Caring for injured pigeon

[Jim McArthur]

Hello, pigeon friends!

 

As of Thanksgiving night: I have a pigeon! My wife and I found an injured bird while we were walking the dog. It looks as though he was attacked by a cat: his right wing has a hunk of feathers torn out, but he can spread both his wings, just can't get airborne.

 

I'm keeping him in the backyard in a portable pet carrier, and feeding him a commercial blend of wild bird seed. I put alcohol and peroxide on his wing the first couple of days to clean the wound.

 

Any suggestions?

 

My father was a fancier as a boy: a pigeon racer. I'm coming to really like this little guy, even if he's only a feral city pigeon!  

 

Jim McArthur

[john robo]

if its only its feathers they will grow back. good luck with your new friend. but beware thats how i started, now i have a shed full.

[Jim McArthur]

Thanks, John! (How nice the Internet is: within minutes here in New Orleans I'm replying to a reply from England!    )

 

I hope I can help him recuperate.

 

I won't tell my wife what you said about the growing bird collection! ;D (Though actually, she's worse than I am about such things!)

 

I understand that the pigeon fancy is VERY big in England, is that true?

 

Jim McArthur

[Guest]

Very Big Jim, I'm an escapee from England now flying in Central Oregon.

 

My suggestion would be to put the bird in semi darkness, maybe in a cupboard in the garage with the door slightly open for fresh air, the pigeon will rest easier and heal quicker.

[Guest]

I meant to say still keep him in the carrying box lol, maybe you could dress his wounds with a little Neosporin, I always use that on broken skin on my pigeons

 

Hope this helps

[jimmy white]

hi jim ,,hope your new patient improves  , im sure hyacinth will give you all the help she can  , even if you wish to start up with a small loft  , but welcome to the forum anyway and maybe let us know how the bird does,,,well i hope

[Jim McArthur]

Hello Pigeon Mates, I'm back from Atlanta.

 

"Homer" (the name he's acquired!) is doing well. I'm keeping him in a small animal airline transport box on top of a high cabinet. It's fairly dark but he can get  light and plenty of air from the front of the cage, and I covered the floor with bird cage litter and gave him some shredded newspaper for "nest" material.

 

I am feeding him a mixed concoction of cracked corn, wild bird seed mixture, bread crumbs (as in, torn-up bread slices), and suet.

 

So, I guess time will tell.

 

I'm going to keep him for several weeks, and then take him out to the park and see if he's willing and able to reconnect with his old life. If he flies away, I'll be both happy and sad.   :'( If he never can make it: I have a pet pigeon.  ;D

 

In any case, we'll be moving over the next few months to a house with a much bigger backyard, and you can bet that there's going to be a couple racing pigeons there with us, whether Homer's still with us or not!  

 

Jim

[Guest]

Jim,

 

Leave the bred and suet out, the wild bird seed is just fine and if you really want to give him a treat, a few peanuts (Not salted, the ones from the food bins in the grocery stores) and he will be yur friend for life.

[pigeonpete]

hi jim howx homer doing? you will have to get him a mate if he stays ;D im sure linda will point you in the right direction

[birdman55678]

Jim what you really need my friend is some racers, the common pigeon will just take up the space that a racer will fit in.  LOL.   Seriously once your started with the racers don't mix the commies in.  Your blood line will soon be diminished and all you will have is common pigeons.  Ed

[Jim McArthur]

Thanks, Hyacinth.

 

I took the bread and suet out of his cage. I'll get him some unsalted peanuts tomorrow!  

 

Jim

[Jim McArthur]

Ed, I'm really hoping that Homer can get well and fly off to his old life / wife / whatever! If he does find a permanent home with us, I will keep him separately from the racers that I acquire.

 

Jim

[Jim McArthur]

Well, I HOPE Homer makes it.   :-/

 

I took him out of his cage today to put Neosporin on his injured wing, as Linda recomended - and he flew across my living room! I took him out to the backyard (such as it is: not the best place for a pigeon to get airborne), put the medicine on his wing, andlet him try to fly: and he flew a short distance to the trash can, then jumped to the ground, and, when I tried to catch him - went under the house next door.

