# How Long Does It Take A Pigeon To Build Up Trust?



## msmely

I've had my pet pigeon who I got from the shelter for a week from tommorow. She still doesn't like me or my family yet. She has been living in my room and had outside time in an aviary for a few hours a day. 

Although she seems quite comfortable with her surroundings but doesn't want me to come into her personal space. 

So how long do you think it takes for a pigeon to warm up to a person? I understand this might be a bit of a difficult transition for her since she was a racing pigeon before and then was in a shelter for 2 months.


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## Crazy Pete

Food is the only real motivation she will have, I would wait a week or 2 then it might take a couple days. You should sit on the floor with her with her food bowl 2 ft in front of you. That way she will get used to coming to you for food, if she wont don't feed her after that you should be able to get her to eat from your hand. You may have to use a treat, saflower, or spanish peanuts my birds just love them. once you have her eating from your hand things will come a lot faster.
Dave


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## boneyrajan.k

around 6 weeks....on an average


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## spirit wings

I agree with Pete, allot of times hand feeding is all you get...they usually do not like too close to humans unless they have their favorite treats or are hungry enough to get close to you if you have food.. but you never know, he or she may chose you for it's mate and warm up to you.


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## msmely

Thanks guys. I'll try the hand feeding.
It's weird because my previous pigeon would NEVER hand feed from me. But absoloutely loved cuddles and would peck me affectionately at times. 
I'll have to try the hand feeding with this one though.


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## Siobhan

It took a couple of months for Maggie to get over missing her former family and decide we weren't so bad, and now she's very affectionate and wants to be with me all the time. Give yours some space, and talk to her a lot, and keep trying to make friends, and let her see that you're okay.


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## Quazar

Being a racing pigeon, it will probably be used to being handled, although may not like it (very few pigeons do).
Wherever it is resting for the night, it will take as its territory & will not like you interfering there.
As others have said, feed is the motive. 
It may not feed from your hand, but by offering it treats & pretending to peck with your fingers, it will associate your hands as being the bearer of food and slowly come round to trusting you.
When you approach it, talk gently & quietly to it, and do so at its level or below, never from above as this tends to aggitate them.
Any trust has to be on their terms. If you make any sudden movements they tend to back off a little and be very cautious of you.


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## Victor

I have 10 pet pigeons. 7 will fly to me in the aviary. 4 of them I can not get off me. The other 3 will not come to me on direction or coaxing but will eat out of my hand. My oldest one named Pais is the oldest pigeon I have...about 9 years old now. He is a retired racer that I adopted some years back. He was once sacred to death of me. Now he is calm and confident when I am around him. He will not fly to me (yet) and I respect his wishes and will give him his space. As stated before, some just don't want to go there. Patience is the key!


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## msmely

Thanks so much guys! All your advice has helped a lot.
I've tried talking in a soft voice to her and she doesnt seem to mind that. 
If I'm lying on my bed shes started to walk on my legs, which is progress I think...she's never willingly come close to me before.


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## Quazar

Keep some peanuts or sunflower seeds close by you, Next time shes on your legs, offer her a couple of them. If she doesnt come towards you, place them on your leg & pretend peck with your finger, talking to her gently, then slowly take your hand away & see if shes interested in them. it may take time, but gradually she will realise your hand is safe & feeding her treats.
Never try to pick her up if doing this or you will lose any trust she has of you.
Once she is happy and semi trusting, you can normally lay your hand palm down close to her with a couple of seeds on the grooves of your fingers & she will take them, and possibly stand on the back of your hand.
A few times of doing this and talking to her & you should be able to lift your hand and she'll stay there.


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## Siobhan

She's coming around. In a week or so, she'll be glued to you all the time and you'll never get any peace. LOL When she'll let you touch her, try stroking the top of her head with one finger and then progress to stroking down her back with your whole hand. Mine loves that.


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## msmely

Thanks! I will try doing that. She's never had sunflower seeds before and my old pigeon loved them.

She's quite a crazy bird so I can't imagine what she'll be like once she's attatched to me! LOL She's already claimed my whole room as her own!! I have a bookshelf and she has attacked all the toys/books/dvds on it and dropped them onto the floor to make space for her "chilling" time. oh dear.


