Cought wild pigeon

[PrinceSandwich]

I just cought a wild pigeon from our nabours barn. Looks like a youngish one ( it can fly). now I know alot of you are going to say that I should let it, that its not right to keep it etc. But thats not the question I'm asking. The question I'm asking is do you think that this wild pigeon could be caring some kind of worm or disease that could kill my flock ( turkey, geese,chickens etc) if I kept it?
I checked it for mites and couldn't find any. But maybe its internal?? I want to keep it but it wouldn't be worth it if it wiped out my flock.

 

[seismic wonder2]

Most (not all) diseases you are talking about are species specific. Meaning that pigeon cooties will stay on pigeons etc...
I would isolate it from the other animals for several weeks in any case even if you bought it from the pet store or from a friend. No need to take chances.

Go to the library and read up on pigeon diseases so you can check him out properly and you can buy medicine from the internet. He'll be skiddish for a while but should warm up to you eventually.
Make sure he eats and drinks. If he's really scared he won't eat and will starve unless you let him go.

 

[95yj]

i don't believe that pigeons are major disease carriers but introducing anything wild into your flock is always incredibly risky. Definitely quarentine for at least a month, i'm not sure what kind of prevantative meds you could use on a wild bird but definitely give him something. Most people say never mix species at all, [ex. don't keep pigeons w/ chickens, pheasants w/ anything] I'm slightly more lenient but still be very very careful.

 

[PrinceSandwich]

I think I could use mite dust to take care of any unseen pests. But do you guys think that theirs a good chance that theres some disease it might be caring on the inside?

 

[Cara]

Quote:
Histoplasmosis, psittacosis, Newcastle Disease, avian tuberculosis, campylobacteriosis, and avian flu are not species specific and they are just the tip of the iceberg. They are also zoonotic, ie can be transmitted to humans.