Question about Baby Feral

I can see the dad has fed the baby from the first picture.

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I would try first to position them correctly if you can fix them in proper position without forcing them to much. When you hold legs and try to place them together you can estimate how much resistance you feel.
If you feel significant resistance, then go in stages and every day move them closer.
I would put something like towel donut in the basket to take weight of his keel bone.
Correction of the splay legs is a slow and painful process. Please check on youngster if he eats enough regularly as he will be in pain.

Or with a syringe, like this. Cut off the end of the syringe, put self adhesive bandage over it and secure with a rubber band. Cut a small slit in the bandage, just big enough for him to get his beak through. Before you put the bandage on the end, fill the syring with the formula. Hold it at an angle that will not allow air to get to the end that he is drinking from, or he will suck in air. You don't want his crop filling up with air. He should, hopefully drink from this. Someone else uses a baby bottle. I'll go get the picture of it. Here is what I do.

Here is what someone else does. She cuts off half the baby nipple and covers the end snuggly with the finger from a latex glove. Cut a slit in it, and place the babies beak into the hole. Remember to keep the bottle at an angle so he does not gulp air.

...Owl

THe self adhesive bandage, you can get in any drug store. Same as vet tape.

Thanks Matilda, plamenh and everyone else. I'm going to start the procedure in a minute here and will post photos etc if I need help.

How did it go?

Here are two pictures of the baby at the beginning of the procedure. Does it look like the parents have fed him today?




Here's my best shot at binding his legs:



Next, I prepared the rolled wash cloth for the basket to support the baby, like Matilda showed me, and I put some spare wash cloth material at the bottom for his feet to grip:





Unfortunately, he now sits high enough to get out of the basket, so I wrapped some posterboard around it:





Please tell me if everything looks OK, or if I need to do anything different at this point.

The tape that you have used to tape the legs together, can be narrower...such as if you cut a third of the width away. Always pre-cut the wrap.
It did look like the baby had been fed before you went and got him althugh it may be time to feed him again.
Do you know were the crop is?

Here's my cell number if you have questions.
503-957-8505

He sure is a little cutie.
I will be thinking positive thoughts that all goes well.

Yes, he's adorable. Poor little thing. Tough to start out with problems. But lucky that you were so good at spotting a problem before it went on too long to be fixed. Good job!

NiteOwl wrote:

Yes, he's adorable. Poor little thing. Tough to start out with problems. But lucky that you were so good at spotting a problem before it went on too long to be fixed. Good job!

Jim looks like you got things all set up and since you caught the problem in time the lil' guy will have a great life. :Yes:

Here's a picture of the baby as of a few hours ago. The puffiness in his neck area, right under his beak, means the parents are still feeding him, right?



He seems to be pooping a lot, and it doesn't look good. Do I need to get some medicine into him?



This is how his legs look, while he's on his back, wrapped in a T-shirt, as I change the bandages that bind his feet:



Does everything look OK?

I need to give him a bath to get the dried poop off of him. Can I just sit him down in some warm water and let him soak for a while, or is giving a baby pigeon a bath more complicated than that?

Jim...the poop looks awful. Is it stinky? Also, it looks like the baby has sores on his legs...maybe from the tape rubbing on them.

jimc2000 wrote:

Here's a picture of the baby as of a few hours ago.
* The puffiness in his neck area, right under his beak, means the parents are still feeding him, right?

** This is how his legs look, while he's on his back, wrapped in a T-shirt, as I change the bandages that bind his feet:

Hi Jim,
* Is he outside with the parents?

** Is there someone who can help you tape his legs so he won't be on his back?

I gave Jim Jody's contact info at Fallen Feathers as well as that of veterinarians in Phoenix/Mesa and he will make contact tomorrow to get the baby looked at.

Sounds like a good idea.

I hate to say it but this baby should be taken away from the parents and hand fed.

This way he can be watched closer. Like Charis stated his legs look like the tape is making sores on his legs and his nest is getting way too dirty which just inhibits bacteria growth.

Is their anyway that you could handfeed this guy? Or someone close that could?

Just my opinion.

I took the baby to a professional rehabilitator and she wrapped his legs -- way too tightly, as it turns out. I checked him about 8 hours later and found him like this:



I cut the bandages off, and the swelling went down within an hour or so. I've got a couple more rehabilitators that I'm going to see over the next couple of days.

I've been in frequent contact with Charis, and she is helping me tremendously with the little guy.