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## Jay3

All pigeons are different. Some take a long time to gain trust. Some never will. All you can do is be patient and accept him/her as they are. Don't try to push him. It can only be on their terms. Some will eventually bond to you, and some just aren't going to. Just spend time with him and eventually he may come to realize that you are friend not foe. But you can't put a time limit on it. Let us know how it goes. Good luck!


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## msmely

PROGRESS TODAY GUYS!! So I tried cuddling with her today, she has ALWAYS hated it and will try and get away but today I gave her a few kisses on her beak. She seemed to like that then I stroked her head to her back like Sioban said to and she loved it so much she didnt try and get away and even started closing her eyes and relaxing.

I took my hands off her and she didnt even fly away, she wanted to be with me! But now shes back to hating me I think :s oh well, one step at a time!!


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## msmely

Just a side question, since I don't really want to start a thread on it. But whenever I'm eating a sandwich, its the only time she really wants to be near me. We tried giving her a bit of bread and she ate it so quickly she loved it. I know bread isn't good for them but if we have her on a nutritional diet and give her wholemeal bread as a treat, is it really that bad?


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## Quazar

lol, it wont do her any harm in moderation although theres not much nutrition in it.
I've got a feral squeaker at the moment who just wont leave me alone when i'm eating. Even tries to land on my hand as i'm putting it in my mouth.


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## Jay3

Actually whole grain bread is good for them and makes a great treat. I know someone who does that. Just don't overdo on any treat of course.


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## msmely

guys!! I had REAL progress tonight. So remember how I said she loves bread? Since sunflower seeds etc arent really a favourite of hers. I decided to use bread as a treat for her to warm up to me. 

She saw the bread in my hand and very cautiously started moving closer. I made myself very small, so she wasn't scared. She then wasn't sure if she felt safe enough to peck the bread off, I guess since I carry her sometimes when she doesnt want she thinks my hand is bad. So she pecked once but then got scared but she came back to me. And finally pecked all the bread off, only thing she did it quite viciously. I guess to protect herself, she's quite a crazy one! :s


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## Jay3

Yes, I have one like that. He had been treated badly before I got him, and he doesn't like to be handled. He wasn't too bad while in the house in quarantine, but once he was let out into the loft he became more independent. He doesn't trust anyone, but he will come to me for treats, however, often when he takes them it is like that. As if to say that he is in control and I'd better not mess with him. But it's a start.


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## Libis

msmely said:


> guys!! I had REAL progress tonight. So remember how I said she loves bread? Since sunflower seeds etc arent really a favourite of hers. I decided to use bread as a treat for her to warm up to me.
> 
> She saw the bread in my hand and very cautiously started moving closer. I made myself very small, so she wasn't scared. She then wasn't sure if she felt safe enough to peck the bread off, I guess since I carry her sometimes when she doesnt want she thinks my hand is bad. So she pecked once but then got scared but she came back to me. And finally pecked all the bread off, only thing she did it quite viciously. I guess to protect herself, she's quite a crazy one! :s


Sometimes birds are just very vigorous in how they eat, too. lol. One of my baby ringnecks gets so excited when I feed him from my hands that the seeds go everywhere and he ends up nipping and biting me a lot while going for the food. 

It's great that she's starting to come to you. 

Make sure any food that you share with her hasn't touched your mouth. (Like not from the side of the sandwich that you bit.) She shouldn't have any of the bacteria that come in your saliva.


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## msmely

So I'm thinking I may need to take up pigeon psychology to figure this one out!!

We've made a lot of progress, thanks to all of your help! But she's still quite confusing.

She will constantly make this territorial type noise, while walking in circles. I'm not sure if this means she wants me to stay away, or is trying to get my attention? So when I go up to her, instead of flying away like she used to she instead just kind of attacks my hand. I'm not sure if this is just playing for her or serious because she will let me pick her up and then let me cuddle her and she wont walk away.

