Emergency HELP - saving a nestling!!!

It’s late out here and I’ve had a very exhausting day so I’ll try to keep it short. A pair of pigeons have been nesting in my balcony for a while now. They had eggs and the eggs hatched and things were going pretty well for the babies.
Early morning, one of the baby birdies died. I heard a screetching when I was on my bed and I ran to check out to see the little birdie on the floor (their nest is way up) bleeding with a broken neck. I picked him immediately and carried him inside but he was gone by then. There’s nothing I could have done. I’m still miserable about it.
I was moping around for quite some time and then I realized about other baby (there were two). I went to check in again and I found him hiding in a corner on the floor. Look away and you might miss it. Absolutely no injuries. Its a miracle really. My sister thought it’d be better to put him back in so we did.
However, this is where things get grim. The parents won’t have any of it. They have a routine of checking in at regular intervals and when the parents came in, they checked in, threw pieces of the nest on the floor and flew away. They haven’t come back after. This was at around 2pm. My mother told me that I should wait so we did.
The parents used to come back every night and stay throughout for the babies, but there’s still no sign of them. I would think to leave him out a little longer but
a) he hasn’t been fed this whole day.
b) the weather outside is NUTS. It’s raining and it’s very cold.

What do I do? Should I still wait for the parents? I will only be able to get to him tomorrow morning which is in a few hours cause’ the weather is nuts. The lights have been on and off here.

The baby is atleast a fledgeling one (according to google) because it has feathers on body but not on its head. Something like this: http://imgur.com/zR7GowS


Now, questions -
• Is baby formula good to go? Can I use it for the baby his age? He did not like being picked up (understandably) and he is very very fearful. This will make feeding extremely difficult. Any tips?

• When I picked up the birdie that died and as well as when my sister picked up the other birdie, we got a little itchy. I had to clean up immediately after cause it itched. I was going through the forum today and I saw the post about bird mites. Could this be bird mites? Would it pose as a risk to Max? (Ofcourse it would, but how contagious is it?)

• Keeping the baby - Where do I keep him? I’m thinking of keeping him in Max’s old cage for now. Would that be okay?

• Release - We plan on releasing him after he becomes independent. Would this be possible (ensuring that the bird can survive outside?)

There are no santuaries / rescues here for me to get this baby to. I’m the only hope. Please help me. Any suggestions / tips are welcome.

Thank you.

You are so thoughtful to want to help! I'm no pigeon expert but I found this article.

How to care for a fledgling pigeon

It sounds like yes you can use regular baby parrot formula to feed. If you have a heating pad or a heat source to keep him nearby, that will help him stay warm.

As for the itching, pigeons can carry things so it may be wise to have him in a quarantine room of his own where no people go in very much except caretakers. Keep all equipment sanitized and wash hands thoroughly after handling him at all.

Good luck and keep us updated!

Yes itzjbean is right, you can use regular parrot hand raising formula for pigeons as long as they are over 14 days old, which if the baby is near fledgling age, you are fine.

Making sure the baby is warm enough at this age, a tote with bedding or paper towels in the bottom would probably be best. Unless your house is kept rather cold, or the chick isn't feathered well, an external heat source may not be needed. Just watch the chick. If it seems really fluffed and shivering it is too cold. Wings spread out and panting, too hot. Pay careful attention though, because not being the right temperature can kill a chick quickly. It's hard to give more specific advice than that without seeing exactly how feathered it is.

As for the mites, I'm really not sure as it's not a problem I've ever encountered.

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I think warm and dry would by the first things I would worry about if taking this on. I would be worried about any disease threat that he might pose to your other birds (and mites are contagious/can infest areas)sooo...that having been said, if you can get him warmer and dryer, that would be #1 in my book (if taking the rescue route). I have read that wet baby birds can freeze to death quickly when out of the nest.

I'm not sure how things are going with the other baby, but Noodles is right, if that nestling isn't fully-feathered then making sure it's ambient temperature is warm enough is going to be vital, otherwise it won't matter if he eats or not, because it will end-up developing into a huge Fungal infection in it's crop anyway...You're going to have to have some type of external heat source, like a heating pad underneath whatever you're keeping him in that you can adjust the heat on (not directly underneath the bird, but under the box), and then also make certain that you're heating the hand-feeding formula up using a candy/cooking thermometer in it the entire time you're feeding him, because once again, if the formula isn't between 100-110 degrees F the same thing will happen, or if it's too hot then crop burns...When they are this young, temperature is everything because they cannot maintain their own body temp yet without all of their feathers...

