Shipping rescue pigeons.

[StarfishSaving]

Hi there! I'm new to the board. I had NO idea there was such a nice forum out there for pigeon lovers. I am an animal rescuer in SW Pennsylvania and as of the last year or so, we've decided to look for homes for our pet pigeons. It all started when we took in a found pigeon whose owner we tracked but wouldn't return our calls. I was a dove person already and I loved the pigeon and instead of rehoming him, we built a loft and got him some friends, mostly fancy pigeons from a person who does breeding and rehab. As my business has grown over the past five years, my pigeons have been relegated to very little attention or special care. The breeder/previous owner is not in a position to take them back as I would have preferred if possible, and so I've placed them in my rescue program. I have had lots of interest in one of my birds but we've so far been trying to adopt to a fairly local area in order to be able to perform a home visit and all of our inquiries have come from farther away- including India. It's not that I don't trust that some of these were GREAT homes, but after taking care of, enjoying and loving my birds for 5-8 years, I have felt leery about sending them off and made the choice to look for someone closer. They're not in any danger and are well kept, so it's not as though it hurts to wait.

This questions that I have are for others who may have had to sell or adopt out their birds and are faced with the dilemma of wanting to make sure they go to a quality home. Should I consider branching out my search area and shipping the bird(s)? I would have to find a rescue volunteer in whatever the area is to visit the home to see the living space but that's probably possible in most areas through some networking. I have never, ever shipped or had an animal shipped to me and know very little about the process, but I do understand that it's a common way for breeders to send their birds to various places. I'll admit that the prospect scares me more than a little! Is it really less stressful than driving? What kinds of precautions would we have to take?

Thanks for any input! I'm having fun reading all these forum threads. Makes me feel less crazy for having pigeons as pets, which is very uncommon in my area.