Rescue the Rescuers

[rumfam]

We are in the process of rescuing an abandoned flock of over 37 pigeons. Our family has never owned birds other than chickens and would love to hear any suggestions. These birds are so lovely. We have never thought it right to 'own' a bird or 'cage' a bird. Oh my gosh we love these pigeons! They are all so beautiful! We have one brooding with eggs! What do we do! We have caught 37 and have them in temporary cages until we build the loft over the next few days. It is hard to believe that someone could abandon them!! There are still around 15 or so to catch but we ran out of cages! Any feed back would be great. We are interested in learning more about pigeons and would like to hear about training or figure out if they've been trained. We did find 2 whistles on sight....HELP!

[AZWhitefeather]

Could you give us your general location in the event we have some memebrs nearly who could assist you?

Cindy

[feralpigeon]

I'm moving my old post over to this thread:

Hi there and welcome to PT. Whereabouts are you located and what are the
circumstances surrounding this flock of birds. Did you move into a property
where they had been abandoned by someone? Are any of these banded birds?

Also, wanted to see if you have any pictures of the birds available? That would be great. Depending on your location, we could give you information on local
resources for supplies and the like when you have time.

fp

[eric98223]

yes please give up your location. and if you are on the same or neighboring property it may be very easy to get the others in once you get the loft built. behold the power of food!! lol also you hav found a very good place to find information and you have brought yourself into a family of people who are always willing to help. welcome.
Eric.

[Feefo]

Hello and welcome to pigeon talk!

It is sad that these birds were abandoned, but they are so lucky to have you to rescue them and it is so touching that you already love them.

How far are you from their original location?

I am in the UK and we (pigeon talk members) have almost completed the rescue and relocation of a flock of around 30 white doves. They were about to be culled for perching on a roof top where they were not welcome.

Cynthia

[horsesgot6]

Hello and welcome To Pigeon Talk. You Have Found A Place With Great People That Will Help You On Your Way With Pigeons.
The whistles Could Have Been How He Trained Them To Know That He Had Put There food Out. Have You tried The whistles Yet To See WHat The Birds Do. Did The Birds Have A Loof they Where In Close By. If They Did They Could Be Going Back To There Old Home. About The Brooding Pair How Old Are The Eggs And Is This Pair in a Cage by them Self. If You Can Post Some Pictures Of the Birds The People On This Site May Be Able To Help You Find out What Breed They Are. The Guessing Game Is Always Fun. Which Can Help With The Type Of Info They Give. As Some Pigeons Have really Good Homing Skills And Other Breeds May Not. Some Fly Better Then Others So Knowing A Breed Can Help With Info Some. Also If You Don't Want To Many Pigeons Buy Some Dummy Eggs For Your Birds As 30+ Birds Can Easly Turn Into 60+ Birds If Allowed To Breed.
Good Luck With Your New Pigeons and glad you took them in. With the Others Still Flying Free just Make Sure There Is Food And Water Out For Them And Hopefully They Will stay Around For You To Catch.
Good Luck And Have A great Day,
Jennifer

[rumfam]

We are located in Southern Oregon and we are building a hime about 3 miles away from the location they were abandoned. It looks as if these people were really in to their birds at one time but why they left them is a mystery. We know the caretakers of the property they were renting for the past 10 years and left without notice...? Yes the birds had a large loof. There were several small logs used for perches and we plan to dismantle and build and upgraded version of this on our land. I went back today and there are still 17birds left we plan on gathering the last of them this evening. I am feeling badly because we have them squished in small cages but the caretaker wanted the mess completely cleaned by Monday. We hope to have something put together for them on our land by then as well. We have not tried the whistles, had to sterilize first but guess we should wait until they are out of the cages..? The brooding pair are together alone. Not sure about the age of eggs, we took only the warm eggs. Oh-my-gosh, they are beautiful I will get pictures asap Thanks to you all for your reply. I have never posted a thread and was somewhat confused as to how the process works...

[horsesgot6]

Its So Sad When Poeple Do things Like this. But Its Always Nice To Hear when A Good Soul Step In To Help them. Guess Them Being Alittle squished Now For A few Days Then To Think Of What May Have Happed To Them If They Where Out On There Own Or what May Of happied if You Hadn't Taken Them. Good Luck with the Other 17 Birds And Can't Wait To See Your Pigeons pictures. Did Some Of The Birds Have Bands On There Legs. It Takes 17 Days For the Eggs To Hatch.
Hope All Goes well For You And Your Birds.
Jennifer

[rumfam]

I have not looked to see about the bands but will check soon, my husband wanted me to ask how she we handle the relocation? We do not want them flying back to their old home. Should we keep them caged for a while, if so how long? We are using the same loft just relocating which I am hoping will help...any info would be great.
Thank you

[horsesgot6]

How To Handle The Move And keeping Them in Or Not Would really Depend On The Breed Of The Bird. If They Are Homing Pigeons They Will Fly Back Home. They Have really Good Homing Skills And If Your Only 3 miles From There Old Home Wouldn't take great Skills For Them To Make It Back. Some Other breeds Can Be Rehomed Some Say Keep them In A Month i Like To Keep Them In For About 2 Months To Be On The Safe side. Just Remember If They Are Of A Homing breed They Can never be Let Out Only There Young Will Beable To Fly Free As they will Home Themself To Your Loft. Do You Know Anything About The Birds Before You Got Them. Did The Other Owners Let Them Fly Free Any Or Where They Always Kept In The Loft. If They Have Club Bands You Will bealbe To Tell The Age of The Birds Off The Bands. There Is A Tread On Here about how to Read A Band Which May Help You If They Have Bands. Some Bands just Have #'s No Real Info On Them.
Hope That Helps I'm Still New With Pigeons myself So May Info May Be Off Alittle. But Others Will Be along later To Help.
You Have A Great Day ,
Jennifer

[horsesgot6]

are You Catching Them Out Of there old Loft Or Are They out flying free. Do Hope All goes Well.
You Have A Great Day,
Jennifer

[Lovebirds]

What a sad situation, but the birds are lucky that they have you to take them in and care for them. For now, as soon as you get the loft put up, keep the birds inside. I (maybe we) will be curious about the bands on the birds and the ages. The band can tell you about the bird. My concern is, if this person had racing pigeons, he could have over time, brought birds into his loft from literally anywhere in the country. Those birds, if turned loose, would try to go back home, but home may be anywhere in the US. With this many birds, it's going to be very tough to rehome them all and expect to let them fly free and stay there at your place. So, for now, I would just keep them inside the loft. They will be fine and as soon as things settle down, you could post info on the bands and we could try to figure out just where some of these birds came from. As was stated previously, if these birds are NOT homing pigeons, but some other breed, it may well be that in time, you could turn them loose and they would stay. Good luck and again.......you have for sure come to the right place here at Pigeon Talk.

[rumfam]

It looks as if they were free all day and they flew in at night Is there a site where I might be able to see photos of breeds, because there are several different looking birds in this flock....perhaps they are homing and knowing that the folks left them behind at home...?

[Lovebirds]

Here is one link to different clubs and the breeds they represent.
http://pigeonracing.homestead.com/Clubsandbreeds.html

I'll look for more.


http://www.angelfire.com/tx/pigeon550/links.html

[rumfam]

I know that a few of the birds in the flock look like the one shown in the lovebirdsloft