# Homeless pigeon, need some advice



## FlyingDutchman (Jul 28, 2013)

Hello,

Recently we found a homeless pigeon sitting on the house of our chickens, one of our neighbours decided later to give it some water and it returned to our chicken house later too. Then it got stuck in some plants near the chicken house, so I decided to help it out, and later I fed it some food that we also feed our chickens, it may not be the best food, but it's better than nothing, right? Now it has 1 bowl for feeding, and another for water. We tried moving, but it didn't find the food, so I moved it back to the old location today. We tried moving it because it kept raining and then all the seeds would get wet and I would have to refill it and pour the water out.

What can I do with this pigeon, can I somehow make it return more often, or make a home for it? It doesn't trust me very much, just flies away when I come in a range of 1m, but not much later it comes back. It has a ring around the leg and we looked it up on some site, and it appears to be from Belgium, from the East of Antwerp. That means it was a pet pigeon before it came here. I live in the North of The Netherlands, so I'm not really sure what it's doing here. Maybe it got lost in some 'race' or so, I have no idea.

What food would be best to give, is this food good enough, or would it be better to get something special for it? How do I get it to trust me more?

Would like some advice in this, thanks.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Not much you can do if you can't catch the pigeon except offer good and water. There is commercial pigeon seed mix so do inquire about that where you buy food for your chickens.
If you can figure out where the pigeon roosts at night, you may be able to catch him then. Pigeons don't see well in the dark and that makes catching them easier. 
Have you noticed if the pigeon has a band on his leg?


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## FlyingDutchman (Jul 28, 2013)

I will look into pigeon food the next time we visit the stores.

At night it sits at the edge of the roof of our house. It's too high up to catch it. If I would put some effort in it, I could catch it, when it's eating but I just have no idea what I'd have to do after that.

What do you mean by a band around the leg? I have seen a ring, but I guess that's not what you mean, as that was already explained in the main post. Any example of what that might look like, so I can recognize it?

Thanks.


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## Majd (Apr 6, 2013)

Hii... that ring that you was talking about is the band... you have to use a traditional method that always works for me... get a large box.... lift it with a stick that is attached to a rope.... put food in a spot under the box where the pigeon will be intierly under the box... not only the neck picking seeds...then pull the stick and he'll be traped... then put him temporarily in a big cage with food and water available.... and that's it.. .. keep us posted with pics of him and the band on the leg


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

You may also be able to lure it down with food, possibly even get him/her to cross a threshold or step into the garage, then close the door....

Thanks for caring, keep us posted.


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