# A couple of small questions



## BHenderson (Sep 8, 2011)

Hi all,

I have a couple of small questions that I have saved as I did not think them individually important enough to post about.

First *****, he ended up losing 2 toes on his left foot and he only has 1 toes and the "thumb" left. He seems to be able to walk ok and his feet look like they are healing. He has set up in Gaysers old box with a female and tries to mate with as many females as he can, so their can't be a lot wrong with him. He does, however, sit down a lot and it is obviously still sore for him to stand on his legs. I wonder if the blood supply to his legs will ever return to normal because of how bad it was cut off, and I therefore wonder if he will ever have full strength in his legs. As is expected, he hates to be caught in the net to have his feet painted in neem oil, and he hates it even more now he has a female that he has to keep an eye on. I am wondering if I need to keep up the neem oil applications. He has some stiffness in his feet when he relaxes and I am not sure if this is because of the remaining scars and healing. I am wondering if it is necessary to keep painting his feet in neem oil? or if I can leave the natural healing process to take over. I only worry that some of the scars may become hardened and make it difficult to get full movement back in the foot?

Another member, Niggles, was a tiny pigeon that looked very young and had somehow left the nest far too early. the thing is niggles, although he has grown a little, still looks underdeveloped. He still has a small head like a baby, and his legs are very thin. He is quite aggressive for a small bird, and I do not think it is any kind of bullying problem that is stopping him eating, he is just not growing as much as he should. I wonder if I should return to the force feeding, as he did look like he was putting on some weight around his legs when I was doing this? Maybe he has the equivalent of a human thyroid problem? I do think he would have struggled to compete on the outside, and maybe that is why he looks so young, because he growth is stunted in some way. He is happy, as I often see him getting excited and flying around chaotically like they do when they are excited. Does anyone have any experience of problems like this?

And finally, about Gerty, Gaysers mate. I was saying that I felt for her because Gayser is not able to mate with her properly because of long lasting PMV problems. She has layed about 5 lots of infertile eggs, and each time she patiently sits on them for as long as Gayser will let her(if he does not crack them or push them out of the nest!). Anyway, Blondie and Baby are a very fertile couple, and have their hands full. She will lay again soon and I am thinking of replacing her next batch with the dummy eggs and giving the fertile eggs to Gerty to sit. She would love to raise another baby and was a very good mother to Baby. What I am worried about is that Gayser will manage to crack these fertile eggs or push them out of the nest in his attempts to get the eggs under him. If I was to put the fertile eggs in a bowl, like the nest bowls that are sold, and padded it with the nesting material they normally use, would she take to the bowl? I am not sure if she would abandon the eggs if I put them somewhere else. I would put the bowl in her box, but if she did not sit on the eggs pretty quick they would die in the cold weather over here. Can anyone offer advice?

Thank you all, If I did not have people on this board to ask, I have no one else round here who is interested in the pigeons.

Brian.


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## Woodnative (Jul 4, 2010)

Just addressing your last question. You could give the dummy eggs to Gayser and then switch the eggs in at the end of the incubation cycle OR give them the newly hatched chick. Not that both pairs have to lay within a couple days of each other. For example, if Gerty laid new eggs you could not give her eggs that were about to hatch from Blondie seven days later. They would probably not be properly producing mile even if they were to care for the new chick. A couple days different in the timing is ok but not much more.


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## BHenderson (Sep 8, 2011)

I see the problem. It seems awful to take a newly hatched chick off Blondie to give to Gerty(Gaysers the male). It might make Gerty happy but Blondie would be forever giving me suspicious looks after that lol.
I know that Gerty has layed about a week ago, and Blondie is nursing two young chicks, so at the moment it does not look like a good time to try a swap. I will watch and see if they end up laying closer together in the future. Again, the bit that worries me is after going to all this trouble to get Gerty a fertile egg, Gayser the male may go trampling all over the fertile egg like he does with the infertile ones and smash it. He does not do it on purpose(I think) but he does not have proper balance because of after effects of PMV. I need to protect the egg somehow once I give it to Gerty?


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## Dima (Jan 15, 2011)

For the first question: string foot. Do not apply neem oil anymore; you can apply antibiotic ointment, evry other day. And see how it heals when it drys up. The dry skin should fall off when dry and neem oil will not allow it to dry.

For the second question with the young one. I would just give him some calcium & d3. Some squabs have long skinny legs, but it doesn't mean there's some health problems.


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## BHenderson (Sep 8, 2011)

Thank you Dima for the advice, especially about the neem oil as I was unsure if it was good to keep applying. His feet sometimes look stiff and he cannot move them fluidly, but I am hoping this will improve with time. Like I said originally, the blood supply must have been cut off pretty bad with the original injury, I am not sure if the full blood supply to the leg will return. He sits down a lot, like his legs get tired easily.


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## BHenderson (Sep 8, 2011)

Woodnative said:


> Just addressing your last question. You could give the dummy eggs to Gayser and then switch the eggs in at the end of the incubation cycle OR give them the newly hatched chick. Not that both pairs have to lay within a couple days of each other. For example, if Gerty laid new eggs you could not give her eggs that were about to hatch from Blondie seven days later. They would probably not be properly producing mile even if they were to care for the new chick. A couple days different in the timing is ok but not much more.


I see what you mean now Woodnative about giving Gerty the eggs shortly before they hatch, then Gayser could not damage them so easily hopefully. It is a trickier thing to do, but I may give it a go. I am waiting to see when Blondie stats mating again, because Gerty is going to start mating again soon, so it could be a good time to try it. Anyone else have anything to add to this idea?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

I would use fake eggs with the couple that has the cock that disprupts the eggs. I would not give already developed eggs to them. If you want more pigeons use the pairs that parent well.


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## BHenderson (Sep 8, 2011)

Because they are a "special" couple, I wanted to try and help Gerty a bit by giving her some fertile eggs as I don't think Gayser is ever going to be able to mate with her properly. She has been loyal to him, but she also wants to hatch an egg. The other pair, Blondie and Baby, can't stop producing offspring, and I am going to have to put dummy eggs in their nest anyway.


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