Need advice-shelter for pigeon

[miffy]

hello everyone,

lovebirds sorry i'm only responding now, my internet has been unco-operative these last few days.
hi jojo!
ok well the wee bird (actually it's quite fat) has a red band on its leg but i can't see the numbers or anything on it.
she (not sure?) seems a bit happier these days cos she goes off and does her own thing during the day and comes back for feeding n hangs around a while. she has started eating the wild bird seed mix and rice that i bought but doesnt bother with the water so much. she's quite trusting now too cos she'll come up very close to me when i'm feeding her nuts.

i think we've become very attached to her n my mum wants to keep her too, our only concern is shelter. she still won't go into the bird box to sleep even tho i've tried enticing her with nuts etc...

if we managed to get her somewhere warm to sleep, would we be able to keep her do u think?

thanks

miffy

[Lovebirds]

Well, the first thing of course is catching her. Then you need to get the info off of the band. She does belong to someone and they just might want her back. Once the owner is contacted, if they don't want the bird back, then yes, you could keep it.
First things first though. It's still not a good idea for her to be out in the wild day in and day out. Something will get her eventually. Hawk, cat, dog........whether you keep her or not, she needs to kept in a safe place. That's what she was used to where ever she came from.

[miffy]

ok i understand, operation capture tweety tomorrow lol
how do u take the band off to get the info? will it be easy enough to get just holding her?

[Lovebirds]

Originally Posted by miffy

ok i understand, operation capture tweety tomorrow lol
how do u take the band off to get the info? will it be easy enough to get just holding her?

You can't take the band off. They are permanant. Made specially so that they can't be taken off and put on any other bird.

[miffy]

oh i see.
ok i'll get the details tomorrow n phone the owner n take it from there.

[spirit wings]

any news about operation catch tweety?

[miffy]

hello again guys,

unfortunately operation catch tweety has been unsuccessful to-date. we've had nothing but rain here for the last week. she has moved from the rooftop to the sky dish on the side of the house-think she's getting at least a bit of shelter from the wind but still getting soaked.

tried the box n nuts trick but she's not buying it, think she's too smart for that. there's a man around the corner n he said he will try to help us capture her. think i'm going to buy a heating pad so we can keep her in the cage nice n warm.

she's eating the mixed bird seed n rice now :-)

will keep u posted

miffy

[miffy]

so my neighbour came round yesterday, he races pigeons and has over 70! confirmed it's a hen, black chequered and he thinks about 4yrs old.

she belongs to the irish homing union (north of ireland) so i've emailed them for more info. neighbour said if owner doesn't want her back n we want to keep her he'll help us make a bigger bird box for her with a perch and he'll even give us a mate for her so she won't be lonely.

will see what happens.

also, he said to lay off the nuts a bit because apparently there's too much protein in them? is that a bad thing?

miffy

[spirit wings]

thanks for the update...some do feed peanuts in small amounts...but it may give her good energy through those rain storms....good luck on catching her..keep us posted.

[Birdmom4ever]

Your neighbor sounds like a great guy. It's always good to have an experienced fancier who can mentor you when you're starting out, because you'll find you have lots of questions. It's wonderful he has offered to build you a bigger enclosure and provide a mate for your bird. Now if you could just catch her!

[kippermom]

I had one hanging around on the roof of my loft for a couple of weeks. We started setting out seed at the same spot every morning and evening and it ate there regularly. Then we set the box trap a bit way from the seed and moved it a little closer each feeding. The bird kept coming for the seed and became accustomed to the box. Then we set the trap without the string until the bird was comfortable going under it for the seed...and then set it WITH the string and "voila"...it took patience, but it worked.

[miffy]

hello again guys,

just an update on tweety...

since i last posted tweety has been living very happily at our house for maybe4 weeks now?-well fed and watered, even made her a bigger bird box to live in.

she started coming down to the front doorstep to be fed and was eating out of our hands.

unfortunately, today is the first day she hasn't come home. she's normally home before dark but we haven't seen her all day. i'm so upset that maybe someone else has captured her or hurt her. when we call her she comes straight down, but i've been calling her all day and nothing.

is it likely that she has gone back home now after so long?

i'm heartbroken

[Birdmom4ever]

Miffy, I'm so sorry to hear your little friend is missing. I doubt very much she went home after all this time. It's possible something frightened her and she flew farther away than normal. She may yet turn up.

[spirit wings]

oh thats a shame...but she may turn up, just give it a few days....she really needs to get caught for her own protection...that is if you can and if she comes "home".....which I think she has chosen yours

[miffy]

oh i really hope she does come home. i thought we would be able to keep her and let her roam free but now i can see it's best that if she does come home, we should capture her and keep her indoors.

i'm so sad. i keep leaving her wee tray and dish out to see if she comes back.

thanks for all your support guys. i will let u know if she comes back

miffy x