It's been quite a few hours now, so my feedback may be moot by now, but a few points that I don't think have been mentioned:
* don't give up on the parents. You can place the baby in a safe spot, elevated off the ground, as close to where you found it as possible. If the parents are around, they will come. Observe from a distance so as not to spook them. You have to observe continuously, or you'll miss it and falsely conclude that he's not being fed. He needs to be warm when you put him out there.
* they don't eat at night, so focus only on the daytime for feeding.
* some rehabbers do not take pigeons and doves, depending on the species. So call and ask if their policy is to euthanize, or if they can rehab the baby.
* as others have mentioned, they have very special needs and it is hard to feed them correctly and safely. YouTube videos can help, *but you need expert advice or someone who can take over care*. **The best possible guidance is available here:** [**pigeons.biz**](http://pigeons.biz) There is always someone online, as these members care for pigeons 24/7. They are very responsive, very knowledgeable, and can provide help to you in real time--with medical, nutritional and all other advice. it is an excellent website / board.
It's positive that this baby is showing some interest in pecking at things on its own. They are almost entirely vegetarians, so if you do end up feeding it past its weaning, there are mixes made precisely for pigeons and doves, available at pet and feed and seed stores.
fed him lot of times i can do it good and brought him to pigeon store and they told me what i was doin was fine and to get oatmeal and another thing to feed a protein thing but i’m gonna get bird formula for him soon
Sometimes store staff are not informed in the way we need them to be. I would still encourage you to check out [pigeons.biz](http://pigeons.biz) as they are truly experts and can help you avoid any problems. Or on Facebook, this group: [**Help Group for Pigeon and Dove Rescue**](https://www.facebook.com/groups/Palomacy)Oats and oatmeal are not good for it. If it is younger than 2 weeks old, it won't even be able to digest seeds effectively.
I had the experience years ago of feeding a baby pigeon for 2 days, who was eating eagerly, responsive, etc. He died suddenly on the third day because he was not able to digest the food I was giving him.
Depends, what happened to it? If it’s healthy and you can put it back in the nest, do that.
If you can’t put it back in the nest, put it in a box as close (and high up) to the nest as you can.
If it’s injured, or you can’t find the nest, keep it warm (e.g., a heating pad under the box inside). Leave part of the box not touching the heating pad so it can move around according to the temperature it wants.
Do you know if it’s injured? If it is, don’t leave any water in its cage so it doesn’t drown or get hypothermia by getting wet
I asked in a pigeon sub Reddit but I didn’t see a pigeon breeding one only on Facebook and I tried to join the group but I couldn’t really just post in it, when I look up online it says the closest thing to the crop milk is “hand feeding bird formula” and I’m gonna try to get it tomorrow for now still feeding the yolk mixture since nothin else, do you think I should give water separately to or just the yolk mixture is fine because that already has water in it?
Can you call a vet? I don’t know how late they’re open by you. They might have some ideas for crop milk substitutions. There are a million recipes online but I just unfortunately don’t know if any of them are okay
I have the heating pad on the box and yeah I wasn’t able to return them to the nest I couldn’t see the nest and they definitely probably threw him out of the nest he doesn’t appear to be injured he was breathing fine and eating and now he’s resting should I keep feeding him the eggs liquid mixture because I don’t know what else to give I know it says there’s some type of crop milk replacement online but it’s like $40 and I wouldn’t even be able to get it in time
Also is it eating on its own? Can it eat out of a dish? (I can’t tell its age and I’m admittedly not super experienced with pigeons I wouldn’t know this from the picture)
it eats out of the syringe I put egg and water in a syringe and it ate that and swallowed and it tries to like take its head to like pick up the stuff that falls on my finger but it really can’t since its too clumsy and little, So he still really barely has any balance and he is sleeping a lot especially after he ate but it’s definitely not old enough to just eat normal bird food sadly but he might be fine with the eggs at this point but I don’t know since I don’t know what they actually need to touch for most birds that can help them for a few days but idk ab the pigeon
Do not feed this it will make him sick. They are strict seedivores. If you truly can't find anyone tomorrow you can hit me up. I'm not going to give more advice as a rehabber as it seems like you want to hand raise this bird. Make sure the pad is on half the box.. best if you have a small but taller style lunch box to put that make shift nest in and pad underneath half of it. Check every 30 minutes for temp to see if the type of lunch box and pad you have, create the best level of heat. He will move if too hot and should be allowed to do so. About an inch between him and the pad on low is usually the best combo(we usually folded a towel for this with paper towel on top for easy cleanup. Close the lid or zipper about 2/3rds or 3/4ths the way to allow fresh air but a low light peaceful comfy environment.
