# rescued Wood Pigeon being attacked by crows



## Narsilion (Nov 21, 2011)

Hi everyone, I'm very new here and made an account to ask for some help.
About half an hour ago while walking my dog at a local park, I saw a flock of crows attacking a wood pigeon - after a few moments I realized that it could not fly away even if it wanted to, so I ran over and scared the crows away. All the pigeon's tail feathers were ripped out and as well as some back and most wing feathers. His/her head appeared to be in good condition though, and it could hop away almost too quickly for me to catch. I didn't want to just leave it though because it couldn't fly and the crows kept swooping at me to leave it alone so they could finish the job. 
Brought the bird back to my house and put it in a large open shoe box with a small towel over so it could have a chance to calm down in the dark. I also have the fireplace going so the room is very warm.
I'm afraid to examine the bird because he/she is extremely frightened and tries to fly at any opportunity. Also because all tail feathers are missing, I can't be sure as to how long this bird needs looking after and depending on how old it is if it can be kept indefinitely.

Any advice would be very very appreciated and will help this poor pigeon out a great deal! Sorry for the long story too!


----------



## red grooter (Nov 21, 2011)

sounds as though it may be a young pigeon or a bird with an injury or ailment all you can do is provide food and water and it will take a couple of months at least before it can be released


----------



## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

Hi and welcome,

Good save! Do you happen to know if it's a youngster or adult?
Adults would have the white band around the neck.
It might give us an idea as to whether it could fly before it was attacked.

Unfortunately it does happen but it's a bit unusual for the Woodie not to have flown to get away, crows don't necessarily attack Woodies if their fit but it may have been grounded for another reason.

For now, as you've done, keep it quiet and warm so it can get over the shock a bit.
As they're very skittish it will be more difficult to examine. If you can put a bowl of water in it's box. Don't worry too much about feeding it yet.

I'm sorry, I did start this reply a few hours ago but have hurt my back today and went off to take some pain killers, and never came back on until now.

I'll write a better response tomorrow and hope your Woodie is ok overnight,

Janet


----------



## Narsilion (Nov 21, 2011)

Thanks Amayable,

He/she is definitely an adult, and I'm assuming the cause of being unable to fly is entirely caused by the flock of crows (there were at least 20 of them swarming him/her) But I don't know for sure either since I did not see the incident start - there were just a lot of feathers in the immediate area.
Aside from the flightless issue, the bird seems very healthy and alert - once calmed down he/she seems content to perch next to his/her box on the arm of a chair and observe for now.
Hoping he/she drinks something tonight, but I think he/she'll be alright overnight.

again thanks for your comments; I'm hoping to do my best for the bird to recover as best it can.  (which is kind of daunting for such a newbie pigeon-caregiver!)


----------



## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

Hi, Thanks for the update, sorry I left your reply in the middle.

It's good he's fairly comfortable with being around you, it makes things a bit easier to see how things are.

It'd be a good idea to try and give him a quick check over in case there are puncture wounds that could need cleaning up. Don't want infection setting in.
If you can gently wrap him up in a towel, just stops him struggling, and then with him on your lap gently open his beak and see if his throat is clear and pink. If any signs of yellowy growths could be canker and will need meds for.

If you can check over his back and under his wings to see if there's any signs of blood or wounds. It would be strange if having been attacked by so many crows he didn't have some wounds. If it's hard to check under his feathers then just dampen some cotton wool in warm saline water, and this will make it easier to flatten the feathers to see under them.

Don't worry if he's getting stressed, just pop him back in his box and keep him quiet, he'll settle down again.

I'd leave some wild bird seeds and water in with him and keep a check as to whether he's eating. If not you might need to feed him some defrosted peas for a short while to keep his strength up.
Usually, if they're ok, adults will self feed but just watch him for a couple of days to be sure.

If by some miracle, he's unscathed from his ordeal, he'll need some time to regrow some new feathers before thinking about releasing if you're able to let him stay while he recovers.

Let us know how he's getting along and we can help in any way we can,

Thanks for taking him in,

Janet


----------



## Narsilion (Nov 21, 2011)

Hello again 

My boyfriend dubbed the woodie "Mr. Coo" so I guess I'll refer to it as a 'he' from now on. 
I moved him to the dog crate last night with his box and some newsprint for flooring, also adding a couple ceramic bowls, one for water, the other for wild birdseed - it appears that he ate all of the seed during the night or this morning, and I'm assuming he has had some water as well. He has been pooping quite regularly too.
I'll give him another look over for any puncture marks today - he'll let me stroke him but he's still uneasy about his wings being lifted. It'll be a bit of trial and error I guess. 

Uploading photos of him as of a few minutes ago (sorry about the quality, I only have a webcam with me at the moment!)


----------



## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

Hi,

Well you've got an unusual Woodie there, for an adult to sit on your hand like that is rare. It does make me wonder if he's used to human contact.
I only have to breath and any Woodies in the garden fly off!!

That makes it a lot easier to help him. I do hope he's not been attacked as he's not preditor aware and will be at risk when released again. Sometimes if they've been hand reared at some stage, the aren't as good as being wary of danger.
Let's hope he'll have learnt to be wary of crows from now on!

