Magrat Garlick's Wet Hen Club

[Grace Speaker]

Boris the feral bruiser turned up last night, I had Dinky trapped in the house, with her nose in a bowl, so got to feed him withiut her being too nosy. As soon as I opened the packet, he rustily trotted down the garden for food, and without a hiss, just nose down into the food.
Im still not brave enough to touch him, I might loose a hand! though I am thinking of building him some form of shelter in the garden, a second hand rabbit hutch would do, since I have been feeding him on and off for a week or so, he has started looking less ecimated.
if he turns up tonight, I might add some cat biscuits to his feed, a bit cheaper, and will pad out his food. Poor old bully boy that he is, I will try to get a photo of this aging bruiser, he could be a decendant of Grebo.

Bless him and you for helping the ol' bruiser
It might be an idea to pop some worm meds in his food if you have some, as he might well be suffering from some unwanted passengers, the poor old thing.

[I.B.Igor]

Quite probably Grace, he looked last year like he lost a battle with a shovel, face on, he has healed from that, minus a few bald patches, and this year he appeared limping badly, and nine months on, he still limps, so i think he was injured on his shoulder, not the wrist/ankle on his right paw.
He is old, cranky, and looks like a night mare, but despite the bald patches, limp, and battered face and ears, Oh and not forgetting the bad attitude,....he is a big softie really.
He diddnt turn up for dinner tonight, so I am expecting him some time tomorrow.

[phalarope]

What is it with skinks and the cat box???? I released yet another one from the dunes of clumping litter this afternoon. They must fall into it, because they sure can't climb out on their own. Are there yummy bugs in there??? I surely hope not! Ew.

[Grace Speaker]

Stinks coming out of the litter box I'm all too familiar with, especially when one of the mogs has had an upset tum, but what's a skink and why is it trying to nest in the poop tray?

[Sandra]

Small lizard - extremely cute and normally something I would expect Phalarope to be separating from the cats teeth.

Perhaps a small ladder for them to use (as skinks are good climbers a ladder for them could just be a piece of rope or wood that reaches to the top of the container)?

[chrisboote]

Jack Cohen has a story about skinks
I'll tell you it next time we meet

[Grace Speaker]

Another honorary member of the Wet Hen Club

One man and his stork

[Grace Speaker]

I love England for this sort of thing: Mike the Magpie and his whippet Boo Radley

https://www.facebook.com/BBCNW/videos/732957413712430/

[Grace Speaker]

Help and advice needed please!!

I rescued an injured and exhausted pigeon this morning - the poor thing appears to be a juvenile (which is a bit odd for this late in the year, but I guess the long hot summer is too blame). It seems to be able to hop about and fly short distances, but wasn't able to take off and fly properly and if I'd left it in the garden one of my murderous moggies would definitely have had it for a chew toy.

I've brought it into the conservatory and made a temporary cage out of a wire garden gabion - it's got some water, seeds and peanuts in there with it and I made it a bit of a nest out of an old tea towel in a plant pot dish. When I put the poor thing in the cage it made for the dish with the tea towel on it and after a bit of a nervous few minutes, it had a bit of a preen, fluffed up its feathers and has been snoozing on and off. I've left it on its own for a while, hoping that if the main problem is exhaustion then a good rest might see the little fella back up on his wings.

Birds aren't my area of expertise - anyone got any advice on the how to care for the little chap?

[Grace Speaker]

Help and advice needed please!!

I rescued an injured and exhausted pigeon this morning - the poor thing appears to be a juvenile (which is a bit odd for this late in the year, but I guess the long hot summer is too blame). It seems to be able to hop about and fly short distances, but wasn't able to take off and fly properly and if I'd left it in the garden one of my murderous moggies would definitely have had it for a chew toy.

I've brought it into the conservatory and made a temporary cage out of a wire garden gabion - it's got some water, seeds and peanuts in there with it and I made it a bit of a nest out of an old tea towel in a plant pot dish. When I put the poor thing in the cage it made for the dish with the tea towel on it and after a bit of a nervous few minutes, it had a bit of a preen, fluffed up its feathers and has been snoozing on and off. I've left it on its own for a while, hoping that if the main problem is exhaustion then a good rest might see the little fella back up on his wings.

Birds aren't my area of expertise - anyone got any advice on the how to care for the little chap?

Update on Mr Birdie: Just been in to check on him and he's eaten quite a few of the seeds and peanuts and is back on the tea towel having a snooze. He's also been to the loo. Hopefully this is a good sign, but he's very wobbly on his feet.

