citybird for cityboy

[Dreamwalker]

Hello all-

I'm a resident of New York City attending a small school out of Boston. Unfortunately, I live in a dorm, and as such am restricted to quite a non-animal lifestyle, quite a problem for an animal devotee such as myself. As such, I am looking for a pigeon that I might be able to care for yet live at the least outside on the window of my dorm, as well as any other buildings. From what I have reaserched, a pigeon might be the perfect answer for me. Being a kind-hearted yet peniless student, I would gladly adopt a baby or small pigeon from either the New York or Boston metropolitan area. Unfortunately, due to school begining quite soon, the offer in New York will expire in 5 days. Now, the reason I'm starting my own thread in stead of just answering others is because I am also terribly new at the avian business (I've harbored numerous felines and canines, yet no birds), and would very much welcome any tips, or if one of you veterans think that I'm doing something horribly wrong. So. For offers, please post here or just wisk an e-mail off to me. For advice, well, please post away .

-Dream

[edited for spelling]

[Pigeonpal2002]

Hi There and welcome to Pigeontalk

I hate to be a bearer of bad news, but I really wouldn't recommend that you get a pigeon considering your life right now. There is no reliable way for you to have a pigeon sitting around & returning to the outside of your window in the dorm that would be safe for the bird and it likely wouldn't hang around unless it was born there.

You are correct in thinking and researching that pigeons are very wonderful, calm, quiet and tame birds. However, your situations doesn't really seem suitable or fair to a bird, I'm sorry

For your situation, I would recommend a guinea pig, rat or small mammal that can be housed and cared for easily. Pigeons (birds) need room to fly, they need a larger area to call home and shouldn't be confined to a cage, alone. And like I mentioned, a free flying pigeon is not really realistic in your situation.

Again, I'm sorry but I'm also being very upfront and honest about this.

[Dreamwalker]

Thanks for the info, but I do have a question; I'm sure you know far more than me, and I understand that what I'm thinking of might not be appropriate for a pigeon, but what is? What I mean is, the articles and such I've looked up all say that a pigeon should not be left in a cage, so how do you bring them up? Do you keep them indoors but take them out for "walks"? Thanks.

Dream

{edit}
I think you misunderstand me. I don't plan at all on keeping it in a cage all day long. The point of the bird is that we are not allowed birds inside the dorm proper, though we can have one immediately outside of it. The bird will not be in the room at all. It's home will be a cage we've designed to fit on the outside of the window, and it's playground the entire campus.

[Dreamwalker]

Pardon the double post, but I realise I didn't seem to clarify very well what I meant -- Some friends and I are all in this together. We plan on building a cage just outside of our room, attached to quite a large windowsill. The cage would be substancially big, with a door into the room and another to the outdoors (we've designed a little pulley system for it, the first time I can put my architectual and engineering studies to use :P). Anyhow, large intricately designed cage that fits on the outside of our windows and allows for heavy weather etc. along with the amenities necissary for an outdoor cage (small heating unit for the winter, etc). My job in the group was to find the pigeon, so here I am . If you still think this is just unappropriate, we will of course scrap the whole thing (designing it was fun anyways ), so info would be quite helpful. Thanks!

-Dream

[Trees Gray]

Hello and thank you for your interest in pigeons.

Sounds like a nice idea, and alot of fun went into planning, but it is not appropriate keeping one single pigeon and allowing it access to the outside.

What is best for one pigeon, and we usually consider such a "pet" pigeon is one that is caged inside-kept in the cage usually only at night, and allowed access to a room, or more then one room to fly in during the day. Pet pigeons are usually hand reared babies that are very tame, but are not releasable due to a permanent injury or because the bird has bonded to the extent that it cannot be released outside. They make great pets because they are bonded to us humans and are satisifed and content being in our company.

Homing pigeons, on the other hand, are relatively easy to care for, but does have certain requirements if kept outside, coop or cage must be weather proof, wind proof, and predator proof. A certain amount of training, in the beginning, is also required to get a pigeon to "home" to a specific place. This training has to be consistent and requires time. Also, it is dangerous to allow one bird access to the outdoors as it is vulnerable to predators, as pigeons live safer in numbers and are happier also.

[Reti]

Another thpought why it is not such a great idea is what will happen with the pigeon when you guys go on vacation or finish your studies and leave the campus?

Reti