Favorite Pigeon Treats

[Hokum Coco]

Leg bands #1 and #5 are still missing,

Do the missing birds have leg bands? A posting on Social media or Craig list might aid in the return of your birds with a picture (can always use a similar pic off the internet). Hunger will sometimes make them fly to a human for assistance if they have not integrated into the feral flock. Have they ever returned on the roof of you house (outside of the initial release)? Try watching feral pigeons in your neigbourhood maybe you might be able to see and trap your birds.

Always do slow deliberate movements every time you go in and soon they will fly on you as soon as you enter the loft for peanut treats. Do not over feed the peanuts. Dropping 4 or 5 peanuts on the floor can create competition which is also a good tool when training.
Try not to handle them. The fewer times the better. You will notice when you make as sudden movement they will let out a loud squeak this will later turn into a growl (as soon as they get their adult voice).

 

[LamarshFish]

Do the missing birds have leg bands? A posting on Social media or Craig list might aid in the return of your birds with a picture (can always use a similar pic off the internet). Hunger will sometimes make them fly to a human for assistance if they have not integrated into the feral flock. Have they ever returned on the roof of you house (outside of the initial release)? Try watching feral pigeons in your neigbourhood maybe you might be able to see and trap your birds.

Always do slow deliberate movements every time you go in and soon they will fly on you as soon as you enter the loft for peanut treats. Do not over feed the peanuts. Dropping 4 or 5 peanuts on the floor can create competition which is also a good tool when training.
Try not to handle them. The fewer times the better. You will notice when you make as sudden movement they will let out a loud squeak this will later turn into a growl (as soon as they get their adult voice).

My two missing birds are banded (right foot has their ID numbers #1 and #5, left foot has a band with my phone number). I thought about posting lost pigeons, but where I live, unfortunately I think it's a waste of time. I live close to the city, and very few people keep pigeons, but we have tons of ferals. I've looked around at ferals to see if they have leg bands, I'm always keeping an eye out, but haven't seen them. I keep an eye out to see whether they ever come back to my roof, but haven't seen them yet. It think this Friday they'll have been gone for 2 weeks. I live 1 mile away from a huge zoo, and most of the ferals near me roost in the parking garage of the zoo, and I do wonder whether any folks at the zoo (employees or patrons) feed the pigeons. If that's the case, I wonder if they'll make their way back to my loft this fall when the zoo closes.... Anyways, I'd imagine if my birds ended up with somebody (fancier or not), they'd give me a call since my phone number is on their bands, assuming they had any intention of giving them back to me.

I definitely know what you mean by the squeak and the growl. Mine squeak less now that I'm starting to tame them, but when I get too close a few of them still growl. My #6, who very recently has become the largest (certainly has the biggest head, I think he's a cock, his head has that masculine shape), he has recently been the biggest growler (Mr. Tough Guy).