# Unreleasable, flightless feral male needs a home



## TheSnipes (Apr 9, 2007)

I took in a feral pigeon about 5-6 weeks ago that had suffered some injury to its right wing causing it to lose all the flight feathers. This bird had been in someone else's care over the winter, who could no longer care for him.

We have been waiting in hopes that he would molt and re-grow new flight feathers, but in all this time no new flights have grown in. To me, it feels like there is some tissue missing at the end of his wing and I have begun to fear that he will not ever be able to produce those feathers.

I know that some people deliberately injure pigeons in this way to use them for dog training, but I was told this was an injured feral picked up in a nearby city...so that is what I am assuming is true.

I am very concerned about this bird's mental state. He is desperately lonely and spends all the daylight hours with his head tucked under a pc. of newspaper in his cage, calling out for someone. He is in a room with 3 other caged pidgies, but I have no cage large enough for >1 bird, and I don't have a safe way to accommodate a 1-winged individual in my loft outside. So, there he stays day in day out and I really feel awful about keeping him this way indefinitely.

Obviously he needs a flightless female pidge to rescue him from his loneliness. I am hoping we'll find someone for him to love. If anyone can help place this little guy please PM or email me. He is a beautiful blue bar, but I haven't got a pic of him..I will get one and post it later.

Thanks,
Snipes


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi TheSnipes,

Thank you for your kindness in finding this bird an appropriate home.

It does sound like he is in need of a mate, and it is hard to accomodate a male handicapped flightless pigeon in a flighted world. I had a handicapped male (otiginally flighted and injured the wing), who wasn't able to live in my flighted coop, he wasn't able to keep his territory because he couldn't fly up to his cubby, so he lost his mate and basically his old life. He spent his days on the floor of the aviary looking up at his old life, it was so sad. He is now livng in a special handicapped loft with a handicapped hen in Virginia, and life is back to its fullest for him. It is match made in heaven for him. 

I have a handicapped hen living in a flighted world, she has a flighted mate, who maintains a cubby for her, but if it wasn't for him, she would not do well either. I do have to lift her to eat and drink and to and from her cubby, though.

I hope you do find him a mate, because they do get very lonely and its worse when they live in a flighted world, and are restricted from it.


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## TheSnipes (Apr 9, 2007)

Hi Treesa,
Your male was very lucky, I pray that I can find a similar situation for this fellow. He is healthy and strong and full of spit & vinegar, he bites and slaps me furiously when I change his cage and feed him. The poor guy, I feel like it is all he has to look forward to so I actually 'play' with him a bit even though it seems to enrage him. I have tried taking him out to hold and pet him to give him some comfort but he wants nothing to do with that sort of thing and just thrashes. He has a next door neighbor (Finnegan with the injured leg) so at least he has someone to talk to, but still he stuffs his head under the paper and cries. So sad.


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