# Found injured Pigeon, appears covered in oil



## amorso (Oct 3, 2013)

Hello all. I found a pigeon just standing on the side of the road at 11 pm on Sunday night. He wouldn't move much and couldn't fly so I put on some gloves and grabbed him and put him in a box with food and water and brought him in the house, I really didn't examine him. When I went to work Monday morning It appeared he ate some food but I really couldn't tell if he was drinking water. Monday night after work I decided to take him out and give him a good look. Well he is caked in what appears to be oil, not sure exactly what it is but it's black and sticky and all over his whole body. I wasn't sure what to do but I knew I had to try to bathe him to get the stuff off. 



I took him in the tub and tried to lather shampoo all over him. It wasn't easy but I did the best I could and gently rubbed his feathers and all over and then rinsed him. I repeated this a few time over 20 minutes and could see he was wiped out by the process so I dried him and put him back in the box. I could clearly see how dirty and black the water was when I was finished but It looks like there's still a bunch of this oil on him still, I could still smell it when I was done washing him. I don't know what else to do or how to clean him better because he's still got it all over him. Any help would and suggestions on what I should do would be appreciated. Thanks, Anthony


----------



## kunju (Mar 14, 2012)

This link can help you.
http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f6/pigeon-covered-in-oil-or-something-how-to-clean-42395.html


----------



## amorso (Oct 3, 2013)

*update....*

Hello. So the bath I gave the bird last night appeared to help, this morning he was eating a lot and more active. I could still see some of the oil on him so I went to buy some Dawn and was going to give him another bath. I decided since he made no attempt at flight that I would take him in my courtyard for some fresh air and he took off. He took small flights onto my garage, and then the roof and he's currently just hanging on my roof. It's great that he appears on his way but I'm worried because he still has oil on him and it's going to be cold tonight. Hope I didn't screw up.


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

When a bird isn't yet ready for release, you never take them outside, unless in a cage, as you never know when they will take off. Hope he will be okay.


----------



## tbmama (Jul 3, 2013)

I found a pidgeon in the same condition once, and was told that sometimes people leave containers of oil around (after doing an oil change in a car for example) and birds can mistake it for water and try to bath in it, but the biggest danger comes when the birds try to clean themselves and ingest the oil so bathing them to remove as much oil as possible is really important, and then you have to wait for the feathers to grow out and be replaced (which can take up to a year). I was lucky that a rescuer was prepared to take the pidgeon off me and do the care, because they normally won't take pidgeons in australia and I wasn't having a whole lot of luck using the dawn and a toothbrush to remove it. your pidgeon may have found an oily puddle on the road to bath in.


----------