She enjoys it and for the first time today started pecking me affectionately and gently, kisses on my mouth and nose. Yet the next second she'll go on to attack my hand like it's the most evil thing in the world and then go back to giving me kisses!? what!?

She flew back to her space and started making the territorial noise/dance again. I walked up to her and placed my hand out, she walked onto my hand! But just kept attacking my arm in the process. If shes willingly standing on my hand, does that mean shes just playing when shes attacking? My family noticed that if shes cuddling with me, if I put a t shirt or toy next to her she will viciously attack it yet wont fly away when she could. *WHAT DOES SHE WHAT FROM ME!?* 

Does she love me or hate me?? Or a bit of both??


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## msmely

So something else just happened now. I was in the middle of the room and she landed on me for the first time ever! Then flew away, I approached her and again she started biting me. Then I went to the kitchen to make a sandwich and she followed me to the kitchen. Even though she NEVER wanders outside of her room. I think she's kind of obsessed with me!? But she's not sure if she actually likes me >.<


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## msmely

I swear this is the last post for today but I dont know what she wants from me!? I tried cuddling her after she followed me to the kitchen but she wanted none of that and pecked me really hard on the mouth!! I said no and ignored her so then she landed on my head!! She's never landed on my head before...what!? Is she trying to be dominant??


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## Libis

msmely said:


> So I'm thinking I may need to take up pigeon psychology to figure this one out!!
> 
> We've made a lot of progress, thanks to all of your help! But she's still quite confusing.
> 
> She will constantly make this territorial type noise, while walking in circles. I'm not sure if this means she wants me to stay away, or is trying to get my attention? So when I go up to her, instead of flying away like she used to she instead just kind of attacks my hand. I'm not sure if this is just playing for her or serious because she will let me pick her up and then let me cuddle her and she wont walk away.
> 
> She enjoys it and for the first time today started pecking me affectionately and gently, kisses on my mouth and nose. Yet the next second she'll go on to attack my hand like it's the most evil thing in the world and then go back to giving me kisses!? what!?
> 
> She flew back to her space and started making the territorial noise/dance again. I walked up to her and placed my hand out, she walked onto my hand! But just kept attacking my arm in the process. If shes willingly standing on my hand, does that mean shes just playing when shes attacking? My family noticed that if shes cuddling with me, if I put a t shirt or toy next to her she will viciously attack it yet wont fly away when she could. *WHAT DOES SHE WHAT FROM ME!?*
> 
> Does she love me or hate me?? Or a bit of both??


I'm not sure if this is correct to pigeons, but when I was younger I had a cockatiel who had developed a great fear of hands because of the way that the previous owners handled him. He viewed my hands as completely different "animals" than my face. He would sit on my shoulders or on top of my head, but if my hands came near he would hiss and peck at them, "protecting" me. 

Maybe she is also seeing your hands as a different animal?


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## Libis

msmely said:


> So for anyone who might still read this.
> 
> In the past few days her/his behaviour towards me has changed dramaticly!! She is now obsessed with me! Will land on my head, shoulders and won't leave my side. If i leave the room she follows me sometimes or stands on the door waiting.
> 
> And now when I pat her instead of pecking me she makes a cooing noise and her wings are twitching a lot. She sits on her feet, with her head down. I think she loves me!!!


Yeah, it sounds like she's in love with you now. The only thing to watch for will be jealousy issues between her and your significant other or family, since she will see you as "hers."


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## Quazar

Libis said:


> Maybe she is also seeing your hands as a different animal?


They do seem to do that, they dont seem to associate the hands as being part of the same body lol.



msmely said:


> So for anyone who might still read this.
> In the past few days her/his behaviour towards me has changed dramaticly!! She is now obsessed with me! Will land on my head, shoulders and won't leave my side. If i leave the room she follows me sometimes or stands on the door waiting.
> 
> And now when I pat her instead of pecking me she makes a cooing noise and her wings are twitching a lot. She sits on her feet, with her head down. I think she loves me!!!


Yep, they can learn very quickly,
A feral recue I have at the moment is like that, so much so, that when I tried a soft release, everything looked good, she went to the other wild pigeons, ate with them, but as soon as I went to leave she landed back on my shoulders.



