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New Baby Pigeon Just Came in My Balcony

Aditya

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Aditya Varshney
A new baby pigeon though I guess a week older has arrived in my flat's balcony,
It is unable to fly, its parents haven't arrived yet and he refuses to eat rice or drink milk. This is rainy season in India and night is going to fall soon
I'm afraid that he will die of cold if left uncared and I don't know what to do please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
photo_2020-08-21_19-07-23.jpg
 

Zara

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Hello Aditya,

They don´t drink milk. Do you have any bird seeds like millet you can soak?
If he won´t eat on his own, he may need to be ¨handfed¨, my dad hand fed a pigeon with oatmeal. Put in a jar, then covered with a glove (secured with elastic band) and poked a hole in for the bird to put his beak in to eat. Could you do something like that?
(need to clean the baby well afterwards)

Also, can you make a warm corner, maybe with a hot water bottle and blanket? Or bring him inside to a warmer place?

This is the bottle; you see it is a jar with a soft lid with a hole poked in for the bird to put their beak in. Put warm porridge inside then attach the lid and poke a hole in;
bottle2.jpg

This one uses a large syringe;
with the tip the same,
hqdefault.jpg
unnamed.jpg

Give the baby a clean up once fed.
As he gets bigger you can offer soaked seed or quinoa on a small plate, with a shallow dish of water. I had a dove on my balcony not much bigger than that and he ate soaked seeds right away.
His parents didn´t feed him the day he landed here but they did the day after. So if you can set up a warm area outside, better, just in case they come back in the morning.

I have moved this thread because there is a restriction on the 911 forum, and someone may know more pigeon tips but not be able to post.

@Birdbabe any recipes for this little one?
 

Zara

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This is the area I made, I put a towel down and some food and water (I thought the parents would it eat but they didn't really). I blocked the wind with the long plantpot so the corner was cozy and draught free.
The baby would climb up into the plant pot - it must have been warm for him.
Screenshot_20200821_182825.jpg 2.jpg
Screenshot_20200821_182816.jpg
Screenshot_20200821_182808.jpg
 

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All I have to add is watch Junior, try some warm oatmeal, scrambled egg,,cooked cooled Quinoa,, defrosted peas and corn? do you have any baby formula? Try to feed that from a spoon, looks like a fledgling..its so hot every where, they're showing up dyhrated and over heated did you dip his beakie in water so he will drink?..hopefully he just needs a day or two to recover.
 

Aditya

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Ya I tried some of these,
as it was night time so I used a small carton box and placed a towel cloth inside it and made 2 holes so that he doesn't suffocate
Then after chasing him for 10-15 minutes I finally caught him
photo_2020-08-22_06-58-00.jpg
Though this is a very small box :( but this was all Iwas able to find
 

Aditya

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then I kept him in my room and covered the box so that he doesn't fly and rips himself off by the fan as I still didn't know his flying abilities so I ensured he remained inside the box the whole night
 

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Aditya

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Today in the morning around 5 am I tried to give him some warm water in a small earthen pot, he ran away from it so I forced a little by dipping the lower part of his beak inside the water but he didn't drink it.
Then when I left him in the balcony again so that he gets some sun he chirped and hid behind a flower pot.
Now when I put him back in his box he justs runs away and hides behind any random flower pot
 

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It seems he's too scared to eat from you as he is older already, but he might still come around after a feeding and see you as "mummy" enough to make care a bit easier. You can try leaving seeds and water out for him to discover on his own (my babies were already pecking at seeds and veggies by this age, and drinking on their own). But if you think it's best to handraise him now - you've had many good suggestions regarding food. There are a bunch of videos you can find on youtube that helped me with the baby pigeons and doves I've raised. There are a couple different feeding methods out there but I'd stick with the ones that aren't as forceful to the bird; much less chance of it going wrong that way. I raised a pair of feral brothers who's parents had been killed that were also older when I got them and they were also, understandably, not interested in seeing me as "mommy". But they still ate from syringes when shown that there was soft warm food inside.
His yellow fluff has me reminiscing of my boys. :D Baby pigeons smell so good... Could you check under his wing and maybe take a picture? Seeing how many feathers they have under their wings is a pretty good way of gauging their age and if they're old enough to be flying yet.
 
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Aditya

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Update -
He is too scared and is sitting like this for straight 4 hours since I took him out in the balcony.
photo_2020-08-22_10-00-31.jpg

Whenever a wild pigeon comes in the balcony, he just chirps as if asking for something and then becomes silent. I have tried giving him rice, bread (oats yet to come) but no use he doesn't eat (though I think he ate some pieces of bread)
Now, I thought that this was enough of him so I tried to force him to eat(even tried the bottlefeed) but he just won't insert his beak and struggles a lot.
He chirps, flaps his wings and tries to grab anything from his claws and will no more go inside his box, the syringe will come soon but till then any ideas............................. anyone???
 

