[Crazydunnock]

Hello all...

A baby pigeon was brought to us a while ago and we've been looking after it.

It must've been 2-3 days old when we first had it (eyes were still shut but opened the next morning) and I've been feeding it Kaytee Exact formula ever since. It's now a month or more old, just weaned and eating barley and a wild bird seed mix.
It's a nice (and somewhat unusual) colour, light grey with red bands across the wings and the end of the tail.

It's living in a room in our house at the moment before we decorate, but this can't continue long!

Releasing it to the wild seems to be tricky from what I've read and anyway I'd kind of like to keep him/her/it...

So a couple of questions:

How would I look after it? Should I build/buy an enclosure of some sort outside for it? What about a rabbit hutch, high up?

Also, I'd love to train it as a carrier pigeon. Can a wild pigeon be trained to fly home as well as a pigeon bred from racers, and how would I go about this?
Letting it free for the first time would be scary

Any help and advice is much appreciated

 

[hamza syed]

thanks for helping that guy/girl.. if u want to keep it u can buy an enclosure for him or the rabbit hutch will do it (should be high). idk about training cuz many a times it fails. try it if u want or let the bird experience freedom (meaning releasing it to wild). but it can't be a carrier/racer but yes a wild can be trained to fly home like homers. hope this answers some of ur questions...

 

[GimpieLover]

I would not recommend letting it fly free. Pigeons are flock animals and rely on one another to watch out for predators. A lone pigeon is a target. Especially one raised by humans would have not learned any survival skills to make it out in the wild.
It was raised by you and probably sees you as it's flock now. I would suggest building an aviary in your backyard and maybe adopting it a piji friend to keep it company.

 

[Majd]

I always wondered if ferals can home like domestic pigeons....

 

[Jay3]

I would not recommend letting it fly free. Pigeons are flock animals and rely on one another to watch out for predators. A lone pigeon is a target. Especially one raised by humans would have not learned any survival skills to make it out in the wild.
It was raised by you and probably sees you as it's flock now. I would suggest building an aviary in your backyard and maybe adopting it a piji friend to keep it company.

This is a good answer.

 

[Crazydunnock]

Ok thank you, I suspected as much... pity.

Incidentally, is there a difference between a homing and carrier pigeon? I always thought a carrier pigeon was just a homing pigeon with a band on its leg for messages, but hamza syed's answer suggests differently.

 

[hamza syed]

Is A PIC of English Carrier Pigeon
View attachment 28015

Is a PIC of Homer/Racing homer Pigeon
View attachment 28016

You can see the difference between them.. And btw nowadays carrier are more show breeds than flying..(PIc Not Mine)