# Hand Raising My First Pigeon



## My First Pigeon (Apr 4, 2016)

Hi, I just moved down to a small (very small) town where my parents have a cabin. My mom has white pigeons that are almost wild except they come in the coop to hatch eggs and stay on the property to eat, etc. I moved down here and on the first day my cats killed a mom pigeon so now I have this little baby. When I found it, it was bald but had little spikes where big feathers were coming in. I had no idea what I was doing but felt bad for this little bird so I got some pigeon feed and blue buffalo dog food (it's what I had) soaked it in water, then blended it with canned puppy food and started syringe feeding it. Long story short it's been about two weeks and now the little guy has almost all its adult feathers (bald under its chin and under its wings still) and he flaps and chirps and runs up to the door of his kennel when he sees me. So I put a bowl of pigeon seeds in so he could check them out, just went in for his night feeding and his crop is totally full of seeds. I syringed him some water then offered him water and after a couple beak dips he started drinking it. I didn't think I would get so attached to this little bird, but all of the sudden have all these fears on if I shouldn't have let him eat that many seeds, or if he should have had a bowl of water this whole time? I took the water out because he would jump in it and get wet and cold. So now that he is eating seeds (apparently) do I need to keep feeding him? And anything else I should know about the weaning process? Will he socialize with the other pigeons? Will he be able to find food (I feed the pigeons by my chicken coop)? I know these are probably dumb questions, but I'm just a farm girl and really know nothing about pigeons. Thanks for any input.


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## naresh j (Jun 27, 2014)

hello and welcome to P.T
just keep checking his crop to be sure he is digesting feed. during weaning calcium is very important ,are you providing him with calcium?? it will take time but he will learn everything just like normal pigeons.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Thank you for rescuing the little guy! Good job.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

If he eats seed, then he needs to drink water after he eats or it will just pack in his crop. Please don't syringe him water, as they are easily aspirated.Good that he knows how to drink on his own now. Leave water with him always. Give him a crock of water that he probably won't jump into, or be able to knock over. Usually I would feed him till I was sure he was eating enough on his own, but he seems to be. Don't let him eat any more till his crop empties. To help it to empty, you can mix some warm applesauce with a small bit of warm water and feed that to him, then gently message his crop. Very gently or the contents could be forced back up and aspirate him. Baby applesauce, without all the sugar is best for this. Do this in the morning if the crop is not emptying. Try to find him a good pigeon and dove mix. He also needs calcium and D3. I use CalciBoost, and if he is eating seed, then he should have a good pigeon grit in a small crock which he will take as needed.

By his being hand raised, he will not know much that his parents and flock would have taught him, like finding food and water, or avoiding predators, or where to roost. You can try to soft release him into the flock that come to your place by putting his cage out there when you feed them, and letting him get used to them, and them to him. It takes a while. And you would do this every day. He needs to learn from them. Eventually, when they fly up quickly when startled, as they will all do together, he must learn this, and try from his cage to fly up as they do. You can see it happen. He needs to learn this before release, so that if there were a predator around, and they signal to each other and take off, he must know to take off with them. It takes time, but can be done. You would also continue to leave food out for him, as he will keep returning for it, while he is adjusting. But you said that you do feed them. We do have some links on here on soft release. But he is no where near ready for that yet. Thanks for helping the little one, and welcome to Pigeon Talk.


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## My First Pigeon (Apr 4, 2016)

I am not supplementing him with calcium unless it's in the dog food or puppy food. How do you supplement calcium? Also, I have been checking his crop before each feeding to make sure it's empty. I took his seeds way tonight to see if his crop will empty. If it is empty by morning is it safe to just leave to seeds in with him or should I still take them away and make sure his crop is emptying? Thanks so much for your help!


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## kiddy (Feb 5, 2015)

When you buy Calcium+D3 supplement, you will find instructions on the bottle and how much to give. 
We in India use it in tablet form so feed it in their beaks. Some mix it in seeds or water. Depends on which one you got. 
When the crop gets empty, you can leave the seeds with him and let him eat, after he eats and drinks, monitor if crop is getting emptied. If you think, he has an issue of slow crop, remove feed and let it be empty first. Apple sauce will help. Also few drops of ACV in water helps them in emptying crop.


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