attack pigeon

[luv2cris]

I've had "Pijji" for a long time now. My son brought him home from the park...he was featherless and I had fed him till he could eat by himself. He's got free roam of my apt. since I still havent found an affordable cage for him. (but i'm working on it cuz i cant take the 'land mines' all over the place. Especially on my bed which is where he waits for me till I get home) My issue is this... recently he's become very aggressive. He actually charges at me, my toes... and then proceeds to bite me. If I try to come to him he does this Jackie Chan style smack with his wings. He gets me pretty good! He'll even psych me out and raise one wing then slap me with the other. He does the cooing noises..walks around in a circle then bites my toes or whatever is near him when i'm sitting on my bed. AT first it was cute...now its annoying. I just push him off the bed till he realizes he cant fly up there without me pushing him off. Then when i fall asleep he comes back and sleeps at the foot of my bed. But he usually leaves me alone by then cuz I guess we're all tired.

Is he mad at me? He still comes to me when i'm washing dishes hoping to catch a quick bird bath in the sink. When i finally to get a chance to hold him he lets me pet his neck and I help him with his feathers...he just closes his eyes. But then he's back to biting. I could understand if it was just a peck...but if he were any stronger he'd take meat off! Is he being territorial of my bed? My son cant even pick him up because he smacks him with his wings... Very funny..but he's sad cuz Pijji doesnt like him anymore.

what can i do?

[teply]

Qiick answer , there's nothing you can do. He will always peck you. I'm sure your bird is a male and that's just the way they are. When I read your e-male I felt you were discribing my bird. I have one house bird that was hand fed like yours. I also have many pigeons in an outside loft and I've watched pigeons for many years. They are very aggressive with other pigeons and humans when they've been hand fed and lose their fear of humans. I keep my house pigeon in a large appliance box that has the sides cut out and replaced by wire fencing. I let him out for a few hours each day to fly around the house.


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teply

[luv2cris]

He even pecks at toys my son has laying around the house. Its funny watching him attack a squishy ball. He hops on it, bites it... charges, talks to it.

soon i will leave my window open so he can fly outside and come back whenever he wants. Maybe he can find a female and chill out a bit.

But i still love him. he's very persistent. I believe he thinks he's king of the castle... LOL

[wovenwoman]

If you let him out the window, wont he become lunch or a toy somewhere, having lost his fear of children, and humans?
Namaste
Edie

[maryco]

This is very very normal.. My Tooty was raised by me since he was 5 days old and he just opened his eyes for the first time about an hour after I brought him in *Oh, My eyes are starting to get watery now since my dear Tooty passed away in Oct at 5 months old*

Anyway.. He used to think I was his mate, he went around the house with me everywhere, he even stood on the bathroom knob while I went to the washroom, he came in the shower with me and just wouldn't let me go anywhere out of his sight, the thing is that he hated my feet. I mean it!
He didn't think they were a part of me and thought that they needed to be attacked.. When I would sit at the computer he would come out of my room (his room) and once he spotted my foot he came running down the hall with his jiggly crop and ATTACKED my feet! It did hurt.. I have no idea why but there is something about the feet that they hate. My Dotty now will also attack my feet if I ever put them in his nest but he doesn't come after them while I'm walking around.

If I remember correclty I think we have some other members with the same problem..

Mary

[Nanci]

That's funny- my male pigeon, Dillbird, used to be _in love_ with my feet. He'd make a nest under my desk, and try to herd me into it, and then he'd sit under there and preen my feet for _hours_. I kind of liked resting my feet under his wings- it was nice and warm.

Nanci

[Trees Gray]

I'm so sorry, Maryco, about your Tooty, you never get over a loss of a special baby, you just get used to it..... Treesa

[JigoSan]

Jigo is EXACTLY the same way with my hands, he hates them, except when they have food. But after all the food is eaten he just immediately assaults them again. Sometimes I pick him up and gently stroke his head and neck just so he'll learn (hopefully) that my fingers mean him no harm, but he doesn't like that very much. He gets especially mad when I try to clean his favorite platform and perch, then he actually flies at me and without warning sits on my shoulder and slaps me with his wing!
Is there anyway at all to ease his hatred on my hands, I know you said that pigeons will always be territorial, but can't you offer and advice or mental conditioning that might make him ease down a bit?

[PidgePidge]

First off, Mary I just looked at your photos posted for the first time. Tooty was a beautiful bird. Sorry for your loss--even a year on from his passing.

As for the attack pigeon issue: Pidge Pidge is hell-on-wings sometimes. I tried to condition it out of him by refusing to rough house with him, only being very gentle and soothing of voice back, refusing him to let him touch me if he was going to be mean... and it didn't work. So I have given up, and now we have pecking games and play wrestling matches. It is definitely less than ideal--those little beaks can HURT, and when he is fired up he chases your feet all over the house pecking at them and harassing your ankles. I have come to believe it his way of asking for attention, and of communicating-- when he first came into my home, barely alive, his head thrusting at me was his first acknowledgment of my existence, so I think it is some sort of weird basis for our relationship. I often wish he didn't do it, but the fact of the matter is that I think he enjoys it--a good fight is always followed by lots of cooing and spinning--so I do what I can to enjoy it to!

[badbird]

i have tough hands so i keep sticking my fingers in there to watch him assault my fingers. it doesn't hurt but its fun to watch him try to attack me. he soon runs out of energy lol.

