possible paraxamavirus in feral pigeon????

[4life]

Hey everyone,

Okay, so I have been watching this second pigeon in the last week that has came to our yard that is sick. We live in Chicago and feed all of our wild birds and of course we also get some pigeons that come here too.The first sick pigeon that came here I captured after two days but she died overnight. This second one is staying on my upper level back porch( it stays there overnight even). I have been watching it and I notice it kind of moves it's head around a lot and it is pooping a lot. I have a mess to clean on my upper stairs porch( poor bird). Anyhow, is it possible this bird has this Paraxamavirus? If that is the case, what am I going to do? I read if one pigeon gets it, every one is going to get it( meaning all birds). It says it is transmittable through their feces. From what I read it said it can transmit to humans( only ones that are vulnerable or immunocomromised). I thought about trying to capture her, but I am a bit worried because I have lots of chronic health issues that effect my immune system( autoimmune issues) and I tend to catch everything. Also, I am not sure I can get her as where she is sitting if I make any move to go close to her, she can easily swoop down the stairway and fly off ( or worse, I am afraid she will try and swoop away and hurt herself).

A few concerns I have is that we have Lots of birds that come here. I am very worried about the other birds catching this. They all use the same birdbath. Also, there is tons of poop all over the place since pigeons are known for pooping all over. How the heck can I stop the spread of this if this is what this pigeon has?? Is it fatal to the bird?

 

[laughingdog]

Sadly best thing maybe to chase her n keep birds off your porch, for her to recover or die quick in less prolonged suffering (life is quality over only quantity) n not spread disease to other birds and or you, poop on porch is going to spread disease everywhere in wind and to other birds and that ones feet, where poop on ground mostly soaks down. Cap full of bleach per gallon of birdbath water what ol timers used to keep them cleaner.. Well more than that but I'm cautious.

 

[4life]

Sadly best thing maybe to chase her n keep birds off your porch, for her to recover or die quick in less prolonged suffering (life is quality over only quantity) n not spread disease to other birds and or you, poop on porch is going to spread disease everywhere in wind and to other birds and that ones feet, where poop on ground mostly soaks down. Cap full of bleach per gallon of birdbath water what ol timers used to keep them cleaner.. Well more than that but I'm cautious.

Thanks for the reply. I called a non for profit wildlife place not too far from here. He said that it is best to take all food up and water for now. He said in case there is some illness spreading between the pigeons. He said this way maybe the ones that are still healthy will go away and hopefully not get sick. He said they can catch illness through water( birdbaths). He said that a pigeon can step in it's poop, then go stand in the birdbath and it will pass between them all. I feel like such a **** right now by taking all the food and water away. The one is still sitting up on my back porch. I even had another pigeon sitting up there not looking the best. I have no clue what is wrong with them. I just know that the red flag is that the one has been staying up there all day and all night for the last three days. When we went to put food out yesterday and the day before she would not even go eat with the others. She stayed up on the porch. Well now I have pulled all the food and water. I feel bad for all the birds now. I hope they will be okay and wont starve. Thank goodness the weather is going to get way warmer here in the next two days( I live in Chicago). I am going to try and capture the one on the back porch and take it to the wildlife rehab place hopefully tomorrow. They said they can try and figure out what is wrong and hopefully help her. They said there are many things that can happen to a pigeon and a lot of these things are treatable if caught in time. This whole experience has really made me sick at heart. We will have a mess to clean up too on our back porch after all this. We have a wooden back porch. Any ideas on how to best clean the area? Should I use bleach and water mixture? I know they say to soak the area first then clean, never to sweep dry poop. I hope the birds will all find another place to eat. Thankfully we got them through the most of the winter so that is good I guess.