Can pigeons make good pets?

[DeadIrishD]

For a few years now, I have been thinking about having a pigeon for a pet, and thinking about how cool it would be, but never thought it'd be possible, because I never knew that people actually kept them as pets, and than I started realising that they are a bit more common, than I had once thought, and am considering getting one.

What can ya'll tell me about keeping them as pets?

How good they usually do in captivity? how social they generally are with owners? their diets? and all of that.

-Dan

[Skyeking]

Hello and welcome to pigeons.com

Thank you for your interest in adopting a pet pigeon.

Pigeons that are handraised or rehabbed and have become dependent on human contact, do very well as pets.

We usually acquire a pet out of the bird needing to be rehabbed or baby lost a parent and had to be hand raised. It usually works out well, as pigeons adapt well. Grown up birds with limited human contact eventually adjust.

My son wants to get his own pet pigeon and insists I take a baby away from its mom for him, so he will form the human bond, and I tell him NO, that is CRUEL. We happen to have a pet pigeon that had to be hand raised due to being abandoned, but he wants one of his own. Well, he will have to wait until another needy bird comes along.

I would suggest you find a bird who is unreleasable and needs a home.

Here is a wonderful thread from an expert on "pet" pigeon care.

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=10848

[Victor]

Hi Dan and welcome to Pigeon~Talk.

Thanks for your interest in pigeons, and in answer to your question, yes they make great pets.

I would like to suggest that first you read the many informative posts here at Pigeon Talk, and particularly the permanent ones that are called "stickeys", much useful information is found in them as well as our resource section.

Pigeons are very intelligent creatures. They can bond with humans very well and are quite interesting as I am sure we are to them as well!

I have had a pet pigeon for almost two years now, and the idea of ever having a "pet pigeon" never crossed my mind, other than, "oh cool, pigeons!" whenever I would see them in a flock. We got ours after saving him from bb gun wounds. He is now part of our family.

They can learn to perch on your shoulder (and head if you don't mind it too much) and even ride a bike with you as mine does.

It may take time and patience training one, but the results are very, very rewarding.

Once they learn to trust you, they do quite well in captivity, in fact they can live as long as 15 years when cared for, as opposed to maybe 5 on the street.

A good living area, large enough to flap their wings, clean water, pigeon grit, and pigeon seed and love and attention is all you need to start up. Wild bird seed will do fine for now, but feed and grit are available at pigeon supply outlets for just a few dollars, in many cases, cheaper than pet stores or feed stores. Those outlets are provided here on this site as well.

Pigeons find their domain as very territorial, so please don't take it personal when your hand gets pecked at when you service his cage. It doesn't really hurt. Mine loves me to death but he will still try to tear my flesh off at timeswhen I reach inside his home.

[DeadIrishD]

so I'll eventually be able to go outside with it, so it can free roam, and it'll come back to me, without any special training? or would you be screwed if your pigeon flew away while you were riding your bike? unless you have a harness on it

[Pidgey]

Depends a lot on the bird. When we say a bird is "unreleasable", it can be for a variety of reasons--handicapped or too tame. When they're too tame, they probably won't make it out in the wild if they get lost. In order for a pigeon to not get lost, it needs to have been trained to "home" back to your house. Such training is performed rather like racing pigeons are taught. In so doing, they often lose a lot of the quality of "petness" that you wanted them to have. A few folks here have managed to train their birds rather like you're thinking and many others have gotten lost or "gone wild."

Now, having an unreleasable bird that has a handicap is a different story. You shoud read about this one:

http://www.urbanwildlifesociety.org/...ePijStory.html

I myself have many pet pigeons and the only one who gets to live in the house is blind. The others live out in the loft and many are handicapped. They're a lot of fun but if you want one specifically to have it fly away and return, there's a bit of work and a lot of luck involved.

Pidgey

[Victor]

Originally Posted by DeadIrishD

so I'll eventually be able to go outside with it, so it can free roam, and it'll come back to me, without any special training? or would you be screwed if your pigeon flew away while you were riding your bike? unless you have a harness on it

Dan, yes eventually you can go outside, but it all depends on the pigeon and the caregiver as well. Training is required, but it really isn't that hard.The first step is gaining the trust of your pigeon.

Last year I thought I had lost mine when it was perched on my shoulder one second and off he went when he spotted a small flock 4 or 5 houses away. I was lucky to have found him at dusk, and then upon the suggestion of Mr.Smith, one of our moderators at Pigeon Talk, I would not feed him when allowed "flight time" outdoors. For several months, I would feed him after he was done with his exercise. Now I am comfortable with feeding him and leaving his door open. I think he realized the grass was not greener on the other block too.

Then there are some who have rehabbed or rescued pigeons that will not let them outdoors to roam free for the fear of them taking flight. It all goes back to, it depends on the pigeon Dan. When mine rides with me it is done in my large back yard. When he tires of it he simply flies of to his outdoor quarters or favorite roosting area near it.I would not ride down my block with him for fear of him getting adventurous again.

[Buddy]

Hello DeadirishD,

I save pigeons by taking them from their mums at around 2-3 weeks old, because they nest in the harbour walls in a hole 3in high, so as you can imagine they can't stand let alone fly, so they all drown in the water, but I rescue them from that horrible fate. Buddy, my pet pigeon is SO tame, you can do ANYTHING with her With the right care, they are very good pets. It's nice to see some other fairly young people getting into pigeons. Where about do you live may I ask? Here are some pics of how tame Buddy is, she flys out during the day, and comes home in the evening, they don't need to be trained to "home" it's a natural instinct. http://www.pixalbums.net/pigeon/?album=Buddy

[DeadIrishD]

I live in Portsmouth NH

[DeadIrishD]

I think I might try and get a few from a poultry show.

my only thoughts are, what purpose do they things serve at a poultry show?
Do people eat them? use them for eggs? or.....

[pigeonmama]

Pigeons are considered poultry, and can be shown at same shows as chickens, turkeys, ducks, etc. Our poultry shows always have some pigeons at show.
Daryl

[Pidgey]

Eating pigeons is not something that folks on this forum take very kindly to. Actually, we tend to get a bit upset about it, and sometimes just plain hostile.

A lot of the pigeons at shows are "fancy pigeons" and have all kinds of wild feather arrangements. That's a competition unto itself.

Pidgey

[DeadIrishD]

I didn't mean it as I wanted to eat a pigeon, just all of the birds I think about are food, when I hear the word poultry so since its broken down about the feathers... do they keep them because they are pretty, or plan on plucking them? (still trying to grasp what pigeons are doing at thoes shows.)

I just want to know, before I go support a show with bad morals :-/

[Victor]

Originally Posted by DeadIrishD

I just want to know, before I go support a show with bad morals :-/

Hi Dan,

Pidgey I am sure ,did not mean anything bad towards you, other than to insure that what you conveyed was not intended other than to be descriptive of the event in question.

Pidgey is right though, some of us may take it the wrong way, and just putting that thought in text is a "no-no", but at any rate, thank you for clarifying it.We are glad to have you here.

[DeadIrishD]

Glad to be here

[Buddy]

I suppose eating pigeons is just like eating anything else, we eat chickens and turkeys don't we? I mean if we all ate pigeons from the word go and kept chickens as pets, then we would think eating chicken was wrong. People in France eat horses and snails, to them it's just like eating beef, and in India, killing a cow is a terrible crime as they are considered sacred. Well I apologise if I offended anyone with this post, but it's a very true fact.

Buddy