# Raising feral orphans for release



## karabas (Nov 3, 2015)

Hi guys,

We recently rescued two abandoned feral pigeons - they're around 14 and 10 days old right now.

While we're happy to save a life, we WERE hoping we could raise these guys to be released back into the wild - we're not really in a position to keep pets right now.

*Is it at all possible to raise these babies to be able to release them? And if so, how do we go about doing that?*

Our situation: we live on the 7th floor of a building. There's a flock of pigeons who live on the building. We have a balcony. It's currently cold out.

Is there any chance they would be ready to get back to their flock by the end of December? We're planning to be away then...


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

The balcony is an ideal place to do a soft release from.  Close it off with shade cloth so that the babies can still see what's going on outside, but won't be able to get out. Then once they start flying and eating by themselves, let them spend most of the time on the balcony. Put up a high perch in the one corner for them to sleep on and put out their food and water there as well. 

End of December they will be about 2 months, still a bit young. When you think it's time for them to go, just open the shadecloth and they will start exploring the big wide world out there. They will come back for feeding and sleeping. I guess they are human imprinted by now, will make release more difficult. Can't you get a friend to feed them while you're away and then rather release them when you come back? At least you will be around then.

If not, then put out a LOT of food and water cause they will be depended upon that.


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## karabas (Nov 3, 2015)

Marina B said:


> The balcony is an ideal place to do a soft release from. Close it off with shade cloth so that the babies can still see what's going on outside, but won't be able to get out. Then once they start flying and eating by themselves, let them spend most of the time on the balcony. Put up a high perch in the one corner for them to sleep on and put out their food and water there as well.
> 
> End of December they will be about 2 months, still a bit young. When you think it's time for them to go, just open the shadecloth and they will start exploring the big wide world out there. They will come back for feeding and sleeping. I guess they are human imprinted by now, will make release more difficult. Can't you get a friend to feed them while you're away and then rather release them when you come back? At least you will be around then.
> 
> If not, then put out a LOT of food and water cause they will be depended upon that.


Thanks for all the advice Marina!

Unfortunately, a shade cloth is not an option on our balcony: the building management doesn't allow it and even if they did it would be quite difficult to install.

Is it still viable to keep them on the balcony in this case? And if so, when can we start adjusting them to the colder temperatures? Right now, it's ~10-12C during the day and 2-5C at night. We keep the house really toasty, so I figured we can open up a few windows to adjust them to it slowly, but I'm guessing we can only do that once they're fully feathered, right?

We have a neighbor that could come to feed them, but I can't let the pigeons fly around our apartment for the week that we're away - unless it's on the balcony, but I guess that's not a good idea.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Wait till they are about a month old and then start adjusting the temperatures.
Can't you get a fairly large cage to put on the balcony for them to get use to the outside? At least you are only going away for a week, so rather let them stay in there for a week and when you get back do the release. 

I have a pigeon of about 7 weeks that's not human imprinted, and I will only be releasing him early January. It's not only about being able to eat by themselves, there will be lots of pigeon bullies out there (the ones you release will be intruding on their space) so they must at least be old enough to defend themselves.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

*Release Criteria and several methods for soft Release information: http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f23/to-release-or-not-to-release-10874.html *


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

You can't just take babies who are used to the warmth of inside, and put them out in the cold. You also can't release them outside, or even let them fly outside with the chance that they may take off and get lost. Winter is almost here, and Canada gets freezing cold. Also, they would have a harder time finding food and water in the freezing cold winter.
Let them stay in the cage while you are gone. They will be fine. A lot better than being outside in Canada in the winter time. You would have to wait till when it warms up in springtime, and they should be soft released into a flock at least. They will have no idea of where to go, or how to find food and water on their own. It would be kinder to find someone who has pigeons to take them in. Their chances of survival, because they weren't parent raised, and are not part of a flock are very slim. If you put them out in December, you have done all you have done for nothing. Just to send them out to die.

There is no water in Canada in the winter time. Do you assume they will know to eat snow, with no one else to learn from or watch?


