# Baby Pigeons Always Die



## SheilaKaye (Jan 28, 2004)

I have a pair of pigeons who keep having two babies but they die within a few days. One actually lived long enough to start to fly. I have 3 other pigeons but none of them have even laid eggs. We thought we had pairs but are beginning to think that we have all males except for our one female. One pigeon came to us through a friend. So we do have an uneven number. I have caught one of our pigeons pecking on one of the babies once. Could the other pigeons be killing the babies? My son thinks maybe our pigeons are overcrowded and that could be why. They share a pen with our ducks but the pigeon's nests and feeding areas are up high while the ducks are on the ground. During the day time they are free to fly outside. Anyone have any idea what and why this is happening?


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Hi Sheila and welcome to pigeons.com. It's hard to say what might be the problem with the babies always dying. A fairly common cause is paratyphoid (salmonella) that is passed from one or both parents to the babies or even to the eggs. It may also be that the other adults are pecking the babies, but you would see the wounds from this if that were the case. And, it may be that the pigeons are picking up something from the duck feces and/or drinking duck poopy water. I have ducks and love them .. also have pigeons and love them .. I don't think I would house them together if it were possible to provide separate living quarters. I would also separate the mated pair of pigeons from the others and after treating them as well as the other pigeons for canker and cocci would put the mates through a course of Baytril. Worming them all should also be considered. Once all the medicating was done, I would let the pair try to raise young again.

I'm sure others will be along shortly with their thoughts and advice.

Terry


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## maryco (Apr 1, 2002)

Hello,

Yes sure sounds like salmonalla, I've seen this afew summers ago on my balcony, I figured one of the mothers had it since she looked kind of strange and had a really really hard time laying an egg, finally when she got the hang of it they ended up to be so tiny (and she only laid one single egg the first time) then when the eggs looked normal size afew clutches later she incubated them but I believe the babies died before hatching in the egg.
Finally when she managed to have the babies afew months later they ended up sick and died small as well as infecting another 4-6 babies that were also on my balcony and most sadly died









I now have 2 nesting there and I just hope it doesn't happen again, God willing!


Mary


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi Sheila,

As Terry already suggested, they all need a treatment for canker, coci, and worms. Once you have done that you can start them on a preventative maintenance dose of Globals multi mix, a few times a year, that will take care of the canker, coci, and worms in the future.

How many pigeons do you have? It may be a situation of overcrowdedness, especially if you have a lot of males and a few females. 

If you have only one pair, I would suggest you build them a seperate nest box (you can put them up in the coop), with a front to protect the babies, in the future. If you have overcrowded conditions, then you should definitely build them a larger coop, also. You should have a small pen for youngsters once they get old enough to be out of the nest a few hours a day.

You can also add an outside aviary to the coop to also add room during daylight hours.

People used to tell me your going to have fights all the time if you don't seperate your males from females. I have never had that problem because after seeing those peoples coops, I realized their birds were overcrowded! Our coop is large enough to house everyone happily.

I love ducks, too, but they should have a seperate place from the pigeons.

Treesa and 44 pigeons


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## slugmonkey (Nov 10, 2003)

could also be that something is bothering them in the nest another bird perhaaps if they arent allowed privacy on nest sometimes they will quit feeding babies


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