# Hand-reared feral pigeons bonding to people?



## Pigeonpope (Jan 4, 2017)

Hey all! This is my first post here, so I hope I'm doing it right! 

I have a 5-month-old feral pigeon who came from a hoarding situation. He was an orphan and pretty sickly, and about 3 weeks old when I took him on as a foster (I work for a wildlife rehab center). The goal is always to release these guys back into the wild, of course, but this little dude was already very acclimated to humans, and it took him so long to recover and catch up, growth-wise, that he didn't seem like a good release candidate. Long story short, I adopted him, and he's been a great little guy. My wife and I had to hand-feed him for a while, so I figure he thinks of us as his parents. I've read in a few places that hand-fed babies won't usually bond to the humans who rear them because they think of them as mom and dad, not mate material. 

He's very social and friendly, and is happy to sit on our heads/shoulders, and he follows us from room to room to keep us in sight. However, he gets angry when we reach for him and won't let himself be touched at all. He can "step up", but that's about it. Basically, he'll approach us all day long to hang out, but doesn't want to be approached. He gets a TON of flight time every day and basically has the run of the apartment when we're home, but I'm concerned that he's not getting the full range of healthy social behaviors from just hanging out with us.

I'm also not sure my concerns are even warranted. Are some pigeons just more "cuddly" than others? At 5 months old, is he still kind of a teenager and just needs to settle down? I hesitate to get a second pigeon because I have a sensitivity to bird dust and just got over a really nasty bout of pigeon lung, and our apartment is extremely small. 

Basically, this long-winded post is just to ask folks what your experiences are with raising feral babies, and whether it's ok for them to be single birds if they're living primarily out of the cage. My experience is almost entirely with fully wild pigeons!


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## FredaH (Apr 5, 2016)

What a beauty he is and I so love ferals. I have three ferals that I saved from being destroyed on a building site as eggs, hatched them and hand reared them. Two are now a bonded pair and I have one lone male that I intend to pair up when I find a suitable rescue hen. For now Gideon is my boyfriend, lol he is constantly with me when out of his cage and doesn't like the others getting too near. I also hatched two tumblers who are now paired, got them from a breeder who was discarding eggs and I originally wanted just one to pair with Gideon if it was female but instead ended up with a pair and Gideon is still solo. 
At around four months old all five became cautious of us, including me their mum but at maturity (around six months) all that changed with the ferals and I can do whatever I want with them, medicate, trim nails and just pick them up for a kiss and cuddle and they never fly away when I release them. They love the fuss, neck rubs and beak snuggles (where they put their beaks between your fingers and snooze) and just tonight I put a post on my Facebook page of Gideon constantly coming to me for strokes and neck rubs - they are just so adorable and much tamer than my tumblers who will constantly sit on me but fly if I go to touch them - strange as I thought it would be the other way round as the ferals parents were wild. 
As for having a pigeon friend, well I think the males may pine for a mate but not so sure about the females, the males treat their partner like a Victorian husband would treat his wife, lol she has to do what he wants or she gets chased and pecked and they don't like the girls out when Gideon is about at all - it's like they think she'll be stolen so I keep the girls in on those occasions. I was looking at my Gully (hen feral) this evening and wondering is she really is happy with being paired, she was so bonded to us and still is but Gabe gets so jealous when she flies to us that I put him away and let her have some freedom. I'm not so sure I agree they need a mate now I've seen both sides but, like I said, I think the males benefit from being paired far more than the females. 
Your boy will change and be back to how he was in time I'm sure but if he is a male he'll give you 'tough love' with some mighty pecks at times, just like he would a wife and it may seem spiteful but he's just showing he loves you - honest. 
Here's my youngest boy Gideon he's now seven months old and my partner - for now.










Welcome to the wonderful world of feral pigeons btw.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Pigeonpope said:


> Hey all! This is my first post here, so I hope I'm doing it right!
> 
> Hi, and welcome to P.T.
> 
> ...


He/she is a handsome little one.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Freda, I think the females can be much worse than the males if they don't have a mate. They can be so extreme that they won't leave you alone, and will constantly come after you and when they can't, will call for you. So all depends. Also, once they start laying eggs, they are alone with no help, and will spend all their time on the nest. Many people have come on wondering what happened to that friendly little hen that used to like spending time with them. I don't think any lone pigeon is all that happy. It's just against their nature. Either gender will start to view you as their mate, but it isn't like you can spend as much time as they would like with them. And a male can't drive you to his nest to lay eggs. And a hen can't get you to sit on her eggs to give her a break from the nest.


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## Pigeonpope (Jan 4, 2017)

Thank you, Freda and Jay! Freda, Gideon is so handsome! I've heard from a few people that feral pigeons seem friendlier a lot of the time. I've seen some amazing things when they need medical treatment - it's like they know you're trying to help them. And it's reassuring to hear that in your experience, they do get stand-offish around 4-5 months. I thought it might be a part of pigeon adolescence, but my experience is with young birds who we want to fear humans so they can go free again, so I've never noticed it before.

Jay, your points are definitely what I'm concerned with. Since humans can't really emulate pigeon behavior, even if he picks one of us as his mate, we're not great substitutes for other pigeons. Thank you for the advice! My living situation with regards to the pigeon dust will be changing at the end of the year - I'll be moving out of the city and hopefully into a slightly larger space. Ideally I want to be able to have a loft in the future. Around here, there are far more pigeons in need of homes than homes to take them, so I figured it'd be best to do what I can for this little guy. But getting him a friend is definitely still on the table!


