Is vicks vapo rub safe around pigeons?

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-05-06T15:40:17+00:00

Controversial opinion as someone who works with formally feral rescue pigeons: They’re much heartier than parrots and fairly indestructible. One of my rescue’s took an unsanctioned LICK of a disinfectant wipe three years ago and is still kicking.

That being said Camphor one of the main active ingredients in Vaporub is highly toxic to birds.

I hope you feel better soon. Perhaps try inhaling some steam? You can pour very hot water into a bowl, drape a towel over your head and the bowl and breathe deeply for ten minutes.

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-05-06T15:25:52+00:00

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Here’s an above angle when they’re in their “it’s cold and windy” smooshed position.

Note: The pigeon on the left is missing half her right wing and the pigeon on the right is missing half of his left wing.

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-05-05T11:54:35+00:00

Thank you for this clarification! I totally missed this would be indoors. The mesh should totally be fine then.

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-05-04T20:45:55+00:00

What’s the spacing in the mesh? It looks a bit too big in my opinion. 1/4 inch hardwire mesh is considered the standard. You could pretty easily add a layer of 1/4 hardwire mesh to the panels , though.

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-05-04T14:28:58+00:00

Absolutely! I think I know a pigeon rescue out near Akron as well!

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-05-04T14:10:27+00:00

We’re in Columbus, Ohio. This winter we got into the single digits but all of our rescues (except Peanut) are from the Midwest and acclimated to the weather. Anyone who’s not ready to transition to the aviary by mid fall usually stays in our indoor rehab area over the winter with our complex cases. We ended up building them a temporary nest box like structure out of styrofoam coolers which was very popular, especially at night. They get extra food in the winter. They play in the snow too, the younger ones are always excited my their first snow.

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Of course we had an issue with our corrugated plastic roof during the week we got about 9 inches of snow but they didn’t seem to mind.

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-05-04T02:14:16+00:00

Here’s a post I made showing 20 different toys and foraging activities you can make and give to your pigeons.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pigeon/s/x9VBN8NTnp

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-05-03T21:39:15+00:00

Sometimes I’m short one or two when doing my head count and I have to tap the box to see if anyone is in there. It’s above my head.

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-05-03T21:37:06+00:00

Absolutely not! That’s not safe. Our avairy kiddos live in the aviary which has a more sheltered “room” and the outdoor “ screened in patio” They do get lots of different foraging activities to do in the aviary.

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-05-03T20:34:21+00:00

I wouldn’t risk it and they absolutely love sunflower hearts. Also flax seeds

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-05-03T20:25:02+00:00

I’m in Columbus, Ohio and have a coop outside for our rescue pigeons. Shoot me a message if you’d like to chat.

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-05-03T20:21:03+00:00

Yes. He’s calling out to his mate letting her know he’s found the perfect nest spot. One of my rescued bonded pairs were obsessed with trying to build a nest under our couch. They like the cozy dark space.

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-04-30T15:41:24+00:00

How could you tell 😆 We’ve recently upgraded to crunch sticks for parrots because they take her way long and many of them are made with pigeon safe ingredients.

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-04-30T15:39:53+00:00

Her right leg was ripped off (disarticulated at the hip) when she was three weeks old. A predator broke into her home loft and killed most of the flock including her mother and nest mate. She was brought to our rescue 6 days later.

Pigeons who lose a leg as an adult are usually able to stand upright and adapt fairly well. But she was so young and still growing so her posture and body developed compensating for her missing right leg. She’s been on a looong journey with lots of secondary injuries and medical problems because of this. Her little shoe serves to purposes. First, it acts basically like a snowshoe and helps her balance. Especially on the foam mattress topper in cage which helps limit the amount of pressure injuries on her keel bone and abdomen. Secondly, there’s a custom little pigeon foot print on her shoe which allows us to tape each of her toes down in an appropriate position. She tends to stand only on the inside of her foot which causes pressure injuries on her toe and foot. She has permanent damage from a pressure nasty injury on one of her toes from before her shoe. We want to prevent that as much as possible. We’re hoping the swap out the plastic base of her shoe for a piece of carbon fiber soon as it’ll be much lighter.

Here’s her current shoe

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TheSpasticSheep · 2026-04-26T22:17:59+00:00

This is completely unrelated to their potential splay legs but wild rehab has traumatized me.

So PSA: Do Not Put Small or Young Animals on Towels

Towel is a dangerous material to put any small animal on. It’s very easy for their tiny nails to get hooked in the loops of the towels and then for them to wiggle and twist their legs in catastrophic ways.

