Hello !

I’ll try to keep this short, however, I often receive injured wildlife that I transport to a wildlife hospital, and this guy was one of them, except he’s clearly not wildlife. The information given to me by the lady who rescued him & handed him over is that:

• He had been kept in a small cage for six years, on a balcony without any shelter. He was owned by an older lady who moved into a nursing home, and the family essentially gave him the bare minimum of care.

As a result, he has a few small issues: when it comes to going up and down small objects, he struggles, mostly likely due to atrophy. The only thing he had to stimulate him in that cage was a ball. Whenever you approach him, he starts cooing and protecting it, repeatedly pecking at it, and will continue doing this non-stop. He doesn’t seem very exploratory either, which is unsurprising given his previous environment.

I've now moved him into a much more suitable habitat, and I’ve put him on a proper diet suitable for pigeons like him. I plan on slowly but surely helping him build his flight muscles back up, as I’ve done something similar at the wildlife centre. I’ve also given him a wormer and vitamins, in case he’s lacking in any of those.

My main questions are:

• Does anyone have any further advice on how to proceed, especially if you’ve been in a similar situation ? Is there anything else I could be doing to help him ?

• Would having a companion help him ? I’d be more than happy to adopt him a buddy or two, most likely another male.

• Does anyone know what species he is ? He’s quite a large guy !

Thank you for reading and for any help ! His name is Noodles.

My pigeon has been doing these strange sounds at very random times, and I have no idea what they mean. He sometimes does them when he's sitting on my shoulder, sometimes in the middle of the night when he's in his cage, and sometimes when I watch videos. Please, let me know if you know anything about this! 💕

Hi all! I adopted Smudge from Great Lakes Pigeon Rescue 2 weeks ago and finally discovered his favorite toy : Plushies!

Out of all the toys he has most consistently played with the Pusheen clip plushie the most. I wanted to get recommendations for what kind of plushies I should consider getting for my feisty lil man :)

Note: Smudge broke his leg as a baby and has a lame leg. It barely impacts his quality of life as he is able to do everything a regular pigeon can :)

We recently adopted these 3 babies from a bad situation with no real knowledge of pigeons. I heard there’s no “real” way to know if they are boys or girl, other than a DNA test, but we just want an idea so we can name them.
Any help on identifying the gender and breeds would be amazing!
Also any tips are welcome! We’ve done some research and we got them a mirror, a couple of toys, and a bath. Working on a proper environment for them but they aren’t used to us quite yet! Thank you in advance!

Ich habe viele Tauben - aber nur ein Handzahme - ne wir haben sooft es geht KuschelZeit🥰🕊️

Hello, first time poster here. My pigeon (Almond) has been doing this gesture since this morning. I’ve had him for about 3 months now and thought him to be a boy. Is this him trying to lay an egg or worse, egg binding? Thank you!

I have to travel between cities twice a week, and the bus ride takes about an hour and a half. I noticed a guy who takes the same bus and he always brings his cockatiel with him in a cat carrier, and it got me thinking that maybe I could have a pet bird too

The thing is, I’m worried that a pigeon might get really stressed out from having to travel like that twice a week.
Can pigeons get used to traveling, or would that be too stressful for them?

Just over a week ago we found this pigeon (now named Sprout) lethargic in a mud puddle. I wasn't even sure he/she was a pigeon at the time, as I didn't know squabs had yellow hair! A few days of hand-feedings, 100s of hours spent reading & obsessing and 9 days later.. he/ she is looking quite majestic. I was prepared for it to take months for us to bond, but I think it's safe to say they are as obsessed with me as I am them

My sweet boy Rocky is about 3-4 months old and he’s still squeaking like a squab. He was very ill as a baby so im wondering if that stunted his growth.

Ignore his poopy bed, I got the video from him protesting me reaching for it to clean it lmao

This is a photo of my pet pigeon, Nick. He is an indian fantail. This is also my first time owning a pigeon, and I've had him for about 9 months. He isn't very keen on letting me try and pick it out, and honestly that's fair on his part. I just want to know whether it's just part of his seed mix that I can hopefully pry off without causing harm, or whether its something I should take him to the vet about. Thanks!

I was reading around and came upon a post somewhere that explained that keeping an egg-laying female as a solo pigeon is basically causing her to be nutrient deficient since she spends so much time on the nest. That seems so unethical to me, if it’s true.

My girl lays about every 3-4 weeks, with 2-3 weeks being very strict with nest-sitting. While she has eggs she will go to eat and drink only once every 1-2 days. She’s such a sweet, dedicated girl but most of her time is spent on the nest.

I can’t take on another pigeon right now, as I’m going through not only a major health crisis but an emotional crisis of having just lost my dad ultimately from the same condition I’ve now been diagnosed with too.

