# help!! found baby pigeon, scalped badly



## Subipe (Feb 25, 2010)

Hi, 
I have found a young baby feral pigeon, probably around 20 days old. It has been scalped very badly; the skin is missing from the whole top of its head. The wound is starting just above its eyes, goes over the top of the head, and continues to halfway down the back of the neck. The width is about from ear to ear for the whole wound (ears themselves are ok though). 

Although there is a lot of blood on the feathers everywhere, the rest of the bird seems ok. Wings, feet etc all seem to be in one piece and functioning correctly, and other than the head there are no other external wounds. The baby is reasonably stable, in the sense that it is warm enough, and I managed to get a little bit of food and water into him/her. 

Does anybody have experience with this type of injury? Can they recover from such an extensive wound? What should/can I do?

I am in Australia, and as far as I know there are no re-habbers anywhere close by. So all help or advice any of you can give me is greatly appreciated.


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

Tnx for helping this bird.
Carefully cut the feathers(donot pluck) and clean the wound gently using a cotton swab with boiled water(not saline water as it can irritate the eyes). Let it dry and then apply antibiotic cream on the wound. Apply less amonts of cream but apply it frequently. Generous amounts of cream could get into bird's eyes or ears and can also give bird headache.
Keep the bird in nice warm place away from any other pets!

How do you think the bird might have got the injury?
Is the bird eating on its own?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Subipe said:


> Hi,
> I have found a young baby feral pigeon, probably around 20 days old. It has been scalped very badly; the skin is missing from the whole top of its head. The wound is starting just above its eyes, goes over the top of the head, and continues to halfway down the back of the neck. The width is about from ear to ear for the whole wound (ears themselves are ok though).
> 
> Although there is a lot of blood on the feathers everywhere, the rest of the bird seems ok. Wings, feet etc all seem to be in one piece and functioning correctly, and other than the head there are no other external wounds. The baby is reasonably stable, in the sense that it is warm enough, and I managed to get a little bit of food and water into him/her.
> ...


scalpings look bad, but they usually recover just fine. clean it with saline (yes SALINE) and soft cotton dabbing as you go, and then use a cream (not as messy) antibotic lotion on it, apply once a day. now the baby will need food and may not know how to eat or pick up food yet. get pigeon grains and seeds and keep them where he can see them and peck at them with your fingers as if you were it's parent eating the grains/seeds/legumes. then you can for now force feed some defrosted peas and corn from frozen, you will have to open the beak and put the kernal or pea in the back of the throat and they swallow it, repeat till the crop is full about 30 pieces, for a little extra you can take unmedicated chicken crumbles and add some olive oil to it and make little balls and pop a few in, not too many as they really need the moisture from the peas and corn. no water is nessasary at this point but keeping a small crock out so he gets used to seeing it is good, you can dunk the tip of his beak in it once a day, at some point he will be eating and drinking on his own hopefully at about 35 40 days of age.


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## Subipe (Feb 25, 2010)

I do not know how it would have gotten the injury. Perhaps it was attacked by the other pigeons? It obviously fell out/was pushed out of the nest as well - maybe one of the other pigeons in the colony took a dislike to this little baby? 

I clipped the feathers that were at risk of sitting in the wound, and I am cleaning the wound out with saline solution twice a day now. I do not have antibiotic cream - would something like betadine cream, or dettol cream be ok as well?

At this stage the baby is not eating or drinking on its own yet. Every now and again it shows some interest in seed that I put out for it, but its eye-beak coordination seems pretty bad. It takes 10 tries to even hit a seed when pecking at it, and only about 1 out of 5 times when it hits a seed the baby is able to actually pick it up. When it does manage to pick a seed up by itself, it usually immediately drops it again. 
I am wondering if it might have a concussion as well? It must have fallen from pretty high up, judging from where the adults all roost - that ledge is probably about 8-10m from the ground. 

Initially the baby happily sucked granivore rearing formula from a rubber glove stretched over the opening of a syringe, however, now it refuses that altogether. If I gently drop some formula into its beak it just shakes it out again, and does not want anything to do with it any more. I do manage to get peas and corn (defrosted) into the baby. Sometimes it enjoys it, and actively begs for the food, other times it is not interested at all, and it becomes more a force-feeding exercise. 
Is that normal? Am I over-feeding the baby, should I only feed if the baby is begging? (s)he is pretty thin though - the breastbone is sticking out rather sharply. 

Will try to post some photos.


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## Subipe (Feb 25, 2010)

Some photos


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## whytwings (Feb 12, 2011)

I'm inclined to agree with spirit wings that it should heal ok . I have had some scalpings in my own loft , it usually occurs when an intruder pigeon wants the nest and the attacks can be quite vicious .

Only feed until you see that crop is full... should look like a puffy little pillow above the breast bone area and then wait for crop to empty before feeding again 

Where in Australia are you located ?


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## Subipe (Feb 25, 2010)

I am in Canberra. 

I was wondering as well, is the baby going to need antibiotics at all?


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## whytwings (Feb 12, 2011)

My youngsters have all recovered well without the use of antibiotics. 
I would keep bathing the wound . I would imagine dettol would sting like crazy , but the betadine cream might be the better choice out of the two.


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## Subipe (Feb 25, 2010)

Well, the baby's head has healed really well. The wound has fully closed, and in places there are even feathers growing again. I do think large patches will always stay bald though..
However, we seem to be running into the next problem now. As a result of the skin healing, there is a lot of tension over the skin on the top of her head. This has led to the skin above her eyes being pulled up to the extend that the eyes are really pulled out of shape. On one side a lot of white is constantly showing, and on the other side her third eyelid has prolapsed as a result. This of course is rather irritating to the eyes, and they are often red and puffy. 

Does anybody have any advice about what to do about this? Has anybody had this before with their own birds? Will it heal by itself?


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## Silver Wings (Jan 27, 2014)

Subipe said:


> . As a result of the skin healing, there is a lot of tension over the skin on the top of her head. This has led to the skin above her eyes being pulled up to the extend that the eyes are really pulled out of shape.


I'm a bit new here, so I'll defer this to others who know more - 

I had a cockatiel who had significant toe damage, once the vet made sure she was ok (stopped bleeding profusely) we used bactine ointment on her toe so it would keep the bad germs away, moisture on the toe keeping it pliable and able to bend. 

Maybe the birds and wounds are similar enough others would feel this might be an option?

Good luck


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Subipe said:


> Well, the baby's head has healed really well. The wound has fully closed, and in places there are even feathers growing again. I do think large patches will always stay bald though..
> However, we seem to be running into the next problem now. As a result of the skin healing, there is a lot of tension over the skin on the top of her head. This has led to the skin above her eyes being pulled up to the extend that the eyes are really pulled out of shape. On one side a lot of white is constantly showing, and on the other side her third eyelid has prolapsed as a result. This of course is rather irritating to the eyes, and they are often red and puffy.
> 
> Does anybody have any advice about what to do about this? Has anybody had this before with their own birds? Will it heal by itself?


can you update a picture? the pictures you showed before I want to say the bird had pox as well. but not sure..it could scar around the eyes esp. sorry I don't know what to do for it. perhaps taking him to your vet is in order.


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