 

I placed his open cage next to the house, in case he wants to return to it, though I doubt that he will.

 

His wing had really healed well over the past 10 days, so I hope that it's well enough for him to resume his old life.

 

Well, goodbye, Homer, and I hope and pray that you make it!  :'(

 

Jim

[Guest]

Pound to a penny he'll be back tomorrow

[kev01293]

well done jim for taking the time and effort to care for the pigeon when so many people nowadays just dont care and are not prepared to make the slightest effort to help a injured bird or animal, you sound like you would make a excellent pigeon fancier

                          kev

 

keep your eyes open jim as i wouldnt be suprised if your feathered friend decided to return to you after the good care you took of it

[birdman55678]

Good job Jim.  I am very happy you got him better and released him.  Hopefully as you say he is back to his normal life.  Not many will take the time to do what you have done.  Again good job.  Ed

[Jim McArthur]

Thanks for all your nice comments, everyone.  

 

One thing's for sure: at my house now, we all love pigeons!  ;D

 

Come the 19th of December we go to Act of Sale on a new house with a great tiled courtyard that will have enough room to keep some pigeons.

 

Am still educating myself; am still debating between racers, and tumblers / rollers.

 

Please feel free to make recommendations!  ;D Hint: I really DON"T have much time on my hands: which kind require less time investment?

 

Jim

[Tim.Farr]

Well depends on if you're getting racers to race or just to have homers and fly around the house/release every once in awhile.  If you're looking at competing with either then rollers probably take lest time.  I don't think I could ever have anything but racers though, I just find it so amazing that they fly home in a day from such far distances that I would have trouble driving.

[Jim McArthur]

Well depends on if you're getting racers to race or just to have homers and fly around the house/release every once in awhile.

 

 

More "flying homers" than "racing racers" : at least. to start, I'd say. Same if I had rollers. Maybe with more time, space, and experience I'd become a serious racer.

 

If you just wanted to dabble in a few homers for fun, vs. a few rollers for fun: which would be easier to handle, would you say?

 

Jim

 

[Tim.Farr]

Homers for sure if you can start with some babies.  With rollers there's always that chance that you can lose them off the loft even after flying them for over a year.  I've had a friend have his whole flying kit up and fly off due to a bad wind,etc.  Homers once homed are near impossible to lose aside from the occasional hawk attack or wire incident.  Homers are also a very sturdy breed and mainly the only reason there are is so much sickness you read about is due to racing and being exposed to birds on the trucks.  If you're just having them home and have good clean feed/water/grit and a good loft I dare say you won't run into many health problems at all.

[birdman55678]

I would really suggest the racers Jim.  For one real good reason IF you ever do decide to race then you would at least have stock to start with, if you invest your time and cash into rollers then all you will ever have is rollers.  But think about this one, if you just want some pigeons to have pigeons then just go catch some commons out from under some ole bridge or an old barn or deserted building.  Raise em and then just enjoy them.  I would seriously think about getting racers though, just my thoughts.  Later. Ed

[Tim.Farr]

Also Jim, awhile back I found this site with plans for a smaller type of loft.  I liked the set up for a couple of pairs of birds.

 

http://www.uplandbirddog.com/training/loft.html

[birdman55678]

How ya doin Tim.  The package is almost ready to send to ya.  Jim I have known people who just nail up orange crates to the side of the barn and put a pair in each one with one hole in it.  Ed :-/ :-/ : :

[Tim.Farr]

Hey Ed   Sounds great!  I'm going to pair up the birds tomorrow I think if the weather is good.  Depending on what I learn in those videos will pave the way for how I go about my young birds this year.  When Ed says he knows people he really means he flies his birds out of orange crates!  just kidding

[Jim McArthur]

It sounds as though racers / homers rather than rollers is the better way to start. I would hate to have my whole flock decide to decamp en masse!  ;D

 

Jim