so, I've got this bird now and...

[Bug n Flock]

I don't know what to do with it or even what it is, frankly. I think it is a female homing pigeon? I answered an ad on Craigslist made by someone who said this bird had landed in their yard and they hadn't been able to find its owner but it was friendly and if you had a cage you could have the bird. It is very underweight, its entire keel protruded when I first got it. They transported (gonna just call it a her) her to me in a basket with newspaper in the bottom and a towel over the top, and had been feeding her bread. Poor bird is utterly unable to fly, I am assuming from being so underweight. I imagine she was released at a wedding or funeral or something and was unable to feed herself and ended up (very luckily) landing in those kind people's yard.

I've been feeding her a mix of layer crumbles, commercial finch pellets, and safflower seed. She has been eating and has gained some weight. I'll probably pick up some dove or parakeet seed at the shop today, but are there any other suggestions of what I can give her to help her regain condition(and also a good maintenance diet)? Any idea what it is and if it is a girl or boy? No noises, but I've had the bird less than a week and it is in poor condition, so I'm not surprised by its silence.

Should I build it an outdoor coop, or is it ok housed indoors?

 

[XChickenCrossingX]

Pigeons are just like keeping parakeets. It can live in a bird cage and eat bird food. It is okay to be housed inside but make sure he has a friend, like your Cockatiel.

 

[biophiliac]

Bless you for helping her. The diet you are giving sounds fine. and you can keep her inside for now. If you keep her think about getting a mate or even a same gender bird if you don't want babies and maybe a small loft outside. Make sure her drinking water is deep enough she can dip her beak in to the depth of her nostrils at least - they drink differently than chickens. And they love to take a bath. She is beautiful.
Oh - and they love raw unsalted peanuts.

 

[JaeG]

Its longer beak makes me think it might be a white ringneck dove (I'm no expert though). They have no homing instinct.

We had a ringneck dove adopt us - flew in one day and landed on our heads. As it was obviously not wild we caught it and it now lives in our aviary. S/he still likes landing on our heads and has taught our other birds to be less fearful of us (especially our young Bourkes parakeet boys who are very cheeky now and take great delight in climbing my pant legs, sitting on my shoulder, landing on my head etc). Doves are very sweet birds and as long as you let your bird out for some flight exercise it should be very happy living indoors.

Ours loves soaked parakeet seed with hulled sunflower seeds (also soaked). I tried giving him/her dove mix but the finches like it much more than the dove does! Millet sprays are a nice treat too.

And they love a daily bath.

 

[Bug n Flock]

She is not a ringneck- Even on white ringneck doves you can tell there is a band on the back of their necks, which this bird is lacking. Also Artemis has a ruffling to her breast feathers that ringnecks don't have. I'll try and get a better photo of her.

 

[Bug n Flock]

 

[Bug n Flock]

Oh, gross. Sorry for triple post, but I wanted to share this. I just let her out for exercise and she flew up to the top of my fridge(whoo, improvement!) and knocked off a wet mounted rat. The jar shattered. Rat juice went everywhere. *vomits*

And before I get weird questions about why I had a rat on top of the fridge: I am a biologist and have a lot of weird things around.

 

[LamarshFish]

First, I think you need to do closer examination as to whether that is a pigeon or a dove. My first observation is that it's wattle (that thing on top it's beak) looks very small for a pigeon, and looks more like that of a dove. Head shape and beak size has me wondering whether it is a dove as well....

It is an important determination since pigeons really like to fly, and also like company. Doves, on the other hand, do much better confined to a small cage, and only will do well with one other dove, whereas pigeons like many others around them.

I think what you are feeding the bird now is good. I was going to recommend layer pellets or crumbles for added protein, but maybe even consider grower crumbles to help it gain some weight? Mixing seed in there is smart so as to give the bird options for when its nutrition gets more on track.

If it is a pigeon it should go nuts for peanuts. Not sure whether doves love them. I have chukars in addition to pigeons, and my chukars wont touch peanuts. Peanuts are high in fat, and if your bird will eat them they may be a good way to stack on some weight.

If that is a pigeon, its dark eyes lead me to believe it is still a very young bird, less than 3 months old. Pigeons eyes are dark as youngsters, and lighten up with age. Not sure how it works with doves....

 

[Hokum Coco]

I don't know what to do with it or even what it is, frankly

You are doing a great job and should regain it's strength quickly at that rate. It looks like a very young homing pigeon to me. If it has a band it is a simple matter to find it's owner.
Check out the link:
http://www.npausa.com/customer_service/found_pigeon.html

 

[biophiliac]

Pigeons eyes are dark as youngsters, and lighten up with age.

This is true except in the case of white birds who often do have dark 'bull eye' I think?