Well, I'd carry on with what you're doing if he's eating well on his own.
If you get the chance, still check him over for wounds.
He's lost a lot of feathers poor soul, he'll need those as it's getting colder now!!

Keep us posted as to how he's doing,

Janet


----------



## Narsilion (Nov 21, 2011)

I thought it was unusual for him to let me pick him up as well - he sometimes starts to 'huff' and swell his neck a little when I put my hand under his breast to get him to step up, but he's rather agreeable about the ordeal. Though if my dog gets within a couple metres of him, he raises his wings and makes louder huffing sounds - so he's at least aware of dog = predator.
Only thing now is that I hope I can encourage him to give himself a bath.. he's still quite tatty and has mud all up his belly, lol! Any advice you can give on introducing a decent bath would help.. not sure if I should just put a shallow tupperware container with water near him or what; don't really know what entices them to clean themselves in a strange environment.

also if it means anything, he is extremely afraid of his own reflection.. no huffing/puffing, just tries to get away from it.


----------



## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

It really is unusual for him to step up onto your hand, sweet as well!!
All the other behaviour is fine and more natural as far as the puffing up and huffing at your dog.
I could imagine him being found and reared, not from birth though as he'd then be very human bonded but as many are, found having fallen out of the nest too early and then taken on from there by a human.

This is only guess work though, but it could also explain why he's not happy at his reflection, may not know he's a Woodie!! Also this is something we're always aware of when rescuing a youngster as this part of the parents input is vital in teaching them to integrate and learn what's food how to find it, and the preditor awareness. Where possible we try and get Woodies into a rescue centre were they take pigeons and have them together for a while in an aviary before releasing them with others. It gives them a good start to be in a flock, but it's not always possible to find such a place, so then they're released in a garden where there are other Woodies. The only drawback here is that they haven't been used to mixing and can be pushed out.

Some folks do find putting a mirror in front of a pigeon can help sex them though. Males would play up to the reflection but females tend to ignore it.
So maybe keep a mirror around as it might help him accept 'this intruder'!
If he's very stressed by it then take it away though.

As far as bathing goes, that's soemthing they love, but as you say, getting him to do that inside may not feel as natural.
I use cat litter trays but anyhting like that. Leave it near by and if he's not bothered about your hands, just play around with the water with your fingers so he can tell what it is and then leave him alone and wait and see. He might be shy bathing in front of you!!
Put something on the floor as if he does bath, they do tend to splash a lot!

I have in the past held a pigeon in a warmish bowl of water if they've needed a clean and generally once they feel the warmth, quite often relax and enjoy it. Then you can gently rub where he's dirty and as he's wet you may get a chance to see if he's ok as far as wounds go as well.

He doesn't sound as if he's going to be as stressed as a normal Woodie so I'd give that a go if he doesn't bath himself.

Good luck

Janet


----------



## Narsilion (Nov 21, 2011)

Hi again, sorry for not updating sooner - been a busy couple of weeks.

Mr. Coo seems to be doing fine, in the end I had to manually give him a bath, he wasn't too keen on it but didn't seem stressed out.
I've included some photos that I had taken today;
the first is of his new tail feather quills that have been emerging, so he is on the track to getting his pretty tail back.
The second and third are of some concern, as you can see, he has a pretty bad wound under his left wing (I'm assuming from) the main flight feathers being torn out. Mainly stays as a scab, and have tried some TCP, but it won't seem to heal over. I am worried that this wing will not grow feathers again properly and will inhibit his flight. 
Any suggestions as to how to help him out, or for what this may be?

Thanks again


----------



## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

The photo in which your ring shows, those are definitely a nice cluster of tail feathers coming out. The sheathing on the feathers will flake off. 

I wouldn't handle any of these feathers. I twiddled a new tail feather on my first pigeon rescue, a female we named *Severina* (found on _Severinstrasse_ in the _Severinsviertel_ or [Saint] Severin Quarter in Cologne Germany, in 1995, before access to internet resources) because I thought something was wrong with it. It came out, with a few drops of blood. She would sit on the rear luggage rack of my wife's bike and passersby would holler to her that she had a pigeon on her bike. Later she had Severina sit on the handlebars, and when nearing home, Severina would fly off and wait for Hilde at the doorstep, while Hilde circled the block on her bike since she had to follow the *Einbahnstrasses* or one-way streets. Severina stayed in our one-room apartment, would hop onto our bed and sit on our shoulders, waiting for us to wake up. We always were on the alert for her "back-ups", when she would take a step back to poop, which we had to clean up immediately. She stayed with us for about a month, until one day I looked out of our first-floor (above ground level) window to see that she had been run over by a car on the street below. 

Another young pigeon I rescued had a large dark red scabby mass on her left wing where the primary feathers and a few smaller feathers were missing. Of course she couldn't fly. New primaries grew out. She looked beautiful, and flew off. 

I can't really see enough in your photo, and (fortunately) am not experienced enough with this kind of wing damage, to know if the area where the primaries should emerge is damaged too much.

