# Adult Wood Pigeon with limited feathers in autumn.



## leiah (Sep 23, 2008)

Hi, my dog attacked a wood pigeon recently and pulled out its tail feathers and some wing feathers. It was injured and in shock so my step dad brought it home. it kept trying to escape but couldn't fly so i kept hold of it. It's injury is on the left leg joint but is healing nicely and she can walk on it without any trouble, problem now is that when she kept trying to escape ive accidently pulled out most of her feathers on her back. She can lift herself of the ground when flying but not very high and just falls and crashes. She is missing some wing feathers and only has 1/2 of one tail feather, shes not eating or eating very little but seems to be drinking fine. How long should i wait to release her, it's autumn here in England and quite wet and she's indoors as we have no aviary as we took it down and got rid of it (i raised a very young pigeon last year successfully). Just any tips for this adult would be helpful please. Thanks


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## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

Hi leiah,

How long ago did your dog injure the bird? I know they are extremely difficult to hold, I am having the same problem at the moment with one. Do you know if it has any other injuries on the wing that are hidden by feathers, the reason I ask is that if it was bitten by your dog it might need antibiotics, as dog and cat bites can be fatal to birds if not given asap.
Please don't release it yet until we know it can fly otherwise it won't stand a chance. 

Where are you exactly in England?

Janet


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hi Leah,

As Janet mentioned she might need antibiotics if she has been injured recently. 

Woodies are designed to drop a lot of feathers when caught so that the predator just ends up with a bunch of feathers, but she won't be able to fly until her flight feathers (on the wings) grow properly and that takes about 6 weeks. By that time her back and tail feathers will also have grown. Don't try to release her before that as even if she can lift off she will not be able to avoid predators or could crash land in front of a car.

Woodies prefer to be in the open. As you may have noticed in winter they roost on the bare branches of trees rather than looking for shelter under ledges as the ferals do. Because of this the best place for her would be in a sanctuary that let her mingle with other wood pigeons until she is releasable. There aren't all that many sanctuaries that take woodies about about, but there could be somewhere near you.

Cynthia


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## leiah (Sep 23, 2008)

hey, we got her about a week ago, i've checked her over fully and she has no other injuries and the one she has is almost healed completely. She eating now and seems to be doing fine, i can't really take her to the vets down here as they aren't exactly pigeon friendly. They told me to put my other pigeon down and said she'd never be able to live in the wild but about a month after they said that she was flying out around the woods near are old place and coming back for a little bit of food at night and getting on with the other pigeons. 

I live near colchester but i dont know if there is any sancturies around. I think she has too little wing feathers to be able to fly yet, i can look after her fine if there isn't any where she can go but it would be best if there was. Thanks


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Does she have the white neck ring?

If she is an adult and you can care for her for 6 weeks, then she would be better off where she is as she will be released into familiar territory.

I picked up a whopping great big fledgeling wood pigeon from the vet today. It's tail was also missing and its back feathers were floating off on contact...it reminded me of your post. I had to take it to the Hallswood Sanctuary just outside Norwich because I have pigeon lung disease and can't bring rescues into the house anymore.

Cynthia


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## leiah (Sep 23, 2008)

She has the white neck ring, she's doing a lot better each day now. She's eating a lot more and i felt some food in her crop this morning, also she's getting more active, especially when i take her out and clean her wound. Thanks for the help i think she'll do fine now...x


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Thank you for looking after her. 

As long as the SPCA don't get their hands on her she should be fine.

Cynthia


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