# Pigeon not flying or eating



## Evert (Jun 19, 2016)

Hi all, my pigeon is not feeling well and I have no idea why. She first had one droopy wing and couldn't fly. Later she had 2 droopy wings and slowly lost her apatite. 

I put her back into her hole as she can no longer fly and place food/water in there. She's not showing any signs of improvement so far. She's getting pretty skinny now, and I'm not sure how long she has to live. 

Note : I also feed all my pigeons grit and clean the water everyday.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Can you plse take her to an avian vet? On this forum members can give advice, but you might just end up treating the wrong disease which can do a lot of harm.

Try to forcefeed her defrosted peas, at least 30 3 times daily to keep her alive. Hold her facing to the right in your lap close to your body. Reach with your left hand over her head and open her beak with your lefthandfingers. Put one pea at a time into her mouth with your righthand and let her swallow. If she spits it out, you are not putting it in deep enough. Sounds complicated, but gets easier with practice.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Please if you can get her to an avian vet. Has she laid eggs? How are her droppings? Agree strongly about trying to give her defrosted peas. Can you pls post a photo?


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

If she isn't eating you need to hand feed her, or she will get weaker and die. Is she drinking a lot of water? What do her droppings look like? As was asked, has she laid eggs? 
Is going to a vet a possibility?


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## Evert (Jun 19, 2016)

For all asking, no she has not laid eggs in a few weeks, she used to lay a lot of eggs. About 2 one and a half weeks,now nothing. She has been drinking, but slowly losing her appetite. I don't exactly remember what her droppings look like, but I do remember her droppings were small. About a size of a pea or two and a little wet.

I"ll take you guys advice and feed her peas. Here are some pictures of her and grit. Grit was dry yesterday before the rain.

https://puu.sh/ujKP1/1d21f4cd7e.jpg
https://puu.sh/ujKOh/d4b69ece8b.jpg
https://puu.sh/ujKRI/6ca9d91867.jpg
https://puu.sh/ujKSe/f43f8d8010.jpg


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## alby68 (Mar 18, 2013)

drooping wings to me screams salmonella bacteria, especially with the losing weight and not eating. I would give her enroflaxin for ten days, if she was my bird. drooping wing/wings can also mean calcium deficency, but they usually eat and drink fine with that malody. best wishes!


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

What do you do when she lays eggs? Do you leave them for her to sit on, or take them away?
Do your birds get calcium? Get outside in the sun often?


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## Evert (Jun 19, 2016)

*Eggs*



Jay3 said:


> What do you do when she lays eggs? Do you leave them for her to sit on, or take them away?
> Do your birds get calcium? Get outside in the sun often?


Yes, I take them away. She's already have around 6 birds and we just couldn't house anymore unfortunately. Could it be a major factor in her illness right now? And yes, they can go out as much as they want, reason why I have pigeons instead of any other birds, so I don't have to lock them in little cages, pigeons can be free. Also the grit should provide enough calcium right? Grit is always there for them.


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## Evert (Jun 19, 2016)

*Gratitude*



alby68 said:


> drooping wings to me screams salmonella bacteria, especially with the losing weight and not eating. I would give her enroflaxin for ten days, if she was my bird. drooping wing/wings can also mean calcium deficency, but they usually eat and drink fine with that malody. best wishes!


Thankyou for your advice, I'll see what I can do.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

We put calciboost in the pigeons water a couple of times per week which contains calcium and d3 because grit is not enough. Do you have fake eggs? We switch them out because we have six pigeons and cant have more. Hope your bird improves soon.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Yes, it could definitely be a factor in the birds health. When you take the eggs, rather then to let her sit on them, she will lay right away again in order to replace them. This eventually depletes a hens calcium stores, and she can have really big problems when that happens. She can even become egg bound, where she can't pass the egg, and die.
When you take away a hens eggs, you should replace them with solid plastic fake eggs that you can buy online at pigeon supply places. That way, they thing they are their eggs, and will sit on them for the 18 days or so. Eventually when they don't hatch. They will then start all over again. Again, when they lay and you take the eggs, you again replace them with fake. If they are laying, then giving them a calcium/vit. D3 supplement like CalciBoost or similar is really a good idea. You can put it in the drinking water a couple of times a week. Makes a big difference. I would give this hen a calcium/D3 supplement now, as this could be the problem. If she doesn't show signs of improvement, then I would start her on Baytril (Enrofloxacyn). Going off her feed, but drinking a lot, could also be canker, which would require treatment for that. Metronidazole. Pics of her droppings? So if the calcium doesn't seem to help, then I would treat for canker and use the antibiotic for 10 days.
An avian vet that could check her would be better, as you would then know what it was and could start treatment for the right thing sooner. Sometimes guessing wastes valuable time.


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