Squabs

[diamondlil]

Here's my New Year's gift from my youngest son, 2 squabs he found on the pavement near us, huddled together, very cold and quite thin. They are fully feathered and almost ready to fly. Thanks to the interest of the cats they are in a cat carrier in my airing cupboard.
I've got some pigeon mix for them and am supplementing with hand feeding a lovely mixture of eggy porridge to build them up a bit. They got the hang of the hand feeding quickly and were squeaking at me this morning for more!

 

[djfreebase]

Ah poor little birdys. They wont want to leave after a few days at yours.

 

[diamondlil]

My sister finished fledging the squab we rehabbed this summer (because I went on holiday) and it homes to her garden and pecks on her window for feeding. I'll probably get her to fly these again because she's got no cats.
Their keels are knife-sharp so they'll need feeding up before they go anywhere. The local RSPCA destroys pigeons but there's a pigeon rescue in Surrey if I run into any problems with the babies.
I asked Nanci's advice because they've pooped all over each other, so they're getting a bath tonight!

 

[Nanci]

Is there anything cuter than a baby pigeon with their big dark eyes and rubbery baby beaks??? And little yellow fuzz??? They call them "squeakers" because they squeak incessantly to get you to feed them.

 

[diamondlil]

These have lost all the fluff, and most of the beak-rubber! They're obviously late-season babies. If the weather puts back their release the pigeon rescue has aviaries so I have a back-up plan for them. If it wasn't for the cats I could have them in the front room. The squeaking is lovely!

 

[Nanci]

Here's a picture of Dillbird when he was a baby, after a bath...

 

[diamondlil]

Thanks to Nanci's instructions, the babies are now a lot cleaner. Here's the smaller one's bathtime

 

[diamondlil]

And the bigger one, who practised a lot of wing-flapping as it was being dried

 

[diamondlil]

Thanks to being as pack-rat, I found an old gerbil cage in the shed, so the babies have a bit more room to stretch their legs. During tonights force-feeding both started to feed themselves, and the bigger squab decided to groom my arm for me, very pecky!

 

[Nanci]

How adorable! You know if you peck in the seeds with your fingers, they will copy you. They really can't resist preening- you, each other or themselves, either.

 

[Pasodama]

They are really cute. Kudos for rescuing them.

 

[diamondlil]

Cooked basmati rice and pigeon peas today for the babies. The egg and porridge mixture has had good effects on their poops, which are more formed now instead of a gloop explosion. They both had some wing flapping practice and like perching on my wrist. The bigger one is catching on fast to the feeding routine and pecks me if I don't deliver fast enough!

 

[diamondlil]

Today the babies are definately much stronger, the wing-flapping practise is very impressive. They both like to perch on my wrist to have a good flap, but seem to be giving me a dermatitis, I'm all itchy where they've been perching. Luckily I've got piriton in the medical tin so it's no biggie. Scrambled egg for their breakfast and nice full crops. I need to clean their cage again later so I'll give them another bath

 

[Nanci]

This is what Milly looked like the day he started flying:

 

[diamondlil]

Cute! I'd like to put the babies in my bedroom so they've got more light, but the darn cats can open the door, so I'm getting them out every few hours for their exercise. I'm worried they'll be too tame to release but I can't keep them here forever.

 

[diamondlil]

Here's the bigger squab after he managed a slow flight across my kitchen while I was feeding the little one. Then I followed Nanci's advice on teaching him to peck at his pigeon mix, and he started feeding himself!

 

[djfreebase]

Ah. id find hard not to get to attached to them.

 

[Nanci]

I want a BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[djfreebase]

:laugh01::laugh01:

 

[diamondlil]

I've managed to fledge quite a few birds over the years, mainly starlings and blackbirds, but the cutest ever were a whole brood of bluetits. They were all having flying practice around my bedroom before I released them and perching on a finger for feeding!