baby pigeon with odd leg

This is caused by not haveing 2 youn in the nest side by side and not
enough nesting materials.How ever if the leg can be bent some you can
take a bag tier and put it around each leg so the leg will be bent and
pushed back underneath its body.How ever if the bird is to old it might
not be abile to bend the leg.I have had this happen but the youngster
was only about 2 weeks old.Its worth a try anyway ok.
 >> Stay informed about: baby pigeon with odd leg 

"Horaceoglesbee@web" <horaceoglesbee DeleteThis @webtv.net> wrote in message
news:23372-40F5BE7E-9@storefull-3212.bay.webtv.net...
> This is caused by not haveing 2 youn in the nest side by side and not
> enough nesting materials.How ever if the leg can be bent some you can
> take a bag tier and put it around each leg so the leg will be bent and
> pushed back underneath its body.How ever if the bird is to old it might
> not be abile to bend the leg.I have had this happen but the youngster
> was only about 2 weeks old.Its worth a try anyway ok.
>
Thanks for your replies. Because the little pigeon was probably about 3
weeks old, I decided to take it to the vet.
The vet was very helpful, asked for a 2nd opinion and they decided that the
pigeon's bones had already "set" and deformed and that the kindest thing
they could do was put it to sleep which they did.
Shame I hadn't noticed the problem earlier but the pigeons are in effect
wild since they are not pets. Because I feed ducks, coots, moorhens and
swans in our garden, we get lots of birds including pigeons, some of which
are racers with rings on. The dovecote is down the bottom of our garden
and hadn't been occupied for many years until recently and now I know it is
in use I will keep an eye on what is going on in there.
The entrance holes are too small to put bowls inside the boxes unfortunately
so I shall have to hope that next time they use more nesting material.
Thanks again.
Sally
PS There was no charge by the vet for treating the little bird.
 >> Stay informed about: baby pigeon with odd leg 

On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 21:30:16 GMT, "SH" <anyone DeleteThis @thisnet.co.uk> wrote:

>
>"Horaceoglesbee@web" <horaceoglesbee DeleteThis @webtv.net> wrote in message
>news:23372-40F5BE7E-9@storefull-3212.bay.webtv.net...
>> This is caused by not haveing 2 youn in the nest side by side and not
>> enough nesting materials.How ever if the leg can be bent some you can
>> take a bag tier and put it around each leg so the leg will be bent and
>> pushed back underneath its body.How ever if the bird is to old it might
>> not be abile to bend the leg.I have had this happen but the youngster
>> was only about 2 weeks old.Its worth a try anyway ok.
>>
>Thanks for your replies. Because the little pigeon was probably about 3
>weeks old, I decided to take it to the vet.
>The vet was very helpful, asked for a 2nd opinion and they decided that the
>pigeon's bones had already "set" and deformed and that the kindest thing
>they could do was put it to sleep which they did.
>Shame I hadn't noticed the problem earlier but the pigeons are in effect
>wild since they are not pets. Because I feed ducks, coots, moorhens and
>swans in our garden, we get lots of birds including pigeons, some of which
>are racers with rings on. The dovecote is down the bottom of our garden
>and hadn't been occupied for many years until recently and now I know it is
>in use I will keep an eye on what is going on in there.
>The entrance holes are too small to put bowls inside the boxes unfortunately
>so I shall have to hope that next time they use more nesting material.
>Thanks again.
>Sally
>PS There was no charge by the vet for treating the little bird.
>
Since the nest is to small to put a nest bowl in I have used
80grit sand paper which will give the baby some traction
when it is small. I have used this when the birds don't want
my nest bowl. The baby is trying to push and stand up to
get fed and the wood offers no traction. It doesn't necessarily
need to be 80 grit paper. I wouldn't use any paper higher than
80grit but to use paper with smaller number. (40gt 60gt)

Now I have a question, can you explain to me why 80%
of the feral pigeon population is white out in the countryside?
When we went to Trafalgar(sp) Square 95% of the pigeons
there (1,000s) are the typical range of blue feral. While
the rest are the other normal colors you would find in pigeons,
but no whites? Out in the country side the percentages
seem to be almost opposite. When I saw small flocks of
ten to fifteen birds flying in the fields there were maybe
only one or two color pigeons and the rest were white.
Just curious. I ask people over there and they look at
me like I am crazy.
cheers,
tonyf
 >> Stay informed about: baby pigeon with odd leg 

> The entrance holes are too small to put bowls inside the boxes unfortunately
> so I shall have to hope that next time they use more nesting material.

Hi Sally,

One thing you can do...make sure there's plenty of straw around.
Pigeons will use straw to build a nest. Straw and twigs among other
things.

--
Onorio Catenacci
 >> Stay informed about: baby pigeon with odd leg 

Onorio Catenacci <NoSpam.TakeThisOut@NoSpam.NoWay> wrote in message news:<izGJc.519$vN1.39@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com>...
> > The entrance holes are too small to put bowls inside the boxes unfortunately
> > so I shall have to hope that next time they use more nesting material.
>
> Hi Sally,
>
> One thing you can do...make sure there's plenty of straw around.
> Pigeons will use straw to build a nest. Straw and twigs among other
> things.