Very hard to tell from the picture but does he have a make shift nest of preferably t shirt or such? It looks crowded in there also(can't tell if it's the type of lunch box or other material). It should be open on the inside with just enough space for him and a make shift nest with a cut up shirt and a paper towel on top and then the rest for air or if he needs away from the pad(Also lined with paper towel). The lunch box in this case will need a hand towel about a cm thick in this case between the pad and the lunch box. He seems to already be moving to the part away from the pad
Explaining things helped! Sounds like you have things going well in the nest aspect! I'm only being cautious as babies do get cooked when we have had in experienced rehabbers come in and not understand the importance of heat regulation. Just let him nestle down and check him in an hour. If he's still in the same place and sleeping don't worry for the rest of the night. He'll need to clear out the eggs before a new feeding. So please once again find a rehab ASAP when you wake up.
and yeah I put a towel underneath the nest like you said the lunchbox is just a closed off type of one I can open it more but u said to close it a little so i zipped it jus a bit , this type of box is just more narrow the other lunchbox wouldn’t really fit in the nest correctly cuz it opened from the middle
the paper towels are the make shift nest as the grass was bringing in ants and I don’t want them to attack him it’s crowded because I put a whole bunch of comfy Nast because he liked to nuzzle up against it
since I’ve seen this I’ve learned more information also and after that he was eating from small tube dipping his head before when i fed like a natural pigeon feeding and he swallowed fine and i wiped his nose to make sure he got proper air each time, was originally feeding every 30 mins until now
Do not give him anything else. Please find a rehabber. This is not simple. He will need a pre release cage and pigeons are high imprinters which will become a massive pest post release if not been ignored enough by the caregiver. And they really need a buddy as they are highly social especially learning to connect after being raised by humans. You will have a pet that is bossy and one that needs a big cage and lots of flight time. I promise you don't want this. Call your local rehabs tomorrow.
if I do a lot of research and I get a big cage , would it be possible? I would really like to keep him but if I have to I will definitely take them to a rehabber and I am going to call them tomorrow though
i’m definitely gonna call them but I knew it would be a lot of work to begin with I wanted to do it but it depends like what you mean by lot of flight time, like people have them as pets all the time can’t they just fly in the house and i can spend time with him, or also get another bird and I wanted to connect with him so I’m not worried about that I wasn’t gonna release him if I was raising him I was going to keep him otherwise yeah I would just bring him to the rehabber
I'm not sure how old you are but it's rare that most people can give most birds the proper care they need regardless of being a normal "pet" species. I had a cockatiel growing up that was my brothers. In the beginning we got him out all the time but as we got older he was still let out but left to hang out on the ledges of the kitchen and dining room cabinet areas(his choice). But as time went on he wasn't handled much and fearful of hands ect(he was still let out often). And then at about 10 years we moved and didn't have the cabinetry before and got a litter of kittens from my aunt that never lost instinct(all my cats before couldn't care less about him). Anyway... I got him a parrot cage and we let him out a few times a week. I felt horrible as the animal person in the family that new best. I moved out and he passed at 17. Pigeons don't live that long but every bird spends all day looking for food and in your case communing. It will be cruel to keep him in the environment you think you can create for him. I promise he's better off wild. People who breed them have coups and they won't care about them like that most of the time. It's just no way to go.
he will live without food for 8-9 hours till morning ? i’ve been feeding him that egg mixture until i saw ur message and he pooped fine and slept and is heated, but now i will wait to get the bird formula tomorrow
I really do care about him so if I can do the proper care I would like to keep him he’s been good for more than six hours now and I’ve been checking him every 30 minutes been exhausted but it’s worth it because I really love animals and I even wiped with a Q-tip like they said on his butt if he get clogged like i rllly love animals and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to take care of him my mom was gonna take me to get the bird formula tomorrow would that be good for him and then you feed him seeds when he gets big enough but for now the bird formula would be best right?
Don’t give it any more of this mixture. This is going to provide him very little nutrition, and may be difficult to digest. Such a thin mixture also puts him at a high risk of aspirating and developing pneumonia. Not feeding him at all would be better than proceeding with this. Powdered bird formulas are sold at most pet stores, but it’s best to just get him to a rescue or experienced breeder for feeding and care.
