# Time out....



## Insomniac (Aug 21, 2007)

Fox is currently in time out!

An update for those that don't know... Fox is a male (09 baby) house pigeon that lives in my room. I've only had him for a couple of weeks. From the moment he entered the house, he acted aggressively and did the whole strutting, cooing and attacking act that I see my loft pigeons do all the time. It wasn't that excessive though. Now that he's in my room, he will not leave me alone! He thinks the entire room is his to protect. I cannot have him out and hangout in my room...he attacks my feet and hands constantly and viciously... it's not "come on baby, mate with me!" it's, "get the hell out of here!". It's the same fight I see the cocks in the loft go through, where they actually grab face feathers/beaks and try to strongarm the other pigeon out of/off of whatever they're on. I don't know what to do! He will fly to me and land on me and attack my head and neck as well. It's super annoying.

Right now I have been keeping him in his cage, as hard as that is (I like him anyways! <3) hoping that he'll see that this is MY room. I let him out to stretch his wings but as soon as he came over and attacked me, I put him back.

Any tips on communicating with this bossy birdy!?


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Insomniac said:


> Fox is currently in time out!
> 
> An update for those that don't know... Fox is a male (09 baby) house pigeon that lives in my room. I've only had him for a couple of weeks. From the moment he entered the house, he acted aggressively and did the whole strutting, cooing and attacking act that I see my loft pigeons do all the time. It wasn't that excessive though. Now that he's in my room, he will not leave me alone! He thinks the entire room is his to protect. I cannot have him out and hangout in my room...he attacks my feet and hands constantly and viciously... it's not "come on baby, mate with me!" it's, "get the hell out of here!". It's the same fight I see the cocks in the loft go through, where they actually grab face feathers/beaks and try to strongarm the other pigeon out of/off of whatever they're on. I don't know what to do! He will fly to me and land on me and attack my head and neck as well. It's super annoying.
> 
> ...



If you allowed him free flight in your room he is communicating to YOU that this is now his territory and he will defend it and claim it like any normal male pigeon trying to get along in a human world. 

My sollution is to confine him to an empty room where he can do as he pleases or better yet....
rather then caging him why don't you allow him to be with your other birds? ...as long as there is plenty of room he will re-adjust and do fine. Just keep an eye out on him for a little while.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Sounds to me like he is going through his *teenage stage*. It does pass.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Not necessarily....I have a friend who's male pigeon has beeing doing this type of behavior for years...and he thinks he owns the dining room, living room......


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Insomniac said:


> Fox is currently in time out!
> 
> An update for those that don't know... Fox is a male (09 baby) house pigeon that lives in my room. I've only had him for a couple of weeks. From the moment he entered the house, he acted aggressively and did the whole strutting, cooing and attacking act that I see my loft pigeons do all the time. It wasn't that excessive though. Now that he's in my room, he will not leave me alone! He thinks the entire room is his to protect. I cannot have him out and hangout in my room...he attacks my feet and hands constantly and viciously... it's not "come on baby, mate with me!" it's, "get the hell out of here!". It's the same fight I see the cocks in the loft go through, where they actually grab face feathers/beaks and try to strongarm the other pigeon out of/off of whatever they're on. I don't know what to do! He will fly to me and land on me and attack my head and neck as well. It's super annoying.
> 
> ...


why do you have him in your room if you have loft pigeons?


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

spirit wings said:


> why do you have him in your room if you have loft pigeons?




This is why...

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f24/m...geon-food-aggression-inside-or-out-42639.html


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## c.hert (Jan 15, 2010)

You really have a problem there especially since he is really meant to be your house bird and you enjoy it too--come on fest up----I am glad you have him and he has you. What I would do would be to bring a bird into his life that is the opposite sex and let them fight it out---if there is no danger ---of him killing another bird---Do this gradually--One day bring a pretty female in for about 10 minutes (as long as you can stand them fighting for a few minutes) then remove her ..Then when you get time repeat this process and make sure she can get to his nest area okay in order to invade it so that fight for a few minutes--then remove her again---do this gradually and see --if he doesn't start to moan and groan and put his head down and shake his wing moaning and groaning and this is a very good sign because eventually he will accept her and you can throw them all in the loft unless your hooked on this house pet pigeon and wish to keep him in the house but its a funny thing once they discover their sould mate then he would pay less attention to you---I think---c.hert


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Charis said:


