# Help with wood pigeon please



## Jo.D (Jul 25, 2015)

Hi all...new here 

Long story, I won't bore you with it all! Beginning of May I took in an injured baby wood pigeon that had been attacked by a cat. He had puncture wounds, skin missing from head and a broken beak.

All has healed well, although beak is deformed. We don't use a cage or aviary he just roams around the village freely but comes to feed as seems to only manage a certain pigeon food. He has chosen to tame himself to us as we kept contact minimal but he always joins us in the garden and plays with my little boy so can't venture faraway.

Someone took him to the local rspca wildlife centre and it took 4 days for me to locate him there. They allowed me to collect him straight away as he wasn't managing to feed there and didn't like being caged and damaged all his tail feathers.

They plucked all but 3 broken feathers before I collected him. I know the others need to come out but should I wait for others to grow back first? Are 3 broken feathers better than none?

Also can I trim his beak? I'll attach a photo, it seems that the hook holding him back on eating. He only manages a racing pigeon food, pigeon corn is too big.

Thanks for any advice, will attach a photo from when he came to us and a close up of his beak.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

What a cute birdie! Thank you for saving him. Hopefully someone more experienced will comment soon on beak trimming.


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

We have a feral with a beak out of alignment so the top has to be trimmed periodically to remove the overhang. Never come across it in a woodie.

http://www.pigeon-aid.org.uk/wordpress/?page_id=226

Ours is in the aviary, as a foraging feral he would be unable to eat without trimming.


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## kiddy (Feb 5, 2015)

Didn't know even wood pigeons can get tamed like this even when you kept minimal contact with him. Don't know what goes on in their little heads  
Trimming the beak will be necessary for him as John guided tho not necessary for him to pick large grains even after that due to beak deformity or any other reasons.


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## jcapozze (Aug 25, 2015)

Trimming the beak may or may not help the bird pick up seeds with more accuracy.

The best thing to do would be to take a nail file or emory board, which you can get at the drug store, and file the end of the top bill. The beak has blood vessels in it, so it is NOT recommended to actually cut the beak with anything. 

I usually file the top beak back until I first start seeing blood, or until the pigeon starts expressing pain. Then I wait one week before filing again. Waiting a week gives the blood vessels time to recede. Then that you can file back farther without bleeding.

You should file until there is no overhang. The bottom of the top bill should align with the top of the bottom bill. However filing will not probably not significantly improve the lateral misalignment. 

It is definitely necessary to file this bird's beak, or the overhang could grow so much that it hooks under the lower bill, inhibiting the bird from opening its mouth. The bird definitely cannot survive in the wild without human intervention, because it cannot compete for food. It sounds like the bird has a good set up though with you guys tho


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## CBL (May 13, 2014)

Odd how did he injure the beak as it looks normal when he was young???

Hook is not the issue, it is the scissor that is the issue and if you offer him a DEEP bowl of seeds of any size and shape he will be able to eat just fine.

I would not trim the beak much at all as it does have blood supply and can bleed. If the hook was really long then I would advise to take the tip, and any vet can do this for your or u may file a bit yourself. As it stands in the pic, I would leave it alone and offer deep dish feed.


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## Jr Brown (May 22, 2012)

CBL said:


> Odd how did he injure the beak as it looks normal when he was young???
> 
> Hook is not the issue, it is the scissor that is the issue and if you offer him a DEEP bowl of seeds of any size and shape he will be able to eat just fine.


So you had a bird with a similar beak issue?


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

This bird does not appear to have a real overhang (yet). Beak overhang is what I referred to in relation to a few of my birds. They develop an overhang where it is misaligned if they are not trimmed regularly.


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