# Will he survive if I release him to natural environment?



## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

Hi,

I'm from Sri Lanka.
I found a tamed (pet pigieon) black pigeon. (I guess it is tamed because there is a metal nut in his leg. 
Also I have doubt whether owner has cut his feathers to avoid flying away. I heard some people do this.)
I found it a muddy water pit sorrounded by crows in a construction area. Now it is little OK.
I can find someone who keeps pigions as pets. But I thought better to give it his freedom.
Will he survive if I release him to natural environment?

I love birds. But never raise any one as pets. So my knowledge is 0. Please help me to save it's life.

Also one of his eye is injured. I put ciprofloxacin eye drops. But he stil can't see from that eye. And I have doubt whether it drinks enough water.

This is how he was look like when I save him
https://ibb.co/j6EU1c

Now I put it in here to protect from cats
https://ibb.co/eUVqmn

Thanks in advance.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Would keep him safely indoors and see how he eats, drinks, poops and acts. Thank you for helping him!


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

If he has a band on his leg then he is domestic and cannot be released or he will die out there. He looks sick. Can you not get him to a vet that sees birds? If not eating, then you will need to hand feed him. Does he have any wounds anywhere? What do his droppings look like? I hope you dried him off and warmed him.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Regarding food: rather put down a mixture of seeds for doves/pigeons for him to eat. Bread have no nutritional value.


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

Thank you very much for taking your time to help. Really thankfull for your kind replies. 

I found this pigeon on 11 th of april. Didn't see any other wound. Only problem with one eye.
Can a normal vet give medicine to birds? There are few vets around here. But I have seen people taking only cats and dogs to them.
I have relation who is a doctor. He examined his eye and told me to wash that eye using saline and put ciprofloxacin eye drops.

I have put some papers botton of this cage and change it twice a day to keep it clean and dry.
I gave him cooked rice and pop corn. He ate lots of rice. But seems like he is not that much interested in pop corn.
I have put a water in a empty margarine cup inside the cage. But not sure whether it drinks from it or not.
However when I put saline to his eye, he drank that. And I heard that pigeons will not able to fly if give cooked rice. Is it true?

Here, the temparature is around 24 C to 32 C. When we put some water outside to drink for the birds they not only drink but also bath.
So I thought this one will also need that and gave him a bath yesterday. Is that OK and if it is OK, then how often they need to bath?

Thank you in advance.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Never bathe a sick bird. He will bathe on his own when he is feeling better. 
Rice doesn't really have any nutrition for him, and many don't like pop corn. Can you give him seeds that wild birds would eat?
If he isn't eating much you will need to hand feed him. Can you buy some frozen peas? You would defrost and warm them under warm running water. This is how you would feed them to him. I would start with about 30 peas, 3 times daily. 

If you need to feed peas to a pigeon, hold the bird on your lap and against your body. This gives you more control. Reach from behind his head with one hand and grasp his beak on either side. Now use your free hand to open the beak, and put a pea in, then push it to the back of his throat and over his tongue. Let him close his beak and swallow. Then do another. It gets easier with practice, and the bird also gets more used to it, and won't fight as much. If you can't handle the bird, then use the sleeve cut off a t-shirt, slip it over his head and onto his body, with his head sticking out. This will stop him from being able to fight you so much. Just don't make it tight around his crop area. It helps if you have him facing your right side if you are right handed.


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

Thank you jay3 and all of you for the help. 

This is how he looks like now.
https://ibb.co/dzXTsS
https://ibb.co/bMOZXS

I think I'm living in the other side of the world. I'm not sure what you meant by peas.
However we have imported food call green peas. May be you are refering to that. (they are not grown 
here. But I can buy from supermarket)
However we have some similar one which grows here
https://i0.wp.com/www.healthbenefit...5/08/mung-beans-facts-and-health-benefits.jpg
I boiled them and gave him first few days with rice. Then I noticed that his dropping become green and white.
May be he has eaten them.
And today I went to pet shop and ask for food. seller gave me this.
https://ibb.co/cMH6e7
Here it is called "Bajiri". But don't know standard name. Howevever he ate lot of them.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Yes, green peas are the same thing. That seed is fine, but needs more of a mix with other seeds also.


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

I heard that they eat corn. I will able to find corn too. And I will try carrots and fruits too.

How should I give green peas to him. Do I need to boil them or give him in raw form.
In earlier reply jay3 explained how to feed peas to pigeon. 
Won't they eat peas them selves without our aid?