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Jay3 said:


> You can't just take babies who are used to the warmth of inside, and put them out in the cold. You also can't release them outside, or even let them fly outside with the chance that they may take off and get lost. Winter is almost here, and Canada gets freezing cold. Also, they would have a harder time finding food and water in the freezing cold winter.
> Let them stay in the cage while you are gone. They will be fine. A lot better than being outside in Canada in the winter time. You would have to wait till when it warms up in springtime, and they should be soft released into a flock at least. They will have no idea of where to go, or how to find food and water on their own. It would be kinder to find someone who has pigeons to take them in. Their chances of survival, because they weren't parent raised, and are not part of a flock are very slim. If you put them out in December, you have done all you have done for nothing. Just to send them out to die.
> 
> There is no water in Canada in the winter time. Do you assume they will know to eat snow, with no one else to learn from or watch?


*THIS ^ ^ READ link I posted*


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Yes, that is a very good link with good information that Skyeking has posted. Please read it.


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## karabas (Nov 3, 2015)

Jay3 said:


> You can't just take babies who are used to the warmth of inside, and put them out in the cold. You also can't release them outside, or even let them fly outside with the chance that they may take off and get lost. Winter is almost here, and Canada gets freezing cold. Also, they would have a harder time finding food and water in the freezing cold winter.
> Let them stay in the cage while you are gone. They will be fine. A lot better than being outside in Canada in the winter time. You would have to wait till when it warms up in springtime, and they should be soft released into a flock at least. They will have no idea of where to go, or how to find food and water on their own. It would be kinder to find someone who has pigeons to take them in. Their chances of survival, because they weren't parent raised, and are not part of a flock are very slim. If you put them out in December, you have done all you have done for nothing. Just to send them out to die.
> 
> There is no water in Canada in the winter time. Do you assume they will know to eat snow, with no one else to learn from or watch?


I'm not planning to let them die if that's likely, I'm just asking questions.

We have a flock that lives on our building - sometimes the pigeons sit on our balcony. Our pigeons won't be able to pick up winter survival tricks from them?

Also, I wasn't planning on just dumping them outside. My idea was to cool down the apartment first as much as possible (it's really toasty in here, I'm constantly sweating), then to introduce them to the outside (in a cage) unless it's super cold (it usually doesn't get super cold here until Jan/Feb).

Thanks for the links, I've been reading through them.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Canada gets cold long before Jan/Feb. I live in New England and it gets cold here a lot sooner than that, and Canada is colder than here. 
You don't release any bird in the winter time. Conditions for survival are worse. No, they won't learn survival tips from that flock. They are not even part of that flock. They learn most of what they learn from their parents, and they didn't have any to raise them. Even pigeons released during the warmer months don't have a great chance of surviving outside on their own. Any human raised pigeon has a low chance of survival. They haven't learned what they need to know. Also, during the winter, many songbirds have left for warmer climates, so the feral pigeons get picked off more by hawks. These youngsters are completely unprepared to live in the wild. But they stand a better chance if released in the springtime where they will have all summer to try to learn. Even then many won't make it.


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## karabas (Nov 3, 2015)

Jay3 said:


> Canada gets cold long before Jan/Feb. I live in New England and it gets cold here a lot sooner than that, and Canada is colder than here.
> You don't release any bird in the winter time. Conditions for survival are worse. No, they won't learn survival tips from that flock. They are not even part of that flock. They learn most of what they learn from their parents, and they didn't have any to raise them. Even pigeons released during the warmer months don't have a great chance of surviving outside on their own. Any human raised pigeon has a low chance of survival. They haven't learned what they need to know. Also, during the winter, many songbirds have left for warmer climates, so the feral pigeons get picked off more by hawks. These youngsters are completely unprepared to live in the wild. But they stand a better chance if released in the springtime where they will have all summer to try to learn. Even then many won't make it.


Ok, both my wife and I are coming to the conclusion that we should probably give these guys to someone who has the time and ability to raise/keep them properly - and release them if necessary.

We're located in the vicinity of Toronto, Canada - how do we go about finding them a better home? Or is it too late since they're imprinted on us?


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