# First time owner in need of advice!



## Naesala (Jan 5, 2018)

Hey!

I've yet to actually get my bird, but I am trying to look into as much information as possible (and have plenty of supplies ready) before taking the plunge and buying it. Will most likely be a fantail or a ringneck, but leaning towards fantail. Depends on what the local breeders have, so advice for both species (should it vary too much) would be greatly appreciated!!

I've bought it a fairly roomy cage (23"x37"x60") and have ordered quite a bit of food, grit, and some spray millet, but I was wondering what else I should expect to buy to offer my to-be new best friend a nice living experience?

I've also been told that pigeons need at least two different size/textured perches, but I've not been able to find any right away. Do they have to extend the length of the cage, or can they be "branches"? Any suggestions?

And bowls! I'm not sure what to do with the bowl situation. I know pigeons and doves are typically ground-feeders, so do I just set some bowls on the ground and call it good? Or should they be fixed to the side? Any feed/water bowls you can suggest? And bath bowls- a bird has to be clean!

Sorry for all of the questions, but I want to make 110% sure I have everything in order before making a commitment to a featherchild.

Thanks in advance!


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## Gypsy-Tinker (Jan 6, 2018)

For food and water bowls you can just put them on the ground. Just remember they have to be heavier than the bird or your bird will knock it over.

As for the perches I have only sticks in my cage but Tink (my ringneck who is sitting on my laptop while I write) is out of the cage all day and pretty much only gets locked back in at night. So she pretty much has all the flat surfaces in the house.

I can't think about anything else you could need. Doves and I assume pigeons are really easy to take care of!


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## Colombina (Jan 22, 2017)

Hi! For cuttlebone and crumbled block for pigeons I use a cat bowl like the one in the picture. For seed I use plant pot saucers and also cat bowls. For drinking water cat and dog bowls of different size. As bath bowl you can use a dog bowl or (if you have space) a cat litter box. Unfortunately here I don't have a lot of space; I can put the box just when I'm in Italy: my pigeons are really happy. They love having a "swimming pool"  

To offer a larger variety of seed I use to buy pigeon/dove mix of different brands and mix them each other. I add legumes like mung beans, lentils and peas. I also give to my birds a mixture for canaries enriched with dehydrated fruits: they love it 

I always leave available to my birds cuttlebone and crumbled block for pigeons: they regulate by themselves the ingestion according to their necessity. 
I use to cut cuttlebone in small pieces with scissors (you don't have to break it up with fingers).
I don't know if you can find in your area blocks for pigeons like the ones in the pictures. My birds love them. The first contains minerals (like iron, etc); insoluble (or flint) grit (the small stones which go into the gizzard and help to grind up the seed) and oyster shells (the soluble grit which dissolves in the digestive system giving birds calcium). The second one contains shells, calcium carbonate, etc and anise which helps with digestion.

Don't forget to give to your bird also vitamins: vit D3 is really important because without it he can't absorb the calcium he gets (in the wild he takes vit D3 from the sun). You can find vitamins for drinking water or some mixture enriched with vitamins.


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## Naesala (Jan 5, 2018)

Ahhh, thank you for your suggestions!

I ended up getting my coo-coo yesterday (indian fantail), and have him(her? don't know yet) all set up.

He seems pretty aggressive, although I can assume that he is just overwhelmed and scared at the moment. Would anyone have any suggestions on how to tame such a bird? I hear they're fairly easy to tame, but I have no idea where to start.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Pigeons, especially a fantail who is a fairly large pigeon, prefer a shelf to perch on, not a regular perch. And they are not usually happy alone. A pigeon lives to pair up and mate. So without another pigeon for a partner he will be pretty lonely. They don't like to be picked up. They like to be able to come to you when they want.
And please do not feed him worms, as they don't eat that. They are grain eaters.


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## Naesala (Jan 5, 2018)

Jay3 said:


> Pigeons, especially a fantail who is a fairly large pigeon, prefer a shelf to perch on, not a regular perch. And they are not usually happy alone. A pigeon lives to pair up and mate. So without another pigeon for a partner he will be pretty lonely. They don't like to be picked up. They like to be able to come to you when they want.
> And please do not feed him worms, as they don't eat that. They are grain eaters.


Thing is, I'm planning on making him into an emotional service animal since I have horrible social anxiety and depression- that's the main reason I got him. I hear that pigeons are super sweet affectionate birds and make great pets, and I'm always in my room since I work from home and honestly rarely leave otherwise, so he'll never be lonely. I've read about pigeons taking humans as their """mates""" and bond closely with them if they spend enough time with them, and that was my intention more or less.

If it turns out that he won't bond with me for whatever reason, I will seek out a mate for him. Would it have to be the same species? I've read a few articles where fantails have mated to rollers or homers, but I'm not too sure about that.

And I did end up building some shelves for him, and he seems to enjoy those much better than the perches already!

Of course not! I wouldn't think to feed him worms, haha. Don't worry, I stocked up plenty on proper feed and grit and what have you before even bringing him home.  He seems to be a bit of a picky eater though, as it seems he's only picking out the white millet and tossing everything else aside. Perhaps I should contact the person I got him from and see what they were feeding him and his coopmates...


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

I'm sorry about the "don't feed him worms "advice. I got my posts confused. It was another person thinking of doing that. Sorry.

If you take your time with him, he will probably bond to you. And eventually he will get used to eating the different grains.


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## Naesala (Jan 5, 2018)

Jay3 said:


> I'm sorry about the "don't feed him worms "advice. I got my posts confused. It was another person thinking of doing that. Sorry.
> 
> If you take your time with him, he will probably bond to you. And eventually he will get used to eating the different grains.


It's all good!
I suppose I just need to be patient, I've only had him since late on the 16th, so he's still pretty anxious and scared- or so I can only assume.

Btw, if anyone knows what it means when they zitter.. he does it pretty often when he's on the floor of his cage in-between munching his food, and sometimes when I coo at him.

Just curious about that, it looks so silly.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Zitter? You mean when fantails do that shake thing?
Here is a thread on that.

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f5/indian-fantail-shaking-61493.html


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## Naesala (Jan 5, 2018)

Jay3 said:


> Zitter? You mean when fantails do that shake thing?
> Here is a thread on that.
> 
> http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f5/indian-fantail-shaking-61493.html


Yeah, it's such a silly looking display, whatever it means.




Also, if anyone knows what this is about, he tends to make this noise in the evening/early morning and I'm not sure if it's a good sound or a bad sound.. seems sad though! Starts off as a few slow, grumbly coos and escalates into a loud coo-hoo-hoo-hoo.

I caught him doing it last night:
https://youtu.be/ztPV5KILfGM

The video is intentionally black, as I was only trying to capture the sound, haha.

Sorry if this is normal behavior for indian fantails, but I've never heard a bird make such a noise before! :0


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