# It Just Won't Leave



## sspring92 (May 24, 2009)

A little advise please. I posted several weeks ago about a baby pigeon that was brought into the vet where I work. I brought him home and placed him in a large parrot cage outside on my patio. He grew up just fine and dandy as you can see here 







I hope that worked!

I have tried to release him on 3 occasions now. The 1st time he spend about 3 hours right outside my fence, and then had to bring him in (much to his chagrin) because the dogs and cats had been locked up all day. The 2nd time he spent most of the day fluttering back and forth over the fence while I monitored because of the animals. He finally made it onto my roof. I opened a 2nd story window and it startled him and he flew! Soared extremely high, circled the house several times and disappeared over the orchard. Several hours later I heard flapping and found one of my cats chasing him, where he ran away, but didn't fly away. Took the cats in and left him outside. a few hour later came out to find him back in his cage of his own accord. Today, time number 3 he seemed anxious to get out of the cage. He walked around in the yard for awhile before I shooed him over the fence. My dog barked at him from the yard for about 3 hours. Walked outside to find him , you guessed it, back in the cage. 
I can't leave him out unattended. But he hates me, so once he is out I can't catch him if I need to . He growls, puffs up and bites me every time I reach into the cage to fill food, water or change papers. So , I don't think imprinting is the problem.
What I am considering doing is taking him to the back part of our 20 acres of oranges and just leaving him there. There are plenty of trees to get in, we do have pigeons in the area and food shouldn't be a problem, but not sure about water other than when we are irrigating. He is not really pet material. I feel a bit like I would be abandoning a puppy. A puppy that hates me and attacks me every chance he gets, but I feel bad none the less.
I hate to think of him spending all his life alone in a cage. What do you all think??


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

OK, well...found as a baby...you cannot just "let him go" one day and say "good luck, friend !"

Your last idea you are considering...will be catastrophic. Please, do not do that. He'll be dead within a few days.

You have to do a *Soft Release acclimation process*. There is no way around it.

It is quite a miracle that he actually came back and you managed to recapture him. Consider that a blessing in and of itself. That's one lucky Pigeon,and kinda smart too !

Three times you released him into a big, bad world he is really completely unfamiliar with. 3 times you were fortunate enough that he found his way back. 3's a charm, so no more of that, please ! 

A fledged baby will follow their parents around for a couple of weeks. From their parents they learn where to forage, where to get water, where it is safe, where it is not. They learn what to eat, what not to. They learn how to avoid danger and predators and vehicles. They learn when to go home to sleep.

Your baby knows none of this. So he needs a crash course.
*
Soft Release. * Takes about 15 minutes/day for 7 days, and you can skip one day in there. This is a method of acclimating him to a Feral flock so he stands a decent chance of surviving out there.

PM me about the details, I would be happy to provide them to you. It isn't very difficult. But it is a necessity. The both of you have come so long to get to this point...you really need to end it (or begin it, I should say) with the same thought and care that went into saving and rehabbing your buddy...


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## Miss-Sassypants (Sep 25, 2010)

For him, your house is his home. Imagine his fear when he flies alone in the sky, not knowing any other souls except the human who raised him. So he comes back to the house, your house, that he feels is home. (_for some reason, I feel saddened just thinking about it_  )

If you do want to release him, please do as Jaye has advised. You will have to introduce him to a feral flock (where he can make some friends and not be lonely) for some time before 'releasing' him. Take him in the cage to a place frequented by feral pigeons, sprinkle some food and let them eat around him. Let them interact (while he watch from the cage), then take him home. Do this for a few times - for an hour or so each time - and when you see that he can recognise these birds (maybe after 3-4 times?), you can open the cage and let him join them. That way, he can learn from them (where to find food, where to sleep for the night, maybe find love, etc). You won't be throwing him to the wolves!

Good luck with the acclimatisation. You have brought him up so well and i'm sure you have the best intentions for him. It would be tragic to have him starve or get predated on after all your efforts in raising him - so please let him join the ferals in a proper way.

Thank you for caring for him all these while - I am sure he has already been imprinted on you. All the attacking, pecking stuff are territorial issues, it doesnt mean he hates you - in fact, I truly believe he loves you for taking care of him. Pigeons have a different way of showing affections, he is comfortable in that cage and feels it is home (thus the reason he came back into it by himself!) and he was merely protecting it when you change the papers, etc.

Do let us know how the acclimation goes. Good luck!


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## jondove (Nov 17, 2011)

sspring92 said:


> But he hates me, so once he is out I can't catch him if I need to. He growls, puffs up and bites me every time I reach into the cage to fill food, water or change papers.


This doesn't mean he hates you, he is just defending his territory, acting as he would in a flock situation. It actually means he is considering you as one of his flock and is NOT so afraid of you.

There are countless posts on the forum from people who don't understand this and think their pigeon hates them...

If you wanted to get closer to him and keep him as a pet you should have spent more time with him, and shouldn't have kept him all day long alone in a cage. Maybe it's not too late for that even now.

Or, if you want to release him, please follow Jaye's advice.

There may be another option, now that you know he is smart enough to find his way back, you could setup a place for him with food and water, where he could come and go freely. That would probably attract other pigeons too, so it could also help integrate him in a flock.


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## Bella_F (Nov 29, 2008)

I am soft releasing some young pigeons that I had to raise in captivity too (because they had pox) and I am finding that the closer they are to breeding age, the easier it is to get them interested in the local wild pigeons. Even then, it takes my more mature pigeons about 3 weeks to start roosting with the wild flock, and one of them is still roosting at my place- I think because its younger and not quite ready to find a mate. 

Just to reinforce what Jaye and missSassy said, please keep in mind that there's a lot to learn when they are released before they can live without you providing shelter, food and water. They also have to build up some fitness to cope with flight and evading predators. 

Please don't worry, your pigeon will leave; nature will call and he'll want a mate and a nest. Just give him some time to adjust to this huge change...


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