# Soaking wet pigeon



## saraj (Oct 17, 2020)

Hi, found a soaking wet pigeon cowering outside a shop on a very busy city street. It tried to flicker its wings a couple times but obviously couldn’t fly. Wasn’t scared of us so we picked it up and into a box and took home. We’re hoping it’s just got too wet wet and nothing more serious so just want to check if we’re doing anything wrong/what else we can do to help it. We got it in a bigger box in our warm bathroom with a towel, warmed it gently with low heat of a hairdryer and out in some apple, spinach and water. It’s been about an hour so far. It looks otherwise healthy but not very big so maybe young. Any tips? Thanks!


----------



## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Thank you for rescuing the pigeon! Will he eat? He might just be really hungry.


----------



## saraj (Oct 17, 2020)

cwebster said:


> Thank you for rescuing the pigeon! Will he eat? He might just be really hungry.


 not sure yet. It doesn’t look like it’s eaten anything but hard to tell. Trying not to check too often so as not to stress it. Any food in particular that pigeons love that we might have in the house?


----------



## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Pigeon mix, wild bird seed, small peanut pieces, safflower.


----------



## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Can you post a photo of him? He might be too young to be able to eat by himself. If that is the case, then you can handfeed him defrosted green peas. Defrost some in lukewarm water. Put one pea at a time deep inside the beak over the tongue and let him swallow. Proceed with the next one. Start by feeding him 10 peas and when that gets digested feed more. For a young pigeon, 30 to 40 peas 3 times a day will do.


----------



## saraj (Oct 17, 2020)

Marina B said:


> Can you post a photo of him? He might be too young to be able to eat by himself. If that is the case, then you can handfeed him defrosted green peas. Defrost some in lukewarm water. Put one pea at a time deep inside the beak over the tongue and let him swallow. Proceed with the next one. Start by feeding him 10 peas and when that gets digested feed more. For a young pigeon, 30 to 40 peas 3 times a day will do.


 here’s a pic. He/she looks a lot bigger now the feathers have mostly dried off, maybe not full sized though? Does it look young enough to need hand feeding? I’ve added some peas, peanuts, oats and blueberries. How can we tell when it’s ready to be released? Only when it’s eating? It has pooped a couple of times.


----------



## saraj (Oct 17, 2020)

To add, it is now more scared of us than when we found it, which I think is a good sign? Now it backs away whereas on the street it didn’t even flinch when picked up


----------



## saraj (Oct 17, 2020)

Update: didn’t eat over night. Thinking it may be a baby as it chirps like one. It backs away when I try to feed it peas though


----------



## WendyA (Mar 31, 2018)

You will need to hold him firmly on your knee, gently open the beak and place warm defrosted peas one by one in back of beak. He will not just take from your hand. He really needs to be fed soon.


----------



## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Still young and probably can't eat by himself. Hold him on your lap against your body facing to the right (if you are righthanded). Reach with your left hand over his body and head and open the beak with those fingers. Have the pea ready in your righthand and put deep inside the beak over the tongue. If he spits it out, you need to put the pea deeper inside. Give him time to swallow and proceed with the next one. It gets easier with practise. They don't drink a lot of water while getting fed peas, as peas has a lot of moisture. You can dip the tip of the beak (not over the nostrils) in a small bowl of water.

What does the droppings look like? If bright green and creamy, the he is producing starvation droppings and need to be fed. Only feed 10 peas, and when that gets digested (you will notice a change in the droppings) start feeding more.

After a day or 2, you can start leaving a small bowl of peas with him. They quickly learn to eat the peas by themselves and then you can start adding some small seeds.

Don't release until he can fly well and eat all kinds of seeds. He actually needs a soft release, but we can discuss that later.


----------



## saraj (Oct 17, 2020)

Marina B said:


> Still young and probably can't eat by himself. Hold him on your lap against your body facing to the right (if you are righthanded). Reach with your left hand over his body and head and open the beak with those fingers. Have the pea ready in your righthand and put deep inside the beak over the tongue. If he spits it out, you need to put the pea deeper inside. Give him time to swallow and proceed with the next one. It gets easier with practise. They don't drink a lot of water while getting fed peas, as peas has a lot of moisture. You can dip the tip of the beak (not over the nostrils) in a small bowl of water.
> 
> What does the droppings look like? If bright green and creamy, the he is producing starvation droppings and need to be fed. Only feed 10 peas, and when that gets digested (you will notice a change in the droppings) start feeding more.
> 
> ...


 thank you so much! Will try that now. Droppings are dark. I’m wondering now if it would be better to take to a bird rehab place that is nearby since it will take several days. We’re in a small apartment with a cat, so it has to stay in the small bathroom in a box so can’t really practice flying... my concern is whether they will just euthanise it as they have many many birds coming in at the moment, and they did euthanise a pigeon we took there a few months ago with a broken wing. Sorry, we don’t know anything about birds so are learning!


----------



## saraj (Oct 17, 2020)

Update: after trying unsuccessfully to feed it, it was getting stressed so we took it to the bird rehab (https://www.wildbirdfund.org/) to let the experts take over. Fingers crossed for a good outcome. Thanks for all your help!


----------



## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Sounds like a better option for the pigeon. Thanks for helping him.


----------



## saraj (Oct 17, 2020)

Just wanted to update: It turned out the pigeon had lead poisoning and was also emaciated. The bird rehab treated him, socialised him etc. for 30 days and he was just released


----------



## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Great! Thanks for the update!


----------



## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

So great things worked out. Thank you for rescuing him!


----------

