# And we gain more Pigeons...need help from wood pigeon experts.



## gerbilgirl (Aug 22, 2009)

I was contacted by a lady (through Cynthia) a few weeks ago, who had hand reared two pigeons, a feral and a woodie, and needed a home for them as she had no suitable accommodation for them to spend their lives in. She decided that I would be suitable to take them and so they were brought to me, so my woodie 'Duck', and my feral 'Pierre' have been joined by Ru and Zoya. So I would like to thank this lady, as she worked very hard hand rearing these two.

She also brought me up another baby woodie, who I am currently hand rearing, as she was unable to as she had to go away, so we are also welcoming 'Oscar'.

Now I have a couple of questions, Ru and Zoya were definitely eating the first couple of days they came here, but I haven't seen them eating in a few days now, although I have made sure that there is plenty of food available 24/7, as I don't want to chance them not eating. I also haven't seen Duck or Pierre eating in the past couple of days, but then there has been terrible rain and I haven't been out when they are not sheltering, so I suppose I shouldn't be worrying? Would it be a good idea to be giving Ru and Zoya a little hand feed every day, just to make sure they have something in their bellies, or is it likely that once they know how to peck for food, they won't lose their skill, and I am just worrying too much?  I don't want to set them back by hand feeding unless its necessary.

Also the baby 'Oscar' was feeding brilliant (she's an awkward little feeder but with patience I was happy with the amount I was getting into her), I'm putting her at 3ish weeks now, so still force feeding. However tonight when I fed her, I may have been pushing her a little too far on how much I was trying to feed per meal, but she seemed to choke for a second. She did swallow the piece then and I continued feeding as the crop wasn't particularly full (I'm feeding egg food by the way), and on the next piece of food, she seemed to choke again, this time stretching her neck out and pecking at the bed, it only lasted a couple of seconds at the most, but it seemed like a lifetime . Up until today her poos have been excellent, I haven't seen any today but I'm hoping that this is just her being fed less often (moved from 4 hour to 6 hour feeds yesterday as I need to go back to school and she's not feeding well enough for my mum to feed yet), and therefore she's pooing when I haven't got her out. I will clean out the cage now come to think of it, then I will know for certain if she's not pooing over the next few hours. 

I have probably made everything sound terrible there, but if anything particularly sticks out as not being good, please point it out to me. 

Cookies for reading all this , Emma.


----------



## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi Emma,

I will change your thread title so that our woodie expert/s will take notice and answer your questions as soon as they can.

thank you for your care and concern over these birds.


----------



## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Hi

With the two 'pairs' you have (I assume the woodie/feral pairs) you can get a guide on their eating by how much poop they are leaving, unless there's just a load of poop scattered around in your aviary. You could try weighing them on a gram scale daily to at least ensure they are not losing any weight. It goes up and down over 24 hours of course, due to food intake/pooping and night time. Do the food pots seem undisturbed? Also, you could check their crops time to time to feel if they seem empty or reasonably plump.

What are you feeding Oscar? 

John


----------