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## Bird Rescuer (May 6, 2005)

*Birdman of Long Beach*

My e-mail is - [email protected]

The photo you have shown of the rescued pigeon. The pigeon in the photo looks oiled. If that is the case the pigeon would not be water proof and will not make it in the wild unless all the oil was cleaned off of him. Usually it takes special solvents to get the oil off. Places that rescue oiled birds from spills etc. would have the proper chemicals to use.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

warna said:


> I heard that they eat corn. I will able to find corn too. And I will try carrots and fruits too.
> 
> How should I give green peas to him. Do I need to boil them or give him in raw form.
> In earlier reply jay3 explained how to feed peas to pigeon.
> Won't they eat peas them selves without our aid?


The green peas I was talking to was when you need to hand feed a pigeon who is not eating. Do you have dried peas there or lentils? You make soup with them and get them in markets.


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

Jay3 said:


> The green peas I was talking to was when you need to hand feed a pigeon who is not eating. Do you have dried peas there or lentils? You make soup with them and get them in markets.


Thank you for the reply.
We have green peas in this form
https://5.imimg.com/data5/MM/GV/MY-6026756/turn-organic-green-peas-500x500.jpg

Never seen a lentil. Because these are not grown here.


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

Bird Rescuer said:


> My e-mail is - [email protected]
> 
> The photo you have shown of the rescued pigeon. The pigeon in the photo looks oiled. If that is the case the pigeon would not be water proof and will not make it in the wild unless all the oil was cleaned off of him. Usually it takes special solvents to get the oil off. Places that rescue oiled birds from spills etc. would have the proper chemicals to use.


Sorry I didn't understand? Does owners apply oil on their birds? And I hope their feathers are replaced time to time. So how oil stay on their body? And if I release him to the natural environment, I have doubt whether he will able to find food himself? And whether he will able to protect from predators.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

warna said:


> Thank you for the reply.
> We have green peas in this form
> https://5.imimg.com/data5/MM/GV/MY-6026756/turn-organic-green-peas-500x500.jpg
> 
> Never seen a lentil. Because these are not grown here.


Yes, they would be good, but can you also get them split? Split peas for soup? Some pigeons love those peas, but others don't care for something so large.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

warna said:


> Sorry I didn't understand? Does owners apply oil on their birds? And I hope their feathers are replaced time to time. So how oil stay on their body? And if I release him to the natural environment, I have doubt whether he will able to find food himself? And whether he will able to protect from predators.


No, people don't apply oil to their birds. But he does look oily, as if he somehow got into some oil. Maybe the water where he was bathing was dirty and oily. Is that oil on his feathers, or was he just wet?


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

I uploaded few photos before. So I'm not sure what photo "Bird Rescuer" is referring to. First photo where bird is in cardboard box, he was wet when I taking that photo. Later I uploaded photo where bird is sitting on telephone shower, he is not wet in that photo. However it is possible to have oil on that water because pit where he was fallen was made using heavy machinery. So is it difficult to remove if there is oil. I thought there feathers replace with old ones quickly.

And also he is little energetic than earlier. He tries to escape when I catch with my hands.

And I see small improvement in his eye too.

Also he is alone inside this plastic cage for few days. I can't let him live outside as there are cats in our house. Will it make him stressful?

I hope lot of bird owners read this website. Will you close the door of cages for all time or are they open always so they can move in and out as they want?


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

It was the first picture where he was wet. Couldn't really tell if just wet or oil on feathers. So if just wet, then don't worry about it.

As far as out of cage time, it is never a very good idea to give them free access to the whole house. Too many things can happen to them. Much better for them to be confined for their own safety. But with cats, I know it's difficult. The cats can be closed up in another room, or the bird closed in another room when let out of cage for exercise. If not sick, or healing from injury, they need out of cage time.


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

Thank you very much Jay3. 
I took hime to a vet. And he said his eye is little cured now. And gave more powerfull eye drop shown
below.

And he is little energetic now. Sometimes it is difficult to catch him when I put it in the floor.
Today I locked cat in room and put bird in the bathroom for 1.5 hours. But he was sitting in same place
for 1.5 hours. And I'm not sure whether he can fly or not. What is the best method to check that?


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

You will need to give him more room than the bathroom for him to be able to fly. Just cover anything in the room that you want to protect from droppings, and let him out in the room. If there is nowhere to fly, then he isn't going to fly. A bathroom is just like a larger cage. Glad you were able to get the eye drops.


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

Yes before I put him to cage, he lived few days in a room. But then he put droppings everywhere in that room.
I washed whole room. But some marks are still there. 
Covering things to protect sounds good idea.
And is their dropping badly affect human health?

Also I notice that often he stands with one leg. Is it normal or is it due to some physical injury?