Hi Sally,
this was always a problem with dove cotes. First, they were made for white
doves, which are smaller than pigeons, hence the small entrance holes.
Second, the boxes are just small square rooms, which actually, should have
been made with a bowl indentation in the bottom. However, for doves, which
make ridiculously flimsy nests, this was not too much a problem since their
babies grow and fledge much faster than pigeons. Pigeon babies are much
larger and heavier. Pigeon babies rest against each other, mostly for warmth.
If they are not in a bowl, or there is not enough nesting material to support
them, the leg they try to use to keep themselves close, and upright, slips
out from under them, and they don't have the strength yet to pull it back.
For instance, 2 babies in a flat nest with no material will probably both
get a "slayed" leg on the outside leg, while a single baby will probably splay
both.
If your dove-cote is housing pigeons instead, I would make some adjustments
to the boxes so this doesn't keep occuring. Dove-cotes DO come apart, so you
could either "sand" or scrape a bowl shape into the floors of the boxes, or
anything else you can think of for it to contain a bowl shape. Also, you
could place a piece of wood, or half a brick or something inside, so when
they build their nest, the nest edges touch the walls AND wood, causing the
nest to be higher at it's edges than at it's middle.

We like the dove-cotes in our yards, but most local wild doves will not
use them. Pigeons on the other hand, will use almost any space they can find!%^)

I'm surprised you have "white" pigeons nesting in the cote, that you didn't
raise or breed yourself, which is usually where you will find most white
pigeons. You can always find white pigeons in the wild, but it is not
prevelent, like it would be with a breeder. An all white, or black pigeon's
color, (or lack of) is called a "spread" factor, and basically covers, or
"spreads" over the birds actual color, and both parents have to have this
trait or factor in order for the baby to be all white or black. A breeder will
"intentionally" breed two "spread" factor birds in order to get white,
where in the wild, it's hit or miss as they breed with whatever turns them on!
If you see a group of white pigeons together, chances are, someone bred and
raised those birds.
E-Man
 >> Stay informed about: baby pigeon with odd leg 

"E-Man" <ef29 DeleteThis @drexel.edu> wrote in message
news:e48ef388.0407191423.57312d36@posting.google.com...
> Onorio Catenacci <NoSpam DeleteThis @NoSpam.NoWay> wrote in message
news:<izGJc.519$vN1.39@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com>...
> > > The entrance holes are too small to put bowls inside the boxes
unfortunately
> > > so I shall have to hope that next time they use more nesting material.
> >
> > Hi Sally,
> >
> > One thing you can do...make sure there's plenty of straw around.
> > Pigeons will use straw to build a nest. Straw and twigs among other
> > things.
>
>
>
> Hi Sally,
> this was always a problem with dove cotes. First, they were made for white
> doves, which are smaller than pigeons, hence the small entrance holes.
> Second, the boxes are just small square rooms, which actually, should have
> been made with a bowl indentation in the bottom. However, for doves, which
> make ridiculously flimsy nests, this was not too much a problem since
their
> babies grow and fledge much faster than pigeons. Pigeon babies are much
> larger and heavier. Pigeon babies rest against each other, mostly for
warmth.
> If they are not in a bowl, or there is not enough nesting material to
support
> them, the leg they try to use to keep themselves close, and upright, slips
> out from under them, and they don't have the strength yet to pull it back.
> For instance, 2 babies in a flat nest with no material will probably both
> get a "slayed" leg on the outside leg, while a single baby will probably
splay
> both.
> If your dove-cote is housing pigeons instead, I would make some
adjustments
> to the boxes so this doesn't keep occuring. Dove-cotes DO come apart, so
you
> could either "sand" or scrape a bowl shape into the floors of the boxes,
or
> anything else you can think of for it to contain a bowl shape. Also, you
> could place a piece of wood, or half a brick or something inside, so when
> they build their nest, the nest edges touch the walls AND wood, causing
the
> nest to be higher at it's edges than at it's middle.
>
> We like the dove-cotes in our yards, but most local wild doves will not
> use them. Pigeons on the other hand, will use almost any space they can
find!%^)
>
> I'm surprised you have "white" pigeons nesting in the cote, that you
didn't
> raise or breed yourself, which is usually where you will find most white
> pigeons. You can always find white pigeons in the wild, but it is not
> prevelent, like it would be with a breeder. An all white, or black
pigeon's
> color, (or lack of) is called a "spread" factor, and basically covers, or
> "spreads" over the birds actual color, and both parents have to have this
> trait or factor in order for the baby to be all white or black. A breeder
will
> "intentionally" breed two "spread" factor birds in order to get white,
> where in the wild, it's hit or miss as they breed with whatever turns them
on!
> If you see a group of white pigeons together, chances are, someone bred
and
> raised those birds.
> E-Man

Thanks for all your replies and advice. I can only assume from what you
have said that the pigeons I feed and the nesting pair are doves. What is
the difference? I get visited by about 30 mainly white birds but there are
a very few grey or brown ones and 4 of them are ringed. There does not seem
to be a big difference between the sizes of grey racers and the white ones.
Some of the white ones have fancyish tails but others are similar to the
racers. I always put out lots of hay in the area and there are masses of
small twigs around in that untidy part of the garden. I understand that
most of the birds roost in an elderly care residential home's unused
balcony/terrace area about half a mile away but they have noticed that I
feed swans and ducks etc in my garden.
I shall try to adjust their breeding quarters to make them more baby user
friendly!
Sally
 >> Stay informed about: baby pigeon with odd leg