Your "handle" and how you got started

[X3MTM]

well mine is kinda simple...x3mtm....i got it from playing online video games..it stands for "extreme team" if u shorten it out...well i got started by buying 4 pigeons from a friend..i've never seen other type of pigeons, other than the ones on the streets so they caught my attention....they were a pair of russian and kormoner tumblers....from there i went on to getting different types or breeds...since i love birds so much...i didnt stop in pigeons only, but went and got cockatiels and parekeets.....in total i have 40 birds (20 pigeons, 8 cockatiels, 12 parekeets) and they are fun and "relieve" my stress from a work's day......

[Pegasus]

Back in Sept 2005, I was in my troubled life until one day I was walking back inside my house from the backyard after I play with my dog of fetching his toy, I looked back and saw him, dragging his wings on the floor and I knew he's one tired and thirsty pigeon, so I walk back slowly as I could and opened the garage door then the 1st thing that came to my mind is to give him water; feeding him is not in my head at the moment, I dont know if he will drink or just fly away if he sees me opening the garage door which makes a loud noise bringing that up; but he just stood there watching me and waiting if Im going to make any spooky moves but since Im doing every moves so slow he noticed that Im trying not to spook him, then I grab a garbage lid then set it insde the garage and I grab the water hose and pour water it in the lid, with out any hesitations he just walk passing me by and start drinking, it was like 98 degrees then so I figure he is really dehydrated from flying, who owns this bird? I have no idea. No one to contact to or anything at all so I didnt bother posting this bird when I register in here with the name Steelers Army, anyway, while he was drinking, I start closing down the garage door and he's still drinking not even bother looking why Im closing the door finally I got the door shut and he probably got the sense of "Oh boy he will catch me now but he didnt fly or anything in the closed garage he just walk away and hide under the saw table and thats how I got my 1st bird. I know he is a cock so hes going to need a mate and thats when I start searching for some fancier around me, which I found John Wroblowski of Ski Loft in New Rochelle NY and bought 2 lovely hens. The day after I caught him, I start making plansto build the loft (on wheels) so I can roll it out from the garage to my backyard but I figure that winter is coming in the next few months so I build my loft in the garage and let it stay there until March of 2006. I honestly think he is send to me by that man up there so I can focus on something constructive, since then my life change having my second family with wings...

[Charis]

That is a heart warming story. Left me teary eyed. I appreciate you sharing it with us.

[Pikachu23739]

check out my website http://www.freewebs.com/westiepigdy/index.htm

[TAWhatley]

Originally Posted by Pikachu23739

check out my website http://www.freewebs.com/westiepigdy/index.htm

That's quite a website! Lots of terrific pictures (even some I recognized right away)

I'll check back now and then to see what's been added, or maybe you can just let us know on the board when there has been an update.

Keep up the good work!

Terry

[B. Sommm]

Hi All!

I am here because of my mom, Shi, aka "Mr. Squeaks". Mom was always telling me stories from the threads that she read here and would encourage me to check them out. Since I wasn't a member I was unable to view the pigeon pics and wanted to see everyone's pigeons....I had no idea that there were so many different types of pigeons!

I first joined as "B. Somm", which is my first initial and the first 4 letters of my last name. It is also my handle on another forum that I frequent. I would still have it here except that my attempt at humor while picking on my mom/Mr. Squeaks went awry with my first post and I inadvertantly upset a lot of folks. I was quickly "banned"....lots of protective folks here!

After apologizing to the group and explaining who I was through "Mr. Squeaks'" account, I was allowed to re-register. I couldn't use my previous handle so I just added another 'm' so that I would remember what my handle was! Now I get to see all of the pigeon pics (kewl!) and participate in the threads.

This is a very interesting site and one that I normally wouldn't have known about if it weren't for my mom & Mr. Squeaks. Although feral pigeons are still "rats w/ wings" to me (Hi Mom!! ) because they carry all sorts of ickies, I still have a renewed respect for them and tend to pay more attention to them more so than I used too, due to Mom's adopting of Mr. Squeaks. I don't think that I could ever have one as a pet, as they are too much maintenance for me (which is why I have a cat!), but it is fun to watch Mr. Squeaks around my mom and I get the biggest kick out of the fact that Mr. Squeaks considers her his "mate"!! He still won't let me get near him unless Mom is holding him, but like any "sister", I'm persistant!

Thanks for letting me lurk and even participate once & awhile and good juju to you all for having the patience & humanity to care for your pigeons!