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Pigeons often stand on one leg. 
Living in a whole room, uncaged, and being let out for a couple of hours is different. I would never let them have full run of one of my rooms all the time.


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## YaSin11 (Jul 23, 2009)

warna said:


> Thank you for the reply.
> We have green peas in this form
> https://5.imimg.com/data5/MM/GV/MY-6026756/turn-organic-green-peas-500x500.jpg
> 
> Never seen a lentil. Because these are not grown here.


 Hi Warna,

Wonderful to read about your rescue,glad to read it is improving.

Just some points : Lentils might be locally known as 'Da'al'.

A good seed mix would be best for your pigeon; usually they are available in local markets in South East Asia, just ask for pigeon food/seeds.

The 'Bajiri' is also good, but a mix of seeds might be better. Also wanted to add : Consider mixing some Saline in the drinking water. It is helpful for the pigeons in this hot,humid climate (I'm based in Bangladesh, so similar weather to Sri Lanka)

Wish you and your pigeon Good Luck.


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## Bird Rescuer (May 6, 2005)

Oiled Pigeons - Birdman of Long Beach - I have rescued hundreds of oiled Pigeons. Most of them I took to International Bird Rescue in San Pedro Ca. and Occasionally to Wetlands & Wildlife in Huntington Beach Ca. They have special solvents to get the oil off. When a Pigeon is oiled it is no longer waterproof. A lot of times you see Pigeons sitting in the pouring rain and you think how dumb. But when the Pigeons are waterproof it is like us having a raincoat on and the water just bounces off of you. When a Pigeon has oil on them they are no longer waterproof. Without help they most likely will get sick and die. It irritates me Dawn Dishwashing Liquid advertises using Dawn on oiled birds. Watching the stupid misleading commercials people would think all you need to do is pour it on a oiled birds and wash (wrong) The water needs to be warmed to the right temp, there needs to be a certain PH level of the water, they need to be rinsed for a long time and dried. All the things the commercials are not telling anybody and it should be criminal misleading the public. Once the Pigeons get the oil off it takes them a very long time working on each feather for long periods of time getting the blood to flow through each feather again. And even if somebody learns the right way to use Dawn it only works on certain oils and not on tar and glue from glue traps etc. - [email protected] - if anybody is interested in making a new friend.


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

Jay3 said:


> Pigeons often stand on one leg.
> Living in a whole room, uncaged, and being let out for a couple of hours is different. I would never let them have full run of one of my rooms all the time.


Thank you for the reply. Why pigeons need grit?
(According to your advise I discontinued other thread)
Thank you very much for the guidance you provided.
Have a great day!!


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

YaSin11 said:


> Hi Warna,
> 
> Wonderful to read about your rescue,glad to read it is improving.
> 
> ...



Thank you for the reply and for the advices.
Every day I washed his eye with saline 3 times a day before put eye drops.
He drink considerable amount of saline when I do that 

And today one of my neighbours told that pigeons eat dhal. I will try it tomorrow.
I wonder whether they like raw dhal or cooked dhal.

Also I noticed that he like to eating mung beans too. I guess mung beans is the 
asian version of green peas 

And I kept him sometime in bathroom where there are some water. But never notice 
he bath.


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

Bird Rescuer said:


> Oiled Pigeons - Birdman of Long Beach - I have rescued hundreds of oiled Pigeons. Most of them I took to International Bird Rescue in San Pedro Ca. and Occasionally to Wetlands & Wildlife in Huntington Beach Ca. They have special solvents to get the oil off. When a Pigeon is oiled it is no longer waterproof. A lot of times you see Pigeons sitting in the pouring rain and you think how dumb. But when the Pigeons are waterproof it is like us having a raincoat on and the water just bounces off of you. When a Pigeon has oil on them they are no longer waterproof. Without help they most likely will get sick and die. It irritates me Dawn Dishwashing Liquid advertises using Dawn on oiled birds. Watching the stupid misleading commercials people would think all you need to do is pour it on a oiled birds and wash (wrong) The water needs to be warmed to the right temp, there needs to be a certain PH level of the water, they need to be rinsed for a long time and dried. All the things the commercials are not telling anybody and it should be criminal misleading the public. Once the Pigeons get the oil off it takes them a very long time working on each feather for long periods of time getting the blood to flow through each feather again. And even if somebody learns the right way to use Dawn it only works on certain oils and not on tar and glue from glue traps etc. - [email protected] - if anybody is interested in making a new friend.


I thought their feather are replaced with new ones time to time like human skin. So oiled ones will replaced with new ones. So is it take long time for that replacement?