Aditya

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It seems he's too scared to eat from you as he is older already, but he might still come around after a feeding and see you as "mummy" enough to make care a bit easier. You can try leaving seeds and water out for him to discover on his own (my babies were already pecking at seeds and veggies by this age, and drinking on their own). But if you think it's best to handraise him now - you've had many good suggestions regarding food. There are a bunch of videos you can find on youtube that helped me with the baby pigeons and doves I've raised. There are a couple different feeding methods out there but I'd stick with the ones that aren't as forceful to the bird; much less chance of it going wrong that way. I raised a pair of feral brothers who's parents had been killed that were also older when I got them and they were also, understandably, not interested in seeing me as "mommy". But they still ate from syringes when shown that there was soft warm food inside.
His yellow fluff has me reminiscing of my boys. :D Baby pigeons smell so good... Could you check under his wing and maybe take a picture? Seeing how many feathers they have under their wings is a pretty good way of gauging their age and if they're old enough to be flying yet.
thanks for your advice, I tried as you said but with no result
as for seeing below his wings, he won't even allow me to touch him .......................:-;
 

Zara

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You could try putting some soaked foods on a small plate in that corner for him
 

Aditya

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All I have to add is watch Junior, try some warm oatmeal, scrambled egg,,cooked cooled Quinoa,, defrosted peas and corn? do you have any baby formula? Try to feed that from a spoon, looks like a fledgling..its so hot every where, they're showing up dyhrated and over heated did you dip his beakie in water so he will drink?..hopefully he just needs a day or two to recover.
well the world is big enough
you see that I belong to India and here currently we have monsoon season i.e. the rainiest season of the year where it rains for 4-5 hours a day.
So the problem is not to prevent it from dehydration but to protect him from getting cold due to rain.....
 

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Be sure to keep him off the floor when the water comes. Has he eaten yet? Maybe offer some brown bread crumbled up or cooked rice
 

Aditya

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You could try putting some soaked foods on a small plate in that corner for him
So now I have tried everything but with no result.
So the final option left for me is to just force feed him using a syringe, but now the problem is that he won't open his beak.
So now what should I do??
 

Zara

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So the final option left for me is to just force feed him using a syringe, but now the problem is that he won't open his beak.
Gently hold his beak open and try to put food in. They are not like parrots. Try to be gentle so to not distress him, and hopefully after eating a couple of pieces he will eat by himself.
 

Aditya

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Gently hold his beak open and try to put food in. They are not like parrots. Try to be gentle so to not distress him, and hopefully after eating a couple of pieces he will eat by himself.
Zoya I did as you told and trust me he did everything else to piiss me off rather than eat.
I tried to open his beak very gently while trying to give him steamed rice and it's like he's saying that "I won't open my beak no matter what you do"
He even didn't drink water from a burret
 

Aditya

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It seems he's too scared to eat from you as he is older already, but he might still come around after a feeding and see you as "mummy" enough to make care a bit easier. You can try leaving seeds and water out for him to discover on his own (my babies were already pecking at seeds and veggies by this age, and drinking on their own). But if you think it's best to handraise him now - you've had many good suggestions regarding food. There are a bunch of videos you can find on youtube that helped me with the baby pigeons and doves I've raised. There are a couple different feeding methods out there but I'd stick with the ones that aren't as forceful to the bird; much less chance of it going wrong that way. I raised a pair of feral brothers who's parents had been killed that were also older when I got them and they were also, understandably, not interested in seeing me as "mommy". But they still ate from syringes when shown that there was soft warm food inside.
His yellow fluff has me reminiscing of my boys. :D Baby pigeons smell so good... Could you check under his wing and maybe take a picture? Seeing how many feathers they have under their wings is a pretty good way of gauging their age and if they're old enough to be flying yet.
Hello,
So you requested a picture of his feather's so here are some
 

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Aditya

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So here's the conclusion
Maybe this little one is very very scared,as he is not openinghis beak even after forcing him to do so. One of my friend said that he will not eat unless his parents feed him and that he needs to return to hir flock, but I know that very difficult.
Seeing him ot eating makes me ver sad so I had left some rice(both baked and raw), some brad crums and water in his little box hoping that he may eat while everyone else is asleep.
If not then I may contact the nearest NGO and let them take care of him. :(
 
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