From: BDFF30@aol.com Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2007 15:42:13 EST
To: arty@pigeonrescue.com
Subject: Saving a Pigeon
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HI Arty,
I live in Fort Lauderdale Florida and I feed wild birds in my back yard twice a day. About 10 days ago a pigeon seemed reluctant to fly away, instead she managed to get under an awning on the side of my house above a Jacuzzi that I am storing (it is turned on its side and has little alcoves and such that she has made herself comfortable. I take food out to her on schedule and make sure she has fresh water. It has now been almost two weeks and she seems to not want to go anywhere.(which is fine with me) However I'm not sure if she (or he) is staying because it is injured or just because it is comfortable. My concern is that there are Farrell cats in the neighborhood and I don't want to put her in danger. I was thinking about coaxing her into a cage... and taking care of her (I have a large screened in back porch with plenty of room) There are many large cages around the house and I'm sure I can accommodate her. The problem is, I worry that she may be sick and I wouldn't want to endanger my animals...(Orange Winged Amazon, Cocker, Springer a Lab mix, and a couple of inside domestic cats that are acclimated to birds and wont hurt them. (Im the guy in the neighborhood that everyone comes to when an animal is injured or lost and I do what I can to rescue them)
I'm not that experience with pigeons and I feel they get a bad rap... everyone says they are nasty and disease infested. I don't mind taking care of her but I worry about the rest of the animals catching something. I have rescued several morning doves, a couple of parrots, and pigeons and taken them to the Wild Life Rescue and they always say the same thing...(they are going to humanely put them down as they are (forgive the pun) sitting ducks waiting to be slaughtered. She seems to be perfectly healthy and content, I hate to take her only to have her put to sleep.Could you maybe advise me as to what to do... Please understand whatever advise you give me is taken with a grain of salt and I understand we are both thinking about what is best for the bird and I would hold no malice or blame towards you should something happen to the bird. I'm just not that experienced with the care of pigeons and any advise would be appreciated. Please accept my gratitude in advance for your time and advise.
Sincerely,
Bill J. Dickerson
Bill
(954)-962-0504

--- BDFF30@aol.com wrote:

> HI Arty,
> I live in Fort Lauderdale Florida and I feed wild
> birds in my back yard
> twice a day. About 10 days ago a pigeon seemed
> reluctant to fly away, instead she
> managed to get under an awning on the side of my
> house above a Jacuzzi that
> I am storing (it is turned on its side and has
> little alcoves and such that
> she has made herself comfortable. I take food out to
> her on schedule and make
> sure she has fresh water. It has now been almost two
> weeks and she seems to
> not want to go anywhere.(which is fine with me)
> However I'm not sure if she
> (or he) is staying because it is injured or just
> because it is comfortable. My
> concern is that there are Farrell cats in the
> neighborhood and I don't want
> to put her in danger. I was thinking about coaxing
> her into a cage... and
> taking care of her (I have a large screened in back
> porch with plenty of room)
> There are many large cages around the house and I'm
> sure I can accommodate
> her. The problem is, I worry that she may be sick
> and I wouldn't want to
> endanger my animals...(Orange Winged Amazon, Cocker,
> Springer a Lab mix, and a
> couple of inside domestic cats that are acclimated
> to birds and wont hurt them.
> (Im the guy in the neighborhood that everyone comes
> to when an animal is
> injured or lost and I do what I can to rescue them)
> I'm not that experience with pigeons and I feel they
> get a bad rap...
> everyone says they are nasty and disease infested. I
> don't mind taking care of her
> but I worry about the rest of the animals catching
> something. I have rescued
> several morning doves, a couple of parrots, and
> pigeons and taken them to the
> Wild Life Rescue and they always say the same
> thing...(they are going to
> humanely put them down as they are (forgive the pun)
> sitting ducks waiting to be
> slaughtered. She seems to be perfectly healthy and
> content, I hate to take
> her only to have her put to sleep.Could you maybe
> advise me as to what to do...
> Please understand whatever advise you give me is
> taken with a grain of salt
> and I understand we are both thinking about what is
> best for the bird and I
> would hold no malice or blame towards you should
> something happen to the bird.
> I'm just not that experienced with the care of
> pigeons and any advise would
> be appreciated. Please accept my gratitude in
> advance for your time and
> advise.
> Sincerely,
> Bill J. Dickerson
>
> Bill
> (954)-962-0504
>
>
>
> **************************************See AOL's top
> rated recipes
> (Top 11 Recipes from AOL Food: Top Rated Recipes - AOL Food)
>

Hi Bill, thank you for all you do for animals.
I feel it would be best to contain the bird so you can get a better look at him/her and determine if there is a injury somewhere.
How do the eyes appear, they should appear shiny and clear of any (film) type mucus.
Is the bird stable, a good sign would be to see the bird perched on one leg.
It could also be that the bird is a hen and its time for her to lay, females will lay eggs without the males contribution, they will not be fertile but they will be layed and cared for as if they were.
You are correct about preditors, best to bring the bird in for protection at this time, atleast until we can figure out whats happening.
Pigeons drink water by sucking, as we humans do while using a straw, so please provide clean water daily at least 2 inches deep and if possible add a drop of multivitamins to the water and or a ringers solutions, this is a pinch of salt and sugar and mix well, this will help with rehydration.
Pigeons can carry lice and mites so a bath using one tablespoon of borax will kill the creepies, please if possible give the bird a bath and wash you hands after handleing the bird.
Best to keep her/him away from your other birds, this is simply good (bird practice).
If the bird is eating well and drinking well and all appears okay, care for him/her for 30 days to assure all is fine then if possible, locate other Pigeons near you, (a feral flock) and release they bird there.
I forgot to ask if the bird is banded, is there a band on the legs?
You are welcomed to join us on the parrot forum at this link, its free to join, here's the link.
http://www.parrotchatter.com/forum.php
Again thank you for all you are doing for the bird of peace and please come and join us on the forum, I am the Dove & Pigeon forum coordinator, my screen name is BrokenWing.
Sincerely
Arty Tovar
BrokenWing Wildlife, Exotic, Pigeon Rescue & Rehab.

