War memorials to pigeons

Monument to pigeon solders - Lille, France

War memorial to pigeon  - Brussels

Carrier Pigeons Turn Cameramen - World War One

After looking at the number of visitors that have visited my blog about War Pigeons - it wins as the most visited.  So here are some more fun photos and information about how pigeons helped the war effort - Carrier pigeons turned cameramen.  These are articles dated from 1930's

How to Raise A Baby Pigeon

Louis Bastille

We found this baby pigeon on July 14th while on our way to watch fireworks for the Bastille day celebrations, thus we named him/her Louis Bastille.  You can't know at the sex of a pigeon until it is full grown.

 For the first few days I carried Louis in a sling to hold him close to my heart, which calmed him down.

  

He also liked to ride on my shoulder.  

I figured that Louis was 2-3 weeks old when we found him.  Here he is after about a week with us.

 Feeding a baby pigeon

Getting food prepared and beginning to feed a baby bird right away is of utmost importance for keeping the bird alive.  Different birds eat different things.  Pigeons eat seeds, so this is lots easier than rescuing a bird that eats bugs.

Get ahold of some bird seed, ideally seed for pigeons or doves, and grind it into a powder.  I use my coffee grinder.  Mix some water with it to make a paste.  Cook an egg and mix the yoke to the paste.

Take a plastic bag and put the mix in the corner and tie it off.  Then cut the corner and use this like a pastry bag to squeeze the food into the beak.

Wrap the bird in a cloth so you can hold it while you feed it.  With one hand pry the beak open and stick a finger in it to keep it open.  With the other hand squeeze the food into the side of the beak as far down its throat as possible.  

Louis Bastille is playing hid and seek while still wrapped in a cloth I used for keeping it from squirming while I fed it. 

In the beginning you will need to feed your baby bird every 2-3 hours. It is not necessary to feed it at night, just be sure to feed it a lot before you put it to bed and again in the morning.  Don't worry about feeding it too much - it has a crop where it holds the food and you can see or feel how much there is.  

It's important that the baby pigeon has other pigeons around so it knows that it is a pigeon.

After a while, once your pigeon can fly a little, it will want to perch on a stick during the day.  

A basket with a handle works well for a portable perch - since you can put a napkin in the basket to catch the poops. 

In this photo Louis is sitting in his water bowl.

Eventually your bird will begin to peck at seeds and drink water.  Louis began drinking water and pecking at seeds after a couple weeks.  I ground the seeds so they were smaller pieces.  At first he just pecked, but didn't pick any seeds up.  Once your bird can eat on its own, you will still need to continue to feed your bird for another week, as it will not get enough nutrients.  

When I saw Louis sitting in his water bowl, I figured he wanted to take a both, so I put a dish of water out and he did take a bath.  

Once Louis could fly better, he chose our coffee machine as his new home.  Pigeons are cliff dwellers, which is one reason they like to live in cities: lots of ledges.  

Louis started venturing out into the big world before he had tail feathers.  He had a hard time flying and we were very worried about him because of the cats in town.  We had to rescue him twice when he flew to a ledge but didn't quite make it.  

He spent his first outing flying to and sitting in a gutter behind our house.  At least we could still see him.   Once your bird is flying you can only hope and pray it will find it's way to a flock and live the life of a free and wild pigeon.  

After a month, Louis Bastille is still an adolescent bird, but living in the wild. He comes every day and sometimes stays for several hours. I still can hold him to my chest and he is very content to stay there. 

It is a great pleasure to save a baby birds life.  I hope that this inspires you to take the necessary steps to save a baby pigeon if you ever you find one.  They are the perfect pet - free to live in nature and also able to return and visit, giving you many years of happiness.   The average age of a pigeon living in the wild is about 12 years.