# Found young feral pigeon - help!!! now what?



## Subipe (Feb 25, 2010)

I found a young rock dove, which are a feral species here (I live in Australia). If I take it in to any rescue centre, it will be put down, which I would prefer would not happen. 
The pigeon is probably around 30 days old (it has feathers, but still a little bit of down sticking out between the feathers). It cannot fly yet, I think it fell out of its nest. I found it under an overpass on a very busy highway - there are pigeons living and nesting on a ledge under that overpass. 

It seems uninjured, apart from a small wound right next to its beak. This does not seem infected or anything, it looks fine, there is just a bit of a hole, with scabbing around it, as if it has received a sharp peck from another bird. It was pretty dehydrated, but will not eat/drink out of a bowl by itself. However, when I offered it a bit of water yesterday, it did drink from a teaspoon (drank quite a lot), and again this morning. I have been hand-feeding it some bread soaked in water by putting little bits directly in its beak. This has been quite hard, since the pigeon is not really cooperating. I did manage to feed it a bit though. 

What should I do now? I have been considering trying to put it back on the ledge under the overpass in its nesting area, hoping that the parents will take care of it again - would they? 
It will be very hard, since the ledge is quite high, and like I said there is a very busy highway right underneath it - it was lucky to survive its fall, there are often dead, run-over pigeons in that area. 

I cannot realy take care of it myself long-term. I will be going on an overseas trip in 4 weeks time. How long will it take the pigeon to start eating and flying? Will it be well enough to fend for itself before I go on my trip? 
If so, what should I feed it in the meantime, how do I take care of it? 
If not, does anybody have any suggestions about what I can do?

Hope somebody can help....
Linda


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## RockBird (Aug 28, 2007)

Hi Linda,

Thanks for trying to help out this young bird. It is the middle of the night in the US and I am sure you will be getting some replies before too long.

Sorry I don't know enough to help, but keep checking back, there are lots of good people here with experience to help you out.


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## kamz (Jan 23, 2010)

Dear Linda, 
I am from Australia - what state do you live in? IF you live in melbourne, then please contact avian vet Dr Colin Walker - I have listed his contact details below. He races pigeons and is feral pigeon friendly. His veterinary practice may also be able to recommend another avian vet in another state - and also pigeon rehabbers (if they exist) in Australia. In any case, if you are in a position to take the bird to an avian vet, then at least you can hopefully have him/her assessed and treated for diseases before you decide what to do in terms of release/finding him a home. 


+ 61 3 9764 9000

Good luck, and people with more practical experience in rehabilitating pigeons will be along soon - in the mean time you're doing a good job keeping him/her rehydrated. Perhaps a blanker underneath to keep him/her warm 

I think the ledge sounds way too dangerous - especially when you mentioned the others that did not survive :/ 

Good luck, and if you do live in melbourne, then I should be able to help you with the practicalities of finding good seed ect, if you wish to care for the pidge until release. 

Best of luck, and you did a good think in saving the little one - if my partner hadn't, i would have never known what special, intelligent animals pigeons are. 

Susie


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hi Linda,

Thank you for rescuing this dear little pigeon. Fortunately we have some members in Australia that will be able to offer local knowledge...I am hoping that you are in Melbourne! 

Try washing his wound with sterile saline. If you don't have any in the house, boil water thoroughly and put a *tablespoon* of salt in it, let it cool and use that to cleanse the wound but *don't* let him drink any of the water as it is too salty. 

For rehydration you can mix 1 pint warm water with 1/2 *teaspoon* of salt and 1/2 *desert spoon *of gluose or honey (or sugar if you don't have the first two. Put it in a little bowl close to him and dip his beak in it so that he knows it is there.

The soaked bread can be swapped for defrosted peas and corn...if you defrost them in a cup of boiling water they will be warm when you feed him. Try putting his beak between two down-turned fingers, that might cause him to gape and allow you to pop the food in his mouth. You can also scatter some very small wild bird seed around him, he will probably pick a few pieces up out of curiosity and wean himself.

This is a thread about various methods that can be used to feed young squabs...I like the last method illustrated. 

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=9682&referrerid=560

He will need a little sunlight, but don't leave him unattended in direct sunlight.

I don't think he should be returned to the ledge, whatever caused him to fall will probably cause another fall and this time he might not be so lucky..