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

I called wildlife department and asked whether they accept this kind of birds.
They told they can't take responsibility. I think they have much bigger cases to handle. But one person from that department gave this suggestion.
There is a religious place in my area where there are flock of pigeons.
People throw popcorn to them. They lived in the buldings of that place and eat those foods.
He said take this bird there and release him. He will join with them.
I don't feel this is possible. What do you think about that?

And other option is I can try to find someone who owns pigeons and has suitable cage 
can give him this new friend.

But option I like most is free him to the nature so he can fly where he want. But I think 
this will put his life in great danger. So I think I shouldn't do that


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

You said this bird has a band on his leg. If he was human raised, then the chances of him surviving out in the wild go way down. He wouldn't know how or where to find food, water, shelter. He may join with that flock, but if not, then he is on his own. Would be too bad for him to spend his life in a cage also. If there were a place where they keep pigeons and have a loft with an outside aviary, that would be great. Something to think about.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

warna said:


> I thought their feather are replaced with new ones time to time like human skin. So oiled ones will replaced with new ones. So is it take long time for that replacement?



You said that you didn't think the feathers were oily. Just wet. If that be the case, then don't worry about it. Yes, they will molt and lose the old feathers and replace them with new in time.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

If he has a leg band he is a lost domestic bird who is unlikely to survive in the wild.


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## YaSin11 (Jul 23, 2009)

warna said:


> I wonder whether they like raw dhal or cooked dhal.
> 
> Also I noticed that he like to eating mung beans too. I guess mung beans is the
> asian version of green peas
> ...


 Raw lentils/seeds will be better than cooked, for pigeons, in my opinion.

They will bathe when they need too, so no need to worry for that.


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## YaSin11 (Jul 23, 2009)

Bird Rescuer said:


> Oiled Pigeons - Birdman of Long Beach - I have rescued hundreds of oiled Pigeons. Most of them I took to International Bird Rescue in San Pedro Ca. and Occasionally to Wetlands & Wildlife in Huntington Beach Ca. They have special solvents to get the oil off. When a Pigeon is oiled it is no longer waterproof. A lot of times you see Pigeons sitting in the pouring rain and you think how dumb. But when the Pigeons are waterproof it is like us having a raincoat on and the water just bounces off of you. When a Pigeon has oil on them they are no longer waterproof. Without help they most likely will get sick and die. It irritates me Dawn Dishwashing Liquid advertises using Dawn on oiled birds. Watching the stupid misleading commercials people would think all you need to do is pour it on a oiled birds and wash (wrong) The water needs to be warmed to the right temp, there needs to be a certain PH level of the water, they need to be rinsed for a long time and dried. All the things the commercials are not telling anybody and it should be criminal misleading the public. Once the Pigeons get the oil off it takes them a very long time working on each feather for long periods of time getting the blood to flow through each feather again. And even if somebody learns the right way to use Dawn it only works on certain oils and not on tar and glue from glue traps etc. - [email protected] - if anybody is interested in making a new friend.


 Thank you for sharing this information and Welcome to the Forum


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

cwebster said:


> If he has a leg band he is a lost domestic bird who is unlikely to survive in the wild.


Yes he has some kind of metal nut in his leg. 

Sri lankan wild pigeons looks like this.
http://www.hirunews.lk/Data/News_Images/201503/1426218805_7018952_hirunews_pigeon.jpg

One I found is black and never seen that type of one in wild. I think this black type should be imported from some other country.


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

Jay3 said:


> You said this bird has a band on his leg. If he was human raised, then the chances of him surviving out in the wild go way down. He wouldn't know how or where to find food, water, shelter. He may join with that flock, but if not, then he is on his own. Would be too bad for him to spend his life in a cage also. If there were a place where they keep pigeons and have a loft with an outside aviary, that would be great. Something to think about.


Thank you very much for your opinion. I think I need to decide the order of importance of these

Life
Food
Freedom


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

YaSin11 said:


> Raw lentils/seeds will be better than cooked, for pigeons, in my opinion.
> 
> They will bathe when they need too, so no need to worry for that.


Yes he ate raw dhal.


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

Also I have put small dish to put food. But I often find droppings in that food. 
So lots of food wasted. And I can't change this dish always. I clean the cage 2 times a day.
And I notice that sometimes he ate from dish where there are droppings. Will that cause any problems to him?
I really appreciate if you can share how you manage this.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Agree that life, food freedom are important...freedom isnt always possible if a bird wont have the first two if released. Our first injured feral couldnt be released but we gave her life, food, and lots of love.