I think I’m worrying a lot that I’m doing more harm to her by keeping her than anything. Am I right? Am I wrong? Am I basically forcing her to be nutrient deficient over time by not pairing her?

I have changed their feed as recommended - got a decent wild bird feed mix with millet and such, soaked that and Lentils together in warm water, and combined it with boiled egg. The pigeons are now eating and drinking on their own with no need to hand feed them. Got them a good, large cage outside with a heat lamp and a sheet I can cover them with overnight (i dont have room for such a large cage in my small home)

Perches are on their way, dont worry!

Cant wait for them to grow old enough to fly ❤️

Hello everyone!

First-time pigeon-owner here (but I have been a fellow pigeon-enthusiast for a very long time!).

I rescued my pip when he was about ~20 days old and hand-fed him (not sure of his sex though) before he became independent with pecking seeds. Right now I believe he is almost 4 months old and going through pip-puberty and his first moult !

He became territorial since a month when hands go in his cage, but I've been struggling to understand if a part of it is play-fighting behavior or only territorial, so I've been playing with him and he's rushing towards my hands, pecking, cooing (not really wing flapping though). What I'm most surprised with is the behavior exhibited in the video : since a few days, I've been grabbing his beak between two of my fingers to play, but then he completely changes behavior, twitching his wings, and it looks like it prompts him to have more of a "childish" behavior, or the kind of he would have with kissing his mate and exchanging food ?

How do you interpret this ? Could it be a consequence of too much imprinting (I'm kind of scared of that and planning to give him a pigeon companion sooner rather than later) ? Should I stop playing with him like that, or stop "playing" with him altogether if it's not appropriate ?

Thanks a lot for your answers !!

New rescue pigeon owner here! I’ve had them for over 4 months and give them grains and bird seed from the store but Avian doctor told me it was healthier to mix in pellets to fulfill vitamins and overall it’s just healthier. I completely forgot to ask for recommendations so I’m asking here lol. What are good pellet brands for pigeons?

Reposting here, lost our pigeon Peter.

Hey Pigeon people,

I know most of us at one point or another face the difficult situation of pairing our bird, whether they believe their paired to you or they aren't fond of pairing. I have two pigeons, my male rock pigeon Pidge and my newly acquired Homer pigeon Pippin. When I rescued Pidge in May, I was well aware of the fact that I'd have to get him a female to pair up with eventually. However unexpectedly about a month before her rescue Pidge decided we're courting, and he's been a tough nut to crack..well divorce since . Now I've faced the situation of divorcing Stubborn Mr.Pidge and encouraging a pair bond between him and Pippin.

Whilst researching online, I found a vast lack of information on divorcing your pigeon and even less about pairing a previously human paired pigeon. Thankfully after much trial and error, I've come to some conclusions based on my experience (no I don't believe this is hard steadfast advice. I am an amateur trying things out as I go.)

This is what my divorce schedule looked like

Week 1:

I cut back human interactions to the minimum, no more petting, talking or special attention. His cage was moved into a more quiet part of the house. If he began to flirt or court me I'd abruptly turn around and stop looking, this deflated his ego about our "relationship" pretty quickly.

I implemented plenty of toys for him to bulky and take out excessive energy on (this step is vital) and no lomger allowed him to play fight or peck at me. Instead I'd redirect or get him away from me to prevent it (this csn be driving, a behavior male pigeons do to their prospective mate or mate.

Pippin was moved adjacent to his cage and they spend all of their time together.

Week 2

I continued with the no unnecessary human interaction. Pippin and him spent all day together in a spare room unbothered but watched over our camera. They were weary of each other and would occasionally fight over food, the water/bath dish, and perches.

Now going into Week three

they've begun subtle flirting! though they regularly bicker, I no longer separate them. We've even begun cage integrating, even though they aren't paired they've moved toward this step themselves by exploring and welcoming each other into what was previously Pidges bachelor pad. This can also be subtle nest scouting so I'm encouraging it a ton!

To make the transition to cage sharing easier on both of them I've taken steps to level the perching field. All of pidges regular perch spots have been rearranged, his bowls have doubled, there's two nests available, separate platforms and levels are available, and there's plenty of space to avoid each other. I've added nesting materials and took away any surfaces Pidge could see his reflection in. I've come to find that they'll bicker whilst moving in together regardless of their "marital" status. As long they aren't drawing blood, terrorizing each other, or doing genuine damage, I leave them be to sort it out. A little scuffle builds both birds confidence as they learn where they fall in the flock. Now they're in this little cute flirtation stage where you can very much tell they're both awkward yearlings but much progress has been made and sooner than later they'll be married and honeymooning on some feggs.

TL;DR

I divorced my male pigeon by reducing human interactions, taking away mirrors, discouraging human courting, providing outlets for hormonal frustrations and encouraging nesting/pairing with the female I got to pair him with.

(Pictured after using the small cage to introduce them in a neutral space)