> This is why...
> 
> http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f24/m...geon-food-aggression-inside-or-out-42639.html


thank you. 

oh well then..... I would find him a pigeon mate, you may have to go through a few hens, but at least it would be more appropriate to have an acutual hen rather than a human hand...lol.. he may be aggressive no matter what, and you would have to watch the hen so she does not get bullied. I donot see any other way around it. the more you pay attention to him the more he thinks what ever part of you is mate or foe, I think he can accept a hen as his mate, if you wean him off you and introduce slowley a hen, I think he could be rehabed to see another pigeon as his mate.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

spirit wings said:


> thank you.
> 
> oh well then..... * I would find him a pigeon mate, *you may have to go through a few hens, but at least it would be more appropriate to have an acutual hen rather than a human hand...lol.. he may be aggressive no matter what, and you would have to watch the hen so she does not get bullied. I donot see any other way around it. the more you pay attention to him the more he thinks what ever part of you is mate or foe, I think he can accept a hen as his mate, if you wean him off you and introduce slowley a hen, I think he could be rehabed to see another pigeon as his mate.



or get him his own Beanie Babies.


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## Insomniac (Aug 21, 2007)

I'm not sure if I want two pigeons in the house... we have a lot of animals in the house and my room is small (same size as the loft though) Fox can only be out of my room under supervision. The other rooms are all taken up... we have a parrot room (they'll eat him), a ferret room (they'll also eat him), and a reptile room (snakes, carnivorous tegus... not good).... then our own rooms!

I already ordered him PGwear. In my original post about Fox I asked everyone whether it was better for Fox to go outside with the other birds or if I could indulge my desire to have a house pigeon... everyone seemed fine with it so I set him up a cage and ordered PGwear, bought him a Aviator harness (which he is good in and enjoys going outside for five or ten minutes  ) and have grown attached to him as a house bird.....

People seemed to think in other threads with birds that are too bossy in their lofts, that separating them for a bit would do the trick so I was trying to use that knowledge in this situation with Fox...

I would really rather not put him in the loft because they are all ferals that are terrified of me and any relatively tame pigeon I have introduced to the loft have lost their friendliness, mostly... and I want a house pigeon...I know, selfish...

I really DON'T mind that much, if I push him off to the bed and onto the floor he usually gets the point and I get some relief... 

I guess I could try to find another tame pigeon and introduce him, buy more PGwear...but....


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## Mindy (Apr 2, 2009)

I'm with Charis on this one. I think he is going through his teenage time and it will pass. It varies on every bird as for as how long it will last but be patient. Now if he is still like this in a couple of months then I guess Tree Gray is right. Give it a couple more weeks and see how it goes. min


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## c.hert (Jan 15, 2010)

This ain't going to pass and he will always fly to you and on your head and bite at your feet unless you can divert his attention off of you at least part-time off of you. He has your number and you are hooked so enjoy him as a house pet and take your time to search for just the right female for him--one about his same age--pigeons like their same age about ---unless they don't have a choice---I am glad that you fessed up that your were hooked on this bird--makes my heart pitter patter- so glad he has a nice home and you...enjoy enjoy...c.hert


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

I think he will grow out of it.


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## c.hert (Jan 15, 2010)

It would be nice if he would...c.hert


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

He will.... He just needs a liitle time and his own Beanie Baby.


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## StanelyPidge09 (May 22, 2009)

Hey insomniac! I have a indoor feral pigeon that I rescued in May of 09' and he went through this phase as well. (I do think it is his teenage phase.) Stanley would attack us all the time so I know what your going through! It was SUPER annoying as well but thankfully he did get over it with time. (yay!)

To redirect his aggression we set up a few areas of the room that would be only HIS. We thought that if he had his own area then he would stop regarding the whole room as his and allow us to be in OUR space. I bought a bookshelf (from wal-mart it was only like $20) that was fairly tall and put a nice fluffy comforter on the top and then we introduced him to his new territory. He loved it!! He stopped guarding the whole room and would only attack us if we would put our hands near his high rise apartment . It was awesome. He still had an attitude for a couple more weeks when he wanted to but he did stop attacking us when we entered the room. 

We recently emptied out a couple of the other shelves on his bookshelf and he enjoys playing in the empty compartments. For Christmas he got a kitten bed that I put on one of the shelves and he loves that too. If we go near it, we loose fingers. haha  I have pics of his set up in my albums if your interested. 

Good luck!!


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