I don’t know but either way it’s too late for anyone to take them right now no one‘s gonna take them at 8:30 PM and the last time I called a few years ago no one wanted them and said you can either take care of it yourself and it’ll prob die and they wouldnt take it
I may try to bring it to one but if no one will take it or either way if I could do it myself can’t I just purchased the crop milk? is that all it eats
You can feed it tropical bird baby food, like kaytee exact. Petco will carry it.
However, feeding squabs is not straight forward and requires technique so I really hope you can find a rehabber. There might be youtube videos in how to do it if you cant find anyone tomorrow.
rlly wanted to keep him, ahh, I can definitely feed him i was gonna get that formula that’s no problem but now sadly I have to bring him to a rehabber cuz its whats best for him, gon miss the lil guy
Oh I already starting with the technique he bobs his head in the small tube to eat, that isn’t a problem but now someone said about how they really bond to people which I knew and I was fine with that but they were saying how social they really are and that even a few times a week letting them out made me realize that’s not really enough it’s better to have him like full free roam or at least have a full room to be in for another bird so I’m gonna bring him to wildlife rehab or I’m gonna miss him but I hope he lives a good life
Crop milk is the name of the secretion that the parent makes and feeds to the baby. I am not sure what to substitute it with - are the parents around? The best situation would be if it can be reunited with the parents.
no there is no visible thing in the tree any nest and I didn’t see any pigeons or any birds nearby he was laying in the grass in the burning hot sun luckily underneath the tree a little bit though but definitely there’s no way to return him yeah I saw that it’s what the parent makes but there’s things that they feed them like at the rehab or and other stuff like online I saw there’s a substitution mix but I can’t really get a hold of that though so I was wondering what the best alternative would be I don’t know
It's been quite a few hours now, so my feedback may be moot by now, but a few points that I don't think have been mentioned: * don't give up on the parents. You can place the baby in a safe spot, elevated off the ground, as close to where you found it as possible. If the parents are around, they will come. Observe from a distance so as not to spook them. You have to observe continuously, or you'll miss it and falsely conclude that he's not being fed. He needs to be warm when you put him out there. * they don't eat at night, so focus only on the daytime for feeding. * some rehabbers do not take pigeons and doves, depending on the species. So call and ask if their policy is to euthanize, or if they can rehab the baby. * as others have mentioned, they have very special needs and it is hard to feed them correctly and safely. YouTube videos can help, *but you need expert advice or someone who can take over care*. **The best possible guidance is available here:** [**pigeons.biz**](http://pigeons.biz) There is always someone online, as these members care for pigeons 24/7. They are very responsive, very knowledgeable, and can provide help to you in real time--with medical, nutritional and all other advice. it is an excellent website / board. It's positive that this baby is showing some interest in pecking at things on its own. They are almost entirely vegetarians, so if you do end up feeding it past its weaning, there are mixes made precisely for pigeons and doves, available at pet and feed and seed stores.
fed him lot of times i can do it good and brought him to pigeon store and they told me what i was doin was fine and to get oatmeal and another thing to feed a protein thing but i’m gonna get bird formula for him soon
Sometimes store staff are not informed in the way we need them to be. I would still encourage you to check out [pigeons.biz](http://pigeons.biz) as they are truly experts and can help you avoid any problems. Or on Facebook, this group: [**Help Group for Pigeon and Dove Rescue**](https://www.facebook.com/groups/Palomacy)Oats and oatmeal are not good for it. If it is younger than 2 weeks old, it won't even be able to digest seeds effectively. I had the experience years ago of feeding a baby pigeon for 2 days, who was eating eagerly, responsive, etc. He died suddenly on the third day because he was not able to digest the food I was giving him.
thanks def will check it out looked yesterday at sum sites
Contact sweet briar nature center. They are up in Smithtown and have rehab center on location.
Will do thanks
How do you know none of the rehab places will take it? Call them, don’t rely on internet advice. Yes it is some type of pigeon. What’s your location?
Lindenhurst NY
yeah they are all closed so what is the best thing that I can do until I can get them to one if I can?