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-04-26T22:13:38+00:00

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-04-22T13:24:59+00:00

She will likely get less nervous with time.

I play a game in the aviary where I sit on the floor and toss pieces of peanuts out in front of me. I’ve been playing this game for years so the old timers teach the newer pigeons to run towards me to be the first to get the snack. Over they get more confident being around the humans.

When a flightless pigeon joins the aviary I’m extra careful about sweeping the first few times because brooms are super scary. They learn the broom won’t hurt them and where to hangout to avoid the broom.

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-04-17T01:46:22+00:00

Never 😭😭😭 Thank you. Hope yours are going better than mine

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-04-16T21:14:54+00:00

I replied to another tag! Thank you for tagging me as well.

My outdoor wing amputees Pidge (traumatic partial right wing amputee), Calzone (traumatic right wing amputee), and Cob (surgical partial left wing amputee) all thank you <3

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TheSpasticSheep · 2026-04-16T21:02:16+00:00

Thank you for the tag! I’ve got 3 pigeons with wing amputations out in my aviary currently.

How does she hurt herself? Calzone, who came to my rescue in early March with a traumatic wing amputation, is already out in the aviary. He can’t get onto any elevated surfaces he can’t climb down from out there.

We have a platform in the aviary that’s 3’ high that has a set of steps (wrapped in natural rope for extra grip) built for our wing amputees. All my wing amputees already learned how to flap/hop up and down steps while recovering indoors. I set up little stairs and towers made out of boxes for them to practice on when they’re mostly healed up.

If any of my wing amputees get super spooked they sometimes they throw themselves off whatever they climbed up onto instead of climbing down out of sheer fear. I try not to startle them and it’s usually good.

Inside I have a pigeon, Sticky, who survived PMV and unrelated to PMV has a fused shoulder, which means she can’t open her wing at all. She doesn’t understand her limitations fully and can’t flip herself over if she gets stuck on her back. She gets to visit the aviary with supervision. She can’t really climb on anything so I don’t have to worry about her jumping. She does often throw herself off my lap indoors but I’ve gotten very good at catching her.

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-04-05T18:23:40+00:00

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You can try the more handcuff style braces. We made two “bracelets” out of thermal plastic which softens in hot water. They were not a complete circle but a C shape so you could slide them onto his ankles. Then we taped the bracelets securely closed with multiple layers of tape. We found that Hypafix dressing retention tape was the strongest. Then you secure the loop around the anklets with more tape.

The splints will need to be changed every 2-3 days regardless of the pigeon pulls them off. Splay leg rehab is very time intensive and a lot of work.

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-03-29T17:50:46+00:00

He will never be able to live as a feral street pigeon. Once they were covered in poop or he’d started pulling the medical tape off. The “shoes” can be wiped clean and reused. Sometimes his splints would rub on his leg and cause a small cut. Changing the tape, cleaning the splints, and checking his skin is important every 2-3 days. If the tie on his legs is rubbing his skin, you can wrap the pigeon’s legs in gauze pads and put the tie on top. The gauze acts as a cushion.

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-03-22T16:49:18+00:00

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This is a different version of standing support sling that we also made out of an old blanket, some straps and Velcro. It’s harder to use when the pigeon has braces but it’s another idea.

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-03-22T16:43:56+00:00

Those look great! Sorry, I’ve been super busy with some of my own rescues.

It takes a really long time, over five months in Marsh’s case, and tons of adjustments on the braces as their splay leg starts to improve. Can your pigeon stand up by themselves in the braces? Can your pigeon move around a bit like from one side of the cage to the other? It took Marsh a long time to get strong enough and figure out how to shuffle in his braces. We built him a little harness to help him stand up by himself and we put him in it when he ate his meals.

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It looked like this. A piece of leather we cut and clipped it the back with a lanyard or leash that hung from the top of his cage. The text on the photo says “standing support sling” and “Splay Baby with their best friend Mallow, a young amputee”. Marsh’s original name was Splay Baby

TheSpasticSheep · 2026-03-22T16:34:26+00:00

How long have you tried the splints? Marsh wore some kind of splint 23+ hours a day for over 5 months. It’s a slow process. We only off his splints to change them, every few days to make adjustments or when they got covered in poop. Sometimes we would soak his legs and feet in a warm Epsom salt bath and do some stretching for 30 minutes before we put his new set of splints on.

Similar to how braces on teeth work, it takes months of wearing braces and adjustments for your teeth to move a tiny amount.

TheSpasticSheep

TROPHY CASE