Should I Get a House Pigeon?

[Vasp]

I had a great experience with hand rearing two baby ferals as I'm sure some of you recall, but as they were raised together they have strong instincts that tie them to the wild and so I've decided to build them an outside aviary. I'm almost finished construction. The aviary is about 9 feet tall, about 5 feet long and 5 feet wide. It's huge. I want to let them enjoy the best of both worlds - the pigeon world where they can get lots of flight time, raise a few babies and enjoy summer rain, and the human world where food will always be right there for them, and where if anything happens someone will be there to make sure they're safe. But I'm wondering if I should raise/partially raise/acquire a just-weaned pigeon to keep as a house pet.

I have a goose as a house pet as it is, and have had many experiences with diapers, harnesses and the like, and of course the pigeon would have a cage to sleep in and spend time in when I was gone. I've been exchanging emails with an old german owl breeder who lives just 2 hours away from me who would be willing to sell me a young pigeon, or give me eggs for free. I told him I have experience with handfeeding the babies, and have a hovabator turbofan incubator, but I myself am not certain I should go about hand feeding, even though I have raised quite a few squabs now and found it to be an amazing experience. What do you think I should do?

As I type this up, my pigeons Toad and Muffin are kissing, hugging and cuddling like you'd never believe. They're so incredibly cute. Toad just turns to mush when he's in his "daddy mode". However, though I did have the idea of letting this pair sit on a clutch of old german owl eggs, they are very inconsistent and would likely abandon the eggs, as they have before.

Any thoughts?

Thanks, everyone.

[warriec]

if you mean house pigeon by meaning a recognised breed, by all means go ahead. Please note that you cannot fly the house and the ferals together as the ferals will instinctly go back to where they came from

[Vasp]

No, no, I meant to raise a pigeon, or get a pigeon, that would instead of being an outside aviary bird be a pet bird that would be kept in a cage, but often in a diaper in the house. I think I'd order a BirdWear (PG Wear) harness from Boni. They are so superbly made.

[warriec]

I would keep my bird in a avery.

[joefi2]

hi i would also keep them in the avery,you can train them two eat out of you hand and if that person has some eggs for you ,make a nesting box about 12high 24 long and about 13 deep have a door on it so you can close then in for a couple of days put a bowl in there with pine nedels or straw they will buld a nest in there and when they lay their eggs get some from the other person whos bird laid around the same time and just switch them.and your avery make shure the coopers cant get in they kill pigeons more then cat,s

[nbdyuknow]

Hi,

I don't know how much help I can provide, I can just tell you about my experience with a "house pigeon" thus far. I recently (March/April of 2007) found a pigeon that needed a home. You can do a search for posts about "Sophie" to revisit that portion of the story.

Sophie lives in my house, she cannot go outside to fly at all. I have a dog, so she doesn't have free run of the entire house, but she mainly sits in my office with me while I am working.

The pluses: She is a wonderful pigeon, she is very affectionate, and she makes me laugh all the time with her antics. She perches either on the back of my chair or my shoulder. She eats her treat seeds from my hand, and together we have recently worked on a "trick" where she will perch on the back of my chair and when I tap my chest twice, flies to me and lands on my shoulder. It's very cute.

The minuses: Poop. I have ordered PGWear but it hasn't arrived yet, so poop is a major and ongoing challenge. I keep a roll of paper towels at my desk, but since she is such a clingy bird, the majority of the poop ends on on me. Also on the chair and the floor, which is a lot of cleaning to keep it up.

I understand that she cannot ever go and fly free outside, and so I try and give her the best substitute life I can. I wrestled a long time about getting another pigeon to keep her company, since I know that pigeons are very devoted to their mates. To this point, I have held off on that, since she seems pretty happy and healthy. I do spend a lot of time with her, even if some of it is just her napping on my shoulder.

So, I guess my recommendation would be that, provided you've got the time to spend as a mother/father, sibling, keeper and mate, then you could probably not find a better avian companion that a pigeon.

Also, as you obviously already know, there is a huge treasure trove of quality people here on this board who can give you all the help, encouragement and advice you probably would ever need about all things "pij."

Whatever you decide, Good luck.

Bill B.

[Hillybean]

Hey Vasp,
I have actually followed a few of your posts in the past. I think you might get a LOT of different replies.

I think keeping the two that are more bird bonded in loft/outdoor aviary, is a good idea. You'll still continue to care for and interact with them. I remember a while back that you couldn't interact with them as much. I take it this hasn't improved???
I'm thinking your wanting a pigeon that you can handle more??