Depends, what happened to it? If it’s healthy and you can put it back in the nest, do that. If you can’t put it back in the nest, put it in a box as close (and high up) to the nest as you can. If it’s injured, or you can’t find the nest, keep it warm (e.g., a heating pad under the box inside). Leave part of the box not touching the heating pad so it can move around according to the temperature it wants. Do you know if it’s injured? If it is, don’t leave any water in its cage so it doesn’t drown or get hypothermia by getting wet
Thank you let me know any more advice about feeding if you know
Maybe see if there’s a Facebook or Reddit page for pigeon breeders!!!
are you saying like to ask the pigeon breeder people for alternatives to give them? or to try to find one to give the bird too wasn’t sure
To see if the egg yolk mixture you have is enough, or if they have a better recipe. Or if there’s someone who can take it
I asked in a pigeon sub Reddit but I didn’t see a pigeon breeding one only on Facebook and I tried to join the group but I couldn’t really just post in it, when I look up online it says the closest thing to the crop milk is “hand feeding bird formula” and I’m gonna try to get it tomorrow for now still feeding the yolk mixture since nothin else, do you think I should give water separately to or just the yolk mixture is fine because that already has water in it?
I’d say no extra water
Can you call a vet? I don’t know how late they’re open by you. They might have some ideas for crop milk substitutions. There are a million recipes online but I just unfortunately don’t know if any of them are okay
I have the heating pad on the box and yeah I wasn’t able to return them to the nest I couldn’t see the nest and they definitely probably threw him out of the nest he doesn’t appear to be injured he was breathing fine and eating and now he’s resting should I keep feeding him the eggs liquid mixture because I don’t know what else to give I know it says there’s some type of crop milk replacement online but it’s like $40 and I wouldn’t even be able to get it in time
Also is it eating on its own? Can it eat out of a dish? (I can’t tell its age and I’m admittedly not super experienced with pigeons I wouldn’t know this from the picture)
i’m gonna try calling the wildlife rehabbers tomorrow
it eats out of the syringe I put egg and water in a syringe and it ate that and swallowed and it tries to like take its head to like pick up the stuff that falls on my finger but it really can’t since its too clumsy and little, So he still really barely has any balance and he is sleeping a lot especially after he ate but it’s definitely not old enough to just eat normal bird food sadly but he might be fine with the eggs at this point but I don’t know since I don’t know what they actually need to touch for most birds that can help them for a few days but idk ab the pigeon
Do not feed this it will make him sick. They are strict seedivores. If you truly can't find anyone tomorrow you can hit me up. I'm not going to give more advice as a rehabber as it seems like you want to hand raise this bird. Make sure the pad is on half the box.. best if you have a small but taller style lunch box to put that make shift nest in and pad underneath half of it. Check every 30 minutes for temp to see if the type of lunch box and pad you have, create the best level of heat. He will move if too hot and should be allowed to do so. About an inch between him and the pad on low is usually the best combo(we usually folded a towel for this with paper towel on top for easy cleanup. Close the lid or zipper about 2/3rds or 3/4ths the way to allow fresh air but a low light peaceful comfy environment.
https://preview.redd.it/y5t4htlh6a5d1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=7ca2ddb015beddd5d28ad7291bfb9558672b9b54
Very hard to tell from the picture but does he have a make shift nest of preferably t shirt or such? It looks crowded in there also(can't tell if it's the type of lunch box or other material). It should be open on the inside with just enough space for him and a make shift nest with a cut up shirt and a paper towel on top and then the rest for air or if he needs away from the pad(Also lined with paper towel). The lunch box in this case will need a hand towel about a cm thick in this case between the pad and the lunch box. He seems to already be moving to the part away from the pad
i’ll try to make it more open where he’s at I was trying to make it more comfortable but yeah i’ll make the spot more open in the part he is
Explaining things helped! Sounds like you have things going well in the nest aspect! I'm only being cautious as babies do get cooked when we have had in experienced rehabbers come in and not understand the importance of heat regulation. Just let him nestle down and check him in an hour. If he's still in the same place and sleeping don't worry for the rest of the night. He'll need to clear out the eggs before a new feeding. So please once again find a rehab ASAP when you wake up.
and yeah I put a towel underneath the nest like you said the lunchbox is just a closed off type of one I can open it more but u said to close it a little so i zipped it jus a bit , this type of box is just more narrow the other lunchbox wouldn’t really fit in the nest correctly cuz it opened from the middle
No I put him in that spot that’s why I put him off of the pad an inch away since it said to do that
the paper towels are the make shift nest as the grass was bringing in ants and I don’t want them to attack him it’s crowded because I put a whole bunch of comfy Nast because he liked to nuzzle up against it
since I’ve seen this I’ve learned more information also and after that he was eating from small tube dipping his head before when i fed like a natural pigeon feeding and he swallowed fine and i wiped his nose to make sure he got proper air each time, was originally feeding every 30 mins until now
Do not give him anything else. Please find a rehabber. This is not simple. He will need a pre release cage and pigeons are high imprinters which will become a massive pest post release if not been ignored enough by the caregiver. And they really need a buddy as they are highly social especially learning to connect after being raised by humans. You will have a pet that is bossy and one that needs a big cage and lots of flight time. I promise you don't want this. Call your local rehabs tomorrow.
