Please Help Pigeon-Raising Experts!

[peacockfeather]

Hello BYC community!

I am new to this form, but not to the BYC community. Long story short, I am the new foster parent of a baby pigeon. He seems to be about 10 days old or so and has some feathers but is nowhere near fully fledged. I have experience raising chickens and ducks but very little experience hand-feeding birds. I have heard about making a substitute formula or getting a parrot formula, but any advice would be useful. How many times should I feed (2 or 3)? Suggestions/preferences regarding formula and administering the formula itself? My biggest fear is administering it wrong, which could lead to aspiration. Also, I have a heat lamp - is that OK to use, and if so, what temperature is the goal? Can I give him some electrolytes as well? (I have some bird electrolytes on hand). Sorry I don't have any pictures at the moment! Please help and thank you all for any advice in advance!

 

[peacockfeather]

If you have any suggestions for a temporary home-made mixture, that would be great since I don't have any parrot formula on hand today and won't be able to get any until tomorrow morning.

 

[Hokum Coco]

If you have any suggestions for a temporary home-made mixture, that would be great since I don't have any parrot formula on hand today and won't be able to get any until tomorrow morning.

Raw egg should get him on his way

 

[laughingdog]

I just use layer pellets now. As feathering, you should be able to soak layer pellets and slide down your left when facing each other, into crop.

 

[jak2002003]

How is he doing?

A always found the plastic bag method was the easiest.. with a slushy paste of chick starter and grains.

 

[peacockfeather]

He's still doing well! I've got him on Kaytee Exact formula now. He's roughly 100 grams and bumped his feed from 12 to about 15ml today, 4x a day. He seems much more content with this amount (as I find that I lose 2-3ml during the feeding process) but I'm worried about overfeeding. Does 15ml - give or take - sound like too much right now? Even after 12ml he was still nuzzling and seemed pretty hungry.