Baby pigeon with skinned back, pecked? head

[avjudge]

A couple days ago I posted a picture in the pigeon talk thread of my recent baby. I peeked in on it today and was shocked to see a large skinned spot on one side of its back, a smaller spot on the other side, and what looked like some peck marks on its scalp.

The parents are at that stage where the father is chasing the mother fairly aggressively back to the nest. Is it possible that he somehow transferred that to the baby? I don’t see that it could be anything other than the parents doing this, and that seems the logical cause given the timing.

And more importantly, what should be done? (1) to treat this injury, and (2) to prevent more going forward. The baby is a week old, maybe a teeny bit over. The parents are obviously feeding it well but I hesitate to leave it with them (or maybe the issue is just the father) if this sort of injury is going to repeat.

Should I try removing/confining just the father and see if further injury stops? If so, would the mother be able to feed baby sufficiently by herself? I have read on a thread here that at some point the father does most of the feeding.

Edit to add: the nest boxes are kitchen wall cabinets divided up, with pigeon doors in the sides. The cabinet doors stay closed except for checking and cleaning. I haven’t seen anything that would indicate another pigeon is entering this nest box.

 

[Barnette]

poor baby I don't know what you could do with it. Are these your pets or wild in your yard?

 

[avjudge]

poor baby I don't know what you could do with it. Are these your pets or wild in your yard?

Besides this baby I have six pigeons in an aviary with 4 wall mounted nest boxes: two pairs (one of which obviously is the parents of this baby), an older male who has lost his mate, and the two-month-old offspring of the other pair.

I had had four pairs for a couple of years, but last winter I lost 3 individuals to various causes, hence the babies allowed to hatch this year.

The parents of this baby, male and female, are the two dominant birds in the aviary. As I currently have one extra nest box, they have commandeered the empty one as a second for their own use, and I did see the male pushing the female out of the nest box where the baby is, pushing her to the other box where he obviously thinks it is time for her to lay her next pair of eggs. I find myself wondering if the baby was injured in the course of this sort of action.

Since originally posting, I have been searching and reading around the Internet, and see that pigeons will sometimes attack other pigeons’ offspring if they want the nesting location, but I just can’t see that happening with my pigeons. I have never seen any go near another pigeon’s box.

 

[Qwerty3159]

It’s possible the father misdirected some of the pecks aimed at the hen onto the squab. I’ve also had a few squabs here and there get nicked by the parent’s claws stepping on them the wrong way. The torn skin on the sides looks like it got stepped on, the pecks to the head are another story.

The peck marks to the back of the head definitely look like the work of another cock. That’s usually where they aim and begin scalping the youngsters. The marks on the side have me a bit confused.

Is it possible another male is trying to get into the box when you’re not around? Sometimes the dynamic will just suddenly shift and two pairs that have nested as neighbors for months will go at it and have a power struggle. Reason I ask is because this could be riling the father up and worsening his behavior to the hen.

I wouldn’t separate the father, at least not yet. Try to monitor and if you see he is the culprit then it might be time to act. If I can give you some advice it would be to keep the squab with them as long as possible (and safe) because the older it is the easier it will be for you to intervene (I’m thinking if you remove the cock the hen will have a hard time feeding it or abandon altogether, as happened to me recently with a single hen even when she had unlimited food and water in the nest box.) I would be surprised if the cock was deliberately attacking his own squab. I have had some cocks that were so aggressive to their hens and other pigeons I considered euthanizing them, but they still never hurt their own young.

Good news is this injury isn’t too significant and will heal up very fast.

 

[avjudge]

It’s possible the father misdirected some of the pecks aimed at the hen onto the squab. I’ve also had a few squabs here and there get nicked by the parent’s claws stepping on them the wrong way. The torn skin on the sides looks like it got stepped on, the pecks to the head are another story.

The peck marks to the back of the head definitely look like the work of another cock. That’s usually where they aim and begin scalping the youngsters. The marks on the side have me a bit confused.

Is it possible another male is trying to get into the box when you’re not around? Sometimes the dynamic will just suddenly shift and two pairs that have nested as neighbors for months will go at it and have a power struggle. Reason I ask is because this could be riling the father up and worsening his behavior to the hen.

