Advice Urgently Needed: Rescue Pigeon

[nzchookhaven]

I found a fledgling that had fallen out of the trees today. But although I normally put them back in the trees, this one had a small abrasion and a wee bit of blood above its eye. So I have it in a crate, with a container of water and it is alert enough that I have been feeding it soaked cat food. However I have never dealt with Pigeons before and dont know if it is shutting its eyes to sleep or because it's sick. Can I please get some urgent advice on how often I need to feed it, whether I need to drip feed it water or when I will be able to release it back to the wild.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

My word. You have your hands full..

 

[nzchookhaven]

The rooster and now this! My word. You have your hands full..

Yeah, there's always something happening

 

[happyhens1972]

Is it feathered? If so, clean it's wounds and pop it back outside where the parents can feed it xx

 

[biophiliac]

Cat food is not correct bc pigeons are vegetarians. Thaw some frozen peas and feed those. Will it eat on it's own?

Can you post a photo of the youngster?

 

[happyhens1972]

I found this online....

Babies that are 2 weeks old or over can be fed defrosted corn and peas, served warm . They can be popped into the beak one at a time, feeding until the crop feels squishy like a bean bag, the kernels sliding against each other NOT forming a solid mass. Check the crop with your finger several times during each feed.

This recipe was created by someone at a rescue centre for young woodies, unless they are drinking on their own the mixture should be quite moist, tolled up into little balls and popped inside the woodie's mouth one at a time. Dip the bird's beak in clean warm water after feeding to encourage it to drink.

wild bird seed
frozen peas
finely chopped apple
finely chopped peanuts
finely chopped fat balls
finely shredded greens
wholemeal bread crumbs

You can roll the ingredients into a little "pea" shape and feed as you would defrosted peas.

It is important to check that the crop is emptying properly before giving another feed so touch the crop area gently after feeding and again before the next feed by which time it should be flat. This is because baby birds can develop crop stasis or sour crop if the food is too thick, or too cold or if they are too cold when fed. Adding new food to the crop would just mean that it sits on top of the old food and there will be a gradual build up of bacteria which could be fatal.

 

[barn206]

Cat food is not correct bc pigeons are vegetarians. Thaw some frozen peas and feed those. Will it eat on it's own?

Can you post a photo of the youngster?

Hi biophilliac
Follow me on this puppy post/ trying to get a picture of the puppy or anything

 

[LamarshFish]

I found a fledgling that had fallen out of the trees today. But although I normally put them back in the trees, this one had a small abrasion and a wee bit of blood above its eye. So I have it in a crate, with a container of water and it is alert enough that I have been feeding it soaked cat food. However I have never dealt with Pigeons before and dont know if it is shutting its eyes to sleep or because it's sick. Can I please get some urgent advice on how often I need to feed it, whether I need to drip feed it water or when I will be able to release it back to the wild.

We really need to know the age of the pigeon to give the best advice. Posting a pic, or describing it as best you can would help a lot.

As biophiliac correctly said above, cat food is not what you want to feed a pigeon.

If it is fully feathered, or almost fully feathered, it will eat pigeon feed (mix of peas (maple and/or vetch), millit, corn (not cracked) and maybe sunflower seeds). Even if you can only find one of those types of ingredients it should suffice, but they do best on a balanced diet. However, at young bird ages pre-wean (so about 2 weeks old to a month old), while pigeons do fine on grain mixes, they may not know how to forage yet and are still relying on mom and dad to feed them. I have found one good way to encourage young pigeons to forage is by sprinkling some feed on the ground nest to it and taking your finger, as if it's the beak of a feeding bird, and smack it down on the pile of feed as if your finger is eating it. The baby bird should watch and be inclined perhaps to do the same thing with its beak and attempt to eat.

If it is not fully feathered or close to it, and is still covered mostly in down and undeveloped feathers, it really needs its parents to feed it, or for you to feed it. If that is the case, look up videos of feeding baby pigeons using syringes and other methods, and a combination of either store bought baby bird food such as Kaytee Exact, or homemade pigeon milk such as "MacMilk". With this method, keep in mind that baby pigeons do not eat like most other birds having soft food regurgitated into their mouths, but, rather they actually reach into their parents' mouths and eat food from it. As such, your feeding methods need to account for this.

They should be fed when their crop is fully empty, and feed until the crop is about 75% full.

 

[purslanegarden]

Watch some YT videos about how to feed baby pigeons. The process will be the same but it seems the contents of the food is still in question, depending on the estimated age of the bird.