URGENT HELP NEEDED PLEASE!

[jak2002003]

I just found a plastic shopping bag on the street outside a shop containing 2 pigeon chicks!!!! I think they had been there all morning in the hot sun!

I took them home to try to hand raise them. I have no idea who to do it!

The 2 chicks are too young to feed themselves.

They have some adult feathers, but still down on the head and back and I guess they are about 10 days old.

They were starving......really skinny, and frantically begging for food. I tried opening the beak and dropping moist mynah bird food pellet, but they struggle too much and I am afraid of hurting them.

I finally managed to get them to open their beaks by letting them put their head into my closed hand and I then gently press the sides of the bead near the head.

They ate a lot and have full crops and are sleeping.

Is there a better, easier way to feed them?! It took me ages!

Also how much and how often do they need feeding?

How do I know if they are full or hungry?

Do they need water? How wet should the food be? (This first time I make it quite wet as I thought they might be dehydrated).

Please help me!!!!!

 

[chickenzoo]

How horrible.......glad you found them. I take a big empty syringe and then either the black rubber top off eye dropper or a baby nipple.
You want to cut a X in the rounded part of either...nipple of the baby nipple or top of the eye dropper. Insert 1/4 of the syringe into the hole. You are leaving a cone shape from the nipple to imitate the mouth of the mommy. I use baby parrot feeding formula but you can puray chick crumble and water to a very fine and slightly soupy mush. Put mush in syringe. Hold squeeker and place his beak in cone while you expell mush with syringe. Make a.regurgatating movement while they eat helps keep their interest. Get paper towls as its gone a get messy until you find their rythm. ..hehe
Feed them until their crop is nice and roundish. They are beggars and will sometimes beg.even when full.

 

[jak2002003]

Thank you.. I will go and buy all you recommend tomorrow.

I fed them a second time now...getting better at it, but the syringe method sounds easier.

They do still beg even when the crop is full........maybe its because they had been without food for so long before I found them.

I know these birds are classed as vermin in the cities, but I can not understand how someone could just leave them to die slowly in a plastic bag, why did they not just kill them?

I'll give them a second chance and see how they do. They seem very lively at feeding time and are quite strong, and the poop looks normal too.

Thank you for you help.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

I was able to save a baby pigeon by dipping his beak , I just used a clean pop bottle cap. Doves and pigeons use their beaks like straws, and suck, much easier that way.

Make a little batch of the feed (easier to keep warm than the small amount in the cap) and just put enough in the cap that it doesn't cover their nose holes when you dip them. You can also simulate a mother's action by gently pushing the cap rythmically against his beak, to stimulate his appetite.

I started out with plain cream of wheats, i made a bowl with a Tb of sugar. That would work in a pinch , but they still need the nutrition of the formula.