B. Sommm

[andinla]

[/quote]Well I had to go over and pet the goat but didn't pay much attention to the pigeons, but my husband did. I looked over and he was holding one, looking at it's eyes, pulling out it's wings, etc............the man only wanted $3 for each bird. Thinking that we would go buy it a "parakeet" cage and make a pet of it, I told him to get one. Well, he got two. The man went to his truck and got a sack and put the two birds in it. I immediatley said that wouldn't do.[quote]

of the time my son and I went to Petco and we bought two white mice for my ex-husband (for pets) and when we got to the counter to ask for them the lady asked if they were for food or for pets? My son looked up at me and said mom! people eat mice?? I couldn't help but laugh and then explained to him that people bought them for food for their snakes...yuk!! if you purchase them for pets you get a cute little petco box with holes precut on it. And if they are for food you get a brown paper sack Andi

[andinla]

to post... Here you go.

Andi

[re92346mos]

Your new loft is beautifull! Rena

[Lovebirds]

who's new loft is beautiful? What did I miss??

[re92346mos]

Melissa, Debbie's, and Chanelle's new loft. Real nice!

[jerseygeorge]

Well for starters, I'm from New Jersey and my name is George.

As to how I became a pigeon man/slave............

Rather than type this story again , I'll just use parts of a recent E-Mail that I sent Shi.

The company I work for used to be in another location , several miles away
from where we are now. Back in 1999 Mom and Pop started hanging around my
bay and I would feed them broken crackers in the morning. Before I knew it
they had built a nest on a shelf in one of the spare bays. Mom layed one egg
and a few weeks later Junior was born. Once Junior could take care of
himself Mom layed two more eggs who would become Baby and Socks. Their
first day outside they were standing side by side on the roof of the
building. Socks was taken by a red tail hawk. Baby became : "The surviving
baby" then later just Baby. From this point on I began exercising some
birth control and getting rid of Mom's eggs. Every morning I would open up
and they would all go out for the day. Then before closing they would come
back in and get locked in for the night. By this time Junior and Baby had
found mates who also moved in, and Jimmy and Whitey had become tenants as
well. One morning I came in and found Baby's mate dead on the floor. This
brought the count back down to 7. In May of 2K Mom layed another egg that I
let them keep. Around June 1st Fuzzy was born. bird count back up to 8. In Dec
2K my boss informed me that the business would be moved to another location.
I knew that if I left them behind the owners would probably kill them
because this was their home and every time the door was opened they would
try to get back in. I began working on an old building that my Dad built 30
years ago which is behind our house. I spent almost all of Jan 2001 cleaning
it out and getting it ready for them. On moving day I was able to trap Mom
and Pop, Jimmy and Whitey, Junior and Little girl. Then Kath and I had to
catch Baby and Fuz with a fishing net. What a job. Beginning in the spring
of 2001 I began rebuilding the place. There was an 8'x8' lean to on the east
side of the building. I screened it in with chicken wire and cut a door in
the wall where they could come in and out. In Dec 2002 I found Mom dead in
her nest box. I still miss that bird dearly. Several months later Little Girl left
Junior and moved into Pop's nest box and mated with him . Junior still hasn't
recovered. . July 2003 I designed and built a large screened area for them out
of pressure treated 2x4s. . This replaced the lean to. I also put in Winter doors.
These doors are very small and just wide enough for one pigeon to fit through. This gives them
access to the outside but doesn't let all the heat out of the building when
they are open. Yes, I put a heater in the place. For the most part in the winter they stay inside the
building. If they go out in bad weather they usually are back inside in a
few seconds. Sometime in 2004 Fuzzy and Baby mated, things ain't been the same since.

[Maggie-NC]

I thought I would bump this up so new members could post.

[Pisciottano]

Pisciottano was my mother's maiden name. She was of Italian descent. I use it in one of my four email addresses. On my father's side I am of Spanish and French descent. Most uruguayans are like that. No red indians in Uruguay. It would seem that Uruguay not being very mountainous the indians run away to other regions at the time the Spanish arrived. A more romantic version says that "they were very brave and fought to the last man"

As a child I used to have recurrent dreams about a bird flying into the place where I was, sometimes in my bedroom, the family car, the garage, etc. I always tried catching him but he always flew away. I was so obsessed by these dreams that once I prepared a trap on the flat roof of the house, something like a cage whose door would close if a bird got into it. I did catch a sparrow but he was so desperate throwing himself against the sides of the cage that I immediately let him go and never started again. Apart from that one of the nicknames given to me by my brothers was "golondrina" (swallow) because I was always wanting to "fly" away from home, which I finally did.

I joined the forum last year because a couple of pigeons had made a nest on my balcony. At a given moment I had the impression that they had abandoned the little one(only one survived) so I tried to get some help from the computer and somehow landed on your forum. Then this summer when the same couple came back to raise a new family I renewed the contact to get advice on many occasions. Well, that's my story.

[Pisciottano]

Nobody else to tell his/her story?