# Please help!!



## AnaLey (May 25, 2005)

Hi, I am new here and I need your help folks:

Last weekend I found a couple of pigeons building a nest on top of my air conditioner, they finish it in two days, and now she is there laying an egg, just one, but she is alone by herself ,I havent seen him anymore. I am worried, because I dont know if she is eating or drinking water, I dont want to disturb her, but I am very worried..what happened to him?....I have read they both help with the eggs and raising the "children".I want to help her but I dont know how.

Please, help me

Thank You

Ana Ley


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

When did you last see him? They would take turns to sit on the egg. It is sad, but there are so many things that can happen to feral pigeons. One day they will be there and then you never see them again.

If the male has gone then the hen will probably abandon the egg very soon, before it has developed significantly. It is good that she has laid the egg , because I have heard that losing a partner when the egg is forming can lead to egg binding.

Cynthia


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

Hello Ana, welcome to Pigeons.com and thank you for caring for this sweet pigeon hen. Are you certain her mate isn't around? They take turns on the nest but don't both stay with it all the time. Could he be roosting somewhere nearby and you just haven't seen him? Is there a feral flock he might hang out with when it's not his turn to brood the eggs? The hen sits on the nest at night and the cock gives her a break for several hours from late morning to afternoon. If she has just one egg she might be able to raise the chick herself, but it's iffy. If he's truly gone she may abandon the nest after a few days anyway.


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## AnaLey (May 25, 2005)

Thank You Cynthia

I saw the male last time on Sunday?..do you think I could put some food fo rher or something...she seems pretty good , I spent a lot of time watching her through the window, I turn off the light to dont bother her


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## AnaLey (May 25, 2005)

Thank you Moderator

I leave home at 8:00 am and come back from work around 7:00pm..is there a possibility that, because of my hours I havent seen him, but he is around?...because he was very present Saturday and Sunday when they were building the nest..you all have to forgive me,please, because I am very new to all this , I dont know anything about birds, but I am truly want to help.. I love animals, I have had dogs all my life..and yes in front of my house there is a little park for kids and in the morning there are lots of pigeons there..


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

Yes--it is most likely you didn't see him because he had already taken his turn and was roosting elsewhere by the time you got home. If you have a place where you can set out some clean water and a little food for your pigeon friends you could do that, unless it's likely to bring unwanted attention from non-pigeon loving neighbors. Enjoy.


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## AnaLey (May 25, 2005)

I live in a third floor, there is where she is on my bedroom airconditioner, I dont have problem placing food and water because I own the 3 floors, but where I could place it?...in the back yard?...the air conditioner is real small and I noticed she uses the little free part to make some turns, change position..


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

You could put some food and water out in the yard. It doesn't have to be too close to the nest, just accessible.


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Hi AnaLey,

Too...sometimes, mom & dad Pigeons may look almost identical..!

Thank you for taking an interest in them..!


Phil
Las Vegas


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

AnaLey said:


> Hi, I am new here and I need your help folks:
> 
> Last weekend I found a couple of pigeons building a nest on top of my air conditioner, they finish it in two days, and now she is there laying an egg, just one, but she is alone by herself ,I havent seen him anymore. I am worried, because I dont know if she is eating or drinking water, I dont want to disturb her, but I am very worried..what happened to him?....I have read they both help with the eggs and raising the "children".I want to help her but I dont know how.
> 
> ...


 Dear Ana,

Welcome to pigeons.com, may be no need to worry, the ole man is out looking for some food ?  

Some seeds may be the best help. If you can find a store that sells wild bird seed for "Mourning Doves", then that will work. Please keep us posted !


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## AnaLey (May 25, 2005)

Hi :

It is me again, well, "my pigeons" have 2 baby pigeons now, they are about 2 weeks old, but 1 of them is big and strong and the other looks so weak and tiny, I wrote some of your people earlier and they told me sometime pigeons let the weak baby die..I am afraid they are not feeding him..I dont know what to do...I should wait and see waht happens?, or I should take the little baby away from the nest and try to feed him?..I always habe thought the best things for them is be with their parents..I am wrong?..

I would appreciate any advice..

Ana


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi Ana,

Perhaps some intervention is now required. Do you have knowledge about hand feeding? Take the baby out and lets see what we can do.

If this baby is small and weak, it may be sick as well. 

Make sure the baby is kept warm in a small box with, layered with paper towels. Make sure when he is sitting down that his feet are directly under him in sitting position. Sometimes a bowl fit to size helps keep them in the correct position. There should not be any drafts of air on him of any kind.

