Taming?

[texas.410]

What are some of the ways you tame down your show birds???
And how tame are your tamest birds??

[jbangelfish]

Originally Posted by texas.410

What are some of the ways you tame down your show birds???
And how tame are your tamest birds??

Some breeds are just more calm than others by nature.

The more time that you spend with them, the more they will become accustomed to you.

If they fly all over the place when you enter the loft, try staying with them for longer periods. Find a spot, remain motionless until they begin to feel comfortable with your presence. They will do this faster if you squat or get down low as you are not so much of a looming presence over them. They will eventually learn that you actually feed them and mean them no harm.

To have an entire flock of tame birds that will eat out of your hand would take a very long time but it can be done. There is often one bird that stands out as a leader or fearless one and these will often come to a hand with feed sooner than the rest and he will actually demonstrate to the others that you are not a bad thing or something to be afraid of. They are very attentive and will take notice.

To have truly hand-tame pigeons is not so easy unless you have hand fed them as a youngster or nursed them through an illness. It creates a bond.

I had a young female Norwich Cropper (a pretty tame breed by nature) that had gotten sour crop so I brought her into the house and took care of her for a few days until she got well. It was only a few days and she became a pet and would blow up her chest every time a person would come up to her. I entered her in a show and she won because of her behavior of blowing for even the judges. She was a very good bird as well but I'm sure if she had not acted the way she did, she would not have won. It was the only time I ever showed pigeons. I entered two birds and they both won.

Bill

Bill

[philodice]

That's great. Shows how taming can be an asset. A scared bird won't show off as well as a happy bird. I am constantly messing around with my birds and I'm surprised I haven't given them some kind of nervous complex. Moving the seed dishes, perches and water, carrying them around, petting them, hand feeding seed to them. Staring at them. I'm sure I make the older ones nervous but the babies just fly at me and land on me.

[re lee]

For show birds You handle them, and need to place them in a show coop to work them And get them used to being in the show coop And being handled. What breed are you working with?

[TheSnipes]

You can make them quite calm and tame if you handle them even just a little, every day, from about the time you band them. Just spending some time one on one with them seems to make enough of a bond.

[jbangelfish]

Originally Posted by TheSnipes

You can make them quite calm and tame if you handle them even just a little, every day, from about the time you band them. Just spending some time one on one with them seems to make enough of a bond.

I used to handle all of my babies every day from banding on. It did make them much more calm and tame than birds that were not treated this way.

While it never created truly tame German Toys, it did make them much more calm than the typical toys were. They were the most beautiful pigeons that I ever had, in my opinion, and they were by far the most timid.

Bill

[Becca199212]

I handle the birds from a very young age and also spend alot of time in the loft with them, they need to learn that I'm not there just to feed or clean. They can be tamed to a certain degree with food- only feed them from your hands, if they want feed they have to trust you.
My tamest bird is a cock that flies to my shoulder when I enter the loft and spends the whole time attacking my ear lobe, whatever happened to my gentle hand raised baby?

[texas.410]

My birds are Texas Pioneers. They are big birds and are not afraid of me. They just dont like being tuched or held. I never new birds could growl so much until I got thees.

Im going to keep working with them and when I pic out a show bird I will consentrate on that one, buy working with a show pin.

[Fbirdie82]

Obviously I am not an expert on pigeons (far from it!), but I have to agree with everyone else. Make all experiences (well, most -- you gotta give them shots after all) that they have with you good ones. The birds that I am pairing up are in rabbit cages and I like my cages clean so every day I go out and replace the newspaper, clean the water containers, give them fresh food, etc. One pair in particular that are sitting on babies have actually taken to abandoning their nest when I show up and run over to watch me, as they associate me with food. I can catch and handle them with ease, and they no longer attack me when I go to handle their babies (who thankfully are doing GREAT). It has taken a long six months or so for them to get this way. That is a HUGE change from when I got them -- I couldn’t even catch them to save my life! Working with the birds when they are young helps, too. One bird that I acquired extremely young and merely handled often (not even everyday) is now “tame” enough that anyone can catch and hold him. I also invite practically everyone I know to come see and “pet” my birds so they get used to different people… showing off your pigeons is a good excuse to get them tamed up for showing season. Good luck!