Keep in mind that a another breed could end up doing the same thing, or would need time/work. Your best bet might be to go with a more laid back breed, but I don't know how ferals are as pets. I don't know how the german Owls are as pets, but I'm sure someone else might. It seems I'm short on knowing things huh .

I don't think I'd go with hand raising one. Things "could" go wrong, and the hand raising is NOT "needed". I just wouldn't take the chance.

I think getting a just weaned one is a GREAT idea. There (at least I think so) is nothing wrong with having some birds in a loft/aviary, and one (or a few) indoors. As long as they are cared for, I don't see a problem.

There are a LOT of things you want to make sure you consider. Your time, when the young bird gets older, mates, and much more.

My pet pigeons (indoor/house companions):
I got Beautiful when he was 9 weeks old, but he hand been hand raised by the breeder. He is and has always been very tame.

My sister's bird (Pretty Lady) was also gotten at 9-10 weeks, but was bird raised. I had its breeder interact with it when she could. Pretty Lady, is very tame. She has had to be worked with though (feeding by hand, talking to, and time).

Beautiful and Pretty Lady, came from the same breeder. I found her through this site.

The newest two (Charlie and Junebug), I was lucky enough to get from a member on here. They were hand raised by her (the member), but I didn't get them till they were eating on their own (need just a bit of TLC).

I do NOT think that they have to be hand raised to be tame. Pretty Lady wasn't and is perfectly tame. Interaction when young, most likely makes a difference.

I hope this helps a bit, I'm sure others will be more helpful.

Best of Luck!
-Hilly

[Skyeking]

Vasp,

I have two hand raised pigeons (2 days of age, mom abanoned them at 2 days of age) that became a couple. I have tried to see how they do with hatching real eggs, and they usually give up on them. I wouldn't normally try this but I have other normal pigeons that could take over the hatching and raising process.

They try to be normal and fit in with my other pigeons who were raised by pigeon parents, but they aren't. They can handle living life with my other birds in a coop, but hatchng and raising babies are an issue. They think they are half human half pigeon, and who knows what else they are thinking.
I love them dearly and just let them live their lives to the best of their abilities, but I think the hand raising/and trauma definitely affected them.

[Vasp]

Yes, Treesa, I've noticed this with my pigeons. They can sometimes be very frightened by humans, even though I spent so much of my time with them when they were babies. Of course I love them dearly, but I wanted to give them a home where they could be normal pigeons, but still because of the hand raising, they could be half human as well. They are very horrible nest builders, even worse than parent-raised pigeons (you should see how the male, Toad brings pieces of newspaper to Muffin, puts them on her back, and then picks them up again to put on the floor and bring back to her in a neverending cycle). They also have crushed eggs before, and just don't seem to get the idea that in order to hatch an egg they have to sit on it all day and night. At this point I know I will probably never let them hatch any, but if they ever improve from living a bit of a more "wild" life, then I wouldn't mind giving it a try after seeing if they could dedicate themselves to a dummy egg for a whole 18 days.

As for the poop involved with a house pigeon....


I have a house goose, which is probably one of the messiest creatures on earth! Well, at least, when they're babies they are... Pigeons usually have such nice poops compared to geese. They consume a lot less water and less protein, and so their poops usually are odorless and pretty solid. When Toad and Muffin were hormonal teens and used to hang out with me in my bedroom, they did have somewhat messy poops, but that was better than the goose. Goose poop is like mud - in short it leaves horrible stains, is very wet, and is also very frequent, especially when they're growing feathers like my 5 week old embden goose is. They are very very sweet and I wouldn't trade her for anything, but let's just say that over the last 5 weeks I have gotten much, much better at cleaning up bird messes. I hatched her from an egg and thankfully she has taken well to her diapers (I began diapering her with baby harnesses at 2 days of age) and is wearing them all day now. Problems with her are slowly vanishing.

Back to the pigeon situation...

The breeder with whom I've been speaking expects some eggs by the end of this month. I told him I'd have to think about that. Thing is that these are probably the last eggs of the season and with a young pair. From my research, Old German Owls are supposed to be naturally tame, tranquil birds, ferals can be sweet but as you'd expect probably have more ties to their instincts, such as flying, breeding and mating. They're wild afterall. He said he would give me a just weaned bird, but it would have to be parent-fed as he has never raised baby pigeons before, and his young pair might not be able to pull it off.

What do you think I should do?

I have hand fed a lot of babies, of different species like parrots and songbirds before, and almost always get 100% hatch rates, but I almost strictly do hand feeding as a last resort. I think hand feeding can be a great thing, but can save, yet break, lives. It's risky no matter your experience.