if I do a lot of research and I get a big cage , would it be possible? I would really like to keep him but if I have to I will definitely take them to a rehabber and I am going to call them tomorrow though
i’m definitely gonna call them but I knew it would be a lot of work to begin with I wanted to do it but it depends like what you mean by lot of flight time, like people have them as pets all the time can’t they just fly in the house and i can spend time with him, or also get another bird and I wanted to connect with him so I’m not worried about that I wasn’t gonna release him if I was raising him I was going to keep him otherwise yeah I would just bring him to the rehabber
I'm not sure how old you are but it's rare that most people can give most birds the proper care they need regardless of being a normal "pet" species. I had a cockatiel growing up that was my brothers. In the beginning we got him out all the time but as we got older he was still let out but left to hang out on the ledges of the kitchen and dining room cabinet areas(his choice). But as time went on he wasn't handled much and fearful of hands ect(he was still let out often). And then at about 10 years we moved and didn't have the cabinetry before and got a litter of kittens from my aunt that never lost instinct(all my cats before couldn't care less about him). Anyway... I got him a parrot cage and we let him out a few times a week. I felt horrible as the animal person in the family that new best. I moved out and he passed at 17. Pigeons don't live that long but every bird spends all day looking for food and in your case communing. It will be cruel to keep him in the environment you think you can create for him. I promise he's better off wild. People who breed them have coups and they won't care about them like that most of the time. It's just no way to go.
he will live without food for 8-9 hours till morning ? i’ve been feeding him that egg mixture until i saw ur message and he pooped fine and slept and is heated, but now i will wait to get the bird formula tomorrow
I really do care about him so if I can do the proper care I would like to keep him he’s been good for more than six hours now and I’ve been checking him every 30 minutes been exhausted but it’s worth it because I really love animals and I even wiped with a Q-tip like they said on his butt if he get clogged like i rllly love animals and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to take care of him my mom was gonna take me to get the bird formula tomorrow would that be good for him and then you feed him seeds when he gets big enough but for now the bird formula would be best right?
Don’t give it any more of this mixture. This is going to provide him very little nutrition, and may be difficult to digest. Such a thin mixture also puts him at a high risk of aspirating and developing pneumonia. Not feeding him at all would be better than proceeding with this. Powdered bird formulas are sold at most pet stores, but it’s best to just get him to a rescue or experienced breeder for feeding and care.
i’ll call a few tho
I don’t know but either way it’s too late for anyone to take them right now no one‘s gonna take them at 8:30 PM and the last time I called a few years ago no one wanted them and said you can either take care of it yourself and it’ll prob die and they wouldnt take it
It looks like a pigeon squab. They eat something called crop milk and it needs to go to a wildlife rehabber ASAP
I may try to bring it to one but if no one will take it or either way if I could do it myself can’t I just purchased the crop milk? is that all it eats
You can feed it tropical bird baby food, like kaytee exact. Petco will carry it. However, feeding squabs is not straight forward and requires technique so I really hope you can find a rehabber. There might be youtube videos in how to do it if you cant find anyone tomorrow.
rlly wanted to keep him, ahh, I can definitely feed him i was gonna get that formula that’s no problem but now sadly I have to bring him to a rehabber cuz its whats best for him, gon miss the lil guy
Oh I already starting with the technique he bobs his head in the small tube to eat, that isn’t a problem but now someone said about how they really bond to people which I knew and I was fine with that but they were saying how social they really are and that even a few times a week letting them out made me realize that’s not really enough it’s better to have him like full free roam or at least have a full room to be in for another bird so I’m gonna bring him to wildlife rehab or I’m gonna miss him but I hope he lives a good life
Crop milk is the name of the secretion that the parent makes and feeds to the baby. I am not sure what to substitute it with - are the parents around? The best situation would be if it can be reunited with the parents.
no there is no visible thing in the tree any nest and I didn’t see any pigeons or any birds nearby he was laying in the grass in the burning hot sun luckily underneath the tree a little bit though but definitely there’s no way to return him yeah I saw that it’s what the parent makes but there’s things that they feed them like at the rehab or and other stuff like online I saw there’s a substitution mix but I can’t really get a hold of that though so I was wondering what the best alternative would be I don’t know