There is also a thing called feather migration, where exposed or bald areas of skin will grow feathers if the skin does not dry out and a permanent scar does not form. The skin should be kept moist. Other PT members can probably advise you better on this matter.

Larry 

Larry


----------



## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

Hi, so sorry I hadn't logged on today to see your update.

Lovely new tail feathers growing!!

The injury was what I'd expected when you'd said Mr Coo had been attacked by crows. They usually puncture somewhere with their beaks. At least you know what caused it.
Is it just the one wound or is there anything else under the feathers nearby?
For now I'd keep it cleaned daily with something like saline solution and as Larry said, keep it moist so the tissue around the edge doesn't dry out.
Hard to tell from the picture how deep it goes but the main thing is to keep it clean so it heals up from inside first.
If it's quite a deep hole then I'd suggest flushing it with the saline. You can do this with a small syringe, fill it up with the solution and then flush the water into the cavity. If it scabs over then every couple of days gently remove the scab by bathing it with warm water and a piece of cotton wool.

I use cream like Hypercal on the open sore area to help with healing.
I get this from a health shop. It's a mixture of Hypericum and Calendula which is gentle but healing. Doesn't have to be that one exactly but some sort of antibacterial cream maybe.

Let me know how it's going in a couple of days and maybe another picture.
Glad he's doing ok apart from that.

Janet


----------



## Narsilion (Nov 21, 2011)

Hi guys, thank you for the input and suggestions.

Seems this is his only real wound from the attack aside from feather loss - My boyfriend and I checked him over again today and we can't find anything else that looks in bad shape. I ordered a small bottle of pyrethrum spray for birds to deal with his lice; it doesn't look like he has a huge infestation, but I think it's pretty gross anyway, haha!

Picture updates as well, I keep dabbing the area with TCP daily, though I'll have to look into the Hypercal as mentioned. The wound is looking fairy different from the photos I took a few days ago.. the skin is looking fairly dry so I'll have to keep it moist more regularly. The black area is the thicker parts of scabbing, though still no sign of infection as far as pus or anything.
..apologies if the size of the pics make this thread more disgusting.. I'm trying to keep looking at it from a medical standpoint, though it makes me a bit squeamish looking at them so up close in the photos!








and I'm adding this one just to show more where the injury is if it was hard to tell:









Thanks again for all the help, I know Mr. Coo appreciates it as much as I do!


----------



## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

Hi,

Thanks for the new picture. It does look healthy enough in itself.
I was wondering, is the whiter part in the centre of the wound a bone showing? May just help to make out how deep that goes.
The TCP may dry it out somewhat. If it doesn't look as if there's any infection bubbling up inside I'd probably use a cream antibiotic now as opposed to the TCP. That might keep the skin softer.
I'd still bathe it gently with saline water maybe every couple of days to clean and stop any cream clogging up the wound. It will also stop an scabs forming over the whole top area until the underneath has healed.
It's a case of stopping the skin around the edge from hardening off so it can heal over the wound.

Good job to date!!

Janet


----------



## Narsilion (Nov 21, 2011)

sorry for the very late response!
The whitish part in the wound is dried skin, luckily not bone.
I've been using the antibiotic cream instead of the TCP, and the wound is looking a little better. Still a little dry despite the cream in some areas, but bathed him in warm water again today and re-applied cream. 
His tail feathers are growing quite quickly and they all look very healthy and in good condition. His wing feathers are budding but taking significantly longer to come in. Just keeping an eye out for warped ones on the injured wing - hope they grow in properly.
Thanks for the help.  Will update again when there's any more news. (also started thinking we should have called him Mr. Poo instead.. sheesh!)


----------



## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

That sounds promising still. Some feathers take a long time to come back. Hope these come in ok so hopefully he can get back to flying.

Just great what you're doing so keep it up and let us know how things are when you get a chance.

I wonder why you're thinking of changing his name........
obviously eating well I'd say!!

Janet


----------



## Narsilion (Nov 21, 2011)

Hi everyone, got a bit of an update regarding Mr. Coo.
His primary flight feathers still have not grown back, but his wound has finally healed nicely. It looks as though that wing in particular though had quite a bit of flesh taken of by the crows, probably along with the feather 'roots' I guess. His tail had been coming through, albeit a bit oddly. 
Yesterday my boyfriend and I took him down to the Retreat Animal Rescue, where he will probably live for the rest of his life; they have other pidgies and woodies that have had accidents for him to interact with. They have a no-kill policy, so we thought it would be the best place for him to be. We gave them 40kg of pidgeon food and his anti-mite/flea spray too. 
We're moving to Canada in two days, otherwise we would've loved to keep him indefinitely. 


The rescue: http://www.retreatanimalrescue.org.uk/
(they have a lot of animals that need homes!)


----------



## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

Hi, thanks so much for letting us know how Mr Coo is getting along.

I'm glad you've been able to find him a great place to live with other Woodies as you would have found it even harder to leave if you didn't know he was safe for life.

Wow, moving to Canada, what an adventure.
I wish you the very best of luck and hope you have a great life out there.

It was brilliant how you found and nursed Mr Coo back to health. He'll never forget you either!!

Take care and thanks again. 

Janet


----------

