Nebraska Pigeon: is he tame?

[Pigeonpal2002]

Hi Eric,

Thanks for letting us know Betsy is doing well, when you have time, fill us in a bit more

[Love2everyone]

I have the pigeon food that Victor; suggested Betsy likes it and she seems to be happy. She flaps while Bob the bunny gets food and water because she knows her's is comming. However she is less tame or maybe just more lively. But either could be the case because I don't get a chance to handle her much.
I was raised to think that it was hard on animals to be brought inside during the cold of the winter. That the temperature change is something they aren't used to and something that is had on animals. Is this true for pigeons? And is this really true for any animals?
Given that I have been apprehensive of this, I haven't brought Betsy inside to fly again.
Someone brought up having her fly in a bigger room of the house. won't she poop all over?
Obviously I'm a newbie.

[Pidgey]

Poop all over? Well, that does kinda' depend on the bird. Some birds get nervous easy and they can leave some wet (watery) poops around that are really fun to clean up and others can leave the driest poops that clean real easy. Some birds will stay on your shoulder so if you wear a towel, you're fine. Others are all over the place. Sometimes they don't recognize you in a new place and you end up chasing them all over to get them back out to the aviary and they poop in every place they stop. The sky is literally the limit when it comes to pigeon poop, its variety and quantity

Pidgey

[Victor]

Originally Posted by Love2everyone

I was raised to think that it was hard on animals to be brought inside during the cold of the winter. That the temperature change is something they aren't used to and something that is had on animals. Is this true for pigeons? And is this really true for any animals?
Given that I have been apprehensive of this, I haven't brought Betsy inside to fly again.
Someone brought up having her fly in a bigger room of the house. won't she poop all over?

We have a pigeon coop out in the back yard where we keep our 6 pigeons, and though it has a space heater, it is not insulated yet, so we brought our pigeons in along with their cages indoors where they are staying in the laundry room that faces our back yard. They have been inside for almost two weeks now, and they do appreciate the warmth and the extra human attention. We live only a few minutes from each other, so I know it had been fridged at your place too. I remember at least once hearing on the radio that even if you keep pets outdoors as a norm, to bring them inside. We have had some below freeze temps though they are getting better this week, Yesterday took most of mine out to the coop to fly and stretch their wings, which was more time than they have had while indoors. Two of them remain indoors performing their parental egg watching/sitting duties. They are out in the coop again today, but will be inside before dark. We are maybe just overprotective caregivers, but I know they are warm and happy.

As far as the poop problem...well, when we just had the one pigeon, it was not too much of a problem as he found his favorite "hang out" to perch on, and we just placed newspapers underneath, so it was not an issue. Just see where Betsy chooses to roost , and she will probably have a few, and go from there. Two hours flight time is the suggested time if one has an indoor pet pigeon. I see you have a nice size hutch where maybe she can spend the day, and maybe at night, you guys can just bring her in. I have 6 small animal cages that we get from Wal-mart. Large enough for them to stretch and flap their wings. This is not optimal as a larger setting such as your hutch or my coop, but comfortable enough for eating and sleeping in.

[Pigeonpal2002]

Originally Posted by Love2everyone

I was raised to think that it was hard on animals to be brought inside during the cold of the winter. That the temperature change is something they aren't used to and something that is had on animals. Is this true for pigeons?
Given that I have been apprehensive of this, I haven't brought Betsy inside to fly again.
Someone brought up having her fly in a bigger room of the house. won't she poop all over?
Obviously I'm a newbie.

Hi Eric,

It's not hard on pigeons to be brought inside during the winter at all, they don't necessarily need to be brought in and unless it gets bitterly cold & blustery. Bringing animals inside during severe winter weather is usually recommended anyway.

The "problem" lies in big temperature fluctuations and often ones. They need to slowly acclimate themselves from going from warm to cold, but not really from cold to warm.

I was the one who suggested you try to fly her in a bigger room in your house, but this was mostly to see if her flying ability had improved significantly and to the point where she was back to "normal".

She would make a good indoor pet though, probably would tame to you much faster and she could be housed in a cage inside too. You'd just need to allow her some time outside of her cage for an hour or two daily to do some free flying and exercise.

[Love2everyone]

I don't think I'm providing a very good home for Betsy. I've taken care of all the health needs perfectly and I do like her, but she is less interested in me. Maybe this is because she was a homing pigeon and got lost disoriented and I found her somewhat tame. But I don't have her inside and I can't get a handle on how to interact with her. My wife didn't like the couple times I let Betsy fly around inside because she left a messy poop, and shebangs into the windows.