[pdpbison]

Yahhhhhh...luv2cris,


You are describeing the 'usual' male Pigeon...especially if he is a little bored.

Lol...

Make sure when you are letting him in the Sink after 'dishes' that the water has NO Soap in it...it will remove the natural Oil he needs on his Feathers...

Now, since he is interacting with you on his own volition, he might change a little if...you do some things with him like how you hold him sometimes, and how you move.

If you move your hands always s-l-o-w-l-y...and sometimes hold ( or in time, carry ) him in 'floating Bird' mode, edges of your palms together and flat, little fingers go between his legs, cup your hands a little against his Wings, ad do this from the front, then lift...SLOWLY, and he will 'float' there like that with totally relaxed legs...

This can be a way to gentle some Male Pigeon Adults...but it has to be slow...and in 'floatig Bird' mode, you can hold him above your eye level, or at your eye level, but always keep your hands below his eye level...and talk with him gently about whatever...do this every day...

Might not make any difference! But then again, it can sometimes, with some of these fierce Birds...

Have fun...!


Phil
Las Vegas

[mr squeaks]

From what I've read on this site, many pigeons, especially males, seem to have a favorite something they like to attack. From the responses, looks like feet beat hands.

Mr. Squeaks will go after my feet sometimes until I put on shoes UNLESS I have on a pair of 'holey' tai chi shoes. He seems to think these are his personal enemy and will attack the holes. Sometimes he will grab on and I will run him around until he lets go. He then gets, what I call "the look" head drawn back and looking down his beak as if to say, "OK, NOW I'm going to get serious!" Back he comes to the attack! Since he doesn't have a lot of toys (not counting the cats that he "personally" chases and he doesn't seem interested in any of the cat toys), I just give him his exercise until he loses interest.

[pdpbison]

Likely if you had other Pigeons, he would be rousting them from their various high perches or roosts.

The ones I have here...some of them are interested in my Toes, when I am sitting barefooted, various otherwise quite shy Birds who would never let me pick them up, walk over and peck gently at my Toes! Or sometimes lie dow like little Boats-on-shore next to my feet...

These are feral adults aho are convelescing but well enough to roam or fly freely in here...some will let me pick them up, some not.

The biggest, baddest, heaviest, likely oldest of them, (somehow looks like the actor Richard Boon ! ) is very active several times a day, chasing everyone else off from where ever they may be if it is more than four feet up from the floor. Sometimes I chase HIM just to keep it all fair, or I will intervene when I can if he is hassleing younger ones.

Originally, he was happy to let me pick him up and do 'floating Bird' and so on, but then after he was feeling better and his Wing injury healed, he became once again a very able flier (in here, he can fly straight 'up' form the floor to slide in to a six inch space atop stacked crates and boxes, under the 9 foot cieling, like a rocket! ) and resumed his sense of preference for boundaries or wildness. I can stand a foot or so from him at the most, but no way can I catch him unless I turn the lights out, and then he is like a 5 pound Bass or something with how he STRUGGLES...! Yeeeesh...soon, maybe today, I need to set him outside to get back to his feral life...his wing is very very good now...so...

Anyway, he is the most aggressive and persistant 'Attack' Pigeon I have ever had.

If he was my only Bird, I think eventually we'd interact more and he'd let me pick him up and so on. Having other Birds here brings out his wildness and male dominant ways...and overall he has nothing to do with me! Other than giving me the 'eye' one way or another if I look at him...Lol...


Phil
Las Vegas

[Trees Gray]

Males are very territorial, and the more room you give them, the more space they will try to acquire. If they have free flight in one room, they will soon own it, and extend it as far as you allow them access to. Then when you try to walk in your own living room they will chase and peck you until you leave. LOL

My Skye, too, thinks he owns the place, and he will attack me sometimes, and can be loving at times too. He literally bites the hand that feeds it, and saved him when he was tiny.

Take it as a compliment too, that they feel very comfortable around you, and they consider you their equal.

[Pigeonpal2002]

Originally Posted by Trees Gray

Males are very territorial, and the more room you give them, the more space they will try to acquire. If they have free flight in one room, they will soon own it, and extend it as far as you allow them access to. Then when you try to walk in your own living room they will chase and peck you until you leave. LOL

My Skye, too, thinks he owns the place, and he will attack me sometimes, and can be loving at times too. He literally bites the hand that feeds it, and saved him when he was tiny.

Take it as a compliment too, that they feel very comfortable around you, and they consider you their equal.

Hi Treesa & All,

LOL, I couldn't agree with your comments more I decided to take some videos tonight of Ricky (my hand raised male). As you will see, he is very aggressive and territorial. This is especially true of any place he likes to roost - which is nearly everywhere! His sister is only allowed to perch on one of the 4 perches in their room. Ricky is a very clingy bird however, and out of the two youngsters, he's the one that always want to be on my head, shoulder or knee when I'm sitting. It's just when he feels his space is being invaded...watch out.

Now my other male pigeon is not like this with me. He's not a hand raised bird so he's afraid of me, but with the other pigeons, he's very territorial. If he was given the chance and opportunity, he would claim the entire room and basement for himself if he could

When you go to this website, there are thumbnails along the right hand side, click on them one at a time to view.

http://www.jusspress.com/day.php?use...entTime=195706