Handraising pigeon questions

[TundraFang]

Dozens of baby pigeons have been born in my loft, raised by their parents, and they are eating all day long, and feed when their crops are half full, and sometimes even full.

Is there any chance you are over thinking this whole thing? I'm not trying to discount a potential health issue that requires your attention, but it just seems one moment you think the bird is fine, and the next you think it is not.... perhaps the bird has been fine this entire time and you might be perceiving it's not ok, when in fact it is?

I'm only saying this because pigeons are amazingly resilient birds, and the way you've been describing these problems doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Pigeons being raised by other pigeons eat way before their crops empty. Why should it be any different here?

I think you have a valid point. I have never owned pigeons, much less raised one from hatch so I have no idea what I'm doing.
I do know he had sour crop at some point because the vet did a crop swab. I know he aspirated, though I believe it was because of his crossbeak, not overfeeding. There was a period where he would not gain weight, but he did weigh 40 grams today so hopefully we are past that.

I was told by other pigeon keepers that I should let the crop fully empty at least once a day to prevent infection. Whether that has any merit, I am unsure.

I do feel as if it's been a bit of a roller-coaster in regards to his health, but as I've said previously, I have zero experience with pigeons.

On a side note, rereading through this thread, I realize I never mentioned his name. I call him Norbert/Norberta (still unsure of sex) which started out as a joke and the name stuck.

TLDR: Am I going insane? Probably.

 

[LamarshFish]

There was a period where he would not gain weight

I can tell you that a baby pigeon not gaining weight is definitely not normal. They usually gain weight and grow shockingly fast. So keep an eye on things like that. The crop thing, I wouldn't worry too much, I handle the baby pigeons being raised inside my loft almost daily, and it's rare they have a fully empty crop--they eat a ton, beg a ton, and pigeon parents are very attentive to them, so they get a lot of food, and I think feeding them when their crops aren't fully empty is not a problem.

I was told by other pigeon keepers that I should let the crop fully empty at least once a day to prevent infection. Whether that has any merit, I am unsure.

This I don't know whether is true or not. I just find it hard to believe pigeons naturally being raised by their own parents would ever have their crops fully drained. It has been my observation that they eat / are fed so much that this would be unlikely to happen, but honestly I'm just not sure.

Is this photo you just posted yesterday what he looks like now? That is quite small for being around 3 weeks old (judging age by when you started this thread). That photo looks how they would normally look at about a week old. They'd usually be feathered by 3 weeks of age. Don't be too alarmed, the one time I did have to hand raise a baby it did grow notably slower than they do when being raised by pigeons, and this bird is a bit smaller than my other birds despite being full grown now for almost a year.

Keep up the good work!

 

[TundraFang]

Is this photo you just posted yesterday what he looks like now?

Yes, the photo was taken that day. I know he is very behind developmentally which is why I included it. He's just starting to get pin feathers and he's definitely not as big as he should be

 

[LamarshFish]

Yes, the photo was taken that day. I know he is very behind developmentally which is why I included it. He's just starting to get pin feathers and he's definitely not as big as he should be

I wouldn't worry too much, I'd just keep feeding and taking care of him, but that is definitely behind on growth. It sounded to me that you were trying to feed it the Kaytee Exact by using the method of a glove or other latex type of material that would require the bird to actively place its beak in and eat from it as it would it's parents when they feed crop milk. That method did not work well for me. The bird tried to do it, and did eat some, but not nearly enough. What did work was me gently opening his beak and inserting a syringe in his mouth and emptying the syringe contents slowly down its throat (that requires a nice balance of consistency of the Kaytee Exact powder such that it's not too thick but not too thin). After a day or so of doing this the bird learned that meant food and would actually actively open his beak for the syringe and expect that the syringe would go right to the edge of his throat and dump the contents. I was able to feed it and fill its crop pretty quickly like this. I recommend trying that if you haven't already.

 

[TundraFang]

I wouldn't worry too much, I'd just keep feeding and taking care of him, but that is definitely behind on growth. It sounded to me that you were trying to feed it the Kaytee Exact by using the method of a glove or other latex type of material that would require the bird to actively place its beak in and eat from it as it would it's parents when they feed crop milk. That method did not work well for me. The bird tried to do it, and did eat some, but not nearly enough. What did work was me gently opening his beak and inserting a syringe in his mouth and emptying the syringe contents slowly down its throat (that requires a nice balance of consistency of the Kaytee Exact powder such that it's not too thick but not too thin). After a day or so of doing this the bird learned that meant food and would actually actively open his beak for the syringe and expect that the syringe would go right to the edge of his throat and dump the contents. I was able to feed it and fill its crop pretty quickly like this. I recommend trying that if you haven't already.

The syringe with the glove worked fine for me until he aspirated. After going so long without food, when his appitite returned he would get so eager to eat that he would quite literally inhale it. I've since switched to tube feeding as that is what I'm most comfortable with

 

[Qwerty3159]

How’s he doing today?

 

[TundraFang]

How’s he doing today?

He's doing alright. He's gaining weight again (48 grams this morning!) and he's covered in pin feathers. Still spunky and begging for food. The lighting is terrible here but I'll get a picture later when we get home

 

[TundraFang]