# Taming the Cage Aggressive Pigeon



## rialize (Dec 28, 2005)

Hello everyone,

I haven't been on here in a while, so I don't know how many people have trouble with this issue. For me, however, it's always been an problem, so I figured I would report my findings on how to rid of this resentful habit.

I have a female pigeon named Georgia, aged a year last month. She has been laying eggs for six months and ever since then has picked up the habit of attacking me whenever I put my hands in the cage to feed her or to pick her up. In fact, where she used to be quite a lovey bird and loved to be held and petted, now she completely rejects me!

Hormones? Who knows. But there's one method that I know has helped Georgia and I become closer over her teenage years.

Warnings


 If you have a female pigeon, *DO NOT* start doing this when she has eggs. You will only find yourself overwhelmed. Her behavior will be propeled by the need to protect her eggs. It is better to start when you have been able to remove the eggs from her cage in total and she is not showing any signs of preparing to lay eggs (stretched abdomen, laying down constantly, staying near her cage even when she is allowed out, etc.).

 I have not tested this method in cages that hold multiple pigeons. In fact, if you have a group of pigeons together, it might be best to pick the 'ring leader' of the group and place him/her in a separate cage across the room from the other one, so as to isolate the behavior. If other pigeons in the group are cage aggressive as well, you will find that once the dominant pigeon has been rid of the behavior, most likely, most of the other pigeons won't dare to try it either. I do not know this for sure, but from my long history with animals, it is almost always certain that everybody follows the leader.

 _Be prepared to have at least an hour in the morning before feeding time for the first time you try this._ There is a method I found for if you are running out of time, but it is more effective if you do not use it. 

The Method


 Start this on a Monday morning, if possible. You want everything to go about normally; preparing to go to work/school, eating breakfast, watching TV. Whatever your morning routine is, stick to it.
 When it is feeding time, set yourself up so that you can see your pigeon eye-to-eye. He may be 'hooing' at you or stomping around like he owns the territory, but don't worry about it. The reason that you need to be on this same eye level is because when pigeons are on our heads or above our heads, they perceive themselves as dominant. When they can't see your head, they consider themselves dominant to any other body part that they can see. You want them to see your head, but the focus should be on your chin or your eyes, not the top of your head.
 Do not make a move for the food. If you put the food in before this, you two are simply going to be fighting over bird seed instead of focusing on the cage aggression. 
 Put your right hand (or whichever hand is your best) into the cage first. Hold your hand *above* the pigeon. You will see him watching it, and he might jump up and try to wingslap you. Make no movements until you see this first sign of aggression. When he slaps you, put your hand down on his back. Apply a slight pressure, but not enough to stop him from moving.
 He will probably start to bite you. This is the next common response for 'enemies' on the ground. The main point here is, *do not respond*. Animal behaviorists agree that negative responses only encourage the behavior. Keep your hand on his back, no matter how much it hurts when he bites. If he moves around, take your hand off and replace it on his back again. This might be a formidable task, but we are simply establishing that you _have the right to touch him._ 
 This is the longest stage of the game, so hang in there. Do not pull your hand away from him until he stops biting, or lies down.Your hand is establishing the ground rule of equality, and telling him that you can have space in the cage, too. It is also encouraging gentle behavior when you for when you want to pet him.
 The moment that he shows a sign of submission (stops biting for at least ten seconds, lies down) remove your hand from the cage and put food into his dish before he has time to start being aggressive again. If you don't get this done in time before he attacks you, you will have to repeat the entire process.

Afterwards (And Some Quick Tips)

 If you ever want to pick him up to bring him outside, don't just pick him up. _Please_ repeat the method above before doing so. If you just swipe him up, you're going to confuse him and ruin what you've been working for. *Every time you enter the cage and he shows a sign of aggression, you must reinforce your point.*
 If time is running too short and you need to go, you can put a quick end to the method. Bring your other hand into the cage and cup it behind his head, and then slip it over. If he doesn't bite it, he will eventually lay down or stop biting. Do this when he is in the back of the cage, so that when you remove your hands, you can get them out before he even realizes when has happened.

This method and everything else that I have included in here has been solely from my own experiences with a feral pigeon that I raised since she was two weeks old. Different birds might call for different methods, but I feel that the basics of solving cage aggression have all been included in this little guide of mine.

One of the most important things about dealing with bad behaviors like this is to _be patient._ Sometimes we never know what caused these behaviors to develop, and sometimes they just develop from us being too lax with things. You must remember that it takes much, much longer to fix a problem than it ever does to create one, especially with animals.

Georgia still has signs of cage aggression every now and then, but I have seen considerable improvement after the month that I have been using this method. She attacks me less often when I go into the cage, and when she does, it is usually short-lived. Outside of the cage, she has become more responsive to me, allowing me to pet her even though she is reluctant to be caught.

My experiences have taught me that this helps. If you have a cage aggressive bird and wish to solve the problem while establishing _equality_ instead of _dominance_, all I can tell you is to try it! 

*rialize*


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Hi Laura, it is really good to hear from you. Hope everything is going well for you in school.

Your method sounds very good. It is well thought out and makes a lot of sense. One of the vets we see told me not too long ago to never allow a bird's head to be higher than mine - that it does make them think they are dominating you.

Don't stay away so long.


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