Hello everyone. Thank you so so much for your replies!
Quick update - The weather was still wacky this morning. We had lights out almost the entire night yesterday. After things calmed a bit, We went in to retrieve the baby. The nest is very high up on a broad plank like surface and the baby had moved to the other end from where we could not get to him at all. We tried a bunch of different ways but failed in all. I called my Uncle who lives five minutes away from me to come help us find the baby.
He was out and came by an hour later. We were about to try again when all of a sudden, the mother flew in the nest. This is after 24+ hours, y’all. So we stopped and tried to see what was going on. However, given the baby was on the other side, we couldn’t see him.
The dad flew in a few hours later for just a bit. We’re still checking in on them, making sure the visits are regular.
I think the baby is being fed normally because I’ve been hearing the cooing of the parents.
Maybe I just freaked out for no reason at all. It’s always better to be safe and knowledgeble on these things than be sorry. But I’m thankful to you all for your help on this. I had all the supplies ready and was even willing to keep him if he couldn’t be released.
Still keeping a check on him. Will add on more if things change! Thank you.

Great! Live that coo sounds! Hopefully baby will be fine

It's possible that the parents were caught in the storm, if it's as bad as you say it's been, and they couldn't get back to their nest until the wind died-down. That's not unusual, whether it be the wind/weather, a predator that they've spotted that is stalking them and they have to wait for it to leave, etc., sometimes they get stuck and they can't get back to their nest...

I know you can't see the baby to check if it's crop is full or not, but I'd say as long as you see at least one of the parents in the nest most of the time, then they're most-likely feeding it. Doves are like Budgies and other parrots where the father also feeds the baby in addition to the mother, so I'd just check every so often, a few times a day, to make sure that one of the parents is there most of the time. If so, then they're probably feeding him and everything is okay...

EllenD said:

It's possible that the parents were caught in the storm, if it's as bad as you say it's been, and they couldn't get back to their nest until the wind died-down. That's not unusual, whether it be the wind/weather, a predator that they've spotted that is stalking them and they have to wait for it to leave, etc., sometimes they get stuck and they can't get back to their nest...

I know you can't see the baby to check if it's crop is full or not, but I'd say as long as you see at least one of the parents in the nest most of the time, then they're most-likely feeding it. Doves are like Budgies and other parrots where the father also feeds the baby in addition to the mother, so I'd just check every so often, a few times a day, to make sure that one of the parents is there most of the time. If so, then they're probably feeding him and everything is okay...

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Oh yes, the weather was nuts! I do think I may have over reacted though...Witnessing one little birdie die was heart wrenching and I did not want it to happen again. When the parents first came in to check in, they acted so weird and flew away. I thought I’d ruined it lol.
But I’m so glad they came back! Yes, I’m keeping an eye every few hours. The parents are coming in regularly so I think we’re good here.
Raising a baby bird is no easy task - I had everything ready, just in case, but I was terrified. Getting everything right is SO important for their life - right angle of feeding, perfect temperature etc. I’m glad that this ended positively for the bany!

reeisconfused said:

EllenD said:

It's possible that the parents were caught in the storm, if it's as bad as you say it's been, and they couldn't get back to their nest until the wind died-down. That's not unusual, whether it be the wind/weather, a predator that they've spotted that is stalking them and they have to wait for it to leave, etc., sometimes they get stuck and they can't get back to their nest...

I know you can't see the baby to check if it's crop is full or not, but I'd say as long as you see at least one of the parents in the nest most of the time, then they're most-likely feeding it. Doves are like Budgies and other parrots where the father also feeds the baby in addition to the mother, so I'd just check every so often, a few times a day, to make sure that one of the parents is there most of the time. If so, then they're probably feeding him and everything is okay...

Click to expand...

Oh yes, the weather was nuts! I do think I may have over reacted though...Witnessing one little birdie die was heart wrenching and I did not want it to happen again. When the parents first came in to check in, they acted so weird and flew away. I thought I’d ruined it lol.
But I’m so glad they came back! Yes, I’m keeping an eye every few hours. The parents are coming in regularly so I think we’re good here.
Raising a baby bird is no easy task - I had everything ready, just in case, but I was terrified. Getting everything right is SO important for their life - right angle of feeding, perfect temperature etc. I’m glad that this ended positively for the bany!

Click to expand...