Libis said:


> Yeah, it sounds like she's in love with you now. The only thing to watch for will be jealousy issues between her and your significant other or family, since she will see you as "hers."


If they are bonded strong they can and often get very jealous lol.


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## Libis

msmely said:


> So for anyone who might still read this.
> 
> In the past few days her/his behaviour towards me has changed dramaticly!! She is now obsessed with me! Will land on my head, shoulders and won't leave my side. If i leave the room she follows me sometimes or stands on the door waiting.
> 
> And now when I pat her instead of pecking me she makes a cooing noise and her wings are twitching a lot. She sits on her feet, with her head down. I think she loves me!!!


Why does this response keep going to the bottom when we reply to it? That's a weird bug...


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## msmely

So for anyone who might still read this.

In the past few days her/his behaviour towards me has changed dramaticly!! She is now obsessed with me! Will land on my head, shoulders and won't leave my side. If i leave the room she follows me sometimes or stands on the door waiting.

And now when I pat her instead of pecking me she makes a cooing noise and her wings are twitching a lot. She sits on her feet, with her head down. I think she loves me!!!


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## Jay3

I'm glad she is adjusting. Good update.


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## spirit wings

msmely said:


> So for anyone who might still read this.
> 
> In the past few days her/his behaviour towards me has changed dramaticly!! She is now obsessed with me! Will land on my head, shoulders and won't leave my side. If i leave the room she follows me sometimes or stands on the door waiting.
> 
> And now when I pat her instead of pecking me she makes a cooing noise and her wings are twitching a lot. She sits on her feet, with her head down. I think she loves me!!!


she sounds like a he... sounds like courting behaviour to me.. you might want to look up courting pigeons on youtube and see how they act... they actually do a courtship preening and flutter the wings and coo and drag their tail.. the hen will let the male feed her or some call it "kissing" and then the hen will squat and he mounts her.. he may be wondering why your not doing it right..lol.. cock birds can get pretty carried away sometimes and bully you. you may want to set some boundries, and only give treats when he is perched where you want him.


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## Siobhan

That's not necessarily boy behavior. She sounds exactly like Maggie, who is most definitely a girl because she laid two eggs last weekend. LOL She follows me around, sweeps the floor with her tail while doing figure eights, lands on me and bows her head and coos while I pet her, even now that she's gotten over being broody. It does sound to me like your pidge loves you! Get her a couple of budgie toys with bells and beads and maybe occasionally she'll entertain herself instead of expecting you to be her constant companion. I doubt it, but it's possible. <G>


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## msmely

> she sounds like a he... sounds like courting behaviour to me.. .. cock birds can get pretty carried away sometimes and bully you. you may want to set some boundries, and only give treats when he is perched where you want him.


I was wandering if it was courting behaviour and he can sometimes does become a bit of a bully! He will land on me and want to sit on me but will peck/bite at me while doing so. When he does that I try not to let him sit on me. 



> Get her a couple of budgie toys with bells and beads and maybe occasionally she'll entertain herself instead of expecting you to be her constant companion. I doubt it, but it's possible.


Funny thing is, she/he already has a toy! A little cow which I'm pretty sure thinks is her/his mate. She'll give it kisses constantly and jump on it and try to mate with it I think..so her time and attention is split between us two already! LOL.


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## spirit wings

time will tell if he is a he or she is a she.. eggs tell the tale.. hens usually are not that bossy as a norm.. so percentage wise I would guess a male pigeon.. and I would have a 50% chance of being right, same as anyone else...lol..


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## sky tx

rpalmer can/will give an answer


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## msmely

Well. He/she just mated with my foot, I get him off but he keeps trying! He will also kiss my foot and court it.... Its quite disturbing but other that that he's been very sweet to me today until I don't pay attention and he gets mad and pecks me. But he courts his toy pet and me. I think he is confused!? or a promiscuous pigeon...

