please help ASAP! Found a baby pigeon

[Kasia]

I was trained at a wildlife sanctuary for 2 years and Kaytee is all we used without ANY problems. I've also been rehabbing pigeons for my avian vet for over 6 years and that's all he's always given me to take home to raise the pigeons he gave me.

Why do you say that Kaytee is bad? When I'm told not to give my birds something because it's "bad", I'd like to know the reason behind it, especially since I've always used Kaytee exact for baby doves and pigeons and never had a problem, all the babies grew up healthy and strong and were released and now they visit my yard daily for food and also bring THEIR babies as well.

 

[bock]

Kasia, thank goodness your here! I am really worried about him. I fed him last at 1PM, and now it's almost 8PM, and he still has a little less than half a crop full left. Should I feed him any way, or will that give him sour crop? I can't find any info about it on the web. Thank you!

 

[Kasia]

Go ahead and feed him for the night, not as much as a full feeding, maybe just half. Sometimes they take a while digesting. As long as they are emtying their crop on a regular basis, they will be fine.

 

[Kasia]

Are his poops nicely formed and wet? If he's pooping, and it has no smell, then you have nothing to worry about.

 

[bock]

Thank you so much! I will definitely give him some food. His poop seems to be good, no smells and it isn't too watery. I noticed when we first got them they were black with some white, now they are a dark green with white, but maybe that is just from the diet change. Other than that, he is doing well!

I can't say thank you enough! You are a lifesaver!

 

[bock]

Oops double post.

 

[bock]

I just finished feeding him and he loved it! He is so sweet!

 

[Kasia]

Are you going to keep him or let him go?

 

[bock]

Kasia, I have been a bit worried about him today. I think he has crop slow-down. I fed him at 7AM, now it's 7PM and he has only digested about half of the food. The bag of Kaytee says to give him baby applesauce, but I don't have any! He seems much less active, he wasn't moving around and peeping when I went to check on him. I know this can't be good.

I plan on letting him live with the rest of my homing pigeons.

 

[Kasia]

If you don't have applesauce, you can stick peeled pieces of apple (no seeds, apple seeds are toxic, they contain cynide), stick it in a blender and make your own.

That crop has me worried though. Can you check his mouth and see if he has any white spots anywhere in his mouth or on his tongue? He might have thrush. One of my pigeons that we rescued 4 months ago and my avian vet gave her to us, Will put her in with one of our males, and they hatched out one baby. They were over feeding the baby and its crop was so huge, the baby just lay on his back. So I had to take the baby away from them. I noticed that his crop wasn't emptying much and the food inside it looked white (you could see since the crop was so thin) curds and felt like he had eaten cottage cheese. So I looked at the mother, and under her tongue she had one white spot, thrush, and she gave it to the baby. The baby was doing fine for about 2 weeks and then it went downhill from ther and didn't make it.

Do you have any apple cider vinegar? Instead of mixing the Kaytee with just plain water, mix in 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar with one gallon of water, then use the vinegar water to make his formula and try giving him that. Do you have any antifungal medication?

I hope he makes it. You've been doing so good taking care of him. Another thing to consider, since he's feeding out of a little lotion bottle, do you think it's possible tha he aspirated some? Poor little baby.