I had this recipe given to me from a wildlife rehabilitator. It's complicated but it should be an excellent food for baby pigeons (I haven't tried it myself). When they get a little older you can start introducing pigeon/dove seed. As for the mites I don't know what is safe for a little one.
Columbid Crop Milk Replacer
MacMilk: Crop Milk Replacer Recipe
1 jar (71 grams) strained chicken baby food
1 hard-boiled egg yolk (16.6 grams)
1 tablespoon low-fat yogurt (15.3 grams)
1/4 teaspoon corn oil (1.13 grams)
0.62 g calcium carbonate
2 drops cod-liver oil (from gel cap)
1 drop vitamin E (diluted 1:10 in corn oil; see notes)
1 small pinch vitamin B complex (see notes)
25 mg. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
Method: Mix all ingredients in a blender. Keep the diet in the fridge,
taking out and warming only as much as you need for one feeding.
NOTES
For birds days 1 to 3, digestive enzymes are necessary. Use Pancrezyme
(available from vets); 1/8
tsp per unit recipe (above). Do not use digestive enzymes from the health
food store; they have almost no activity.
Mix the enzyme in the food and let sit at room
temp. for 15-30 minutes. This is crucial for neonates. Mix and use only
what you'll need in one feeding; _discard the remainder_.
Vitamins: Vitamin E, as purchased, is too potent for what is required in
this diet. Mix one drop of vitamin E (from a 400 IU/ capsule)
with 10 drops of corn oil. Shake or stir well. Then, use 1 drop of the
diluted vitamin E in the recipe. The remainder can be kept in an airtight
container and stored in a cool, dark place. It can be used over the next few
days. Because vitamin E degrades, it will have to be mixed fresh
after a few days, so don't make too much at once. The amount of B complex
required
is too small to weigh on a gram scale. The amount required for this recipe
is a pinch the size of one or two sesame seeds.
Day Four and Later:
Use crop milk replacer for at least
the first week of life, and begin to gradually mix in other foods over a
period of the next two weeks. During the first days of new additions, the
baby bird
will not yet be digesting all the carbohydrates, and the high-protein food
is still needed for growth and feathering, thus a gradual changeover is
necessary. Good choices might be Kaytee Exact handrearing formula with
gradual additions of foods like mixed-cereal pablum with an added tablespoon
of strained baby food corn.
Copyright Astrid MacLeod and Janine Perlman, 2001.
If this is too much for you, you can pick up a can of puppy food. Make little cigars out of it and once it gets the idea it will gape for you and you can pop them down the throat. It will get you by, but isn't nutritionally ideal