Am a bit worried about what I can feed him apart from sunflower seed hearts and peanuts. Have left a bit of a suet ball in there to see if he likes that.

[Sandra]

Pigeons are vegetarian - now that means they will eat anything in that range. Wood pigeons are known to be able to fly with their own weight of cabbage in their crop. I would advise that veg peelings would be better than fat. (fat is good for insectivores like blue tits etc)

I will assume it is a young feral pigeon (if it has rings - contact the numbers), if you can feel the 'keel' - the breastbone, as a sharp edge it is starving, if it has muscle and fat over the breast there is something complicated wrong and it'll need vet attention. IF it is a wood pigeon or collared dove it comes under wild bird laws - don't keep one of them too long.

If you feel like keeping the bird until it flies off on it's own, get some cheap chicken feed (many pet shops will have it, or even pigeon feed) basically its corn and wheat which you can leave out for wild birds over the winter. Once the bird is back on it's feet it'll be happy on a perch - either a broomstick or platform big enough for it's feet, by the time pigeons leave the nest they're pretty much on their own, copying adults in finding food. And think about how much mess pigeons make - stock up with newspaper.

Be warned feral pigeons can tame very easily, it might end up as an out door pet!

[Grace Speaker]

'nk you Sandra!

My little chap is definitely a common old feral pigeon, or rather rock dove, although he's rather handsome now he's had a bit of a preen and tidied himself up a bit.

I've chopped up some lettuce, carrot, corn and beetroot and added some porridge oats into the sunflower seeds and peanuts. I checked on him a minute ago and he was having a good drink out of the water bowl.

He definitely looks a lot more alert now than he did this morning, so hopefully I might only have to keep him overnight. As long as he doesn't get a visit from The Gentleman with the scythe overnight, I might try releasing him in the morning.

[Grace Speaker]

Update of Mr Birdie:

With the cats down for the afternoon nap, I took the risk of releasing Mr Birdie. He flew off OK, then tried to land on the fence, missed and ended up tangled in the clematis.

Untangled Mr Birdie from clematis and put him up a tree. He just sat there looking at me, so I backed away to watch what he'd to. Mr Squirrel had other ideas as he wrongly assumed I'd just put peanuts in the tree for him, so ran up the tree excitedly straight into Mr Pigeon. Both got a shock and Mr Pigeon flew off and made an attempt to land on the other fence. He missed.

Sighed and trundled off into the shrubbery to rescue Mr Pigeon who was now tangled in a bush. He flapped himself behind the Cotoneaster and a game of catch the pigeon ensued as he hobbled about the shrubbery with me in hot pursuit.

Caught My Pigeon, put him back in cardboard box. He seems to have something wrong with his right leg, but I can't work out if it's this that's stopping him land on suitable perches or whether he's got some sort of visual/spacial problem. Although he does seem to be OK when in flight, he seems to struggle to take off from a standing start and he can't seem to land properly. He can use his right leg, but he often takes his weight on his left foot and flexes his right as if it's hurting him.

I've enlarged his hospital cage in the conservatory slightly, with extra perches to try to give him the right idea. After doing a big poop, Mr Birdie is currently snoozing contentedly back in his cage.

Will keep him in again over night, but now not sure what to do with him for the best. I don't want him to get tame, but on today's evidence it's going to be a few days, at least, before he's going to be well enough to be set free.

[Sandra]

'Too Tame' generally isn't a problem in London - there are commuting pigeons who USE THE TUBE!

if his leg is a problem he might need vet attention, consider searching out a local wildlife rehab person/centre. Unfortunately all the rules you know about how well animals hide pain are based on predators - prey species are a lot better at hiding weakness .

[Grace Speaker]

Mr Birdie has been successfully released

He spent all last night able to stay on his perch and was very perky this morning, so I took a chance and took him out into the garden where he promptly flew up a tree. I was a bit worried to begin with as he just sat there for almost an hour, so I put some seed out on the lawn to encourage him to fly about a bit so I could see if he's be OK.

Unfortunately, every other pigeon, wood pigeon, magpie and starling immediately swooped down and scoffed the lot Waited for half an hour or so and put more seed down. This time he got the idea, flew down to have a snack and was also able to fly up to a tall tree a bit later when spooked by a squirrel.

He's now flown off in to the big blue yonder, so fingers crossed the little feathery fella be OK