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It seems that the parent pigeons are lethargic because while building their nest in our home gallery, they did not take proper care. They just made round in the nest. There is no bed for babies. Shall I put cotton as a bed for babies? Any idea would be appreciated to take care of the babies.

The green stuff is called tarpaulin (heavy-duty waterproof cloth, originally of tarred canvas). I put this at the bottom of the nest when the babies were in the eggs.

I am living in India. Current climate is starting of winter season. It is 24 to 30 degrees Celsius.

birds

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    a general rule is to never touch the babies of any wild wild animal,at work i have often moved a birds nest and the sucsses rate have been poor,many people think they are doing a favour by trying to help the babies they find in fields like deer and moose calfs but this is really a catastrophy as the mother will not recognice the baby if it smells of human.
    – trond hansen
    Jun 3, 2019 at 16:42
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    These birds are became pets now
    – Shree
    Jun 4, 2019 at 13:24
  • They are not humans, they don't need a bed. Also you shouldn't touch them/the nest or their mother might abandon them.
    – Hans1984
    Jun 5, 2019 at 11:41
  • Where did u get this nest box too
    – Gabrielle lloyd
    Apr 8, 2021 at 6:38

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You should leave the nest as it is. Looking at pictures of pigeon nests, it seems absolutely normal that they don't have a soft and fluffy "bed".

As a general rule, you should not interfere with the way wild animals live or raise their babies. If the birds decided that this nest is enough, you should trust them.

The worst thing you could do is:

  • leave your smell on a nest or newborn animal (even if you don't "smell" at all, wild animals have far better noses than humans). Many animals abandon their offspring if they smell like humans. Your wish to help condemns the animal to die.
  • Put anything unnatural into the nest. The chicks might swallow a cotton ball or any material you put in the nest and either suffocate or starve because their stomach is full of cotton and they cannot eat any food.

As a side note: you should not have put something waterproof in the nest. Nests are built out of twigs or grass to let air and water flow through. Waterproof canvas could be very bad if it rains and the water cannot drain. But please leave it in there now and don't interfere with the nest.

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    Actually, it's largely a myth that birds will abandon their nests due to human smell. scientificamerican.com/article/… -- Most birds don't actually have that good a sense of smell. However, it's still a good idea to not go near the nest because if the bird sees predators around the nest, it might get scared and leave.
    – Kai
    Oct 28, 2018 at 15:04
  • Only Sparrow does that. It doesn't take any sparrow in their group when it has human smell.
    – Shree
    Oct 28, 2018 at 15:21
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    This was meant as general rule when interacting with wild animals and was supposed to include mammals as well. Where I live you sometimes find young deer fawn liying around during spring time. People who don't know better touch them to see if thei're OK, but one single touch is enough for the mother to abandon her fawn.
    – Elmy ♦
    Oct 28, 2018 at 15:31
  • I have done some research before touching the baby birds. Pigeon doesn't abandon the babies after human touch. Some time I use to give them 1 or 2 ml cow's milk. Babies like it. Now, their training session under their mother's supervision is going on. At night time their mother doesn't live with babies. She only comes to feed them.
    – Shree
    Nov 12, 2018 at 4:20
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I have purchased one wooden nest box for them and put them in that nest box. Their parents love the nest box and use to sit on it to take care of their babies. I have also purchased dry grass as a bed for the babies. They feel more secure in that nest box now. They did not abandon their babies when I touched the babies.

2birds bird1

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