so… yeah. there’s a story here, but what do i need to do for fledgling orphan pigeons? they look to be 14-15 days old. bright and curious little interlopers but parents are dead-o.
Personally, I have no clue, but Googled this:
http://animals.mom.me/feed-fledgling-pigeons-6715.html
Good luck!
If there is a bird dog club in your area someone might be willing to take them and put them in their coop. Not very cute when babies, are they? (Or at least, not when first hatched!)
thanks for the link! I’ll poke around…
I have a syringe but ugh, it kept getting clogged this AM and I couldn’t push out the paste. They’d nibble the syringe but I couldn’t get much out. Tried hand feeding and they were affronted by having a finger shoved in their face… Their crops are not empty so I’m not worried they’re starving (yet). I didn’t try prying their mouth open, wasn’t sure if I should do that or not.
The parents, along with many others, were culled at the barn I ride at because they’re destroying the indoor’s insulation… these two must have jumped ship from the indoor rafters (and fell over 30 feet!) and no one at the barn had the heart to kill the “Baby Pidgeys” so… I have them at the family farm where I keep my horse.
We ain’t got no fancy insulation, and have a pretty variegated bird population (read: we have various and sundry interloping avians!) so I figured they’d be okay here until they could fly.
ETA: No, they are not very cute… they’re weird looking, not what I would expect a baby pigeon to look like: all dark grey, long slender legs, dark limbs, bony feet, big knotted noses and broad black eyes. Cute in an “so-ugly-it’s-endearing” way.
I “rescued” one from a barn in college. I bought baby bird hand feeding formula from the pet shop and affixed a short length of aquarium airline tubing to the tip of a large dosing syringe. It’s pretty easy to see the opening of the trachea when they beg for food. I passed the tube beyond that at least an inch to make sure there was no risk of aspiration and filled the crop quickly and easily. “Fancy” grew up very quickly and was a beautiful healthy pigeon!
Babies are called squabs. I just thought I would throw that out there because I like using that word . LOL
I have raised doves but not pigeons. I used powdered Gerber’s baby cereal with a little bit of unmedicated chick starter from the feed store. I make a warm mash and use a syringe. You can clip off some of the tip of the syringe to make the hole bigger.
[QUOTE=Amwrider;8956348]
Babies are called squabs. I just thought I would throw that out there because I like using that word . LOL
I have raised doves but not pigeons. I used powdered Gerber’s baby cereal with a little bit of unmedicated chick starter from the feed store. I make a warm mash and use a syringe. You can clip off some of the tip of the syringe to make the hole bigger.[/QUOTE]
I was about to come here and ask, so I’m glad you chimed in - but, are they supposed to like, open their craws all the way like you see in momma-bird depictions?
Cause these guys aren’t doing that… they’re wriggling their beaks into my hands and nibbling but not opening their mouths. They aren’t eating a lot. I’m mixing chick starter with water and it keeps clogging my fat oral syringe… so I need to try something else - maybe a rinsed out GG tube/wormer?
I like the word squabs… that is cute. They are very friendly and not at all afraid of my hand.
Pigeons don’t do the open mouth begging thing. They stick their heads down mommas throat and eat what she regurgitates for them. Some folks reccommmend smearing the food in something like a film canister and holding it upside down to simulate them sticking their heads up there. I found it complete ineffective and a huge mess. Tube feeding was a cinch.
Parrot hand feeding formula from the pet store mixes up nice and smooth and won’t clog the syringe. It’s made to be dosed that way. Chick starter is much coarser.
[QUOTE=Amwrider;8956348]
Babies are called squabs. I just thought I would throw that out there because I like using that word . LOL
I have raised doves but not pigeons. I used powdered Gerber’s baby cereal with a little bit of unmedicated chick starter from the feed store. I make a warm mash and use a syringe. You can clip off some of the tip of the syringe to make the hole bigger.[/QUOTE]
I thought baby pigeons were called “squeakers.” OK, googled and I guess both are used. I think “Squeakers” is adorable.
[QUOTE=gypsymare;8956362]
Pigeons don’t do the open mouth begging thing. They stick their heads down mommas throat and eat what she regurgitates for them. Some folks reccommmend smearing the food in something like a film canister and holding it upside down to simulate them sticking their heads up there. I found it complete ineffective and a huge mess. Tube feeding was a cinch.[/QUOTE]
Okay, that makes sense – I got frustrated with the syringe and just pulled the stopper out, flipped it around so the open part the plunger/stopper feeds through was facing them, and hovered it over their heads. They put their faces all up in the oral syringe but it’s a whole messy ordeal - they kind of flick their beaks back and forth without compunction, not peck; it’s weird.
I have to get cat food at the store later so I’ll buy some parrot food and try that. Do they eat a lot? Mine seem hungry but their intake doesn’t seem to be too voracious… or at least, not what I expected out of baby birds… Even the wood-duck duckling that we rehabilitated ate twice what they ate…
They eat a lot more when you can get it into them. They are no match for ducklings though who prefer to turn their water source into a soupy mess and waste most of it.
You folks are good eggs.
You’re probably the only people who’d understand that I once hand-fed a baby squirrel until his mum showed up to take him back. Pretty sure they’re the same buggers I kicked out of my attic…
[QUOTE=LesleyW;8956564]
You folks are good eggs.
You’re probably the only people who’d understand that I once hand-fed a baby squirrel until his mum showed up to take him back. Pretty sure they’re the same buggers I kicked out of my attic…[/QUOTE]
I did the baby squirrel raising gig, too! Luckily I did not leave beet pulp pellets soaking in the house!
I could use the power of COTH jingles for these little guys… They were bright and chirpy yesterday AM - PM the smaller guy was a little wobbly… this AM he was really out of sorts, couldn’t walk and was gone by the afternoon. His buddy was fine and chirpy this AM and afternoon, ate ok but wouldn’t eat once his buddy was gone… PM he’s wobbly, won’t eat, and silent. I decided to bring him inside and put two hot water bottles around him, tried to give him some sugar water (at the advice of an avian enthusiast) since it seems like he’s really out of sorts, but I don’t think he’s going to make it. He’s been very still since I moved him…
I don’t really know where we went wrong and trying to rack my brain here. Did they not eat enough? They never did what I see in the videos - they just flicked their beaks back and forth over the food. Was it too cold out for them? They had a heat lamp, but last night dipped to 30s or so… I thought they’d be okay with the heat lamp provided the chicks next door do just fine… Why are there even baby pigeons this time of year, is that normal?
Any last ditch things I can try?
Tube feed. You need to get it into their crop. They will not eat enough on their own. They may be too weak to move towards or away from the lamp. Can you bring them inside? Good luck!
Did the little guy make it?
