First time pigeon caregiver...

[GunnyBun]

Will a rabbit water container work for a pigeon? And do they perch or roost on roosts like chickens? I have never had a pigeon but I found a racing one yesterday and we found the owner. But until they can figure out how to get the bird back they asked us to take care of it. What do they eat? We were feeding it corn but the owner told us to please not so I took it out. PS, I was only doing that because it was eating our chickens corn when I found it, or I never would have put some in the cage with it. Also our temperature has been a little cooler with the nights getting around 45F should I put a light on it? I have a towel wrapped around the cage to keep predators(my cat and the resident raccoons) out.

 

[sourland]

Pigeons need to be able to submerge their bills in a deep dish in order to drink as they sort of gulp their water down. Bird seed would be a better feed than whole corn.

 

[black_cat]

Pigeons need a deep dish of water because of the way they drink. They do roost. They roost flat footed. Until I could get proper pigeon feed mine really liked a mix of 1 part scratch grains (for chickens) one part layer crumble, one part rice, one part lentils, and 3 parts black oil sunflower seeds. It's not a complete diet but works short term.

 

[GunnyBun]

Pigeons need to be able to submerge their bills in a deep dish in order to drink as they sort of gulp their water down. Bird seed would be a better feed than whole corn.

Ok thank you!

 

[GunnyBun]

Pigeons need a deep dish of water because of the way they drink. They do roost. They roost flat footed. Until I could get proper pigeon feed mine really liked a mix of 1 part scratch grains (for chickens) one part layer crumble, one part rice, one part lentils, and 3 parts black oil sunflower seeds. It's not a complete diet but works short term.

Thank you! So a round perch, like a chickens, where they actually grasp the perch will not work??

 

[black_cat]

Thank you! So a round perch, like a chickens, where they actually grasp the perch will not work??

It will work but they prefer a flat one. Chickens and pigeons both settle down on their feet to cover their toes when it's cold.

 

[GunnyBun]

It will work but they prefer a flat one. Chickens and pigeons both settle down on their feet to cover their toes when it's cold.

I’ll see what I can find, and fit into the cage for it to roost on. It’s only temporary until the owner finds a way to get him/her back.

 

[black_cat]

I’ll see what I can find, and fit into the cage for it to roost on. It’s only temporary until the owner finds a way to get him/her back.

We found ours as well, but when we contacted the owner he said we could keep him/her because it had failed at it's job as racing pigeon. We kept ours in a cat crate (for bringing cat to the vet) with a flat bit of scrap wood up on bricks. Paper towels under everything to catch poop.

 

[GunnyBun]

We found ours as well, but when we contacted the owner he said we could keep him/her because it had failed at it's job as racing pigeon. We kept ours in a cat crate (for bringing cat to the vet) with a flat bit of scrap wood up on bricks. Paper towels under everything to catch poop.

Yeah the owner said if we can’t arrange anything for it to come home, that he will send the pigeon a mate, and we can start raising them. We have almost become a zoo, we raised a baby squirrel that we found, it is still with us and will stay until after winter or maybe we will keep it still, and now we have took in a pigeon, hopefully though it all works out good and we can sort all of this out!

 

[black_cat]

Yeah the owner said if we can’t arrange anything for it to come home, that he will send the pigeon a mate, and we can start raising them. We have almost become a zoo, we raised a baby squirrel that we found, it is still with us and will stay until after winter or maybe we will keep it still, and now we have took in a pigeon, hopefully though it all works out good and we can sort all of this out!

That's so fun though! I'm jealous.