# How to take care of Pigeon with left broken wing feathers



## ZoeyT (Aug 20, 2020)

Hello,

This is my first post. I was desperate to ask someone how to help this feral pigeon so thankfully got your site.

Three days back a feral gey healthy pigeon was found on our back yard of the house. He was sitting near my rooms backdoor. I though he was eating some grains which I usually put for other birds but at night I saw he was still sitting.
So I went and picked him up. My back side is fully fenced with iron rods so no predator can enter. Except other wild birds from sky. And also snakes which often are found in my area. So I emptied a big ration box and placed soft towel and lay him the first night and brought him inside. 
Next morning I saw that he was not able to fly and had lost many feathers in his left side of wing. I lay him with other feral birds that come to eat and he was happy all day eating grains soaked rice, lentils, millet and corns. 
I saw he had no wound at such, no bleeding but a small protruding pink skin which showed in his feathers. 
I never had reduced a pigeon, so don't know what to do. My grandmom told me to apply turmeric so did applied for three days little bit of turmeric once a day.
Now the thing is he is hale and hearty eats well, drinks water, even enters my room itself when called and jumps inside the box and sleeps. But he cannot fly.
Please advise what to do. I want him to see him fly again.
He is happy with us but he should fly like he used to. Many other pigeons come to meet him but they fly and he looks at them and becomes sad.

Please tell what should I do. Or when will his feathers grow back.

ThankYou


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

He might have some injury to the wing that you are not aware off. Do the tips of the wings come together or is the one wing hanging lower than the other? Can you post a photo? Might take a while for the feathers to regrow. At least you are providing him with a safe environment to recover, without your help he would not have survived.


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## ZoeyT (Aug 20, 2020)

Marina B said:


> He might have some injury to the wing that you are not aware off. Do the tips of the wings come together or is the one wing hanging lower than the other? Can you post a photo? Might take a while for the feathers to regrow. At least you are providing him with a safe environment to recover, without your help he would not have survived.


Thanks Marina. Today it is raining heavily. So i put him out only for 5 min so that he stretches his legs. I took a pic when he was out on my backyard. Please look at it and see what has happened to him. As I don't know anything about pigeons. Sorry I took time as didn't knew how to post image here. Thanks


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## ZoeyT (Aug 20, 2020)

The yellow in feathers is due to turmeric that I applied to disinfect him from any bacteria there and to heal the wound if any. thanks


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Are you sure he was not shot through the wing? If a predator was involved, there would have been more feathers missing. The wing seems otherwise fine, not hanging lower than the other one. Does he flap his wings for excercise? Just continue with what you are doing now for him. If he gets better and starts flying short distances, rather keep him indoors till he can fly well. You don't want him going over your wall and end up trying to catch him. If you lose him and he can't fly properly, he will get caught by a predator.


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## ZoeyT (Aug 20, 2020)

Thanks Marina. Yes he flaps his wings. Cleans his wings and plucks old feathers. Today also tried to fly but fell down. I don't know how he is injured. Left wing is slightly drooping below. Otherwise he is fine..though a bit sad that he cant fly. I have stopped applying turmeric. 

He now has understood that he is not well, so when I call him to come inside he walks and enters the room. Earlier I had given him a box with soft bed to sleep but now he preferred to sleep on my bed. I was surprised that he jumped from the box and jumped on to my bed. He made his space near my pillow...when i tried to put him in the box, he came out again and sat on the wooden rail of the bed and slept there.

I will take care of him till he is able to fly. Please advise any of pigeons best food that he will like. I am giving soaked rice, lentil of chickpea, millet and today I had popcorn (without salt) so i crushed few and gave him. He wanted bread because there are lots of crows who have babies here, so i feed them bread. So when i put bread today outside, he picked one and had few bites.

Thanks again.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Pigeons prefer a high spot to sleep at night, if the box is on the floor then that might be why he prefers sleeping on the bed. Seems like he is getting used to you, so even if he will never be able to fly again, at least he is in good hands.

Regarding food: if you have a petshop or agricultural store closeby, try to get a pigeon/dove or wildbirdseed mixture. Even chickenfood will be fine for him. You can add to that dry peas, lentils and barley that you will get from a supermarket. Pigeons also love chopped up raw unsalted peanuts as a treat. You can also give a bit of greenery like spinach.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

And don't feed him bread, not very nutritional for them. He is probably used to eating bread out there on the street and that's why he prefers it.


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## ZoeyT (Aug 20, 2020)

Thanks Marina. Yes you are right. Box was on the floor. Good news is that today when I put him out so that he stretches himself and is among other birds, he flew..you can say about the height of 3 feet. But I brought him in because once he is fully recovered he can go. 
Thanks for letting me know about the various food he can eat. Yesterday we had brought fresh corns...raw ones, so I gave him a few kernels...
Bread I will avoid certainly...peanuts I will give..
Thank you for your kind help.. I will keep you updated.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Great to hear he is doing better. Rather let him practise flying inside the safety of your home. Don't release him until he is fully recovered. I'm sure he will stick around after releasing. Keep us updated.


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## ZoeyT (Aug 20, 2020)

Hi Marina,

So the pigeon flew flew to the vast horizon...after all who doesn't want freedom...It happened yesterday morning...he was flying now quite high so when i took him out, he had a sigh of relief. He looked at the bright blue sky tilting his neck a bit with orange eyes he saw above. Then he took the flight and landed few meters away to my neighbours roof. There I saw he had a friend pigeon as he went round and round to him...after that they both flew away...I waited for him today but he didn't came...there are approx over 15 pigeons near my house ..earlier I never noticed but now I saw there were many in the lot..
I have done my part and now I only pray that he is safe and sound with his family.
Thanks Mairna for guiding me throughout...Thankyou again.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

He might return for food, I hope he does. Thanks for saving him.


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