Hand Feeding Formulas

Please share your recipes for hand feeding formulas, and in what situation you use them...such as for baby Pigeons, Pigeons that vomit seed, injured adults, etc. These should be recipes other than those mass produced and sold at pet shops or supply houses.

Good thread, Charis.

I use plain baby rice cereal that comes in a box. Beacuse it's powdered, I can control the consistancy with the amount of water I add. Rice cereal is easy to digest and often will stay down when others will not. I can also add ingredients to it as my confidence increases that the bird can handle it. The ingredients I would add ...appleseauce for human babies, yogurt, peas for human babies. Always make as much as you will use with one feeding and discard left over formual.

This recipe can be used for birds that have been vomiting. I start with only plain cereal and add other ingredients after I am confident the bird is able to digest the rice. This recipe can also be used short term for orphaned birds until Exact formula can be purchased.

Well, I really cannot look back on a lot of experience as I have used this on 2 pigeons so far but both being severely sick, one with PMV and one with canker.

I found a "milk pudding with fruit" from Lasana for babies after 4 mths. It is powdered and easily dissolved with warm water or tea (Chamomille tea f.e.). One can change the consistancy as required very easily by adding more or less water. It does contain riceflakes, wheat and other cereals, no sugar but several fruit which are for babies. It is not as sweet as others and additionally very cheap. I fed it to Willy when he vomitted a lot in his early stages of PMV and now to Alice, who is suffering from severe canker. I did not add anything to the original recipe because it contains enough vitamins and minerals.

In both cases the vomitting stopped immediately. I would use this baby cereal in any case where the bird is undernourished, young or old, too weak to eat seeds or simply sick and vomitting. I have fed quantities from 5 ml to 20 ml in one syringe, even the 20 ml being no problem on a small pigeon. I was feeding either 10 ml every 2 hours up to 5 x or when pigeon feels better up to 3 x 20 ml.

I sometimes use Nestle's Cerelac '8 Cereals with Honey'. It has no added sugars, but includes active BL bifidus, calcium, iron, zinc, vitamins A,C,D,E,K and B complex.
It is very easy to digest, but enough water should be added to make it a bit runny, as it thickens further when it cools, and it sets quite hard when it dries.