# Will feral pigeons get my wood pigeon sick?



## PlumpChicken (Mar 8, 2015)

My daughter has found 2 fledglings (they were under this car tunnel where there's a lot of pigeons, she said she chose to take them because 'loads of people were walking past and one almost ran onto the road', and yes we're both aware we shouldn't really take fledglings since the parents could be looking after them but the tunnel is really busy, and they definitely can't fly yet). One is younger and smaller than the other, but neither can fly. Right at the moment she's at a friends house sleeping over but the friend is sleeping over so she's taking the pigeons over. The only thing I'm worried about is since the pigeons were with in contact with a lot of other pigeons, and we have the wood pigeon, could they infect it with some sort of disease?


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

No reason particularly why there should be a problem, unless you can see either of the fledgelings are sick. It is equally possible for either species to pass something to the other, as they all have the potential for most pigeon illnesses.

In any case, what we always do without fail is isolate any new bird(s) from current residents for a couple of weeks so there's no sharing of food/water (the main way illnesses are passed on).


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## PlumpChicken (Mar 8, 2015)

Daughter said they look fine, also, she wants to keep them but in my opinion since they're not ill, we should release them into a flock once they're flying?


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Once they are fledged and fairly strong on the wing, then I agree, they should be released.


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