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

if your having trouble getting him to eat, you can wrap him up in a towel like a little birdie burrito so just his head is sticking out.
then gently pry his beak open and put in one warmed kernel of corn and peas at a time in his mouth he should swallow it then repeat, give him about 20 and feel his crop it should be puffed up and you can tell how full he is, it should feel like a marshmallow when he's is full, he may take as many as 40 depending how old he is, check the crop in a few hours whenever it empties repeat the process.
can you post a pic so we can guess how often he should be fed?
he will still be too young to release in a month so i would work on finding a place for him to go, it would be best if he is raised with other piji's so he has a shot at freedom once grown.
the pea and corn method is a good temporary diet for him, but it doesn't have enough vitamins and calcium for proper growth, so work on getting him some handfeeding formula.
leave a bowl of seed, water, grit and oyster shell grit in his cage at all times, peck at it with your fingers to show him it's good stuff to encourage him to start eating on his own.


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## Subipe (Feb 25, 2010)

Thanks for all the good advice!
I am in the ACT by the way, so some distance from Melbourne. Does anybody know any pigeon-friendly carers somewhere around Canberra?

The pigeon is not doing very well. This morning it was lifeless, and is making funny noises when it breathes, sounds like some upper respiratory thing, its lungs seem to be ok. I did some searching around, and found a vet that will treat a 'pet pigeon that I am looking after for a friend'. I found out that most vets will put down a feral pigeon.... But this one will at least take a look at it, and hopefully give me some antibiotics. I think that is what it needs if it is to survive. Just now I walked into the room with its box and it was shivering, which is not a good sign I guess... :-(. Not sure how to keep it warm without overheating it, I gave it a warm-water bottle, but it just wants to sit on the log I gave it, and ignores the hot-water bottle. 

At least I did manage to find some bird-raising formula, and feeding it that is a lot easier than bread or peas/corn. I tried the peas/corn this morning, and got some into it, but it just does not want to be touched on its bill - I guess this might have something to do with that wound it has right next to the bill. It even goes so far as to burry backwards into the towel that I have it in, and hiding its head and bill underneath/besides it to evade my fingers. 
I am now using a syringe with quite liquid feeding formula, and it swallows the litle bits that I put in its beak without too much hassle. 
I have been washing the wound with salty water, because when I started feeding it soaked bread yesterday I noticed it got messy soon, and I did not think it was a good idea to leave all that food stuck in/to the wound. 

I am still a bit concerned though, because he/she is very thin. I can easily feel the breastbone sticking out, there cannot be any body-fat at all on him/her. Feeding the formula is easier, but it still does not eat that much before just giving up. I managed 8ml just now, but I don't think that is really enough. It won't feed by itself - I tried the method of pushing its bill in a syringe covered by cloth and letting it suck by itself, but it does not do that.

Have attached a photo, to see if anybody has a better idea about age/condition/feeding amounts etc.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

It's a very young bird...five weeks or so...maybe doesn't know how to each on his own yet. How much are your feeding him at one time?
Also, if you have a heating pad, it would be helpful to put him on that, with the heating pad set no higher than low.


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

can you take a peek inside his throat to see if it is clear and pink, look for white cheesy looking stuff.
the fact that this baby is thin makes me think he has something going on besides simply falling out of the nest.
yes please use a heating pad for him


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

if you can't get enough food in him cooperatively you will need to go back to pea and corn popping but 8mls should be enough for a couple of hours at least.
he may not cooperate right away but will soon learn to like what you are doing, you can also try to tube him, charis do we have any videos anywhere to show how to do it??


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

here's one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HulTENCRFvU
only thing i would do differently is pinch that tube before pulling it out that way no food will come out when removing it and risk aspirating, i use a little bit of a smaller tube also or a feeding needle, one other tip when it come to tubing is to wet the tube with a little water before sliding in makes it a little more slippery


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## Guest (Feb 26, 2010)

I think its great that you found your way here , now you are well on your way to giving this pigeon a fighting chance.. the advice given here is golden ,they wont steer you wrong ,goodluck and thankyou for helping this little wayward baby in need


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## Subipe (Feb 25, 2010)

Unfortunately I do not have a heating pad. I might just take its log away, put in in a smaller box and force it to sit on the water bottle, I'll use luke-warm water.

Just came back from the vet, and got some antibiotics, the pigeon was wormed as well. Funny how helpfull they are if you tell them the bird is a pet, and when you tell them the same bird is a feral, they want to put it down.... Anyway, I got antibiotics and that was what I was after. Vet checked the rest of the bird, and did not find anything wrong (apart from the mucus in its airways) - also checked the beak, and did not find any fungus in there. 

