Need advice for single hen / orphaned baby

[LamarshFish]

Hello all. It's been a while. Lots have kept me from doing more with my homers, mainly starting a family of my own. Anyways, about 6 months ago I had an unfortunate loss after loft flying my birds. I only had 10, and 3 of my 4 cock birds did not come home, leaving me with 6 hens and 1 cock. I have gone back and forth whether to get some more cocks for the hens, but to date I have not.

I have one single young hen that has been laying, and setting her eggs. A few weeks ago I checked one of them for fertilization, and it did not look fertilized. I did not check the other. Well, it hatched today! And, by another stroke of bad luck, the young hen took off yesterday and still has not come back, leaving this day old baby as an orphan (hopefully temporarily). I tried to see if the cock bird (I only have one, so he has to be the father) would entertain caring for the baby, but he did not seem too interested when I placed the baby in his nest bowl; however, neither him nor his mate took offense to the baby, they did not hurt it or move it out of the bowl (this cock has been paired with this hen for 5+ years, and that hen is not this baby's mother). Its crop did appear partially full, so could one of my birds have fed it? I can't tell. But the baby was cold, and I needed to act on it rather than roll the dice to see if another bird would adopt it and at least keep it warm, so I now have it on a heat pad and have been feeding it Kaytee Exact. It has been eating the food and appears to have warmed up. For now, it seems ok.

First off, if anybody has some advice for if the mom hen does come back, what I should know about her raising the baby alone with no cock bird. At two weeks of baby pigeons age, I notice the hens typically move to the next nest bowl and lay eggs and set them, while the cock bird takes over most of the feeding of the (at that time) squeakers.

Second, if the mom hen does not come back, what else can I do to ensure its survival beyond what I've mentioned above? I've had many babies raised in my loft, and am very familiar with all their stages, but I've never done it myself without the help of pigeon parents.

Thank you in advance!

 

[SmiYa0126]

@RoostersAreAwesome hi, can you help here?

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I’ve never raised a baby pigeon, I would probably keep trying to get the baby adopted by a different pair. Are the remaining females paired up with each other?

 

[LamarshFish]

I’ve never raised a baby pigeon, I would probably keep trying to get the baby adopted by a different pair. Are the remaining females paired up with each other?

I was hoping to see that, but did not see evidence of adoption aside from a half full crop from this baby, which I can only assume was from its mom before she got lost.

I have some evidence of two other hens that might be having a light lesbian fling, but they haven't set any eggs. With only one cock bird, who has a strong pair with his mate, they don't have many options.

It's hard to tell whether pigeons that aren't broody would sit on a baby and feed it. The issue I have is that it's been getting into the 50s at night here now, and all it would probably take is one night of a bird not sitting on this baby for it to probably get too cold and die. Not that it has a 100% chance of surviving in my care either though.

 

[LamarshFish]

Well, good news, it was still alive this morning, and actually seemed well. It is bigger than yesterday, and is now making noise. And it has been pooping.

 

[LamarshFish]

Update: baby pigeon is 2 weeks old tomorrow, and thriving. Been feeding it Kaytee Exact through a syringe, and it has gone very smoothly. Going to start incorporating small foods like millet in with the food in about 5-7 days.

I've had homers for 7 years now, but have never had to raise a baby like this. It's not so bad at all.