foot problems

[nxd10]

I had no idea keeping pigeons was so complicated. My chickens are easy.

I have a young bird, hatched in August. She is flying well and has done some close homing. She flies loose several times a week. This week she has taken to returning to the coop a bit late and sitting on the roof all night, coming in in the morning.

For the last two weeks, I noticed she stopped perching in or on the flat boxes in the loft where her parents perch or on the hanging wooden bird feeder in the loft. She has been spending her time on the floor in the corner (where her parents nested, actually).

Yesterday the birds were out on the loft porch. When I opened the door, she flew directly to the ground and lay in the leaves, which seemed quite odd to me. She had seemed to want to lie, not stand, for the last few days. I walked over and she got up and ran, then flew away.

This evening, she was hiding under the car. We picked her up and put her on the loft porch. She seemed dopey and her feet were like ice. I brought her inside and tried to get her to drink (she didn't). She is lying on her chest, seems a bit thin, and is heavily favoring one foot. She can stand.

Both feet look superficially normally, but the 'ball' of both feet (where the toes come together) seem slightly swollen and slight darkened - almost like there's a black and blue under there. It is not 'dark', but it is definitely darker and more swollen than I would expect.

Inside, the bird seems more alert, but is lying on her chest on the floor of the cage. There is nothing that looks like a wound or callus - normal soft skin.

Any thoughts? It's not that cold outside - it hasn't been under freezing.

 

[HouseCat]

I don't have any advice for you since I've only had my pigeon for about a week now but I am also surprised at the lack of info on the internet regarding pigeons. Pigeons.biz has a great forum but as far as a basic "Pigeons 101" site, I have yet to find one.

 

[nxd10]

More information . . .

The pigeon has been inside, eating and drinking well, and definitely stronger. She is still spending most of her time sitting on her chest, but can stand and fly fine.

Both feet are weak, but getting stronger. They are not broken and can move fine.

She favors one foot, although she can put it down - like you favor a sprained ankle. I noticed that the back toe on that foot sometimes curls under. I remember reading something about that the other day on a web search and cannot find anything on it now. There are no wounds. The only slightly abnormal thing is that the top of her feet are slightly redder than I would have expected. That may be natural, though, I just had not noticed it before.

Any thoughts on what might cause this?

 

[HouseCat]

It suprised me at how red pigeons feet are. My pigeons feet were pretty beat up when I found him, especially the bottoms. I rubbed his feet and legs down every other day with petroleum jelly for about a week and they look alot better. But, yes, pigeons red feet.