Good Morning Arty,
Thank you so much for getting back to me your advise is very appreciated. I don't mean to bother you but I have a couple of questions on your reply.
1.)YOU WROTE: I feel it would be best to contain the bird so you can get a better look at him/her and determine if there is a injury somewhere.
MY Question: How exactly do you give a pigeon a bath? With Shanti (a rescued parrot...hand fed when it was a baby and very tame) I have an acrylic perch that I put in the guest walk-in shower..., I get the water just warm enough to take the chill away..., then him put here on the perch and (she or he)not sure ... does his own thing for about 5 to 8 minutes...,then I pat dry him by dabbing with a towel and letting him shade excess off.
.
How do you give a Pigeon... should I spray (I think its a her) with a water bottle or what... she seems a little friendly but still little nervous and scared when I approach and I want to cause as little stress as possib
le.
2.) YOU WROTE: How do the eyes appear, they should appear shiny and clear of any (film) type mucus.
My Reply:Her eyes are clear, no mucus, or cloudiness.
3.) YOU WROTE: Is the bird stable, a good sign would be to see the bird perched on one leg.It could also be that the bird is a hen and its time for her to lay, females will lay eggs without the males contribution, they will not be fertile but they will be layed and cared for as if they were.
My reply:
I relocated the bird yesterday.to a screened porch..., I took a large dog kennel built a stand about 3
feet high and put a couple of perches in it and a 5 gallon food container turned side ways so if she
wanted to get in it she could. I thought it best to give here plenty of room. She was perched on the
perch last night but I couldn't see if she was on one leg or not. She seemed a little apprehensive but all
in all adjusted pretty good (I think). I checked to see if maybe there were eggs behind the area she was
at(there was no nest or anything and there were no eggs.
Although the porch is screened, I keep her in the cage (kennel) as I don't want her to injure herself
by flying into the screen. (although she has made no effort to fly. When I caught her yesterday (I was
wearing a pair of cotton gloves and she of course was trying to get away so I notice her wings seemed
to be in good working order and there didn't seem to be anything out of place. Should I put something
in the cage for her to build a nest... do they even build nest???
ALSO:
a.) Is the kennel too large would she feel safer in a smaller space?, Does it stress her out to be in a
cage... she seems pretty content.
3.) YOU WROTE: If the bird is eating well and drinking well and all appears okay, care for him/her for 30
days to assure all is fine then if possible, locate other Pigeons near you, (a feral flock) and release they
bird there.
My reply:
There is about 100 birds that come to the house twice a day for feeding (Morning doves, Parrots, A
couple of Cardinals, Blue Jays and a whole flock of Pigeons... So there is a feral flock to
let her go to when the time is right. I make as little physical contact as possible as I don't want her to
become to complacent with humans, I do give here encouragement and talk softely to her to reassure
there that she is not in danger with me to keep her stress level down.
4.) YOU WROTE: Is there a band on the legs?
My reply: I checked and there was no band... I saw that on "Animal Planet" (Smile)
5.) YOU WROTE: You are welcomed to join us on the parrot forum.
I will definitely join you as I always have some type of questions about Shanti (My Orange Winged
Amazon Parrot). (Smile)
Arty thanks so much for your advise and information it was a great help. I will keep you posted on her condition and when you get a chance if you could answer my questions above It would be great...
I will do what you think is best for the pigeon.
Thanks
Bill


Giving A pigeon a bath, I use a kitty litter box, fill 3/4 full of cool water (not warm), I add one tablespoon of 20 mule team Borax and stir well, I place the bird into the water, the bird maybe reluctent to bath on his/her own, so I assit by holding the bird with one hand and using my other hand I wash the bird, giving the bird a good soaking mainly up under the wings, the more soaked the bird is the better, all my Pigeons here love to bathe, but when I bring a rescue home, that bird isn't used to there surroundings and the new things happening, but they must be bathed to kill all the lice and mites.

Thank you for bringing the bird in, the birds safety is very important, why this bird is so timid is a sign there is something wrong, but for now that is a mystery, the 30 day time period is to see if the birds acts strange to suggest maybe a virus, or a parasite, you will want to keep an eye on the birds droppings, they should be firm (green with alittle white spot and a little water), the water will be the birds urine, if the stools appear runny and discolored this is a sign that there is something wrong, possible worms and or other intestinal parasites caused from drinking and or eating bad (bogus) food or water.

A mated pair will build nests, the male will bring sticks and other items to the female after they chosen a good location and the hen will do the nest building, they build very poor nests.

I know you will do your best by that little bird of peace, you seem like a wonderful person, the Pigeon is a hated bird, for the most, these birds do take a bad rap and are shunned by the general public.
Thank you very much for reaching out to help the bird of peace.

I feel it would be best to hang onto this bird for awhile, keep an eye on his/her droppings.

The pigeon enjoys a flat surface to perch on atleast 4 inches wide, however a large dowel will work.

Please don't worry about questions, I am here to help you help these birds, this is what I do.

I hope you join us a ParrotChatter.com, there are many great people there to help in anyway they can.

I hope to see you on the forum, please ask any questions you may have.
Peace
Arty

__________________

When all is done that is asked from me and I can fly no higher, I pray this day his hand extends to welcome home a flyer.
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