Roady's Journey

I would like to introduce Roady and myself to Pigeon Angels. We will both have lots of questions as our journey together continues. He will most likely fit in the “special needs” bird forum. I have several handicapped animals but Roady is my first pigeon.

I call him Roady because that is where we first met. I was driving when I saw him in the road and he did not move. I stopped and tried to get him to fly. He just flailed around. A man suddenly appeared, seemly out of nowhere, and helped me catch the pigeon. As I held the bird we had just caught, the man said "Bless you, we are all God's creatures". Then he left, almost as suddenly as he appeared. I looked at this broken bird in my hands and told it "That man was you’re Angel and I am somehow appointed with taking care of you." I already have birds living in my home so I figured one more could not hurt. Maybe he would heal and I could release him. However, I know nothing about pigeons. I searched the internet. The more I read the more I realized how special Pigeons are. I have always watched them, I feed them from my backyard feeder, but I have never known one personally. My search brought me here, to Pigeon Angels. I think it is fitting since Roady had an Angel watching out for him.

That took place 1 month ago yesterday. As the time passed I was hoping that I could release him when he got better. When he had his vet check we found that he will most likely never be able to fly again. He has a multi-fractured broken wing with one of the bones sticking out underneath his wing, which is now wrapped. His test came back coccidiosis positive. He is on Albon for that. Today the vet called me and said that his psittacosis test came back positive. Friday he goes back to the vet to start the treatment for psittacosis and to check his wing. Since he has 2 contagious conditions I am glad that I was careful to keep him away from my other birds. I am the only one in the family who is touching him. Roady is in quarantine. During the day I put him in an unused backyard aviary and at night I put him to sleep in a cage in the garage to keep him safe.

I can’t believe how tough he is and brave….oh man, is he brave! He has regained a lot of his health, but he is not real happy about his circumstances. Since we just found out about his psittacosis he will have to remain in quarantine for much longer than I expected. Every time he sees me coming I bet he thinks “oh no, what’s she going to do to me this time!”

When he is well, if he can’t be released, he can live in my home with my other birds. I’m not very familiar with either psittacosis or coccidiosis but my avian vet is a good one and he can tell me when it is time to place Roady in my bird room.

Claudia and Roady

Claudia...that is a very touching story that brought tears to my eyes. While many wouldn't have noticed a little Pigeon in troubel,or noticed and driven on by, willing to let nature take her course... you took the time to stop and save him from what could have only been a tragic end. You are a true Pigeon Angel and I'm so glad you are here.

It was very wise of you to have Roady tested for psittasosis. Quaranteen will give you two the opportunity to bond.
Pigeons are charming inteligent companions ...I know you will enjoy him and I look forward to reading how your relationship with Roady develops.

Your vets sound great. I would love to have his contact information for Matilda's List.

Claudia,

That is a very moving story, and I'm sure you're right, Roady did have an angel watching out for him.

Your dedication is wonderful and has given him the best chance. I hope he's able to one day join your other birds and be part of what sounds like a warm loving home.

Looking forward to hearing more as he goes along his road to recovery.

Janet

Hi Claudia,
I'm so glad you posted your story.
It's a wonderful reminder that there are s out there.
Wherever the gentleman is who helped you, I know he's wearing his wings proudly.

Any chance you could post a picture or two of Roady (love the name and we love pictures) ?
We look forward to reading more about Roady and how his recovery is coming along.

Hi Claudia................Welcome to our forum. So glad you found us. We are a community of devoted pigeon lovers and caretakers of pigeons............hence the name........Pig n Angels.

The story of your Roady is heartwarming, brought tears to my eyes. So glad the two of your found eachother. Your are doing such a wonderful job with Roady, and your Vet sounds wonderful.

Please keep us posted as to Roady's progress...........and Pictures Please.........we just love pictures here.

Regards,
Louise

Hi Claudia and a big to pigeon angels. You and Roady definitely are at the right place. It really seems Roady was destined to meet you. I am so glad you could get him home...a true
Thanks to the Roady's guardian angel too who helped you with it. Sending prayers and wishes for Roady's speedy recovery.

And yes, your vet sounds wonderful and deserves to be on Matilda's list of veterinarians. Would love to see Roady's pics.

Yes we would love pictures.

it's an amazing story; thanks for sharing

Hi Claudia, and welcome to Pij-N-Angels. Thanks for sharing your story. It's always interesting hearing how each person became pigeon owners. I really believe that the Good Lord puts his creatures in need, in the paths of the right people. For some reason, I think you were the one meant for this pigeons rescue. I'm glad you cared enough to take him home. That's how I got started, only I came home with 6 babies. LOL. I'm glad you found us, and really think you'll like it here. I know we'll all look forward to hearing updates as you go along. And, it's true. We do love pictures. It'll be great getting to know you and Roady. Cute name, by the way. And nice to meet you.

I want to thank everyone for the warm welcome. Roady and I appreciate it.

Roady had his vet appointment today. He got a shot of Doxycycline today. I will give him 2 more once a week and then back to the vet he goes to check on his wing (which is still wrapped) and to check on how he is doing with psittacosis. They will give me more syringes filled with Doxycycline at the time. I think I keep this up for 45 days, then he gets another psittacosis test. He has to be quarantined until his tests are negative.

It rained all day today so he had to stay in his sleep cage. The outside aviary has a roof but I don't want him to get wet with the wrapping on his wing. Tommorrow I will have to disinfect his sleep cage again. The aviary I will do before he goes into it.

I will try to get some pictures up of Roady before long. He has his wing wrapped so he's not looking his best but he is still handsome.

