nice and others come out a little s curvey. 
Those in the picture are dried up old s curvey poops. What would you suggest? 
He's very active and seems to be growing correctly.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

The dropping in the first pic that you posted was fine, so I just wondered, that's all. He does look good. As long as the droppings are looking like that, then all is fine. If not, then I was going to suggest a little more food. That's all.


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## FredaH (Apr 5, 2016)

I always add Avipro Avian pro/pre biotic the the Kaytee and their droppings are nicely rounded with two tone brown n white colour. I add one drop of Calcivet calcium n vit D3 to one feed a day too. Just to try and keep them healthy gut wise and strong in the bone. 
I love them at this age and have one myself atm, they change so fast so enjoy every moment because it's gone before you know it - you gain a friend then too. X


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## zombiecupcake (Jun 7, 2012)

He's getting harder to take a picture of. He's always flapping his wings in excitement. 😃


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Yes, he's growing. Very cute.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Darling little bird. Good job!


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## zombiecupcake (Jun 7, 2012)

23 days old now. "Peepers" is hard to get a picture of nowadays, all he does is flap his wings begging for food. He gets "rec time" to run around the floor and work on his exercise. Loves to follow me around. Love this little guy. Can't wait until he starts flying not too long from now.
Here's a youtube video of him following me around the kitchen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SXIFuslTb0


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

He looks great. Is he drinking yet? Could be started on weaning. Sometimes they learn even faster with defrosted peas and corn, as they seem easier to pick up. From there on to seed.


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## zombiecupcake (Jun 7, 2012)

Jay3 said:


> He looks great. Is he drinking yet? Could be started on weaning. Sometimes they learn even faster with defrosted peas and corn, as they seem easier to pick up. From there on to seed.


Haven't even offered him anything to start weaning yet. I have some dishes coming in the mail that I've been waiting for. But i suppose until then i could improvise with something. I will get some frozen veggies tomorrow and give him a couple. Exciting times! He's growing so fast!


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

You are doing a great job. He looks wonderful. Let us know how that goes.


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## FredaH (Apr 5, 2016)

Isn't he just beautiful? Such wonderful birds pigeons are. x


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Peepers is a really handsome bird! Good job.


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