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Getting him a friend eventually would be wonderful. I started out bringing 6 baby pigeons home when someone had their porch torn down to have it rebuilt. When I got there, there were baby pigeons strewn about the yard. They had put the 2 youngest on a board on top of a hedge, hoping that the parents would come down to them. They were only 1 and 2 days old. The poor things. It was a cold April day in New England. What was I to do? So they came home with me, and I had to do a crash course on raising baby pigeons. We have added many more rescues since then. I think your bird is very lucky to have you, who cares so much about his happiness. 

They do go through a teenage period where they become a bit more independant, but in general, most of them do grow out of the snuggling stage as they mature anyway. Not that they aren't friendly then, but like I said, they do prefer to decide that they want to come to you, rather then you coming to pick them up. Unless it is one of those overly needy hens, and then you find yourself wishing that they were more stand-offish. LOL.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Lovely bird! Thank you for rescuing him or her. Our first pigeon, Phoebe, was an injured nonreleasable feral who was our beloved family member for eight years. She was very affectionate. We were careful not to pet her back but let her play with us and shoulder surf and watch tv with us at least two hours per day. A lone bird can be happy if you provide them with enough attention and are their flock. However, we have since paired all our birds and put them in a shed outdoors in flight cages because i have pigeon lung. If you have that, would highly recommend you keep the bird in just one room, keep the door closed, change clothes, wear a respirator mask, and as soon as you can, get the bird into an appropriate shed or loft situation. Pigeon lung is no joke. An air cleaner helps but doesnt get rid of all the white powder. I miss the days i could interact with our birds without my pink mask but now they wouldnt recognize me without it.


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## Ammonite85 (Jan 11, 2017)

Hello, I also have this problem at the moment, though Im a whole world away in New Zealand. 
A seemingly tame but very young (didnt have its shiny feathers through yet) rock pigeon turned up on my deck one day and never left. 

I since found out he/she was rescued after being found on the ground still mostly naked, by a lady who lives down the street. She went away for a weekend and left the bird to fend for itself, and so it found me. 

Up until the end of december, I would shut it in my chook house at night time and let it out to fly during the day. Then on the 30th of dec, it disappeared. 2 days later someone had spotted a very friendly rock pigeon in town (2-3km away) and posted about it on a local facebook page, Im sure it was my pigeon. 11 days later it came home. (Great homing ability) 

Since it has been home (just 3 days now) it has been so affectionate - it has gone from pecking me really hard to now just giving me cute little nibbles on my hand and now will let me pat it, and today has been nuzzling under my hand so I can pat its head. 

It now sleeps in a cage in the sunroom, where the dogs sleep, so its not fully alone, but Im getting a bit worried, although it can come in the back door to the sunroom, with the dogs, my husband wont allow it inside and I cant be outside with it all the time so it sometimes flies around the house looking for me. Id like to find it a bird companion for it - I dont want to mate it (so I would remove any eggs that were laid) 

I doubt Ill be able to find another tame rock pigeon but I may be able to pair it up with a homing pigeon... Im still looking into this though. I really like this bird and feel as if it is part of the family especially now that I know it has been out and survived alone for almost 2 weeks and then chose to come home to us. Its name was Pecky but Im thinking of changing it now as its not so pecky...


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Pigeons should never be kept with chickens. 
If you do get a mate and they have eggs, then you can't just take the eggs away, unless you replace them with fake eggs. Or the hen will just lay right away again, and will eventually deplete herself of calcium. When they lay eggs, you take them and put fake pigeon eggs in their place. You can get them at pigeon supply places.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

You should be able to pair a feral with a homing pigeon.


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## Ammonite85 (Jan 11, 2017)

Jay3 said:


> Pigeons should never be kept with chickens.
> If you do get a mate and they have eggs, then you can't just take the eggs away, unless you replace them with fake eggs. Or the hen will just lay right away again, and will eventually deplete herself of calcium. When they lay eggs, you take them and put fake pigeon eggs in their place. You can get them at pigeon supply places.


Hi yep, thanks, I had read that during my searches, I will get some fake eggs if I find a partner for my bird, and I dont have chooks, just a very large empty chook house that is perfect for a pigeon home.


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## Ammonite85 (Jan 11, 2017)

cwebster said:


> You should be able to pair a feral with a homing pigeon.


Thank you for that. They do seem pretty similar in appearance.

A couple questions for anyone that can answer them
*If I got a pigeon from a breeder that hasnt been handled before can I make it tame?
*Also if I got a pigeon that hasnt been let out to free fly before would it be able to be trained to come back?


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

With time and patience many will tame up. Some will never be all that friendly. It's individual, as they all have their own personalities.

Depends on the bird whether or not it will come back. Because it is older and a strong flier, it may take off and go far, and get lost and not be able to come back. Easier to train them when they can't fly all that well.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

You asked if a nontame bird will ever be tame. As Jay3 noted, it depends on the bird. We have a female, Lucy, who was terrified completely for about nine months but when we put her in with another female, she completely changed and now loves to interact and be lightly petted. Pigeons can get tame no matter what age if you are patient enough.


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