And he is defenitley mating with the cow and my foot because he does exactly what the pigeon does in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKrOto-9gOs
I think I'm now concerned for my pigeons psychological well being if he thinks my foot and a toy cow are pigeons.. o_o


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## Quazar

wait till he tries to drive you to the nest lol


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## Siobhan

Oh, dear. Maggie is as confused as yours or maybe more so. She does that exact thing to my hand -- hops on it, dances The Twist and flaps her wings. She's also done that to my foot, but I'm very ticklish and involuntarily yank my foot away when she starts, so she prefers my hand. I knew she was, um, mating with my hand but I didn't realize she thought she was a boy. LOL She did this yesterday afternoon and you should have seen how my parrot looked at her. He was on my other hand. He pulled his head back and looked shocked and appalled and then he looked at me and made his "disgust" noise (that is, the one he makes when I offer him food he doesn't like).


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## Libis

Siobhan said:


> Oh, dear. Maggie is as confused as yours or maybe more so. She does that exact thing to my hand -- hops on it, dances The Twist and flaps her wings. She's also done that to my foot, but I'm very ticklish and involuntarily yank my foot away when she starts, so she prefers my hand. I knew she was, um, mating with my hand but I didn't realize she thought she was a boy. LOL She did this yesterday afternoon and you should have seen how my parrot looked at her. He was on my other hand. He pulled his head back and looked shocked and appalled and then he looked at me and made his "disgust" noise (that is, the one he makes when I offer him food he doesn't like).


lol awesome--that's hilarious, especially the part about the disgust noise from your parrot. XD


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## Siobhan

I explained to Maggie this evening that the sitting on my hand and flapping her wings thing is a boy behavior. She was not convinced.


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## msmely

haha Siobhan! Maggie seems like a character!! I'm glad my pigeon isn't the only one who tries to mate with feet/hands :s 

Well his temperament has changed completely. He doesn't bite me at all anymore but he is extremely needy!! You guys were right, once they get attached..you won't be able to get away from them!!

He sleeps in my room temporarily and he will wake me up in the morning by cooing loudly and walking around my head. Then once I wake up he will keep making noise until I cuddle him and he is content. Although to get him content the cuddling needs to go on for a while!!


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## spirit wings

just don't forget these are pigeons and they have their own instincts and agendas... may not want to humanize them too much or the behavior will be harder to figure out for you, or can even cause problem behaviours from frustration.


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## msmely

spirit_wings thanks, we dont want to humanise him too much!
We were just having him stay in my room for the first 3 weeks so he can know this is his home and while we get his aviary. He still goes outside everyday in a temporary aviary thats smaller to see other birds.


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## SketchySim

boneyrajan.k said:


> around 6 weeks....on an average


So we saved this somewhat young pigeon from a cat and she's been livig with me for at least 5 days. And like for 3 days, she's been slightly flipping her wings, rubbing her head/beak to my hand and making some cute whistle sounds. Does that mean she trusts me since she seems fine with me scratching her neck etc. I suppose she's old enough to fly off of her nest since she can fly and she was alone when we found her. Is it possible to get a feral pigeon's trust within days? She likes sleeping on my computer while I'm studying and she's just fine with standing on my hand. She also runs up to me when I call her.


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## Marina B

The older they are, the longer it takes for them to trust you. I've noticed 3 weeks and older are very hard to tame, unless you spend a lot of time with them. Did the cat get hold of her? If so, she might need antibiotics. I hope you plan on keeping her as she sounds too tame to be released.


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## SketchySim

Marina B said:


> The older they are, the longer it takes for them to trust you. I've noticed 3 weeks and older are very hard to tame, unless you spend a lot of time with them. Did the cat get hold of her? If so, she might need antibiotics. I hope you plan on keeping her as she sounds too tame to be released.


S
Yeah the cat couldn't really do damage. And yes, I reconsidered it and thought she wouldn't fly when we realase her. So instead, we'll give her to a pigeon owner so she can be kept nicely and free. It's also really close to our house so I can see her. Actually, we're planning on giving her tomorrow since I found some wing flea / pigeon flea on her and noticed she might have BFL due to me seeing her sneeze a weird liquid. I've constantly told mum to bring her to the vet but we didn't have any time. So I hope she gets better.


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