Hosting a homing pigeon

[amillion21]

We found a homing pigeon staying near our garage for 3 days. Exhausted, it let us catch it. With lots of phone calls & researching its band, we reunited it with its owner, who lived 8 miles away.
Two days ago, the pigeon returned. We have left a tray of fresh bird food & a tray of water , though it prefers to drink from our goldfish pond.
We realize the bird has made our garage it's "home". We don't want to cage it & have provided a roosting box for it near the garage rafter. If I contact the owner, more than likely, the bird will be killed & it's band used for another bird. I understand its a "business." How common is it to pay the breeder for the band? What type of quality mite spray can we use to keep it clean & in good health. This bird is clean & well tAken care of.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Anita

 

[PeakyBeaky]

How did you find out where the owner lived? We just had the same thing happen to us. A pigeon just appeared tonight.

 

[amillion21]

You can go online to American Racing Pigeon Union. Click on care of lost birds. Give them the entire band info on bird. They will get back to you with the club name & contact info. After all of my posting, ours has gone. We're hoping it just needed to come back to get its bearings to continue. Good luck!

 

[amillion21]

UPDATE......our "guest" homing pigeon has flown away.

 

[Hokum Coco]

The homing pigeon was most likely a late bloomer or got confused on a toss. It is most likely home by now. It does not take much of a homing pigeon to negotiate 8 miles. The question remains how far it flew to get to your safe haven. I have birds that can negotiate a toss of 600 miles in peak condition.

You deserve a bouquet for helping the pigeon out.

 

[amillion21]

Last time, the owner told me he released his flock 2 miles away from us. I'm sure it's home. No feathers or remains of a struggle, so we feel pretty good that it went home.