Would it be safe to release pigeons born to rehabbed feral birds in an apartment?

[Dovena]

Some of the rehabbed feral pigeons who occupy my apartment have mated and their offspring know nothing of the wild life, only where the food stations are located throughout my apartment. There is now a population explosion in my apartment and I have considered releasing some of the birds. Is it safe to release the birds who were born in my home? Will they figure out how to survive out there? Will they simply assimilate into a flock of feral pigeons? Is it possible that they will not be accepted by the flocks of wild birds and end up unable to survive out there? Also, some of these birds are white and others are white/brown or white/gray/brown. I have heard that hawks are attracted to off-color pigeons. Is this true, or just a story that has been passed around?

[minimonkey]

I read an article recently that said releasing pigeons born in domesticity is disastrous. Apparently they will seek out humans looking for food -- failing that, they may die

[pdpbison]

Hi Dovena,


Yea..this can be a little difficult or at least different, when the Birds are older than what endemically would be their self-determined de-bonding and self determined urges for independance from the parents or surrogate parents.

Sadly, I think, the term "release" is neither widely understood nor even a realistic term at all. I think it should be struck from all vocabularies since it conveys a suggestion of there being no more to it than just 'letting them go', and for many Birds, that is not at all what needs to happen.
For an already Adult who one has convelesced from some illness or injury, there is nothing more to it than "letting them go", since these are already Skilled Wild Creatures who will resume their accustomed habits instantly, even if they have spent months with one and had become quite tame or socialized to one.


What one generaly must do or oversee, with Birds who have not yet been Wild, is to guide and oversee their sucessive or progressive societal assimilation and acceptance into their own Species Wild membership.

And for those young Birds one has raised, this generally is best over a series of successive occasions of them spending time with their Wild fellows, then comeing back on their own to you, or comeing home with one, to have a sucession of occasions like that in which ultimately "they" decide they are 'ready' to join the Wild Flock.

Older Birds might do better quicker, or have certainly different hurdles initially, or logistically may not conveniently claim for themselves the otherwise more ideal increments of socialization forays, but since they already are grown up and have potential mateing interests in other Wild Birds they may meet and so on, likely each individual will be a little different.


I myself never confronted the problem of how to assimilate an Adult Bird whom I had raised from a Baby.

People generally ( also most of the rehabbers I have talked to ) seem to think it means dumping a young Bird suddenly into what for the Bird is an unknown and foreign environ, and leaving them there...which is cruel and likely fatal for the Bird they raised to have happen to it. Or they think it is 'tough love' to do cruel or thoughtless or senseless impositions on Birds, instead of understanding the Birds reasonable healthy needs.

Also many people and many rehabbers seem to think it is bad if a Baby Bird 'bonds' to one when one is raising it, which I feel is insane of them TO believe.

The Birds needs TO 'bond' with whoever is raising it, and in time, as it learns to eat and fly and so on, it will of it's own volition and interior maturing, dissolve the 'bond' just as it would have with it's Biological Bird Parents in the Wild...and WITH the co-operation of their 'parents' of biological or surrogate kind.

The problem is, when most people raise orphan Babys, they frustrate the Bond, they frustrate the Bird, and they raise an emotionally incomplete or needy Bird who then they complain about having bonded to them when it is more a habituated dependance and spoiling OF the Bird's sense and self posession which has happenned. Really, what happenned is that they raised it badly, even as almost all human parents do their own offspring. A 'bond' is not unhealthy, while habituated emotional dependance and intimidation at threat of it becomeing absent, is 'unhealthy' for the Bird.




I have mentioned a few times in other threads, how when raising Baby orphan Pigeons which I (allways ) intend to see assimilate into the Wild Flock, my sequence for feeding and (easy gently no-stress for them or me of) weaning allways is complimented with having them know I am the only sourse of Water, and this will stay that way untill they get Water on their wow AS members of the Wild Flock they will join.

This helps ensure them returning to me when they are thirsty, or their at least asking me TO come to them, where I may, or I may instead ask them to come to me...and they do then come to me personally after their outside forays, whose length or duration or days it will happen on are all something which I need to be the judge of also, as initially, they seldom have any interest of wanting to do it on their own. Then, after a couple times of it, they ARE interested in doing it more and they really get into it then.

