What to feed young pigeon

[AndyB Dorset]

I had to rescue a young pigeon from the ceiling cavaty at work today. There was no sign of a nest or any adults around. It,s well feathered apart from top of head and on its back at the base of it's neck, not much of a tail either yet. I've taken it home and managed to get it to eat milky bread but don't know if this is good or bad for it. Have to gentley hold edge of beak and pop food in when it opens up. Would it be a good idea to mix in some bird seed?

Thanks for any help
AndyB

[dmclean2]

Hi Andy,
Adult pigeons eat seeds and corn and store it in their crop, it kind of goes into a milky mush and then it is regurgetated as a milky substance and fed to the young birds, Now! I'm not saying you should try it in your mouth,lol,
but maybe you can squish up some seed with water and make a runny, semi hard mix and try dribbling that into it's beak ,
Good luck with it,
Duncan.

[nightshade]

I cannot remember all the details but the Wildlife SOS people feed "Chick Crumb" mixed with full milk to produce a paste but they need to be fed every couple of hours. Please check that this is correct before feeding. An alternative may be porridge oats obviously as fine and smooth a mix as poss.

[mystic meg]

Hi,
The easiest way to start off feeding a young pigeon is to use some frozen peas, put some frozen peas in a bowl, add some hot water and leave them to thaw for a minute or two, drain off the water and you now have a suculent pea. Sit the pigeon on your lap on a towel, hold his head and neck in your left hand ( if you can't manage that get someone to put their hand on his back to steady him on your lap) open his beak and pop a pea in his mouth pushing it as far back as it will go, then let him swallow it, then repeat untill you have filled his crop, he will probably take between 20-40 peas. He will only need feeding twice a day. That is a good emergency feeding guide to start with. the older he gets he will need to be introduced to grain, you can use the same method of feeding as for the peas, but when feeding hard food you must introduce him to grit as this helps grind down the food in the gizzard. So give him a few grains of corn and then some course grit( available from pet stores, not too course though) When he is at the grain stage, put him in a carrier with a bowl of grain and a bowl of water, he may well start to peck up on his own. Hand reared pigeons can become very tame, try not to talk to him or let him perch on you for any length of time.
We feed our hand reared pigeons on parrot hand rearing mix, but we put it straight into their crops by a tube. Pigeons are the only bird you can almost give anything to, even cows milk.

If this all sounds too daunting find your nearest wildlife hospital, most deal with pigeons. goodluck.

[AndyB Dorset]

Thanks for advice, he's doing well on porridge and pea diet. Eating fine, putting on weight and general filling out. Was a bit worried about some sneezing at first when feeding. I think it was just milk from the bread/milk mix going up his nose, a quick shake of the beak and he was ok again.
AndyB

[Lance Morgan]

Andy
You might suggest getting the roof space checked out at work there may be other pigeons nesting there. They could cause alot of mess and damage.