# Rescued Pigeon



## PrincePhillipe (Nov 15, 2013)

About a week ago my mother came across a Pigeon with a badly broken wing. Good news is she's a vet. Bad news is she's a vet for horses. So we brought him home, named him Phillipe, and stuck him in a friends extra dove cage. He's eating and drinking but he's lost a bit of weight. It's cold at night so we've been keeping him in the tack room of the barn. 
Sadly his wing will probably never heal, and if it does he won't be able to fly or evade predators very well, so it looks like we're keeping him if he survives. I've grown quite fond of him as he lets me hold him and pet him. 
I'm trying to find a cage but the problem is he won't be a 'flight' bird anymore, so I'm trying to find an appropriate cage. I was thinking perhaps a rat cage? As they have ramps he could walk up rather than fly. Or I could build my own. 
Couple of questions: 
How can we get him to gain weight?
Any ideas on how to build the cage?
Any important information I should know about keeping a pigeon?
How cold can they be left outside? I would think he would prefer being left outdoors as much as possible. 
Can I use shavings as a bedding for him to stand on? Or would the cedar in them cause an allergic reaction?


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## applecheeks (Nov 1, 2013)

I'm new here too. Rescued a pigeon with a broken wing Oct 31/13. I can't answer some of your questions. Well, I could try but it's better left to the people here who know. So, I'll just tell you what I'm doing with mine. The cage we are building is 4 ft long, 2 ft wide and about 2.5 ft high. It's not for a flying bird (although I'm starting to think the one I have may heal and be well enough to fly a bit) We will be putting a ledge for roosting and a ramp to walk up onto to it. It has removable floors that are covered in vinyl tiling. I looked into the shavings/ground cover and read that pine shavings are good as well as wood pellets for fireplaces. I've read on "Backyard Chickens" forum that if the bird has been outside as the weather changed it's ok to leave him outside but if it's really cold (-20) I would insulate the cage and we were planning on using a light bulb inside a pipe for some warmth but that's just our idea. Don't know if it's a good one or not. I've had ours inside for too long now so he will be spending the winter indoors. Your Mom should likely check him for any signs of illness I imagine if he's losing weight. Sorry, I can't be of more help but I'm just a newbie. There are so many people here that know so much and I'm sure they'll appear to help soon.


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## Coconut (Oct 20, 2013)

You have to be careful with using pine shavings (at least for small animals) due to the phenols in them. You can read all about it on the Internet (it's quite hotly debated) but I just thought I'd mention it. 

Personally I don't use any substrate for my pigeon, we did try shredded newspaper but if he got a but of poop stuck on his foot he would then tread on the newspaper and get that stuck on him too! He has vinyl floors which I wipe clean every day.

If your pigeon is losing weight and isn't feeling great, I'd keep him indoors until he is gets a bit better. We had a sick pigeon and the vet advised us to keep him as warm as possible, because obviously any energy used for keeping warm can't be used for healing its body. My pigeon is healthy and in an insulated shed. We give him a heat-pad called a snugglesafe during the day and night at the moment. He enjoys being on it because we out kitchen roll over it (and it has a fleece cover) so it's soft, and obviously it's warm!

Anyway, I'm by no means a pigoen expert like some of the guys here, they will have a lot more advice


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