Open the beak with thumb and forefinger and see if there are any obstructions, that would prevent it from being able to get food down, anything like yellow cheezy looking growths? Does it look pink and clear?

Do you have any puppy chow? You can soak puppy chow and feed it in small pieces to the youngster once it is softened and drained well. This would be first choice for this baby. Also frozen corn or peas that have thawed out and are room temp and drained can also be placed behind the tongue one piece at a time. 

Get back with us asap and we will continue to help.

Treesa


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

AnaLey,

Does the small one look "sleepy"? If not, then sometimes you can take the bigger chick away for awhile to get them to feed the runt more. That's one trick that can work. If you do that, you can set the little pooper in a basket of rags. If you do that, you'll see what I mean by "little pooper." You don't have to worry about the parents rejecting him when you put him back--they won't even if he's gone an entire day.

If the little fellow looks consistently sleepy, he might be getting dehydrated. If you take the big one away and the little one will not take food from his parents then you will either have to intervene or let nature take its course.

Is there any way you can take a digital picture and post it?

Pidgey


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## AnaLey (May 25, 2005)

Thank you to all of you:

Yes, I will send you a picture...I took some before...they are not clear because of the window glass..when I get home at night I will

I dont know what hand feeding is..never had birds in my entire life...I have dog food and cherrios..those that will work?

He is setting weird, like on his side..he is alive an try to get food when the parents come to the nest...he move his neck and try to catch the parents "mouth"..I am sorry, I dont know much about birds..he flaps his wings sometimes and he like rotate in the nest..the other is soo big and he is si small...why is this?...is this normal?

Ana


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Analey,

No, that's not normal, by a long shot. There's often one that's a little bigger but not so much as you'd notice. If he's laying on his side, he might have a problem with his leg--"splay leg" is what it's called. I'll fetch a webpage that you can compare it with here in a second...

Pidgey


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

AnaLey,

Here's a thread that you can read that addresses that. It wasn't immediately apparent until CATNXN took another look and told us some more:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=10623

Just out of curiosity, how easy is it for you to reach out and take one of the babies? How feathered are they? There's a webpage for telling how old they are and I'll go fetch it here in a second...

Pidgey


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## AnaLey (May 25, 2005)

I can reach them just by opening the window...they are like 17 days, maybe 2 or days more, still have some of that yellow thing covering their body..


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

AnaLey,

You've already said they were a couple of weeks old, but can you look at these pictures and see if the two chicks look significantly different in their feather development:

http://www.speedpigeon.com/baby_racing_pigeon.htm

Sometimes, if one hatches too soon before the other one, it can grow too much before the other one hatches and then you see this problem. We're just fishin' for the most information that we can get as fast as possible.

Pidgey


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

AnaLey,

If it becomes necessary to hand-feed, there are three basic ways to do it. One is called "tube-feeding" and you have to acquire some stuff that you probably don't have around the house but it isn't difficult to get. I don't think we want to go that way here because the little fellow is trying to eat--but for information purposes you can read about it here:

http://members.aol.com/duiven/medical/feedbaby.htm

Another way is to use a balloon around the end of syringe (has to be big enough to give the little guy's beak room to open) that's had the entire "funnel" end cut off. You cut an X into the end and slip it over his beak. Of course, that's AFTER you've loaded it with food like KAYTEE EXACT HAND FEEDING FORMULA that can be gotten at a good pet store that handles products for normal house birds. You'll have to call around for that. Other forms of this same technique include taking Saran wrap and making an "O" with your thumb and index finger, putting the Saran wrap over it and pushing in with your finger to make a "tube" for the KAYTEE EXACT stuff to go into. 

If you get KAYTEE EXACT, you'll need to follow the instructions to make a ketchup-like paste for all of the above methods.

The last method is just to hold his little head with one hand while holding his mouth open and slowly put small chunks of soaked puppy chow, split peas, whole defrosted raw corn (don't use canned), lentils, wild bird seed--those kinds of things. This method requires that you put one thing in at a time and you have to let go of his mouth so that he can swallow it. 

Then you'll have to teach him to drink water. With an eye dropper, you can put a little bit on his beak and he'll start slurping it down, or you can dip his beak a little bit in a bowl of water and he'll learn to drink.

That's basically that until you can tell us more about how he's doing and why he's sitting on his side. Actually, I just went looking for a Resources thread pertaining to hand feeding young squabs and it's illustrated!