I'm open to suggestions about my ability to provide an adequite life for this bird, but I'm leaning toward letting her go.

My wife brought up if we could keep her as a pet but leave he cage open, would she still live in the hutch or would she fly away never to be seen again. I'm sure either are possibilities, should I try it out and find out.

[Love2everyone]

Betsy has messy poops inside but I assure you her poops are normal when she is outside. Maybe it is anxiety why she made a mess while inside.

The time she spent inside it seems that she can fly sufficiently.

[Lovebirds]

In my opinion, with time, this bird can become a good indoor pet. BUT.......you would have to deal with the poop issue. You are right about her droppings being messy indoors. Anytime these birds are stressed, their poop goes off a little. Taking her into a new enviroment probably set that off. I know you have the wife to contend with,...I"m in the same boat, except it's the husband here. Only the two of you can figure that out.
Regardless of what you decide to do, letting her go shouldn't be an option. If you can't care for her or if you think she's unhappy, then you should try to find a home for her either as a pet or with someone who has a loft.
I would think that if she isn't getting much human interaction, that she probably is quite lonely.

[Love2everyone]

Her being lonely, is mainly whatI'm worried about. I completely respect and respect your response. However, as someone who doesn't understand (yet I want to understand). Why is it that it isn't a good idea to let the pigeon go, are there not many wild pigeons that function successfully? I would love to learn something new. and what kind of cages do people keep their pigeons in if they live inside?

[Lovebirds]

My concern is, that as far as I remember, we never determined if this was actually a wild pigeon, a pet pigeon, or a lost unbanded race bird. Without going back and reading all 9 pages of posts, was it ever determined that this was a youngster or an adult? If we knew for sure that this was a wild bird to begin with, then I would say, yes, take her where there's a flock and let her go. But the uncertainty as where this bird originated from, makes it very difficult for me to think she could function in a feral flock. If she couldn't, then she would wind up in the same shape as she was when you found her, except that she might not be lucky enough to find a caring human such as your self, if she could find a human at all.
Please keep in mind, that this is my opinion only. I'm very surprised that no one else has chimed in with their thoughts.
The OTHER option you have is to build her a decent size loft/house/coop and get her a companion. Have you considered that? Getting another pigeon would be NO PROBLEM.....believe me.
As far as an inside cage, you'd be better off hearing from some members who actually keep some or one bird inside. I have over 100 birds and all of them are in the loft.

[Love2everyone]

Oh okay Lovebird, I understand thank you.

I have thought about the idea of getting her a mate. Yes, this is an adult if you wanted to look back at the pictures and the videos maybe you could offer incite into her being a feral or a homing pigeon. Also I would want to be fairly sure about this being a she bird before finding a mate.

[Love2everyone]

Could she be releasable either way if there was a mate.

[Lovebirds]

It's not impossible and it's not "unheard" of for people to re-home a pigeon. There is a member here, Roxtar, that has a couple of birds that he bought at a flea market. Don't know how old they are, but they are adult birds for sure, don't know where they came from, but, he has them flying around his house. I've seen them fly. To be honest, I don't have to guts to try anything like that. I tried turning a couple of birds loose here that we raised in MI and brought with us to VA. They were never flown in MI. They were two years old and had mates. I let them out, they took off and I never saw them again. Their names were Lil' Red and Junior. I've never tried that again.
The only way to know if she would stay is to let her out. If she does, fine, if not, then it's up to you whether you will worry about her, where she is, is she finding food, is she starving to death?
As far as knowing whether she's a hen or not, you could go this route.......get a hen. If your bird is a hen, they will still fall "in love" with each other, lay eggs, pull nest duty and be very happy to do it. If your bird is actually a cock, then you'll have a true pair.
I did go and look at your pictures. I think it looks like a homer, but all ferals don't look like ferals, so it's actually not really possible to tell. Just a guess.

[Love2everyone]

so you said it was easy, how is that I would get a hen. Is there someone to tell that I would be interesting in rescuing another pigeon pal.

[TAWhatley]

Originally Posted by Love2everyone

so you said it was easy, how is that I would get a hen. Is there someone to tell that I would be interesting in rescuing another pigeon pal.

You just told the right folks, Eric .. there are ALWAYS pigeons all over that need to find a good home. Be a bit patient, and I'll bet we can find you a pigeon pal pretty quickly.

Terry