Emergency juvenile pigeon rescue. HELP!!

[Jaistraw]

Yesterday my brother found a black juvenile pigeon. They can't fly yet but seem to be just about fully-feathered, with a few yellow hairs on the head and chest left. Looks to be closer to the 30 day mark, but they aren't interested in solid food. We contained them because of of a small injury on it's back.

They're very friendly and not at all skittish, fine with being picked up and held. When I looked the little guy over I found a small (pea-sized) shallow wound on their lower back. I've been treating it and after about 20 hours now they show no signs of infection, and appear to be improving. Before they seemed to have possibly been in shock, but after I put them in a dark, warm space and later fed them some water and a little bit of soaked chicken feed they've perked up and are fully alert.

The real issue I'm having is although they seem to be older, I've been trying to feed it chicken food while we look for a place nearby that sells a proper diet, but they show little interest in trying ti eat that! They try to eat from my hands like they would from a parent so I've been giving them some water that way.

I know at this age pigeons and doves have little to no need for the squab feed, but would it be best to feed them that anyhow? Or should I get rowdybush formula 3 instead? I'll keep trying to feed them solid food but I'm not sure if this fellow is fully weaned yet and want to get some nutrients in them as quick as possible.

I'm trying to work with what we have on hand but my mother cannot get the rowdybush squab feed or formula 3 until tomorrow. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do? The little one already feels rather thin, as if the parents haven't been able to feed them. They were a small ways away from where my farm's local flock nests, no adults in sight. This isn't the first time I've rescued pigeons but it's been a few years, and I've never gotten one with a cut before so that's a first.

I can't contact my local wildlife rescue/rehab/whatever because they're notorious for getting the animals they take in killed. My family has made the mistake of surrendering animals to them in the past, and even though at the time these animals were healthy and in great condition, they always end up dead within 24 hours. I've lost all trust in them and only offer animals up to them when we are incapable of helping them and it's a last resort. There are no vets in my area that I know of that treat pigeons either, so we're in a tight spot.

Any advice is appreciated! I'll take some pictures later and maybe post them in here too.

 

[Serin]

Put thawed frozen peas directly into his beak, once you get his beak open he will swallow. I'm not sure how many he should be fed at a time. @biophiliac you have fed squeakers this way haven't you?

 

[NatJ]

I don't know much about pigeons, but I found an older thread on this forum:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/what-do-you-feed-your-pigeons.894325/

Plenty of people there are feeding chicken food to their pigeons, at least for part of their diet.

So using some chicken food seems reasonable (especially because you already have it.)

 

[Qwerty3159]

Me may like the chicken food but probably doesn’t like it soaked. He should if fully feathered be at the age to feed himself well so it could just be a combination of stress and other factors that made him lose his appetite. I believe that it’ll probably come back if you give him some dry grains and seeds to eat. Do you have any wild bird seed or another seed mix you could offer?

 

[Jaistraw]

Put thawed frozen peas directly into his beak, once you get his beak open he will swallow. I'm not sure how many he should be fed at a time.

I'll try this! I'll dig around the freezer and see if we have any peas.

I don't know much about pigeons, but I found an older thread on this forum:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/what-do-you-feed-your-pigeons.894325/

Plenty of people there are feeding chicken food to their pigeons, at least for part of their diet.

So using some chicken food seems reasonable (especially because you already have it.)

Me may like the chicken food but probably doesn’t like it soaked. He should if fully feathered be at the age to feed himself well so it could just be a combination of stress and other factors that made him lose his appetite. I believe that it’ll probably come back if you give him some dry grains and seeds to eat. Do you have any wild bird seed or another seed mix you could offer?

Yeah, I've fed rescued pigeons chicken feed before and it worked just fine, and since it's all I have on hand it's what I usually fall back on. I also happen to have some seeds I feed my conure as a treat.

They don't really seem to have lost their appetite, as now that they've calmed down they keep trying to eat from my hands like they would when eating from their parent's mouth. But even though I'm trying to give them solod bits of food, they just aren't trying to peck at it. They only do the parent feeding thing with my hands, nothing else.

And even though I've given them some water now and then this way, they seem almost disappointed it's not pigeon milk when they realize it's water.

I'm going to try to pop some food manually into their mouth if they still don't want to eat the normal way and see how that goes.

 

[cavemanrich]

Just wanted to add this. Pigeons do not drink like chickens. They need to immerse their whole beak into water. Try to have container with water deep enough for that to happen.
for rescuing the lil guy.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,