# Possibly Abandoned Pigeon Babies--How Long Should Wait Before I Do Something?



## cooksie

A couple weeks ago, I discovered a pigeon nest with two eggs in the transom over the door leading from my bedroom to the back porch (the transom occupies the space over the door; there's a glass window on the inner side, but the outer side is exposed to the outdoors, so I've got a little window from my bedroom onto the nest).

The mama pigeon would fly off every time I startled her by opening the door to the porch, but she'd always hover around and come back eventually. About a week ago, the eggs hatched, and we've all been coexisting quite nicely--and the mother's been sitting in the nest almost all the time. But mama bird hasn't been seen since about 3 p.m. Saturday 6/4 (it's about 10 p.m. Sunday 6/5 as I write this). It's possible that she's been gone for long stints and only briefly returned to the nest to feed the squabs, while I've been sleeping or not around. But I've been keeping a careful eye for the past two or so days and have seen neither hide nor hair (feather?) of mama.

So: When do I assume that mama's not coming back? How long should I give her before I try to rescue these guys? (Which of course I have no idea how to do, but that's another post). I'd obviously rather not interfere unless I have to.

The squabs are, like I say, about a week or so old. Their eyes are open, they're just about the size of my fist. Still have yellow down, and it looks like some grey feathers have just started to peek through. Their breathing seems really labored to me, but it also did before mama took off. Seems like they're a little twitchy, though, every time I check in on them, shaking their heads a lot and moving around.

If anyone has any guidance, please reply or e-mail me directly at [email protected].

thanks,
john


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## feralpigeon

Hi Cooksie and welcome to Pigeon Talk.com. Think what you're saying here is 
that the babies have not been fed in over 24 hours, is that correct? I wouldn't wait too much longer on intervening. Have you ever hand fed a baby bird, and are you up for that?


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## TAWhatley

Hi John .. where are you .. give us a clue here. Will try to find some help for you.

Terry


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## cooksie

feralpigeon said:


> Hi Cooksie and welcome to Pigeon Talk.com. Think what you're saying here is
> that the babies have not been fed in over 24 hours, is that correct? I wouldn't wait too much longer on intervening. Have you ever hand fed a baby bird, and are you up for that?


Yes, unless the mama has been secretly able to feed them while remaining undiscovered by me--which isn't likely--then they haven't been fed in about 31 or so hours. 

I have never hand fed a baby bird, let alone two, and am definitely not up for it, but if I have to I have to, right?

What should I do? I've looked around on the message board and found some instructions, but any further advice would be appreciated. I don't have an eye-dropper, but I do have a syringe from when I had to give my dog eardrops. What's the best food, assuming I don't have time to run to a specialty pet store?

And if anybody has any good ideas of who might take on a couple of baby city pigeons in the Chicago area, that'd be great. I can't keep them. Or really really don't want to. I'm not really a bird person.

And feralpigeon, if you're still listening--do you think I should try to feed them right away, like now? Like there's no chance of mama bird coming back?

thanks,
john


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## cooksie

TAWhatley said:


> Hi John .. where are you .. give us a clue here. Will try to find some help for you.
> 
> Terry


Thanks--I'm in Chicago.


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## feralpigeon

Hang tight Cooksie, help will be on the way. In the meantime could you get them inside on a heating pad on low in a safe preferably dark place?


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## cooksie

Well--I just did what I'd call a trial run of grabbing them from the nest, and these guys really didn't want to come. They were puffing up and biting at me and hissing, and since there's two of them, one of them would be able to have at me while I tried to get the other one out. I know it's odd for a 32-year-old man to be frightened by two utterly defenseless creatures, but I'm up on a ladder and trying to keep my balance and trying not to hurt them, so it was a failed attempt. I really didn't try to grab them--never made contact--because I'm scared the only way I'd be able to get them would be to grab them too fast and too hard, and possibly hurt them. And the way their nest is situated, there's really no way to come at them from behind, or anything. Do you have any suggestions on the best way to snatch two squabs that do NOT want to be snatched?


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## pdpbison

Hi Cooksie,


I know you mean well, but most likely things are fine...  

I'm sorry if I missed anything, but if the Babys are vigorous and hissing and plump and clicking their Beaks and so on, what is going on here exactly other than that they are likely fine and do not wish to be disturbed?

It is all too easy for concerned bystanders sometimes, to be scaring away the parents to keep looking at the Babys, and then worrying about if the Babys are not getting fed...or have been 'abandonded'.