[Jazicat]

I have two feral girls that I got when they were roughly 23 days old and they are house pigeons. I hand fed them for about two weeks. They live in an indoor aviary and are wonderful tame birds. I also have starlings and agree there's poop that's harder to clean. Our girls hatched an oops baby and I was really worried if they would remember their parents feeding them. Thankfully they did and now Rainbow is five weeks old and the tamest of birds. She's a cross between a feral and king pigeon and has a very sweet disposition. I was able to handle Rainbow a lot as a baby because moms are so tame and she is the calmest bird. Our male king is a extremely calm bird and while not a fancy or racing breed is a great pet. I think lots of handling of a bird when it's young helps to make a happy indoor pet. I also think that pigeons would be a very good indoor bird with the right person.

[Vasp]

I'd have to agree!! I have hand fed baby starlings from birth and have babysat house starlings while their owners, my friends, were gone. They are little characters! They can learn to speak quite well, as well. Better than a small parrot. The poop of perching birds like songbirds and corvids and of waterfowl are a lot worse than pigeon poop.

I think I'll get a house pigeon...But I'm not yet sure what I should do to go about it.

I'll be taking a risk no matter what I do.

First off, as option one, is to let the pair that laid the eggs raise the babies and incubate the eggs. However the breeder told me that this young pair, who don't consistently lay eggs on a regular basis and have not yet hatched and raised any babies very commonly abandon their eggs. If that happens, I could pick up the abandoned eggs or babies, but I always think its safer to pick up fresh eggs than to pick up small babies or incubated eggs. They don't have to be kept warm. The breeder hasn't ever hand fed baby pigeons and didn't know that was a possibility up until a while ago. The last option is that I hatch one and raise it myself.

Any suggestions?

[Boni Birds]

I have house pigeons and my experience with them has been life changing and joyful for the most part. It is a commitment, much like taking on a child; I have to care for them more than if they were outside on their own. It is true they are not cultured into pigeon knowledge like they would have been had they grew up in the coop, but they are a whole new cultural cross –I think- “humigeon” say it like hum-ejd-eon. Hooter’s actually helps me interact with the coop birds. When he goes out with me, sits on my shoulder the whole coop remains still and curious rather than explosive and fluttery. They are more apt to go about their pigeon business while we watch than if I am in there alone. He is like an ambassador from the land of human. I learned some of their language from him. I hear him announce the hawks in the yard by his warning grunts at the window. The coop all stood still when I came in yesterday to find my last baby, snake killed (despite the ½ gauge aviary wire) and as one all the coop pigeons were grunting that same sound, like some eerie Stephen king movie- they were telling me and warning me that the snake had been there.
Because my guys are free in the house (with PGWear) it has become their home too. They are sooo much company and joy, amusement and fun, I miss them when I cannot take them with me. But it means they go with me a lot or they have to spent time in the outdoor porch cages. So I say think about your time and emotional investment –it is worth it but it is a big responsibly –for me when I looked into Hooter’s orange orbs, and he gives me that “look”- I am hooked for life on living with pigeons!

[Vasp]

I have been looked on with that "look" and it has since changed my view on pigeons, and probably my life, forever. Having a pet house goose (she's more like a child than a pet, however) is a huge commitment, much like having an infant. It is rather disgusting, I might add... But I love my goose to bits and pieces. I think I will go with getting a house pigeon. Do you think it would be a horrible idea to try to hatch and raise one again? I just worry more about the handfeeding skills of the breeder, or the commitment of the new parents than I worry about my ability to raise another pij.

[Boni Birds]

There is always risk in life, all my house guys were rescuses. Alot of my rescues went back to the coop, as a part of their life choice, they did not want to be house pigeons. No matter how many times I took Mr. Hooters out to the coop, he was always plastered to the door waiting my return- so I gave up, (now he has found Fanny of course) so the coop is not so al bad. Seems some birds make a choice two. Perhaps there is a baby out their to rescue? I don't think having a goose is disusting, I use to have a pet chicken that I diapered when I was a young teen. Took her for walks like a dog, neigbors wondered about me for sure, but- it was love...

[Vasp]

What I meant is how much I have to clean up after her. She's growing all her feathers now and she's a large goose so this is a big, and messy, part of her life. I too walk her around, and get comments like, "Walking the Christmas goose?" Of course, tons of people have no idea of the joy of having a bird as a companion.

If there is a baby to rescue and it comes my way, I will rescue it. If not, I guess I'll just have to figure out something with this guy.... However, if any animal in need comes to me, I will not hesitate to help.