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.
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.
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.
17 comments:
Just as God intended for us to be. One with His creation as we also are. You have inspired me . I wish there were so many more people in this world like you. I have loved our feathered friends since i was a boy. One day the lion will lay down with the lamb. What a glorious day that will be. Im sure we'll be there as the new heaven and earth welcome us forever.
Thanks for saving a life and writing this blog. I found a pigeon baby on the road and brought it home since it might have become dinner for stray cats. Your blog provided me lot of tips about caring for this baby. I hope I can raise it as my pet util it learns to fly.
I found a baby pigeon on a Paris street yesterday - must have been a week old. I took him to a local vet who gave me food and a syringe to try and feed him with, but she didn't think he would last long. He made it through the night and today I took him to the rescue centre at the E'Lcole Nationale Veterinaire. I miss the little fella though. Hope he makes it.
Notice pigeons hanging around your residence too much? Time to check out pigeon removal in New Jersey
So sweet of you. You saved a life. Thank you for sharing because i just found one and i am taking care of him.
thank you!
Hi mam I found a injured pigeon nearly 3 to 4 weeks old. I rescued it. It has no feathers on back of its head. I had to open his beak for to give food. It won't eat food by own. After two days I opened it and he fly away from my terres to to neighbours terres, immediately crows are started to attack him. I ran away and again save his life. But I am very concerned that he won't eat by own and drink water. I use injection to feed water. Kindly reply me through my mail id gp.barathmech@gmail. Com pls suggest how to care him
When you need to feed and raise a baby pigeons remember your main source of info and support is the local pigeon clubs. Raising babies is something all pigeon fanciers has had to do. Whether it is for racing or show birds. I am raising a white Belgium Racer right now. The parents got sick and let one nestmate die. I had to put the parents on oral medication so that ruled out them being able to feed the baby any longer. Medication for adult pigeons would be toxic to young squab. First off, learn your terms. A baby pigeon is called a squab, lol. You go to FB pages where pigeon lovers enjoy helping people. One site is "SHOW TYPE HOMERS". If you find a pigeon with a band on it's leg. It is registered to someone. Every band is unique in the whole world. Sometimes they get lost, yep, lol it is possible. Other times they get ill and stop to rest and get well. You can help them do that. Some racers fly long distances, i.e., Paris to Saigon or New York to San Diego..... Thousands of miles. All my birds are special to me, especially as a beginner. As a beginner I have about 8 snow white Belgium Racing Homers and 40 Show Homers. A decent show bird can sell for $300 or more. In Asian millions of dollars are waged on pigeon races. Sorry for the overload of info, you can tell I love them.
This is kinda cool because i've never seen a baby pigeon before lol. Speaking of which, i've never seen a baby butterfly either! WOW! What's nature hiding from us?
Maybe Because it's called a caterpillar, retard. Thats why nobody sees a baby butterfly. Because its a frickn Caterpillar. smh
I also have a pet pigeon called Louis.the wife found a egg on the lawn ,i put it my incubator after about 18 days louis was born.he is now about one year old,and goes every where with me ,to work,shops,bird auctions.he is a black and white fan tail. louis loves travelling in my van,he lives in one of my sheds.i put him to bed every night.call him in the mornings,louis flies around the garden with the other birds,always comes when i call him. i really believe he thinks i am his dad. we always get a lot of attention when we are out and he loves every minute of it.i do not know how we stand with the law because he always sits on my shoulder when we are out in the van or my car, i have just brought a bird harness for him because i do not want to lose him when we are a long way from home.i have been offered a lot of money for louis several times but he will never ever be for sale hes my baby.
I've bread olot of birds in my life time but never a wood pigeon I guess it's about 2 to 3 weeks old I'm feeding it bread an wild bird seed it's a beautiful bird
I myself raised two baby pigeons. Their mother died when they were only four or five days old. Since then they are with me. Now they are two months old, grown into little adorable birds. BUt still they don't fly at all they just walk. I think they don't know that they can fly. Is there any way to make them learn how to fly?? Also one of them looks perfectly healthy but the other one is very light in weight and have a very small body. He got his legs splayed but they are fine now. Is he okay??
Your pigeon looks similar to one of my pigeon. You are a good hearted woman.God bless you.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I have taken on your feeding method with the baby pigeon I am raising, and it works well and keeps him clean too! He's not a fan of the sling,though,so i'm still trying out various inventions to help us travel about together comfortably. Thanks again, and best wishes to you and Louis
hey you who mentioned baby butterflies, you are not a retard, but a sweetheart
My dad just brought home some birds that I'm assuming to be baby pigeons and I can hole them in my hand. They are so tiny and cute.
You can raise pigeons on Kaytee exact formula, from the pet store. If you cut the bottom out of a soda bottle about half of it, then put a pink balloon on the pour spout and make a slit in it almost all the way across the mouth. When you offer the device to the baby it will plunge it's beak into the slit with it's mouth wide open. You could dump anything down there. I normally fill a large syringe with the baby food like mixture, like baby cereal. I feed them 3 times per day with food pigeon food, pellets, bowl in their holding box. When I see they are eating more and more of the normal feed I cut back on hand feeding. Be sure they have water all the time during the whole process. I also use pine shavings in the bottom of their box to soak up any spilled liquid and their poop. I do not use cedar shavings because I have heard it can cause health problems in birds.
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