The antibiotics is mixed in with its food, since it had to be in the water, but the bird does not drink by itself. However, now the problem is that its nose is all clogged up with mucus, and it has to breath through its mouth. Of course that makes feeding a lot more difficult, since I do not want to get any food down its lungs. But it does need the food and antibiotics. Only managed 5ml just now.. 

How/where can I get a large feeding syringe and tube for crop-feeding? Crop feeding might be a solution in this case. I only have a small syringe (2ml), which would make crop feeding a bit hard I guess.. If you feed directly into its crop, is there any risk of the tube ending up in its lungs?


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

What kind of antibiotics did you get. If you tell us what they are, we maybe able to tell you how to dose individually withut putting the medicine in the water.
Did the vet happen to check for canker?


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

Subipe said:


> How/where can I get a large feeding syringe and tube for crop-feeding? Crop feeding might be a solution in this case. I only have a small syringe (2ml), which would make crop feeding a bit hard I guess.. If you feed directly into its crop, is there any risk of the tube ending up in its lungs?


Hi Linda,

Thanks for helping.

The same vet should be able to sell you a 20-30cc syringe for the one part, or try a local drug store, and for the tube part many people either use what is called a French catheter, 14 gage, and cut off about 6"" of the rounded end part, attached this to the syringe and use that, most medical supply stores sell them, or ask your pharmacist where you could get one . Some people also use small diameter clear silicone tubing, around 3/16"|5mm diameter, many pet stores have this tubing, ask around.

Here are some links to study, the first time or two you are sure you are going to either drown or bring harm to the bird, then it soon becomes quite easy and straight forward. Study the video link that altgirl35 posted, (courtesy of Feefo) it's a good one.

http://pigeoncote.com/vet/feedbaby/feedbaby.htm

http://www.duckpolice.org/BirdWeb/PigeonResourceWeb/BabyFeedWeb/babyfeedintro.html

Good luck with him,

Karyn


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## kamz (Jan 23, 2010)

Linda glad to see that you are getting lots of help from the pros  sad tho that your birdie isn't doing so well... umm still might be worth a call to colin walkers practice to find out if there they know anyone who rescues feral pigeons in the ACT - the pigeon world is a small one in australia - and colin walker is kind of 'the pigeon' vet  i know it is only four weeks until you go away, so if they knew anyone in ACT with contacts, that could be a start. 

hope you and baby pigeon are doing well 

susie


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

yes what kind of anti biotics, it sounds like he has trichomoniasis (canker), which is cured with flagyl (metronidazole)
if you use tubing for fish tanks once cut to the proper size put a flame to the end to make it smoother, sometimes pet stores sell big syringes for hand feeding parrots


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## Subipe (Feb 25, 2010)

Sadly, the little pigeon died during the night. It was doing reasonably well yesterday, at least I managed to feed it regularly, so it got nutrients, water and antibiotics. 
Yesterday evening though, when I checked up on it before going to sleep, it was in some sort of coma, nothing would wake it up, even not lifting it and changing the waterbottle - but it was still breathing. When I checked again at midnight it had died. 

Thank you all so much for all the help, advice and support these past couple of days! It is really good to know that there are people out there who care, who can help and who are more than happy to give advice and support!!


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Subipe said:


> Sadly, the little pigeon died during the night. It was doing reasonably well yesterday, at least I managed to feed it regularly, so it got nutrients, water and antibiotics.
> Yesterday evening though, when I checked up on it before going to sleep, it was in some sort of coma, nothing would wake it up, even not lifting it and changing the waterbottle - but it was still breathing. When I checked again at midnight it had died.
> 
> Thank you all so much for all the help, advice and support these past couple of days! It is really good to know that there are people out there who care, who can help and who are more than happy to give advice and support!!


Im sorry he did not make it... your a good apple!


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

I am so sorry, you did everything that could be done for him. Fly free, fly high sweet little one.


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

oh no, i'm soo sorry, rest in peace little bird


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## kamz (Jan 23, 2010)

really sorry to hear lil pidge died, but am glad it sounded peaceful


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

Linda, thank you for providing this little one with warmth, comfort and care. I am sorry it was too late to help you little one, please fly free and rest in peace.

Karyn


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