I wouldn’t separate the father, at least not yet. Try to monitor and if you see he is the culprit then it might be time to act. If I can give you some advice it would be to keep the squab with them as long as possible (and safe) because the older it is the easier it will be for you to intervene (I’m thinking if you remove the cock the hen will have a hard time feeding it or abandon altogether, as happened to me recently with a single hen even when she had unlimited food and water in the nest box.) I would be surprised if the cock was deliberately attacking his own squab. I have had some cocks that were so aggressive to their hens and other pigeons I considered euthanizing them, but they still never hurt their own young.

Good news is this injury isn’t too significant and will heal up very fast.

Thanks for the advice. I am really hoping that I am able to leave the baby with its parents. I treated all the wounds with triple antibiotic ointment and did find one more gash under/behind the wing but none appear deep. I will certainly keep a sharper eye on the aviary and all its pigeon dynamics as well as checking on the baby much more frequently.

So far I have seen no sign of either of the other males approaching, and the father is just hyper obsessed with chasing his mate into the other (empty) nest box. I am hoping she lays very soon and he calms down and that is the end of all this!

At least they do seem to continue to feed in spite of the mating drama. (For a bit I was worried because the way the male was driving the female out of the nesting box with the baby as soon as she entered.) When I checked on baby yesterday (before all this) I marveled how, between the fat butt behind and stuffed-full crop in front, it could barely move. When I was treating the wounds today its crop seemed quite a bit emptier, then when I checked back a short while later it had obviously had a meal as the crop was again pleasingly round.

 

[LamarshFish]

It's more likely a non parent pigeon did this. Pigeons can be pretty nasty to a baby or squab that is not their baby. They typically leave them alone if the baby is in its own nest box. Bullying and wounds typically happen when the squab fledges the nest, and this bird here looks way to young to have done that. The theory that the dad could have accidentally done that is possible, sometimes in a fit of defensive rage a parent may inadvertently hurt their own baby, I've seen them do this to my hand and then sort of do the same thing to their baby (I'm able to stop it since I'm standing there).

But I suspect it's more likely another non parent bird got in the nest box and had its way with this baby. That wound looks too bad to have been done by a parent--it looks more like a bird latched on with a bite and did not let go, which is what they do, they start shaking their head with the other bird's skin in its mouth and it often results in a wound. This can happen when there are not enough nest boxes for birds. Since you only have 4 birds, I'd say it's unlikely unless you have less than 4 nest boxes. Pigeons need at least one home territory nest box, but often will try to claim more than one.

I'd just do your best to treat the wound and let the parents continue to care for it.

 

[avjudge]

It's more likely a non parent pigeon did this. Pigeons can be pretty nasty to a baby or squab that is not their baby. They typically leave them alone if the baby is in its own nest box. Bullying and wounds typically happen when the squab fledges the nest, and this bird here looks way to young to have done that. The theory that the dad could have accidentally done that is possible, sometimes in a fit of defensive rage a parent may inadvertently hurt their own baby, I've seen them do this to my hand and then sort of do the same thing to their baby (I'm able to stop it since I'm standing there).

But I suspect it's more likely another non parent bird got in the nest box and had its way with this baby. That wound looks too bad to have been done by a parent--it looks more like a bird latched on with a bite and did not let go, which is what they do, they start shaking their head with the other bird's skin in its mouth and it often results in a wound. This can happen when there are not enough nest boxes for birds. Since you only have 4 birds, I'd say it's unlikely unless you have less than 4 nest boxes. Pigeons need at least one home territory nest box, but often will try to claim more than one.

I'd just do your best to treat the wound and let the parents continue to care for it.

I should have replied in this thread when I replied to similar posts in the Pigeon Talk thread. Of course you are right. The mystery was solved when I spent some time in the aviary while the doors were open and the baby’s parents were out flying.

In general both of the paired males, particularly this father, are dominant over the lone male, Miraboo, so he spends his time in the vicinity of his nest box. When he comes to the floor to eat he tends to get chased. Therefore I couldn’t see how he could have been the culprit.

However, the other afternoon while the parents were out and all was quiet in the loft, for the first time I saw Miraboo fly to the entrance of the nest box with the baby in it. At that point I waved him away. I watched a while, and he tried it again.

I blocked the entrance to the nest until the parents returned, and since then have kept the aviary closed up so the parents are always nearby. As I’d hoped, so far this has been enough to keep the baby safe.

Meanwhile the baby is growing and as far as I can tell healing. One edge of the big scraped area and a smaller nick behind/under the wing are still a little ugly but I don’t see noticeable signs of infection.