After they have spent their first night of their own volition, outside, usually they are overtired and very hungry and thirsty the next morning, and will come back inside when I call them knowing I will bring them Water, and from there they rest and sleep all day usually and eat a good deal.

Usually, after that, it is one more foray only untill they fly off at dusk WITH the Wild Birds and with them, find Water and Seed the next day. Then they ARE truely in the Wild Flock and are both accepted by it, and accepting of it.

If I were not their only source of Water before that, their excitements with the novelty of their fourth or so venture 'out', when usually they decide to spend the night out, I would have a much harder time potentially getting them to come back in for one last good eating and drinking day before THEY indicate to me they want to go out again after a couple days rest up. Which they tend to do by 'pacing' at the Windows once they are 'ready' TO go out again, and usually that is their final foray unto Wild Bird-dom then...and they do not come back in again and they very soon are as 'Wild' as any of their Fellows and are n o more or less 'trusting' of people than the rest of them.

This is exactly as it should be for them to survive.


Otherwise, there can be many problems.

If there is a patient rehabber you can give them to, who knows how to graduate them into a Wild Flock, or a hobbiest who will love them and care for them and so on...

Or...

If there is a Wild Flock you know of, likely about all you could do, would be to bring your Birds to it and let them associate and see what happens...you might or might not be able to get them to come home with you, they might just stand there trembleing and feel confused or intiimidated and want to come back home, which would be fine! Then, let them have another such outing a few days hence, and gradually you will see them get comfortable and confident and start socializeing or pecking with the Wild ones.

...so, there might or might not be occasions of future forays like that for them, after the first one, but, at least you may also knoe, they will fly back to your home if they want, or, they will join the Wild Flock if they feel comfortable to do so.

If they fly back to your home, they might not, unless they have previous experience, know how to get back 'in', and they might need you to lead them to do so somehow.

Most Pigeons, of whatever prior history, as far as I know, when they DO join a Wild Flock, very soon become themselves, as "Wild" as the rest. They do not tend to feel 'people' are per-se safe, and they will do just fine amid their fellows. So, as far as I know anyway, yours is a queastion of how your Birds may be intoduced to their Wild kin, in such a way as to let them have some decision about it, to do it in stages if possible, and for them to come home to enjoy further forays of that kind in progression, or to keep going if they wanted to from the first.

Good luck!

This will be possibly a good learning experience for you and for them...

Best wishes,


Phil
Las Vegas

[Dovena]

Thanks to pdpbison for the thoughtful reply. I just want to clarify that these young birds are only a couple of months old, and are by no means tame. They are terrified of me and trust only the other pigeons in the apartment. So they would be unlikely to approach humans for food. They don't know how to forage for their own food either, however.

[pdpbison]

Oh...

Well...if they can fly decently, and you can let them loose amid a wild Flock, bring maybe a bunch of Seeds for all...let them loose there right where the wild flock is fairly early in the morning on whatever day the least people or traffic may be...

They will figure it out I am sure, they are at the right age, and it sounds like they are interested in other Pigeons too, already!

Phil
Las Vegas

[feralpigeon]

Hi Dovena,

Maybe you could put them in a cage of sorts where they would be able to see
what's going on around them, select a flock in a location that seems fairly
stable and without immediate perils, such as new construction, attempts to remove or thin flock because of nuisance, etc. Then withold feedings so as to
coincide w/your visits to this flock. Feed them @ same time your feeding the
flock. Do this a few times. This way, they know the route to and from your
house to the flock, and they get accustomed to the flock. When you think time
is right, feed them together w/the door to cage open and see if they choose to
join the flock. As Phil suggested, am would be better to give them time to
acclimate w/flock before dark and get their bearings. If they are comfortable
w/the flock, they'll go into the group mode and learn that way. If there is a
problem, you might find them on your roof after release!
Good luck whatever you choose, and maybe you might want to do a search
on wooden eggs here for the future.

fp

[re lee]

When released with othere wild pigeons. They should be able to learn the different feeding areas And water places From the othere birds. I would wait until they are about 3 months old first. So they will be able to compete in the flight and new life style.