Adult pigeon pecking baby pigon - why?

[beckclan1]

I'm have the same problem.  I've got 6 eggs.  I just found another dead chick on the floor.  They are always killing the babies!

 

[beckclan1]

Hello ppl I'm new to this app and confused as hell,anyone in tuscon with pigeons for sale,my name is ron,thanks

 

[loftkeeper]

try circus loft website he is in az.

 

[cheeseball]

Wow,thanks for all this info.now I know what happened to my baby pigeon,it was scalped real bad,will it feathers grow back if it survives?

 

[Hokum Coco]

Quote:

Yes

 

[Hokum Coco]

Hello ppl I'm new to this app and confused as hell,anyone in tuscon with pigeons for sale,my name is ron,thanks

When it comes to pigeons:
Check out this site in a perfect world you should find someone near by.

http://www.npausa.com/customer_service/found_pigeon.h

 

[ClarAlebrook]

I have heard of young pigeons being attacked or scalped in the loft when they are old enough to have grown feathers and start exploring, but never at just a week of age... did they somehow fall out of the nest, are their parents not protecting them in the nest or is their nest in a bad location?  Usually baby pigeons are safer when the parents are given a nest box or specialized compartment with a nest bowl placed in it - this way the baby pigeons have little chance of falling out and the parents can protect their nesting location.  If the nest is in a bad spot where other pigeons can easily pick on the young, depending on where it is you could try to place a partial barrier around the nest to create a sort of shelter to provide privacy and safety from other aggressive birds in the loft. 

If the nest is on the floor, you could try cutting out one or two sides of a strong cardboard box and placing it around/over the nest to try and help shelter them a little.  With introducing any protective barrier such as this, you must closely watch the parents and make sure they are okay with the sudden change in environment around their nest.  Keep an eye on them closely for a couple of days and make sure they continue sitting on their young and feeding their young like they should - if they do not resume their usual nesting duties within about 30-40 minutes of change (or less if the temperature is colder outside) remove any barrier and return the nest and all surroundings to their original state. 

You mentioned the other pair of pigeons which are terrorizing the young have eggs of their own.  Is this pair's nest too close to the other nest with the young pigeons?  If so the pair with eggs is simply being territorial and trying to defend their nesting area from any other birds or their young which they view as 'intruders'. If this is the case, you might try securely placing a board or piece of cardboard between the two nests as a divider to give each of the separate pairs of pigeons privacy around their nest so they feel safe and cannot see or annoy each other while in the nest.

I would not recommend moving the nest and young if you wish for the parents to continue feeding them, as it is extremely difficult to successfully do and sometimes not possible to adjust the parents to the new nest location.  The parents are already tuned in to the original coordinates of their nest and would not naturally recognize where their young have been moved to elsewhere in the loft.

For pigeons with head injuries or pecking/scalping injuries, I have had great results with sanitizing the area by gently wiping it with a small antiseptic alcohol pad and then smearing a little zinc oxide ointment or triple antibiotic ointment (with zinc in it) onto the damaged area.  Continue to smear ointment onto the damaged area whenever the ointment gets rubbed off until the wound has finished scabbing over and is for the most part healed.

The parents should continue feeding their young if the baby pigeons have not been injured on the head too badly - a little spot on the head which they have been picked on should not discourage the parents from feeding the young if they are still otherwise healthy and energetic.  Try to remedy their nesting situation in a way that the parents will accept it and things should be okay afterwards.  If there is a very large spot on their head which has been damaged however, then the parents could very well get discouraged from feeding the young and the young might not even have the strength to pull through depending on the extent of the head injury. 

If you do find yourself needing to hand feed these babies to keep them going, a fairly simple and easy way is to buy and use the Kaytee hand feeding formula (meant for parrots and such, but it has a fairly balanced nutrition for baby pigeons and will work) and mix according to directions, making sure the formula is warm like baby food but not hot to the wrist.  Then to feed them, another easy method is to acquire a large medical catheter syringe (such as a plastic 60ml Kendall catheter syringe) and cut off the whole front part of the syringe towards the tip.  Scoop the food into the syringe and cover the cut part of it with a medium-thick piece of cloth or paper towel rubber banded to the syringe.  Cut a small x in the middle of the cloth/paper to serve as a feeding hole large enough for the pigeons to comfortably get their beaks in there and then try to gently coax the baby pigeon(s) to place their beaks into the hole and eat while you are holding the syringe of food up for them and slowly depressing the syringe to push the food to them as they eat.  Feed until their crops are nicely rounded and baggy but not too tight and over full of food, and feed again when their crops empty most of the way.  Don't forget to mix in a small pinch of grit to 1/2 of their feedings to begin to build up a small amount of grit for when they get older and begin to eat grains and seeds on their own.  There are also other hand-feeding methods, but some can be a little more difficult.

I apologize if my hand-feeding directions are hard to understand, I am so tired right now! 

Here are a couple of links to hopefully clarify how to hand feed baby pigeons: 

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f108/various-methods-to-feed-young-squabs-9682.html

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/165797594SYYRWL   (View individual photos and read the photo descriptions for a walk-through of how to use the syringe-feeding method)

   (Gives an example of how the hand feeding is done)


Hope this helps

Faith

 

[ClarAlebrook]

About the feeding.. I had to feed a baby pigeon myself, but unfortunately a bit of food dried onto his feathers near his eye. I'm having a hard time trying to take it off, and I don't want to hurt him, I tried to place a warm cloth on the area, to soften it, but he keeps struggling, can't pick it off, any suggestions?

 

[Casa Greyskull]

I used to have this happen with my hand fed cockatiels. I would dip a q-tip in warm water and at first just press - don't rub/scrub to soften the food. Once it has softened you can very gently wipe downward/away from the eye

 

[ClarAlebrook]

Thank you. I'll try that.