The name of my vet clinic is:
ABC Animal and Bird Clinic
11930 Hwy 6 South
Sugar Land, TX 77498
281-495-9445

Dr Fronefield owns the clinic and is a board certified avian vet. He has at least 2 other vets in office who are also training under him. I have tried other vets before but will now only go to ABC clinic. They are very gentle with birds and have lots of empathy for them.

Has anyone on the list ever had a bird with psittacosis? I would like to know how the bird faired during the treatment and if they gave any supplements during treatment. My vet said that they were surprised that Roady had it. They don't see much of it around here but always give a test to a new bird that comes in. I am feeding Roady dove seed mix, mixed with harrisons parrot food. He doesn't eat vegies I put in his cage nor the parrot seed mix. I am trying different things hoping to get him to eat more. When I first found him he weighed 308 grams, went down as far as 276 grams and is now up to 286 grams. Any advice on what pigeons eat while being treated for psittacosis would be helpful. I forgot to ask my vet today.

Claudia and Roady

Poor Roady must be feeling so nervous about the many vet visits but it is for his good and with what sounds like a wonderful vet that you have, am sure will recover soon.

I have no idea what is psittacosis...would also want to get more info on this one.

Good Morning Claudia,
Thanks for the update and vet contact.
Please do keep us posted on how things are coming along.

Sending 'get well wishes' to Roady.

Roady went back to the vet after 3 weeks of having his wing bound. His wing did not heal properly and it appears that he will not be able to fly at all. However, he is out of quarrintine, he is cocidia free and only needs 4 more shots to get rid of the bacteria he was carrying when I found him. The shots are once a week. Sooo.... It looks like Roady will be living with us from now on.

He is a ferral pigeon and still is leary of me as I have to give him shots once a week for another month. It is hard to tame him to not be hand shy because of this. If figure, given enough time it will all work out.

The question I am mulling over is what can I expect when I open his cage to let him loose inside the house. Right now he is in a smallish sleep cage. What I would like to see happen is for him to come out during the day and go back into it at night. He has been in this cage for 10 weeks now and he thinks of it as his. I have his cage on the floor in my critter room as he cannot fly at all. Do you think I am being unrealistic about my wanting him to go back to sleep in his cage at night? I don't know much about pidgeons. Do they like to sleep in the same place each night? If he doesn't go back in I will have to catch him or heard him back in and I would like to avoid this because I'm trying to tame him. He has been in my critter room for 5 days now. I still take him outside to the aviary I have when the weather is warm enough. He has always jumped back inside his cage when it was time to come in for the night when he was out there.

Thanks for all the help you have given me about Roady. He is my only pigeon and I don't know much about the habits of pigeons.
Claudia and Roady

WOW.. I've just realized I have missed this thread entirely!

Fisrt... Welcome.


Your story gave me goosebumps. And I have no doubt that the man who helped you was an angel....which is amazing! Roady needed a home and your angel made sure to find only the best for him! I am bowing down to you for helping a fallen angel find his home!!!

as for some of your questions:::
It may take some time to tame him. When my King pigeon came to me.. he had never.... ever been handled either...and like you I had to give him injectable antiobiotics .... which made him very weary of me everytime I would open his cage door. He would wing slap me... bite me... and everything else he could think of. It took..about 8 months before we became friends... and now a year later he loves me to death!

Some treats that you could try to lure Roady back into his cage are sunflower seeds...or safflower.. mine follow me anywhere with those two seeds! Im sure other will have some suggestions as well!

Normally they have a certain sleeping spot that they will go to at night when the sun sets... to roost. If this is the case for Roady and his sleeping cage ,I'd just have it ready for him when evening comes.. He may just go in it all by himself. Or if there are no dogs or sneaky little kitties in your house... you could let him find his own roosting spot in the house. Most of the time when nightfall comes they find their spot and stay there all night! Learning that if your not awake in the morning...when they think you should be... they WILL come and wake you up! :That\\\'s so f

Also if your interested you can order pigeon pants for him to wear. Which in essence is a pigeon diaper to help keep the poop from getting all over. I use them faithfully and don't know what I'd do without them. You can find them here www.birdwearonline.org Willow my pigeon is on the first page of that website... in the middle... and she loves hers!

Jenn has given you some excillent advise.

Hi Claudia. It's great to hear from you.
I'm sorry to hear about Roady's wing, but happy to hear he is doing well otherwise.
Many thanks for the update.

Hoe is Roady? Is there an update at all

Thank you for asking about Roady. It has been more than a year since I found him. His wing never did mend well enough to fly again so he lives in the house with us. He has a sleep cage and goes in there by himself every night. During the day he gets to run around my bird room. I have food and water on the floor for him. He tries to woo all my other birds but they ignore him. He tries to chase me away when I go into the area he is in. It is funny. I think he will always be on the wild side as he has not warmed up to any of the humans in our family. We have a routine that works well and we are all happy about it. Roady lives in harmony with the rest of our critters.
Claudia

Thanks for checking on Roady, Annie.

And thank you, Claudia for the great update.
I'm thrilled that all is going well.

Its my pleasure Cindy, and now also my joy to read how well he is doing, and perhaps even more so, how he his natural wildness is so respected
Thankyou so much for the update Claudia, he sounds enchanting!

Thanks for the update, Claudia!
It was wonderful to hear that Roady is doing well and has made friends with the others. Many people wouldn't be too happy to have a 'pet' that doesn't respond to humans in a positive way, and it's great that you love him and accept him just as he is.

Let us know if he needs a disabled companion.