Please, fill me in...?

If the Babys are IN THEIR NEST and not on the ground starving or in peril...


Please...if one must look in on Babys in their Nest to assure one's self about them, do so from a distance with binoculars, or, only if one is wishing to substantiate their being truely neglected or abandonded on one or two occasions at most...and do not do so "often", or from up close, but merely once every couple days if one MUST get close. If they are fine today, they will be fine tomorrow.

Otherwise, pestering them or their parents WILL just delay when the parents do feel safe to show up and feed them.

Do they (or did they) seem plump and so on?

After a certain age they are not necessarily sat on much anyway...

Please...do not 'borrow trouble'...!

Baby Pigeons who are vigorous and plump are likely BEING fed when the parent(s) feel it is safe to do so...

Be careful...

If you must check them, just see if their crops seem to have something in them...and if they do, accept all is well with them as it is...and do not check them anymore or go near the nest anymore. Or, at most, wait a couple days and satisfy your self once more if need be.



Love,

Phil
Las Vegas


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## cooksie

Update as of 1:39 a.m. CDT:

Well, the squabs are in my house, in a shoebox set ontop of a hot-water bottle and with a 40 watt light bulb about 8 inches above them, though I'll probably turn that off when I go to sleep.

They drank just a few drops each of the water-salt-sugar solution--I just put the drops at the end of their beaks and they sucked it up--they didn't open their beaks.

As for whether I rescued or stole them--I can't really say, though I did also call the University of Illinois' Wildlife Clinic earlier today (Sunday) and they recommended taking them inside if momma didn't show up by Monday morning--and the urgent responses to my initial post earlier tonight convinced me to speed up that schedule. The reason I'm so confident that mamma's been gone so long is that, since this nest was built directly outside the transom window over the door to my back porch, we can see the nest and mama through the window at all times. So it's not like every time we observe the nest we're scaring her away--if she's there we can see her from inside the house. And we've seen her regularly since she laid eggs, and she's almost always there. She's definitely been gone for two full days--and I've been checking back there every hour or so.

I'll continue to post here and let folks know how it's going, if you promise to tell me what the hell I'm supposed to do with these birds now, and help find someone in Chicago to take them off my hands.


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## Skyeking

Hi cooksie,

Thank you so much for your care and concern for these babies.

Can you put a lots of clean paper towels under them, and be very careful not to let them get overheated by the lamp.

It is vital that they get lots of protein at this stage of their lives. Do you have any puppy chow or know someone who does? You can soak it, drain it, pull it apart in little pieces and put it in the back of the throat, behind the tongue. It might be easier then tube feeding or syringe feeding at this point in time. 

You can also do this with frozen peas that have been thawed and warmed, and frozen corn. 


Treesa


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## cooksie

Phil was right. Mama pigeon came by looking for her babies this morning. First time I'd seen her since Saturday morning. So I ran like mad and grabbed them and hopped up on the ladder and put them back in the nest where they belong. The mama bird was watching all this from a perch in the back yard, but didn't come over.

So: By grabbing these birds have I made them my own, or will mama bird eventually come back and care for them? They're outside in the nest still. It's about 85 degrees today, so I don't think they'll get too chilly....


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## Pidgey

She will not reject them. You're just going to have to wait and see.

Pidgey


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## pdpbison

Hi cooksie,



Good going..!

Momma should accept them back just fine, and, they will have had some wacky adventures for themselves, to boot...

May as well kinda keep-an-eye on them in an easy way, in case ( and it does happen!) one of them gets rambunctious and ends up out of the Nest or on the ground.

And if so, check back with us here..!

Meanwhile...

So far so good...!  

Phil
Las Vegas


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## cooksie

FYI--I spotted mama pigeon for the first time today, up in the nest. So she's back and all is right in pigeonland for now.


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## abdul shaheen

I do have the same problem but mama pigeon came today so i kept it back but i realy want that baby so i can take care of it 


what should i do


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## Quazar

abdul shaheen said:


> I do have the same problem but mama pigeon came today so i kept it back but i realy want that baby so i can take care of it
> 
> 
> what should i do


It doesn't matter what YOU want, If the parents are still around, they will do a far better job of bringing up the young than any human will.

PS this thread is nearly 8 years old !!!!
Much better to post in a new thread where it would be more likely to be noticed and replied to.


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## denisebella

help two abandoned baby pigeons in nest mom not been for three days...HELP ME redditch Worcester UK


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