How do you Tube feed or medicate a sick Pigeon or Bird?

This can be very scary to an individual that has found a sick/injured Pigeon and never handled one before. Most often they are terrified of injurying the Pigeon and are reclutant to open the beak. To many of us, this has become second nature and we don't give it a thought.
I remember my first little song bird...it took 3 of us to feed the liitle guy...one to hold...one to open the beak...and one to put the food in the mouth. I was a nervouse wreck.

Please share the techinque that has been successful for you.

I am repeating a post from another thread:

Best is when someone else can hold the bird while you are opening his beak. I have realized that it is much easier if you wrap up the bird in a piece of soft cloth, a t-shirt or anything else that is handy. This also avoids that their feathers are damaged. Best thing is if only their face is sticking out and it is even easier if you can cover their eyes - they are much calmer then.

Then you open the beak very carefully with 2 fingers, overstretch their neck a bit - which means you pull the head a bit up so that you can fully see tongue and the opening of their windpipe. This also helps to get the syringe into the throat because it is then straight. Nothing may get into that little hole otherwise your bird will suffocate. You now push very carefully the syringe behind that opening and tongue into the throat. This works best with a wet syringe. You now press the content of the syringe slowly into the throat/crop of your bird. When the syringe is empty pull it out slowly. Please also check the syringe for sharp edges before you use one because this could cause injury in the throat.

here is a pic:

Just an addition:

if you have to medicate a sick bird, i.e. give him a pill which is difficult to swallow because the surface of the pill is not very smooth (f.e. Spartrix) and easily gets stuck at the mucosa it can help to use a syringe with a bit of water in it to push the pill into the crop instead of using your relatively thick finger which will never fit into the beak of a pigeon. This way the bird does not vomit but really swallows the medicine.

This is what I did when I had to medicate our birds. It worked perfectly and easily.

When feeding or medicating sick, young or disabled bird I use three methods depending on bird’s condition and age. Two of the methods involve feeding formula and one, pea/corn seeds.
Very young birds and birds in critical condition unable to swallow seeds or when handling time needs to be minimized I feed with formula mix. I always mix fresh formula never leave in the fridge or outside because it spoils.

Formula thickness:
Runny formula, more water less formula ¾ water ¼ formula. This I use for young babies and birds that were deprived of food for a long time (starving).
Normal mix – usually content is 2/3 water and 1/3 formula. Some formulas absorb more water so one needs to leave it for some time 1~2 min and check it should be at thickness of the maple syrup.
I always mix formula with hot water that I can barely touch as while mixing and waiting formula cools down. Birds should be given only warm mix 39~40 degree Celsius. Cold food will result crop stasis and eventually death.



Tools to use:
20 ml plastic disposable syringe
10~15 cm long silicone rubber tubing 6 mm outside diameter 4 mm inside
Teaspoon – to dose and mix formula
Coffee cup – for mixing formula
Another small cup for – vegetable oil
Serviettes


Preparation:
Mix formula in the coffee cup (1 well heaped teaspoon is approximately 20 ml mix)
Fill syringe with formula (if it is well mixed and fine consistency it will fill syringe without problem) some formula may need finer grinding in coffee grinder if they contain rougher particles.
Attach silicone tubing on the syringe nozzle
Deep other side of the syringe in the vegetable oil for lubrication


Feeding:
Place bird on the non-slippery, easy to clean surface. You may consider newspaper, towel etc.
One hand should be over the bird’s back holding the head. With other hand gently but firmly open the beak. (Takes a little practice and sometimes two people.)
With the fingers of the hand holding the head, fix beak in open position.
Thumb and index finger holds upper mandible (beak) and middle finger keeps lower open.
With the free hand insert tubing through mouth in throat and gently slide into the crop.
Often you can see tubing move inside. (5~7 cm length should go inside depending of the size of the bird)
Keep head and neck in almost vertical position.
Take the syringe and apply slow and constant pressure on plunger. Watch carefully for any signs of formula overflowing. At any sign of mixture coming out of beak, immediately stop and take out tubing. Wipe beak and leave bird to take breath and calm down.
If everything is fine after finishing feeding, slowly take out tubing out, let the bird calm and clean the beak with serviette.



How much and how often:
Babies 10 days to 20 days 5~15 ml 3 times a day
20> days and adult sick birds 20~35 ml 2 times a day
Usually empty crop and hungry bird show when they want/need more.

Medicating and hydrating
Exactly the same procedure one can apply with fluids and soluble in water medicines. I never give more than 5~10 ml fluids at time though because dehydrated birds need gradually to be hydrated and medications I do not give on empty crop.

Cleaning
All the tools and the feeding place needs to be carefully cleaned/disinfected, dried and tools stored after use. If I feed more than one bird, I wash my hands after every bird handling and use different syringe/tubing set for each of them.

Great posts, everyone.

Matilda wrote:

Great posts, everyone.

Yes indeed. Great thread accompanied by very informative posts. Teamwork at it's best.
But then we're and that's what we do, work together to help each other.

This is a great post. Very informative!

Excellent reference material and information!

Here is another very detailed link about tube feeding:

Emergency Pigeon Feeding

for posting the link, Petra.

In the meanwhile - as I have much more experience - I use following items for tube feeding:



As you can see I use a much shorter tube (preferably clear) than you can see on other pics. The reason for this is that I have realized that I have much better control of the syringe itself, better control while inserting the tube which I do slightly to the side so that the opening of the windpipe is not closed off - which means that the bird can swallow much easier - better control of the quantity that goes into the crop and cleaning is much easier.

I am using here a soft, flexible tube like the ones from a catheter. It fits perfectly on a syringe.

I also wanted to add that when the pijji is no longer dependant on being tube fed but only cannot eat by himself (f.e. PMV pigeons) a better possibility than tube feeding is pellet feeding by hand. The mixtures can be chosen according to the condition of the bird. It is also an easy way to smuggle bad smelling and bad tasting medicine such as antibiotics - you simply hide it inside the pellets:

here you can see peatnuts, sunflower hearts and pumpkin seeds, breadcrumbs, oatmeal flakes





If you have to feed a low fat diet - the use of coarse corn meal plus grinding of regular pigeon food and additionally grinded breadcrumbs plus tea or water are easily formed into pellets. These pellets can be dried and therefore kept for a few days. They dissolve easily in any fluid again.

Thank you, Petra. .... helpful post.