Help for hand feeding: How to hand feed from day one

[Curtiejlee]

Update on the babies in the pics! The smaller of the two died at seven days old and the larger one is in the picture! He's kinda still living indoors as its currently at sub zero temperatures here! He loves running around the floor and tormenting the dog.

 

[jak2002003]

Well done with raising that chick. It is very difficult to raise pigeon chicks from just hatched. This is because we can not replicate the important pigeon 'milk' the parents feed the chick the first few days. Without this the chick are prone to get infections and not thrive, usually they will not make it.

So great job!

I have also had a situation when one pigeon was left with the eggs. But this was from a female leaving her mate!!! She does it every time. She will share incubation, and raise the chicks for about one week, then she abandons them and her mate totally (usually taking up with another male and doing the same to him!).

The male always does a great job rearing the chicks, and he has raised 6 this season. I don't know why, but he always takes the female back next time... very forgiving lol.

Whenever you are getting eggs squashed, or chicks in the nest scalped, you have to look at the way you are keeping the birds. This often happens due to something wrong in the loft, maybe overcrowding, too few nest boxes (so birds are fighting to get one), nest boxes that are too open and not easy for the pigeon owners to defend etc.

Also lack of proper nutrients, such as calcium and protein will make the eggs shell very thin, and the parents may break the eggs if they step on them, or the chicks will die and be crushed just after hatching as they were too weak to make it. Then it looks like the parents killed then, when in fact they died after hatching, and then got trodden on.

One great tip I was told was to have some wooden boards on the coop floor leaning against the wall. Then when the young birds leave the nest for the first time, then can run and hide behind these boards and so avoid getting scalped or beaten up by other adult birds in the loft. When they hear their own parents they come running out to get fed, then go back behind the boards.

 

[Curtiejlee]

My nest boxes are close together, so I guess I don't really have "enough". I use the board idea, but try also get used as nesting places. I've been planning on building big set of nesting boxes, but I haven't had time between school and cross country! When my flock gets over about 25, they start roosting with the chickens as my loft only fits 20! I've never had nutrition issues as I feed layer feed and red wheat.

I have more nest boxes and perches now than this (old picture back when I had 12 pigeons). This kinda shows my situation! Working on convincing my dad to let me build another loft!

 

[jak2002003]

They are lovely colours! They have feathers on their legs right?

What kind of pigeons are they?

If you need more nest boxes just use old cardboard boxes, or get some cheap plastic stacking storage shelves.

 

[Curtiejlee]

They were lovley colors. I now only have three of the birds In this picture, the dark grey homer, the damascene in the nest box, and the white owl cross on the perch to the right. I had a matching pair of Uzbek tumblers (muffed white ones in the front) and a matching damascene (on the left perch). The little red one was a roller. The beautiful light grey one up front was my favorite pet! She was a Turkish tumbler and the mate to the owl cross. They made beautiful offspring and, many of which I have kept.

This is one of them, Goose. He's my favorite of their babies and we used to have a close bond.

I've now lost upwards of 17 birds to the resident hawks and owls.

 

[Curtiejlee]

So just plain natural yoghurt? Ive always avoided dairy because its lethal to a lot of birds. Is there a certain heat pad anyone would recommend?

I was doing research on cockatiels and found out yogurt is safe for birds because the lactose content is extremely low, so is cheese. Defiantly only use it when you need it and, even then, in moderation.

 

[cochinGurl]

first of all thank you for this very informative post. I have one question left that I have not been able to answer dispite doing a fair bit of research. all of the hand raising how tos I have seen say somthing about keeping the baby "warm" and on a heating pad but don't give any specifics on exactly how warm. what temperature do you suggest squabs be kept?thanks!

 

[Curtiejlee]

90degrees Fahrenheit is the optimum, although they can still thrive at 85 or a little over 90 with little difficulty. I had mine in the Tupperware in the previous photos, then I moved him to a bowl, then a little run I built, and finally a large box. I kept the heated nest bowl with him and he slept in it for a while until i decided I didnt want to clean any more poop rags. Taking his nest was like weaning a child off a pacifier.
The 2nd bowl

The little run

 

[Curtiejlee]

Also, I put a towel over the bowl to trap in some heat and humidity, like a brooding parent would with its body.

 

[cochinGurl]

thanks for the info, much apreciated