unexpectedly hatched a squab need help urgently

I've got a 4 day old hatchling - long story why it's hatched in my incubator - daughter's friend found egg in garden, they carried it around school and my daughter begged me to put it in with our duck eggs - I paid no attention to it as I was sure it was infertile or dead - it was never my intention to try and hatch a Pigeon/Dove as I know nothing about them.
Against all odds it has hatched.
I contacted my local Pigeon fancying clubs but they all came back saying forget it it's impossible to raise them by hand - just let it die.
Not knowing any better I've been liquidizing my chick food, adding flax oil and a dash of spirulina and feeding it with a dropper. The bird is still alive in it's box/light nest and quite wriggly BUT it's stomach is distended and although it is pooing it's only couple of times a day.
In desperation I've been trying different googles and found your site. I can see now how to make a home made formula that's more suitable.
Is there anything I can do to help her now? What are digestive enzymes? do i have to go to a vet? It's not like acidophilus is it?
Anyone's advice would be greatly appreciated
Thank you Caitlin (and the children)

Hand rearing ybs can be done. A few weeks ago i was talking to someone who (well before my time) raised one on normal milk and a dropper. and said it did absolutely fine. A pigeons crop will fill once full, and will be around the neck area and will empty when the bird has digested the food, so it will become big once fed. hearing that you have got it to 4 days is quite an achievement and if you carry on feeding it like you are and as it gets a bit older start to blend the food less and less the bird should hopefully have solid food...

Thank you - I'm not sure if it's her crop or her stomach that is so distended - I just gently massaged the affected area and then down her tummy and she rewarded me with her first poo in 24 hours so a bit of relief.
I'm trying to make my mixture closer to the mac formula.
Any other advice gratefully received - I feel such an idiot trying to do this when I don't know anything.
Some sites have info about inserting a tube into their crop but i'm just dropping the mixture underneath his tongue

first off hi there , make sure you have some thing underneath the baby so he or she as some thing to grip on if not there legs will splay out and will not be straight , get some SMA baby powder and some small beans or peas from the pet shop ifnot some wild bird feed soak it over night in water then one by one pop it down its throat
also drops of the baby powder down it throat with a syringe do this every few hours it will grow up fast well done and good luck . kevin

I've got a towel underneath so she can wriggle - she's getting a mixture of:
egg
yoghurt
olive oil
cod liver oil
ground layer's pellets
water

should be ok , but it sounds like you have a baby wood pigeon god knows what they feed on
but keep up the good work and keep us updated a few photos will be good if you can
its hard work feeding a baby pigeon they need constant food but make sure its soaked first .

sounds like you are doing fine with it, when the crops full it sticks out at the front below their necks. what you are feeding sounds fine, as the pigeon will just want food thats milky at that age.

welcome to the site by the way

here's the baby

you could soak some layers pellets and shringe them in to the baby for a few days hope all goes well for you

What might help a bit, just soak a bit of wild bird seed about half a eggcup over night then the next day put some milk powder in it just a bit and put it in a licquidizer as a bird is fed on milk food for about 8 to10 days, if you get to 10 days just soak wild bird food over night and give it that with some twezers it will grow quiet quickly you have done very well to get it to 4 days well done

anyone know about the crop being big and like a jelly? How can I help it go down?

Caitlin dont worry about the crop swelling thats howe they are fed the crop swells but it dose go down you are doing fine as you are going. it is as I said milkfood which is what a baby pigeon feeds on for the first few days you have done well better than most of us

caitlinwalker wrote:

anyone know about the crop being big and like a jelly? How can I help it go down?

as ginger said the crop swells out and looks abnormal but dont worry this is as it should be and well done so far keep it up and i hope it gets through

keep it up you're goin a great job there well done

you could contaqct a local pigeon club and find out if anyone can put the squeeker under a pair of sitters.if anyone has a youngster the same age you can put the baby pigeon under the pair and they will rear it.hell of a lot of work bringing up a squeeker from birth.

I tried but they were reluctant to offer help which is why I've gone virtual. They said it was so unlikely that it would survive there was no real point.
If you know of helpful ones near west kirby please pass on details

hi catlin, welcome to the site.........have you used baby milk in the dropper ? when baby pigeons are first hatched the parents feed them for the first few days of their life on a milk and not solid corn, if it was me i would try it with a mixture of baby milk if you could get hold of any.