Talk about integrating a squeaker to loft after hand-feeding indoors?

[biophiliac]

#731 was abandoned by his moms at ~day 11 or 12. For his safety he was removed to indoors and hand fed. Now at day 22 i believe he will soon begin eating on his own and i am thinking about how he can be integrated back to the loft.

I hope someone has had this experience. All suggestions appreciated.

He is currently residing in a simple 'Super Pet' cage that could be placed inside the loft to let everybody see each other for a few days. I have no idea if that would be necessary or desirable.

 

[biophiliac]

@thinkyesi - i have visited your website and blog, very nice btw
Have you experienced this situation?
thanks

eta- you could put your site in your signature line i think.

 

[Crzytrkr]

I used a small dog caged for ten days for two squabs I tried too let them out on the seventh day but they got picked on so i put them back. Now ive let them loose and although they might get a peck here or there by the cock birds but they are learning there place in the pecking order its been seven days now and all is well so far.
CRZYTRKR

 

[biophiliac]

I used a small dog caged for ten days for two squabs I tried too let them out on the seventh day but they got picked on so i put them back. Now ive let them loose and although they might get a peck here or there by the cock birds but they are learning there place in the pecking order its been seven days now and all is well so far.
CRZYTRKR

Thanks, I wish he had a buddy. He's going to have to face it on his own i guess. This is his indoor cage. Should I move it to the loft?

 

[LamarshFish]

At first, I would make sure he is in a cage INSIDE the loft that is not accessible to the other birds. My fledged squeakers will hit the floor and find a hiding spot, and usually are not bullied, but often are and are protected by its parents, but this bird you are speaking of I think runs the risk of not having mom and dad defending him, so I would consider keeping him in his own little cage inside the loft for the other birds to get used to. Just a thought, not totally sure on this though. At a bare minimum, I would supervise the integration.

 

[thinkyesi]

Thanks! Means alot!

Ill have to check into that!

If the baby is only 22 days old he is way too young to move into the loft.
At 5 weeks old they are usually able to fend for themselves, eat on their own and fly away or slap anything that gets near him haha.
I had a squeeker that took me lots of time to get him to eat on his own, he was 6 weeks old and was too weak to eat on his own and fend of any bullies. So what i would do was id put him on the ground and let him try to see everyone eat which he would have to learn that he needs to feed himself. I would sit next to him on the floor and let other pigeons come close, but if i saw them try to mate with him or start to bully him id scare them away.
I did this 3-5 times a day for this little guy. About 1 week. And the other pigeons got used to him and left him alone or he would fend for himself and started to fly.
Now with him it was a struggle because he was so weak, but im sure if you take the time, even just once a day to let him walk around in the loft and scare off anyone who tries to bully him he will learn to keep away, and the other birds will learn he is now part of your kit/flock.

Also what we do is when all our babies are about 2 weeks old, once a day we put them all together for a couple minutes to get to know each other, so by the time they are 4-5 weeks old they learn who is part of the loft and stick together as they grow up.

 

[thinkyesi]

Also a good thing to start doing with your baby is strengthen his wings. Sometimes these babies that get hand fed dont learn to fly the same since they dont see anyone flying. Pigeons are very visual animals. What we do is we put them on our hands and slowly do little drops so the baby can start to stretch its wings. Its like a little exersice for them. Its not big drops, just little drops enough for them to get to flappin those wings haha

 

[biophiliac]

Thanks! Means alot!

Ill have to check into that!

If the baby is only 22 days old he is way too young to move into the loft.
At 5 weeks old they are usually able to fend for themselves, eat on their own and fly away or slap anything that gets near him haha.
I had a squeeker that took me lots of time to get him to eat on his own, he was 6 weeks old and was too weak to eat on his own and fend of any bullies. So what i would do was id put him on the ground and let him try to see everyone eat which he would have to learn that he needs to feed himself. I would sit next to him on the floor and let other pigeons come close, but if i saw them try to mate with him or start to bully him id scare them away.
I did this 3-5 times a day for this little guy. About 1 week. And the other pigeons got used to him and left him alone or he would fend for himself and started to fly.
Now with him it was a struggle because he was so weak, but im sure if you take the time, even just once a day to let him walk around in the loft and scare off anyone who tries to bully him he will learn to keep away, and the other birds will learn he is now part of your kit/flock.

Also what we do is when all our babies are about 2 weeks old, once a day we put them all together for a couple minutes to get to know each other, so by the time they are 4-5 weeks old they learn who is part of the loft and stick together as they grow up.

Thank you for the detailed reply. Thankfully my baby at 25 days now seems quite strong. He weighs over 400 g now on an empty crop - almost a pound. I have seen him eat some thawed peas and small seeds on his own and drink water but I'm still feeding of course.

Based on your experience I will start taking him with me when I go to the loft and let him watch. We'll see how it goes.

 

[biophiliac]

Also a good thing to start doing with your baby is strengthen his wings. Sometimes these babies that get hand fed dont learn to fly the same since they dont see anyone flying. Pigeons are very visual animals. What we do is we put them on our hands and slowly do little drops so the baby can start to stretch its wings. Its like a little exersice for them. Its not big drops, just little drops enough for them to get to flappin those wings haha

He's often flapping his wings like he wants to fly. I did a few 'drops' like you describe and I do believe he will learn quickly!

 

[jak2002003]

Wait till he is flying strongly, eating on his own too.

When you put him in have a few hiding places for him to get out of the way of the other birds.

I lean several wooden planks / boards at angles to the wall. So when the squeakers leave the nest for the first time they can go hide behind the boards. The adult birds stop chasing them when they go hide there. And they can pop out to feed / explore at times the adult birds are resting on the perches, or flying outside.

As they get stronger they start to fight back and get their place in the pecking order.

Just with you single bird.. keep an eye on him that he is getting enough to eat. Check his crop in the evening and offer him more food if you think he is still hungry.