Pigeon Talk

[Qwerty3159]

Something I’ve learned that gets the young ones self-feeding quicker is to put a small cup of food in the nest box. The youngsters will copy the parents when they eat from it as they get older.

 

[avjudge]

I get jealous when I see fancy pigeons. I considered getting them as mates for the two boys, but the ATM on the way to pick out the girls didn’t work for me so I barely had enough cash for a couple of plain Jane homers. But Barbara and Checkers, like Binnie before them, turned out to be sweethearts and I love watching them do circles around my backyard and coming in for a landing when they see me.

Barbara appears to be continuing to mend without complication from Monday's crash landing. (For those who didn’t see it, I started a thread at that time in the injuries subforum.) I did find a bit of a laceration hiding up under the feathers at the edge of the skinned area, and somehow she got a lot of dirt stuck into the ointment yesterday (it had been staying pretty clean before that), but as far as I can see her behavior is absolutely normal now. I just hope she doesn’t decide to hate me now because she is clearly not a fan of the handling!

 

[Chicken poppy]

Hi all! Let me introduce myself as i am new on this thread. I myself, do not own pigeons. I hope to one day own some as they are some of the most witty and sweet birds. I have always loved them but my parents aren’t all that fond of them. “Rats with wings” so to speak.

I have rescued pigeons before and do love them lots, i hope you don’t mind if i chat on this thread even though i don’t own any. Looking forward to seeing everyones beautiful birds.

 

[Chicken poppy]

They are a really neat breed!

How’s everyone’s birds doing? I have one squeaker in training at the moment.

He’s doing well, managed to stay with the group when the hawk showed up and land back on the loft when the hawk split him off. He expertly landed and dove under a parked truck which completely baffled the hawk before beelining back inside when the hawk circled back. Not bad for only his 3rd or 4th time out

The coloration is stunning. I have a few questions (i don’t own pigeons but hope to someday) do you keep yours inside for the most part and let them outside, or outside like in a chicken coop? How many flockmates do they need and is there a pecking order? Thank you!

 

[Chicken poppy]

Your frillbacks are gorgeous!
Here’s some old pics of the ones my Arabian Trumpeter pair hatched in April. Now they are fledged! They haven’t figured out flying yet, though, and aren’t good at eating on their own.View attachment 3510747View attachment 3510748View attachment 3510749

Baby pigeons are precious.

 

[Qwerty3159]

The coloration is stunning. I have a few questions (i don’t own pigeons but hope to someday) do you keep yours inside for the most part and let them outside, or outside like in a chicken coop? How many flockmates do they need and is there a pecking order? Thank you!

Thanks! Pigeons are a great bird to keep and I think there is a breed for every owner. Some don’t need to be let out at all or can barely fly. Some shouldn’t really be let out because this makes them hawk-bait.

I let my pigeons out most days out of the year. Excessively bad weather isn’t good for them but mine fly the longest durations on dry windy days and also spend time in the pouring rain having a bath if they so choose. Sometimes when I have a day off they’ll get the opportunity to go out multiple times. Mine are outside in a coop but I open the door and they fly out if they want. I never force the birds to go out on a daily flight because there are a myriad of reasons the pigeon might not want to go out than just laziness. If I open the door and none of the pigeons budge, a hawk probably passed by just before I went out.

Pigeons need at least one flockmate if they’re not an inside pet completely bonded to you. You can keep 2 pigeons, or 20 if you want depending how big you build the coop.

There is definitely a pecking order. Cocks tend to be dominant over most hens, while young birds before their first molt are always the lowest on the totem pole.

There are a lot of breeds of fancy pigeons that don’t need to free fly and keep pretty easily in a small loft of some kind.

 

[Chicken poppy]

Thanks! Pigeons are a great bird to keep and I think there is a breed for every owner. Some don’t need to be let out at all or can barely fly. Some shouldn’t really be let out because this makes them hawk-bait.

I let my pigeons out most days out of the year. Excessively bad weather isn’t good for them but mine fly the longest durations on dry windy days and also spend time in the pouring rain having a bath if they so choose. Sometimes when I have a day off they’ll get the opportunity to go out multiple times. Mine are outside in a coop but I open the door and they fly out if they want. I never force the birds to go out on a daily flight because there are a myriad of reasons the pigeon might not want to go out than just laziness. If I open the door and none of the pigeons budge, a hawk probably passed by just before I went out.

Pigeons need at least one flockmate if they’re not an inside pet completely bonded to you. You can keep 2 pigeons, or 20 if you want depending how big you build the coop.

There is definitely a pecking order. Cocks tend to be dominant over most hens, while young birds before their first molt are always the lowest on the totem pole.

There are a lot of breeds of fancy pigeons that don’t need to free fly and keep pretty easily in a small loft of some kind.

How cool! I knew none of this. Thanks for taking the time to explain this to me.

 

[Chicken poppy]

I have a bit of a pigeon rescue story to tell. (Very very young at the time, about 9) I can’t remember all the details because it was a while ago but i’ll say what i remember, i was admiring some ducks when i noticed for a few hours a pigeon didn’t move at all, while all the pigeons around it were. It made strange noises and seemed to make an attempt to fly and couldn’t. There was a huge drop (some waterfall type thing) right next to the pigeon, so i couldn’t get a close look, but i went home and dragged my dad (who does not like pigeons) off of a work call and forced him to swim out there and get the pigeon. Turned out there was fishing wire tangled around the poor things foot, he seemed really strange, barely trying to move when touched, which is not very normal for a wild bird. I assume it was due to the high stress of the situation of being touched by a complete stranger and being tangled in wire for who knows how long, maybe even weak from not eating.

I brought the pigeon home in a towel, firmly wrapped, and put the pigeon in a low stress, non noisy area outside in a small dog crate. Gave him food, water, tried calling sanctuaries but no luck for pigeons. After a while i opened the crate and he went back inside, i tried again sometime later and he flew off.

The beautiful part was the little pigeon got a girlfriend, and every day came back to show her off to me. He would make some cooing noises and run up to me, now, keep in mind he wasn’t socialized so didn’t literally jump into my arms (thats a good thing! Hunters.) but he ran up and stayed a distance. It slowly became every month, then every few months, until eventually i never saw them anymore, but i think that was a thank you, and a beautiful thank you it was. I hope they are alright!

 

[Amer]

 

[Qwerty3159]

Anyone ever have a newborn squab end up halfway across the loft???

I have one pair nesting on a floor in the corner that I’ve put a box around. They’ve raised three sets of squabs like this without issue, both parents are good about defending the nest and the other birds in the loft all have their own nest boxes and don’t bother them.

Sunday they hatched one squab, yesterday morning I saw a new eggshell on the floor and assumed the other hatched. By the time I got home some 12 hours later I found one of the newborn squabs, definitely from this pair, cold and lifeless on the floor at least 3 feet away. It was a completely uninjured newborn. I managed to perk it up with my body heat and stick it back under the mom, today I can’t differentiate between the two in the nest which one was on the floor, both seem fine, so I think all will be well with it.

Just such a bizarre incident and was wondering if anyone else has seen something similar? I have no idea how this newborn squab could’ve ended up so far away from the nest without a scratch on it.