# Where to release the rescued feral pigeon



## ranjita.neogi (May 4, 2020)

Hi. I rescued a feral juvenile pigeon which was obviously injured and probably not well fed. It had/has a leg injury and lost its tail feathers as well. After staying with me for about ten days it is much stronger and the leg injury is also healing fast. I feel it will heal completely in another ten days. Though I would love to keep him/her with me, but I feel that she definitely wants to go back in the wild. It keeps flapping its wings on the glass window at times. I never got a wild pigeon home before, so I am completely clueless if I should release her to the place where I picked her from or is it okay to release her in my neighbourhood. My neighbourhood has plenty of trees and a lot of people feed pigeons compared to Kings Cross station area where she lived before. But I am not sure if she will be accepted by the flock here. Please advise.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

How old is she now? Can you post a photo? Don't release if she is less than 2 months old. Release her in your garden. For now, keep her outside in a cage during the day. She will get familiar with the area and will stick around. Bring her inside in the afternoon and let her practise flying inside your home where it is safe. Don't release until she is able to fly well and eat all kinds of seeds. You will need to provide her with food once released. She might also come back in the evenings for a safe spot to sleep at night. That's fine, she will eventually move on.


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## ranjita.neogi (May 4, 2020)

Marina B said:


> How old is she now? Can you post a photo? Don't release if she is less than 2 months old. Release her in your garden. For now, keep her outside in a cage during the day. She will get familiar with the area and will stick around. Bring her inside in the afternoon and let her practise flying inside your home where it is safe. Don't release until she is able to fly well and eat all kinds of seeds. You will need to provide her with food once released. She might also come back in the evenings for a safe spot to sleep at night. That's fine, she will eventually move on.


Thanks a lot Mariana for your response. She is not exactly very small. I have attached two pictures, probably you can see from there. But she is a juvenile one as she has pinkish beaks and doesn't have coloured feathers on her neck. I don't keep her in the cage. She hated the box where she lived for the night when I got her home. She flies freely in my room. Though I have ordered a cage but I did not want to scare her any more by holding her. She hates it. I would love her to be with me, she is adorable. But I am not experienced in handling pigeons. I feed her with the best food I found for pigeons. She could not eat the whole grains so I ground them in smaller pieces. I let her do whatever she feels like, even made her toys. I am doing as much as I can. I will introduce her to the cage and take her to the garden, as you are suggesting. If you have some more suggestions please let me know. Thanks again.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

She is still young, keep her another couple of weeks before releasing. An hour or 2 outside every day will also help. I guess she won't like being in a cage outside. Can the window open where she is sitting? If so, then you can actually put her food and water on a table in front of the window inside the room. Then, when you think she is ready, open the window and let her go out by herself. Keep the food and water there with the window open, I'm sure she will come back. Just make sure she is able to eat whole seeds, not grind up.


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## ranjita.neogi (May 4, 2020)

Thanks again for your very useful advice. I also feel that she needs to be with me for some more time. The window can be opened.I will let her fly if she feels like after a couple of weeks. Let her get strong and healthy till then  I will keep you posted.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Great! I hope things go well for her.


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## ranjita.neogi (May 4, 2020)

Marina B said:


> Great! I hope things go well for her.


Hello. I am back again. She has been doing pretty well. Her foot has almost healed and her tail feathers are growing back, ones she lost. She used to be kind of excited in the evenings seeing other birds from the window even a few days back, and flap her wings on the glass. However, now when she is better and I feel that she is ready to go, she has turned reluctant. I keep the window open (it opens from the bottom, while she is used to sitting on the top) for the entire day, but she shows no interest in going out. She is even kind of scared of other birds she sees from the window! I do not know what I should do. Please advise. 

I have attached two of her recent pictures


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Keep her for longer, at least you don't have to feel guilty about it. She is still young, will probably gets bullied by the older pigeons. Try again another couple of weeks from now. She will reach maturity in 2 months or so and the need to find a partner will be stronger then.

She is used to the safety of your home, the outside world must be very scary for her now.


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## ranjita.neogi (May 4, 2020)

Thanks a lot Mariana. You are an angel for pigeons


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