Keeping a pigeon in the house

[HKG]

I'm planning on keeping my pigeon in the house. I have read things about pigeon dander being bad. Is this true? Are there actually any real risks to keeping him in the house if I kept the cage really clean and everything? I could possibly put an air purifier next to his cage if that would help. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[HKG]

Also, the pigeon will not be lonely. It was outside with others but they were picking on it and it seems much happier in here and really enjoys human affection. It also will have plenty outside of the cage time.

 

[GranderTheGander]

I've had one in the house for at least five years. She is crippled, due to her leg being caught in seaweed when she was young. She's in the bottom part of one of those 5' ferret cages that is sitting on a sturdy desk; with a shelf, plant lamp and all; and I've had no problem with dander. I doubt you will with one bird. Definitely take her in if the other birds are picking on her!

Also, she appears to have no concern about not being with other pigeons. Until this year, she was laying eggs all the time, too. I'd let her sit and then take them away when she lost interest. She'd then lay more eggs and sit again. She has always seemed perfectly content, and always "fusses" at me if she wants my attention for some reason.

P.S. She eats https://www.chewy.com/kaytee-supreme-parakeet-food/dp/123018, and wants nothing else, except for small bird grit or sand from the beach. Beach sand is actually a wonderful floor covering, or I'll use newspaper, paper towels and orchard grass hay.

 

[HKG]

Okay, thank you so much for your reply. That was very nice of you to take in that bird. They aren't picking on it really bad they just won't let it on the shelf we have for them and they pay no attention to it. I think I will probably set up the cage tonight and keep it in the house unless I find it won't work for some reason.

 

[HKG]

I've had one in the house for at least five years. She is crippled, due to her leg being caught in seaweed when she was young. She's in the bottom part of one of those 5' ferret cages that is sitting on a sturdy desk; with a shelf, plant lamp and all; and I've had no problem with dander. I doubt you will with one bird. Definitely take her in if the other birds are picking on her!

Also, she appears to have no concern about not being with other pigeons. Until this year, she was laying eggs all the time, too. I'd let her sit and then take them away when she lost interest. She'd then lay more eggs and sit again. She has always seemed perfectly content, and always "fusses" at me if she wants my attention for some reason.

P.S. She eats https://www.chewy.com/kaytee-supreme-parakeet-food/dp/123018, and wants nothing else, except for small bird grit or sand from the beach. Beach sand is actually a wonderful floor covering, or I'll use newspaper and orchard grass hay.

I feed it seed that had corn, sunflower seeds, millet and some other type of seed but It only eats the millet anyway so I might get it that food because it looks like it is mostly small seeds.

 

[HKG]

He's hanging out with me right now and seems to be loving it. By the way he is a young bird that I raised from a baby so that's why he has all the pin feathers on his face.

 

[GranderTheGander]

You should have no problems with him inside. I've known people with parrots who use air purifiers in bird rooms, and they do work. If you think you need one, just read reviews at Amazon for air purifiers, and type in the review search box "parrots" or "birds", etc., to see what's recommended and what's not by bird people.

We have been discussing in another thread birds that shun or kill weaker birds of their own kind, but I've never heard of pigeons killing each other. Does that happen?

I tried feeding mine all those normal pigeon things, too, but she only would eat millet! Which, of course, is so strange with a pigeon! I've had pigeons inside before and they always ate typical pigeon grains. I wonder if it's a sign that there is something wrong with a pigeon that only wants millet? As I said, mine got her leg caught up in seaweed on the beach, when she was still a slim young pigeon, which was sort of strange. Maybe there was something wrong with her before that happened. Or maybe she just had a bad leg before getting caught in the seaweed.

h, what a pretty boy!

 

[HKG]

You should have no problems with him inside. I've known people with parrots who use air purifiers in bird rooms, and they do work. If you think you need one, just read reviews at Amazon for air purifiers, and type in the review search box "parrots" or "birds", etc., to see what's recommended and what's not.

We have been discussing in another thread birds that shun or kill weaker birds of their own kind, but I've never heard of pigeons killing each other. Does that happen?

I tried feeding mine all those normal pigeon things, too, but she only would eat millet! Which, of course, is so strange with a pigeon! I've had pigeons inside before and they always ate typical pigeon grains. I wonder if it's a sign that there is something wrong with a pigeon that only wants millet? As I said, mine got her leg caught up in seaweed on the beach, when she was still a slim young pigeon, which was sort of strange. Maybe there was something wrong with her before that happened. Or maybe she had the bad leg before getting caught in the seaweed.

h, what a pretty boy!

We have an air purifier so I will probably try using it. I don't think pigeons will kill each other . They just weren't interacting with him. Idk it is interesting that they only seem to eat the millet. The others outside were eating the sunflowers and the corn

 

[HKG]

I was just curious. Do you by chance have a picture of your pigeons cage setup? I was just trying to get some ideas for his cage.

 

[GranderTheGander]

No, it's just a simple set-up with actually the top, not the bottom, of a 5' ferret cage. The cage divided in half, and I put the top half in the bottom tray. I left one ferret cage shelf in there, because she can jump up on it, even with a bad leg, and she also likes to go underneath it. She has small animal bowls for food and water, plus a more shallow small dish for grit or sand. If I use sand as a floor covering, she eats the sand off the floor, and prefers to do so.

I then have a Woods clamp lamp with a plant growing lightbulb on the top, secured with a D ring carabiner, which I turn on in the morning and off at night. It produces no heat, but a nice natural light. I can't set up the cage directly in front of a window. Sometimes one of my cats will jump up on the top of the cage and sit, against my wishes, which doesn't bother her. Pigeons are really adaptable birds.

If she wasn't crippled, I would put tree branches in the cage, too, but she can't perch. Actually, if she didn't have a bad leg, I would have given her the entire ferret cage, with branches and more shelves, although I think a pigeon might always prefer shelves to branches.