i've done it again!

[chris]

Hi All,

it was a chick greenfinch that i rescued and reared 3 years ago that got me into this hobby and i've gone and done it again!:neutral:

me being me, i was walking down the road and came across a pigeon chick on the floor, at first i thought leave it and walked off, but i had to turn around and go back to get it. i guess i just can't bear the thought of leaving it knowing that it's going to die otherwise... even if it is a pigeon of all things!

now the little fella is sitting in a box in my shed and i've just fed it for the night so i will see what tommorrow brings. it is quite old by the looks of it, almost completely feathered up but unable to fly and about half the size of an adult.

i am aware that pigeons and their relatives feed there chicks on 'crop milk' which could be a potential problem. at the moment i've given it some ready brek mixed with warm water and a tiny ammount of milk which is how i reared the greenfinch a few years ago.

any advice on how what to feed it will be welcomed

my parent's aren't very happy and i didn't pick the best time to tel them when they are watching a report on bird flu on the news:shock: they just don't get it when i say it's NOT in our country yet!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris:roll:

[Waxbillman]

great chris, what will you do with it if it survives? pigeons are classed as vermin and i think its illegal to realease them back. i might be wrong though, i know thats the case with things like grey squirrel's.

what type of pigeon is it? feral or wood, etc..

matthew

[Pyxel]

You did the right thing Chris, ive sent 2 injured birds to a nearby animal sanctuary this year (not RSPCA). One was an adult Pigeon, a friend had been given it off someone it looked to of been attacked by a cat or dog, i kept it in the shed overnight, bathed it, same with a Sparrow chick which my 3 legged cat had caught, couldnt leave it to die. Its also a shame your parents dont understand with this bird flu carry on, good luck with the bird and i hope it survives.

[chris]

Hi Matthew,

well i was planning on releasing it:neutral: but since it's a feral pigeon then i guess the other option would be a neigbour 2 doors down from me who keep racing pigeons.

Chris

[chris]

Hi Pyxel,

good to hear i'm not the only one that would do that then:) it's a pitty really as i'm sure the parents would have continued to feed it where it was, and given it's size it would have been fine out of the nest. the only reason for me not leaving it is that it was right on the foot path so something or someone would almost certainly have killed it tonight if i had left it. most likey the Chavs in my area would play football with it:-x

i understand that they are vermin but i just can't leave something to die no matter what it is (unless its the AR)

Chris

[Pyxel]

I couldnt of left it to die either, especially in a busy area where idiots like that are, i could kill them damn chavs they dont give a crap about nothing, life is cheap to them :-x. Good on ya though, regardless of whether its vermin or not you did right and i would do the same with most things, although i would leave the AR to get kicked around a little like you say :razz:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Chris,

You are correct in thinking Pigeons feed Crop Milk, but this is only for the first two to three days as far as I know, for the age of the Bird you mention, water soaked bread and water soaked Pigeon food will be fine for the age of the chick you have described, please leave the milk theory alone.
After a few days the Pigeon will take dry food intended for Pigeons of an adult age, as well as dry bread etc.
I have reared various Birds including Pigeons over the years in my time of Wildlife Rescue following the above feeding regime, please let me know how you get on.

Paul H.:wink:

[Waxbillman]

hello Chris

they might be classed as vermin, but i've always had a soft spot for pigeons, i can remember being a toddler, and going into town back then there were hundreds of pigeons about, i used to feed them with bread, they would practically rip it from my hands!!
these days there very few about compared to then, due to them being shot, hunted etc, and if i did feed them, i would be fined £50 and if i continued i would be given an ASBO or imprisoned!!!
times change i spose.
i have rescue quite a few racing pigeons, as we are in the flight path of them, sometimes they have gun injuries, other times they are just weak. one of the pigeons i rescued had come from Tamworth, so it had traveled quite a way!

matthew

[chris]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for that mate, at the moment i've got it on crushed/powdered oats and water, however i have provided a bowl of water and a tray of various seeds and softfood to see if i can get it to feed itself. as of yet i haven't been able to feed it a lot, but i did manage to give it a bit before i went to bed last night.

Chris:wink:

[Waxbillman]

hello Chris

i take it your pigeon survived the night

matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Chris,

If you are going to feed the Pigeon on Oats then I suggest you sprinkle this with a Vittamin powder also, but soaked pieces of Bread (also sprinkled with Vittamin powder) is one of the best rearing foods for Pigeons.
The best way of feeding a young Pigeon is to gently squeeze both sides of the base of the bill to encourage the Bird to open it pointing upwards, and dangle the food downward until the Bird takes it (you may have to force feed the first couple of times?) until the Bird becomes used to it's surrogate Mother.:grin:

Paul.:wink:

[chris]

Hi Matthew,

yup the pesky pigeon survived the night!:lol:

Hi Paul,

thanks again mate your really helping me along here! i've only just had chance to read your post so will try the bread method and vitamins as of tomorrow. at the moment i've been feeding the oats with some bread crumb, mixed together with water into a paste and then fed through a syringe. your right about having to force feed it, hopefully it will learn over the week as i prefer it when the birds are willing. thank god i never had this problem with the greenfinch otherwise i wouldn't be here today

Chris:wink:

[Waxbillman]

glad to hear the little critter is still alive.

have you though of a name yet?

Matthew

[chris]

Neogip

best i can think of, pigeon backwards:lol: :roll:

maybe Taf Neogip (fat Pigeon)

Chris:neutral:

[PAUL HEARN]

Come on Chris,

Your not even trying mate,:roll: how about a really original name like Percy.:grin:

How about Pig for short?:lol:

Paul.

[chris]

Hi Paul,

i might just call it Pig to see if our Council pay a visit to remove it for being offense to cetrain Faiths, they seem to be doing it with everything else including pig ornaments, toys, our school has gone far enough to stop cooking backon:-x i'll stop now as i could easily say worse:-|

anyway, back onto names what about banana pigeon, or ananab neogip :grin:

Chris:wink:

[Waxbillman]

hello Chris
if i had that pigeon i would call him/her cherokee, as a kid i read a bokks called cherokee about tens times over, it was all about this lad who found a very sick pigeon under a hedge, to cut a very long story short cherokee survived, got a mate and had chicks in his garden shed.

matthew

[laurab]

Hi Chris

We have rescued 3 pigeons in the past, the first was called Squeaker, the second was goosey and the third was Sara, all pretty good names I thought :)

Squeaker - the name for a young pigeon...well in Devon

Goosey - coz my daughter thought it was a goose

and Sara - because my daughter said that was what it was to be!

[PAUL HEARN]

Nice one Laura,

But Chris, you could always call it Speckled Jim after my alltime favourite Pigeon name?

Paul.:grin:

[chris]

Hi all,

sadly it was dead this morning when i went up to feed it, i'm guessing it didn't get enough food from myself due to it resisiting feeding so much

Chris

[Waxbillman]

:( sorry to hear that chris.

at least you gave it a chance, and it did not die in fear.

matthew

[Pyxel]

Sorry to hear that, what a shame. But atleast you tried to give it a chance and like Matthew says did not die in fear at the hands of heartless idiots.

[chris]

Hi all,

thanks for the replies, i gave it an extra 3 days it wouldn't have had otherwise i suppose

Chris

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi mate,

I'm sorry to hear the Pigeon died,:sad: as you say though you gave it three days it wouldn't have had otherwise.:wink:

Paul.

[kenny]

hi chris

really sorry to hear about your loss mate at least you gave it a try and it had a few extra days as you say

ken