[kayncli]

Thanks for all of the help I've gotten so far from this forum, both my pigeons are improving greatly! I have them separate for now still, I discovered feather mites on the new guy so I'm working on ridding him of those.

My white homing pigeon seems to have taken a shine to me, calling to me and running to me when I get home, I can also reach in the cage and give him/her scritches and loving with no struggle from him/her, as well as he/she eats freely from my hand and preens me. The only problem I'm having now is outside of the cage is a totally different story!

I let this pigeon free fly every evening, and end up coaxing him/her back into the cage with safflower on a shelf that he/she flies too, and then I can close the door. He/she won't come to me with treats, occasionally I will get within arms length and can give some scritches, but that's it.

Is this typical? Will this improve? The attitude I get INSIDE the cage is so affectionate, but outside I'm ignored and he/she flies from me if I even walk close. Any tips? Food doesn't seem to work outside the cage at all.

 

[cwebster]

Personally i would never allow a lone bird to fly outside. We have hawk pairs living nearby. Are you talking about letting the bird free fly inside the house? Our beloved Phoebe would do that but loved flying to our shoulders when she got tired.

 

[kayncli]

Personally i would never allow a lone bird to fly outside. We have hawk pairs living nearby. Are you talking about letting the bird free fly inside the house? Our beloved Phoebe would do that but loved flying to our shoulders when she got tired.

Sorry for the confusion, by letting this pigeon out of his/her cage I mean inside! Both of my pigeons are kept indoors I also would not let them fly outside!

 

[Jay3]

He is probably running from you because he thinks you may put him back in his cage and he wants to be out of cage. Also, most pigeons don't like to be petted. They want to come to you when they want to. Not when you want them to. If you found a treat they love, they will eventually come to you. Shelled sunflower seeds or unsalted chopped peanuts. Mix them into their food for a while so that they will eventually try them. Just a little bit as they are too high in fat and a lot isn't good for them. Pigeons aren't petting pets though, so that will make them fly from you. I don't care how they act in the cage.

 

[kayncli]

He is probably running from you because he thinks you may put him back in his cage and he wants to be out of cage. Also, most pigeons don't like to be petted. They want to come to you when they want to. Not when you want them to. If you found a treat they love, they will eventually come to you. Shelled sunflower seeds or unsalted chopped peanuts. Mix them into their food for a while so that they will eventually try them. Just a little bit as they are too high in fat and a lot isn't good for them. Pigeons aren't petting pets though, so that will make them fly from you. I don't care how they act in the cage.

Thank you for your input! I have to disagree on this pigeon and being petted, it's probably mating behavior from what I've seen here, but she calls to me quite often and wing flicks so I will scratch her neck, and does not run away from that. She's even done this outside of the cage now as of this past week! I know everyone is different though and I always appreciate reading your perspective in this forum

 

[Jay3]

Most pigeons don't want to be petted. A female in mating mode will. But they can get extremely pesty. They would be the exception to the rule.

 

[kayncli]

Most pigeons don't want to be petted. A female in mating mode will. But they can get extremely pesty. They would be the exception to the rule.

I think you hit the nail on the head there, part of the reason why I shifted over to "she"...she's showing all the signs of a female in mating mode lately and is constantly yelling for me to come pet her! I try to avoid her back though, as I've seen advised on here many times. She is pretty relentless in her calls for attention, but letting her fly free every day gets her some distraction!

 

[Jay3]

Avoiding her back or not, she will probably be laying eggs for you. Good luck!