# Poisoned Pigeons



## maz.lusus (May 22, 2018)

This is my first post on here and I've browsed quite a few threads which have been very helpful but I do have some questions, hopefully they are not too redundant...
I'm pretty sure my apartment complex poisoned it's pigeon population. We always had several groups of them flying around and I haven't noticed them for the past couple of days, this is after a "pest inspection", and then I found a dead pigeon 2 days ago with no noticeable wounds.
Yesterday I was walking around with the kids and our dog and we saw a pigeon flapping excessively on the ground squeaking and trying to run with its head snowplowing the grass. 
I picked it up and held its wings closed and took it home and tried to let it get its bearings in a safe place. It was also shaking a lot and could hardly stand. After maybe an hour I had it perched on my hand and it flew up to a roof but then had another seizure like episode and fell/fluttered off the roof. I went over and picked it up and we gave it water and put some seeds out for it covered it with a clothes hamper and a towel for the night. 
It appears to be fine today, no symptoms like yesterday, but has no interest in leaving and is totally fine with being held. 
It didn't appear to drink any water so I got a deeper dish (thanks to this forum) and still nothing so my wife and I gave him a 3 ml syringe of water but I'm not sure how much water they are supposed to drink, it hasn't really eaten anything and basically I'm not sure what to do now.
We got a cheap/small cage to keep it safe for the time being but I'm leery of releasing it around here if they did poison. It seems fairly young (it's not cooing just kind of squeaking) 
What else can I do to help it out? I live near Salt Lake City, UT.
Thanks for any help!

P.S. the poop is white and green, not too thick or thin but it has only pooped 3 times in 2 days


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

I think he would be dead if poisoned. He may be starving though. Maybe his parents were killed and he is not eating on his own yet or flying well. If he is squeaking he is probably very young and needs to be hand fed. Can you post a pic of him? He needs to get food into him or he won't last long. Knowing his age would help.
Also post a picture of his droppings.


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## maz.lusus (May 22, 2018)

This was earlier today, he kind of seems ok just concerned about the not eating etc. Also no droppings at the moment.


Sorry this pic is so huge not really sure what happened there


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Yes he is young, but old enough I think to be eating on his own.
Can you look way down his throat with a flashlight and see if there is anything cheesy looking down there? 
Can you get some frozen peas? You would take some and defrost and warm them under warm running water. You could start with about 30 peas, 3 times a day. Make sure the crop is empty and they are passing through before feeding again.
This is how you would do that:
If you need to feed peas to a pigeon, hold the bird on your lap and against your body. This gives you more control. Reach from behind his head with one hand and grasp his beak on either side. Now use your free hand to open the beak, and put a pea in, then push it to the back of his throat and over his tongue. Let him close his beak and swallow. Then do another. It gets easier with practice, and the bird also gets more used to it, and won't fight as much. If you can't handle the bird, then use the sleeve cut off a t-shirt, slip it over his head and onto his body, with his head sticking out. This will stop him from being able to fight you so much. Just don't make it tight around his crop area. It helps if you have him facing your right side if you are right handed.


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## Colombina (Jan 22, 2017)

Hi, I just have experience with anticoagulant rat poison. I don't know if that can be helpful for you but I updated my thread sharing my experience in treating a poisoned pigeon:

www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=113073#/topics/106586?page=3


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## maz.lusus (May 22, 2018)

Thanks for all the tips, Lucky as we are calling him (not really sure if it's a him), is doing much better today eating and drinking on his own and not so lethargic. He is still not offering to fly and sometimes, not always he holds one wing lower than the other, however sometimes he keeps it tucked up like it 'should' be. Could that mean he has an injured wing? Everything feels the same but I'm obviously not a vet. 
But overall he seems like he feels better and he's really sweet!


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## maz.lusus (May 22, 2018)

Here's a pic of his wing and droppings, the droppings look different than they were yesterday.

EDIT: These pics show up massively huge on my screen, sorry, I have to add them from my phone and I'm not sure how to make them smaller on here!!


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

He is dehydrated, that's why the droppings look like that. You need to get him to drink. He needs to be rehydrated before being fed. That's very important. His body cannot handle food if dehydrated. Can you mix up one cup of water with a pinch of sugar and pinch of salt and mix well. Offer it to him in a small crock, and gently dip his beak into it. Keep doing this and he may hopefully drink. A full grown pigeon would drink around 45cc of water daily. Trying to get water into him with a syringe is dangerous as you can aspirate him. If you keep dipping the beak they will usually drink.

As far as the pictures, that's okay. If you right click with your mouse, then click on view image, it makes viewing it easy.

Yes the wing is injured. Don't know if it is broken or not. Maybe just injured and needs rest. If it could be wrapped into position it may help alleviate some of the pain it is probably causing him, and may help heal. If it is broken, it won't heal right if not wrapped into proper position.An avian vet would be helpful if possible. 
Right now you need to get him to drink. Can you get some frozen peas?


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

I'm sorry, I missed the post where you said he was eating and drinking. That's wonderful. 
What are you feeding him? Please don't let him fly. He really needs to rest that wing. And it should be wrapped. Flying, he will just injure it more.


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## Grimaldy (Feb 25, 2007)

By the way the way to check for wing injury is look at the bird from the rear. Both wing tips should be up and above or in line with the tail. If one wing is hanging down you can be sure it is an injured wing and will need to be splinted.


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## maz.lusus (May 22, 2018)

Thanks for all the help everyone! I got frozen peas but the pigeon would not eat any of them, it has been drinking a lot of water on its own and it's droppings are no longer little spiral turds. It is eating a dove and pigeon blend of seeds from Kaytee Supreme and seems to be handling it fine.

I don't think its wing was hurt very bad because it's not favoring it/letting it hang down anymore and it's been making small flights from floor to furniture and back again. Whereas it was barely flapping it's wings just a couple days ago.

All in all seems like he's gonna be just fine but unfortunately there are no longer any other pigeons flying around our apartments!
Several of them would come and land right next to our balcony in the morning it was pretty cool. People suck sometimes!


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

maz.lusus said:


> Thanks for all the help everyone! I got frozen peas but the pigeon would not eat any of them,
> 
> I did explain exactly how to feed them to him. It's very easy. They aren't going to eat them...........you need to feed them to the bird.
> 
> ...


Something was definitely wrong with him when you found him, and probably not poison. So if it was the wing, then he needs to be resting it now. If he is sick then you need to find out what is wrong and he may need meds for it. He needs to be 100% to be let out on his own, and if he is not then he won't survive out there.


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## Colombina (Jan 22, 2017)

You could give him a complete vitamins supplement (vitamins, trace elements and amino acids): it will help him to get stronger. 

Months ago a pest control business was called in my building by the building manager. It put some rat/mouse bait stations in the common parts. It put also some stickers (for example on the trash room's door) saying what kind of poison is contained in the stations (anticoagulant) and other informations/instructions (in case children or pets accidentally eat it). The same things are written on the bait stations. 
Honestly I really don't know how things work in your location and more generally how pigeon pest control works (so what I'm saying could be completely useless) but you could try to look for something similar in your apartment complex. This way you could know what kind of poison has been used (if they really put it as you suspect) and understand if Lucky showed/shows the symptoms caused by it, if it exists an antidote and how to try to help him. 
As I said earlier I just have experience with anticoagulant poison. When I was doing online my research about it, I read about the existence of rodenticides and bird poisons causing neurological symptoms (between them seizures) but I really don't have any experience with them or a good knowledge (so I don't know if they kill in a long or short term, etc). 

As Jay said it would be really important to understand what was wrong when you found him, so you can try to help him in the better way.


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