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=9682

Pidgey


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## AnaLey (May 25, 2005)

Im posting pictures


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

AnaLey,

I don't see any evidence of illness per se (sleepy eyes) so we might seriously think of bringing the little fellow inside for a quick peek. Is it dark outside yet and is one of the parents sitting on them? If there's no parent around, you can bring the little one in and set it on a rag and examine him real quick. Take another picture. Did you look up that "splay leg" thing and read about it?

Pidgey

P.S. I gotta' head to the house, so I'll look back in on this a little later so anybody else lookin' on, jump right in!


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## AnaLey (May 25, 2005)

he is at home..have something in one leg..please wait for picture


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## AnaLey (May 25, 2005)

here is picture


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

The baby may be severly dehydrated & malnourished. Please warm the baby if it is cold.

Put is on a heating pad with towel between heating pad and baby. Warm it up for twenty minutes. Can you set the little guy in some supportive position, upright in a small bowl lined with soft paper towels? Set the heating pad on low. Cover lightly if the temp. in the room is cold. After twenty minutes start with the following:

The baby will need to be given some pedyalite, or water (a cup of water with a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar mixed well) Dispurse it down the back of the throat behind the tongue, slowly, a few drops at a time. 

Please respond asap as to the condition of this baby.

Treesa


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Can't really see much from this picture, but the legs don't look too good.

Please let us know how the baby is doing.

Reti


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Analey,

Would you please let me know how the baby is, have you tried to warmed the baby?

Treesa


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## AnaLey (May 25, 2005)

Its dark already here..I put in the nest hoping the parents could feed him...he looks better in the nest than he looked inside the box in house..but he is not looking good...I think the leg got cought, at some point, in those little openings the air conditioner has..and I couldnt realize he wasnt good sooner , because of the parent were there the whole time...but today they babies are alone..I am sorry I dindt realize sooner there was a problem


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Are the parents with the baby now?
If not, don't leave him out there by himself.
If he doesn't look good, you should take him in and follow Treesa's advice.

Reti


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## AnaLey (May 25, 2005)

we took him inside..he is in a bowl with soft paper towel and he is warm..is very warm in here today...he drank some drops of water...

he cant move one leg..my husband was checking him but that leg is ubderdeveloped or someting like that..but he try to mover and is alert


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Is that one leg swollen?

And how is he acting--does he peep? I enhanced that image as well as I could and it looks puffy, that is the top leg in the picture.

If he's alert, I'd go ahead and get some kind of food down him as well as plenty of water. A simple rule of thumb is to figure that between food and water a feeding should weigh about 15% of the chick's weight or about 1/7th.

If he accidently got his leg down in one of the vent louvres, then just watch it to see that it doesn't get gangrene. He can lose the leg and still live a decent life. If you put him in a towel that's been rolled into a cinnamon roll with a hole in the middle, it will support him a little.

If the toes of the one foot stay supple, then he'll probably mend. But we're going to have to learn to get enough food and water down him now so read all that stuff in earnest. A trip to the vet might be a good idea.

Pidgey


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## AnaLey (May 25, 2005)

poor little thing didnt make it, I am very sorry....we tried everything you said, but I think was too late...I should have noticed something was wrong before, but as I said I dont know about birds and also the parents were always there so I couldnt see properly what was happening.

Thank you to you all, people, you are all great.

Ana


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

I guess what most likely happened was that his foot went into the louvre and he couldn't rise to get food. Pigeon parents won't feed a chick that doesn't express his interest by standing up and insisting to be fed. Starvation causes a lot of problems--dehydration first, metabolic and liver problems second. And the leg may have caused a clot or infection. 

The little fellow went down just about too fast for it to have been much of anything else. I expect that there was nothing whatsoever that you could have done at this point, but I want to thank you for trying--you've got to be kind-hearted people to help a pigeon.

So, enjoy watching the other baby grow up and, I guess, keep an eye on his feet to make sure that he doesn't fall in as well. What happens when it rains--does it just come down right on him?

Pidgey


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## AnaLey (May 25, 2005)

Thank you!..

the other baby is doing great..he is a little baby fighther!!...He stand on his legs and try to fight me every time he see me around at the room!..and he has a great sight I think!..Dont worry about the rain!..the roof and the guters protect him, we got new ones installed a short ago and they are bigger and they protect the nest..I think thats the reason they build the nest there.."mom" was feeding him in the morning!..I am checking, I am checking, I dont have much time and often when I got home is already dark..but I will do my best.

Again thank you

Ana Ley


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

Thank you John D.


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