Hey, I'm very thankful that you may have "overreacted", because the worst way for a bird or any living creature to die, including a human being, is from hypothermia/exposure...It's an long, slow, painful death that is only worse in cold-blooded creatures like reptiles...I have actually read posts on my Bearded Dragon Forum of new members who have just joined because their Dragon was obviously sick or injured and they wanted a "home remedy", and when told they had to take their Dragon to a Certified Herp Vet because they need something as simple and cheap as an Anti-Parasitic for Pinworms or an antibiotic for Coccidia (the two most common illnesses in Bearded Dragons that cost about $50-$75 to treat at a Herp Vet), they have responded back that they "couldn't afford to take their Dragon to a Vet or to even buy them a $5 box of Panacur at Walmart to treat the Pinworms, so they "Decided to put him out of his misery and so I put them in the freezer"...These are "cold-blooded" animals...They will actually live inside a freezer, in total agony, for hours and hours, up to an entire 24 hours, until their hearts finally stop beating due to their blood slowly solidifying. It's got to be the most painful, torturous way for a creature to die...And these people are doing this because their Dragons have something simple and cheap to treat like Pinworms or Coccidia, not a life-threatening or even a painful condition...And they don't understand what "Cold-Blooded" means, obviously...It's terrible, and it happens probably once a month or so on the forum...

Anyway, back from my tangent/rant, lol, thank you for caring about a wild baby bird's welfare...So many people purposely buy themselves "pets" and they don't even buy the very bare necessities needed to simply keep them alive, let alone healthy and happy...So any time someone like you steps-up and goes above and beyond for an animal, simply because they are good people who care about living creatures, then I am extremely appreciative...I have had MANY, I'm talking that this happens at least 2-3 times a month, new members who join the Bearded Dragon Forum, make a post that their Dragon is suddenly sick and has "worms coming out of their butt", they post a photo of a nasty, disgusting, tiny little tank that hasn't been cleaned for months, that has live feeder-insects crawling all through it because they keep putting them in the tank even though their Dragon hasn't eaten anything in a month because they are so infested with parasites and bacterial infections, and we'll tell them that their Dragon has Pinworms due to their tank being absolutely filthy, full of feces, urates, rotting lettuce and veggies that have been in there for months, and then the live feeder-insects that carry the parasites and harmful bacteria..Besides telling them that they need to clean their Dragon's tank out at the very least once a week (Bearded Dragons don't even have a bowel-movement every day, more like once every 2-3 days, so it's extremely easy and quick to simply remove the feces every time they go and disinfect the floor of the tank right after, takes all of 10 minutes max. once every 2-3 days)...Then we tell them that they need to take their Dragon to the Vet to have a complete Fecal done, because besides the Pinworms they most-likely also have other parasites and bacterial infections, almost always Coccidia, etc...These owners refuse, say they can't afford to pay $100 maximum for a Vet visit, a Fecal examination/testing, and all of the meds (treating Bearded Dragons medically is much cheaper than treating a Parrot)...So after losing that battle, we will tell them that the medication that the Herp Vet would prescribe for the Pinworms would be oral Panacur, which is usually only given once a week to the Dragon, for 6-8 weeks...

So 6-8 total oral doses of Panacur and that's it...So we tell them that we are willing to help them treat their Dragon for the Pinworms at home, since they refuse to take them to a Vet...We are willing to explain to them step-by-step how to compound an oral-suspension of Panacur from either tablets or powder that you can buy at any Walmart or Tractor Supply store, as Panacur is an extremely common medication used for de-worming in Dogs, Cats, Rodents, etc. And you can buy the total amount of Panacur you will need to treat a Bearded Dragon for Pinworms over the entire 8 weeks at any Walmart (cheapest place) in the Dog Health aisle for around $8-$9 total (a healthy, adult Bearded Dragon who's growth has not been stunted by improper lighting/diet is between 450-550 grams or more, depending on whether they are male or female, so the Panacur packs sold to de-worm Dogs are obviously much, much, much more than you need to treat a Beardie)...Then of course they either refuse to run to Walmart or Tractor Supply and buy the Panacur, usually because they "don't have $10 to spend", or because they "can't get to a Walmart or Tractor Supply any time soon"...Or they do go and buy the Panacur, and then when they figure out that they can't just sprinkle the powder right out of the packet and onto their Dragon's live insects or on their salads, and that they have to actually measure a certain amount of the powder out and mix it with a certain amount of water that also has to measured, then they say "I didn't realize that this was going to be such a pain in the ass, I'm not doing this"...It's sickening, frustrating, and we just don't get it...

So yes, thank you for caring about a little wild baby bird...