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## YaSin11 (Jul 23, 2009)

warna said:


> Also I have put small dish to put food. But I often find droppings in that food.
> So lots of food wasted. And I can't change this dish always. I clean the cage 2 times a day.
> And I notice that sometimes he ate from dish where there are droppings. Will that cause any problems to him?
> I really appreciate if you can share how you manage this.


 Droppings should not be a problem.

Hope you have grit,calcium etc. handy for your pigeon.

Personally I do not keep excess feed out all the time, I know other members might disagree.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

warna said:


> Thank you for the reply. Why pigeons need grit?
> (According to your advise I discontinued other thread)
> Thank you very much for the guidance you provided.
> Have a great day!!


They need grit to help them to digest their food. It helps them to grind it up. You don't add it to the food though. Just put in a small dish and they will take it when they need it.


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

I found this pigeon 22 days ago. And I asked few people to find a better place for him.
Because here it is difficult to give him a free life as we have cats.
I found in some youtube videos, cats and birds live together. I have no idea how it happened.
May be from some training 

And for the first 20 days I didn't hear any sound from him. I was wondering why he doesn't make 
any sound. But two days agoI heard a sound from him. Not sure what's the reason. Relation said
he may be now OK with the place. So thats why he made sound. However I hear sound only 2 times.

Are your birds friendly with you. Do they allow you to catch easily. 
Because this one didn't like to let him catch. I always reach from his injured eye.
So I can catch him. I'm still give eye drops. But no eyesight yet.


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

Jay3 said:


> They need grit to help them to digest their food. It helps them to grind it up. You don't add it to the food though. Just put in a small dish and they will take it when they need it.


Thank you for the information. I didn't know that it is important.
So do I need to buy specific grit from shop or can I get it from natural soil?


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

YaSin11 said:


> Droppings should not be a problem.
> 
> Hope you have grit,calcium etc. handy for your pigeon.
> 
> Personally I do not keep excess feed out all the time, I know other members might disagree.


Thank you for the reply. How could I give him calcium? as tablets?


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## YaSin11 (Jul 23, 2009)

warna said:


> Thank you for the reply. How could I give him calcium? as tablets?


 Yes, you can feed them calcium tablets. Break them up into pieces if you find it hard to feed the whole tablet.

I can't remember the recommended dose,sorry :/ Please search the Forum.

Good Luck.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

They do sell calcium supplements in places that sell bird supplies for parrots and such. They also need the D3. It would be better to supplement with chicken egg shells i think, as giving split up tablets is usually what may be done in an emergency when you need it for an egg bound hen. Something you can just put in the water or food is much easier.
You would only want to give them no more than 75-80mg a day. Breaking up a human pill that small is difficult, unless you can buy a very low dose. Then getting something so small into the bird would be difficult. I never see the low 250 gram calcium tablets anymore.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

YaSin11 said:


> Yes, you can feed them calcium tablets. Break them up into pieces if you find it hard to feed the whole tablet.
> 
> You would never feed the whole tablet anyway. It would need to be split up into many pieces, and the bird would just get one little piece. Tablets come in different doses, and even a very low dose tablet would be far too much for a pigeon. Too much calcium is just as bad as too little.
> 
> ...


...................................................


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

I thought to find someone who has flock of pigeons and give him this bird.
But I have a doubt wether different flock will welcome this bird or not.
Does pigeons friendly with new pigeons out side of their flock or are they fight with them?


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

If you mean someone who keeps a flock, they will eventually get used to the bird. People do bring in new birds all the time.


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## warna (Apr 18, 2018)

Today I met a person who sells birds. He currently have 8 birds with him.
And has larger cage in his shop. He told he has cured lots of birds.
But told it may be not possible to cure this birds eye. So I think he will not able to 
sell him. However he told that he will
lookafter him. So I gave him to that person as he has better suitable place than mine.
As he having larger cage and flock of pigeons.
Initially I thought to release him to the nature. But later I understood he will not able to 
find food or shelter. And will not able to defend him self as he can only see from one eye.
He was near the death when I found him. But now he has his life back. I wish I could give him a 
free life. But seems like it is out of reach. I wish atleast he may have happy life with a new 
flock. 

And thank you everyone for the support provided.

I thought to add this link quote to my post. 

Just as with her own life
A mother shields from hurt
Her own son, her only child,
Let all-embracing thoughts
For all beings be yours.

More similar quotes.
http://www.realbuddhaquotes.com/tag/compassion/

Also I invite all of you to practice meththa meditation. You will soon realize the
value of being a human. 

Lastly my apologies if anything wrong happened from me.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Thank you for rescuing him and giving him a quality life!


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Thank you for the update and for helping him. Good job!


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